Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Fiction: 2 Tips For Using Flashbacks

1. Keep all flashbacks super-short: integrate them into your story

You can do a lot with a single sentence: “she remembered that they’d rarely quarreled, but now they raged at each other.”

Alternatively, you can integrate a flashback into a scene, so your story keeps its forward momentum.

The first line of a scene: “He’s left me.”

Naturally, the other person in the scene wants to know what happened. When did he leave? Why? Readers will have the same questions; this helps you to integrate a flashback.

via peneloperedmont.com

Fiction: Characters First, Or Plot First?

Writing fiction: characters or plot?

Mystery editor Barbara Norville suggested:

“Whether you kick off with a character you like or with a plot idea that strikes a chord depends on the kind of person you are: people-oriented or idea oriented.”

I tend to go back and forth. If I’m writing a novel which is part of a series, I know that I’ll be writing about characters A, B, C, and D. I know I’ll need a plot for each novel which grows from that character’s problem and situation.

It’s best to be flexible: follow your intuition. You’ll change your mind many times while you’re planning, writing, and revising, and that’s OK.

via www.angelabooth.com

2 Simple Ways To Make Writing Your Book Easier

Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, your writing process will go more smoothly if you write your blurb (book description) first.

Although you’ll rework your book’s blurb many times before your book is done, your blurb provides you with a destination before you start writing… And yes, even pantsers need a destination.

Write a book fast: start with your blurb

Begin writing your blurb with one-sentence summary: the reason readers will read your book. What does it offer? How will they benefit?

via www.angelabooth.com

Bullet Journal Your Novel: 3 Time-Saving Tips

Keep a one-sentence summary of each scene in a BuJo “Scenes List” Collection while you’re writing. Then, on even the foggiest day, reading your Scenes List catches you up on the action of your novel.

Other useful Collections:

• Scenes in which a specific character appears;
• Twist/ turning point scenes;
• Essential scenes.

via peneloperedmont.com

5-Minute Writing Tips For Authors

When you write in those minutes you steal from your life, you can’t be precious about your words; you’re grateful to write anything in your limited time. You don’t have time to brood about your writing either, and that’s always a good thing.

Let’s look at some five-minute writing tips.

1. Be like Twyla Tharp: grab a box for your project

All creativity is messy. You need a discrete area to store your stuff. Grab a box.

From The Creative Habit — Twyla Tharp:

Tharp says that before you can think outside a box, you have to have a box. To organize her projects, she uses literal, inexpensive file boxes from Office Depot to store all manner of physical materials she accumulates in the process of researching for and creating a new dance.

via www.angelabooth.com

Bullet Journal’s Journey Through Kickstarter, Publishing, and Production

Give first, ask second: the role of educational content 

Felix: Your approach was that anyone can do this for free on any piece of paper, any notebook—you don't have to buy a product. You emphasized this, right? Why do you feel that people still were willing to buy a product even though you actually told them how they can do this without paying anything for it?

Ryder: The Bullet Journal method is comprised of two parts. There's the system and the practice. The practice is a lot more philosophical approach to figuring out why you're doing what you're doing. When I released the Bullet Journal, I focused on the system. It was part of a larger methodology. So over time, as people have found it helpful, I have released more content and created more products around the full methodology, but I think that was really important to me to give people something that would immediately add value to their lives in a meaningful way and continue to support that. So when you create content that does connect with an audience, there will be questions, there will be a lot of questions and you can create a lot of content based on refining both the original content but also addressing all these questions that people have.

via www.shopify.com

Interesting if you're a bullet journal fan, as I am.

Choose Two Fiction Writing Strategies For 2020

“High concept” ideas for writing fiction: what are they?

“High concept” comes from the world of screenwriting.

I define high concept ideas as those ideas which are instant attention grabbers. Often they include a genre trope. These ideas are easy to identify: check the blurbs of bestselling books.

Currently I’m on a Loretta Chase reading kick; I adore her novels. From the blurb of her novel A Duke in Shining Armor:

“A Runaway Bride… Lady Olympia Hightower finds herself sneaking out the chapel window, in a mad, attempt to escape her glorious future as a duchess.”

(“Runaway bride” is a popular trope in romance novels and movies.)

via peneloperedmont.com

Is Your Blog Worth It?

A tsunami of content flows onto the web every day. Some 70 million blog posts are published to WordPress blogs in a month; WordPress blogs make up some 35% of the web. (Lots of companies use WordPress, because it’s basically just a database script which can create many different kinds of websites.)

That’s a lot of content.

Then there’s you.

Let’s say you publish a couple of blog posts a month. The chance that your blog will make your fortune is somewhere between zero and none at all.

However… Consider this example scenario:

• You live in Some City, Some State, Some Country on the planet;
• You’re a writer;
• You want to get hired to write by health services companies.

If someone were to type “Some City health services writer” into a search engine, what would they find? Would your name be there?

via www.angelabooth.com

Apps To Help You To Write Anywhere

3. Trello: view your writing and work at a glance (desktop and devices)

I’ve found Trello a brilliant tool for plotting fiction, but I use it as a research tool as well. If you’re not familiar with it, give it a try. It’s easy to use, and is free for personal use.

A friend who’s a professional blogger uses Trello to plan content creation for several blogs every month.

4. Dictation: goodbye Dictate for Mac, hello Otter

Nuance (Dragon) dropped support for its Mac version in 2018. This left many Mac folks frustrated, to say the least.

I’ve been hunting a new dictation app ever since and was almost ready to buy a Windows machine just to be able to use Dragon.

Then friends recommended Otter (referral link); it looks promising. Much more than just a transcription app, it’s very reasonably priced, and you receive 600 minutes a month of transcription time free.

via peneloperedmont.com

3 Strategies To Make Your Fiction Writing Process Easier

I’m sure you’re thinking… ‘well, OK. I get story and plot… Sort of. But how do I apply story/ plot to my writing process?’

Here’s how. Story is what happens. Plot on the other hand, is cause and effect. Unlike real life, in fiction there are always reasons for actions and events; it’s your job as an author to identify them.

Two tips:

1. Use “why” — CAUSALITY — when you’re plotting. Nothing in your novel happens by chance. There’s a reason for everything that happens;
2. In addition, remember SUSPENSE, so your readers will keep reading.

Now let’s look at our strategies.

via www.angelabooth.com

Aspiring Freelance Writer? 3 Real-World Tips You Can Use Today

In the final months of 2019, I received lots of enquiries from aspiring writers about getting started in the world of freelancing.

Unfortunately I also received sad messages from flailing freelance writers about the impossibility of getting good clients. (If you believe this, see below: “Avoid companies which advertise for writers.”)

Listen up. You can make more as a freelancer than you can at a day job, but building a lucrative six-figure income as a freelancer takes experience.

Be aware that you can short-cut the time it takes you to make a good income as a freelancer via our coaching program, Freelance Power: If You Can Write, You Can Make Money. (That’s the reason I created the program.)

Real-world tip: be aware that as a freelance writer, you’re a keyboard for hire.

Freelance writer? You’re a keyboard for hire

As a keyboard for hire, you write to order.

via www.angelabooth.com

Scared of presenting? Try this

So how do you prepare a great presentation when time is short?

1. Focus less on what you’re going to say and more on what you think. This distinction between “what shall I say?” and “what do I think?” is from a 1902 (!) book on public speaking by J. Berg Esenwein, and I love it. I love it because you may not always remember what you’re trying to say, but you’ll always be able to talk about what you think. That’s why step one in short-term prep is to figure out, quickly, what you think about the topic you’ve chosen.

via tamsenwebster.com

Freelance Writing: Build An Amazing Writing Business In 2020

Freelance writing: make it a business, rather than a hobby

More than anything else, successful freelancing is a mindset. It’s understanding that the wonderful clients who NEED you are waiting for you now. And deciding that you will serve them to the best of your ability.

Additionally, you’ll make a decision now to charge appropriate freelance rates for your skills.

Here are some tips to help you to build a six-figure freelance writing business in 2020.

via www.angelabooth.com

Here’s How To Boost Your Freelance Income Fast

Create a follow-up workflow for clients and colleagues and act on it. (There’s a sample workflow below.)

Want to boost your writing income? You need a workflow to help you to follow up

I keep my follow-up strategies in Trello, because I can see what I need to do at a glance.

You follow up with:

• Prospective clients. Create a creative strategy to win new clients. One email message or a direct message on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn isn’t enough. Create a follow-up process which ensures that you follow up at least six times over three months.
• Current and past clients. I nag my freelance writing students to follow up creatively — never send out blanket mailings. Customize all your communications.

via www.angelabooth.com

Hate Plotting? These Tips Will Help

Plotting fiction: it’s easy when you focus on your characters

From Plotting Fiction: 3 Plotting Tips To Make It Easy:

Your characters change and grow throughout your novel, and they have secrets. I like to keep my plotting simple. Once I know how my primary character changes, I know that the midpoint of the novel is crucial. At the midpoint, the character’s life changes in a major way.

Your characters have challenges. Your plot is what your characters do as they strive to meet their challenges.

via peneloperedmont.com