Angela Booth's Writing Blog

How To Write A Book When You Have No Time: Use The 2-Minute Rule - Writer Angela Booth

You can get a lot done in two minutes.

2. Everyone has two minutes

You’ve been meaning to work on your book, but over the past week, you haven’t even had time to open the computer file.

Give yourself two minutes to open the computer file, right now, and write a couple of sentences. They don’t need to be wonderful sentences. Don’t reread what you’ve written, just write the sentences.

This simple strategy ensures that you carve a few minutes out of your busiest days to write a paragraph (or even a page) of your book.

Keep writing in two-minute sessions. You’ll be amazed at how those sessions keep you moving forward with your book.

via www.angelabooth.com

First Scene Guidance — Angela Booth's Online Writing Classes and Programs

Your first page is the most important page in your novel; it's part of your first scene.

(The first scene after the prologue, if you have one.)

Your first scene establishes:

• Your plot (answering your reader's "so what, why should I read this?" question);

• The novel's main character. What kind of person is he/ she? What challenges threaten him/ her?

• A setting: the world of your novel. Is your reader drawn in?

• Curiosity and tension in your reader, who's eager to know what happens next...

Do you have confidence in your first scene?

Perhaps you need guidance.

via www.angelaswritingclasses.com

Writing Fiction: What's Your Big (Or Little) Idea?

Whatever a reader’s reason for reading your novel, they read for entertainment.

When you’re writing fiction, you’re an entertainer

Your fiction is a diversion.

Since that’s the case, focus on making your fiction as entertaining as you can—and don’t be intimidated. Entertainment comes in many different packages, the operative word being “different.”

For example, I just finished reading Linda Coles’ novel, Hot to Kill. It’s a crime novel which is different because of the killer’s motivation. The main character, Madeline Simpson, turns into a serial killer, but she does it more or less by accident. Most of the novel’s told from Madeline’s point of view; the detectives are peripheral to the action of the novel.

via www.angelabooth.com

Write Fiction And Publish It, In 8 Hours

If you wish, you can go through the process in a day. Alternatively, you can take several days.

A tip: I recommend you write your project (hours two to six) in one day.

If you split the writing over a couple of days, chances are you’ll procrastinate. Do it in a single day, so that you maintain your inspiration.

Tips to help you to write fiction in eight hours

Let’s look at some tips which may help. (Although I’ve numbered these tips, they’re in no particular order.)

via www.angelabooth.com

Write A Cookbook (Even If You Can't Cook)

That got me thinking about the elements of great cookbooks. Yes, they contain recipes, but they also contain something else which is more important.

I’ve been reading Samin Nosrat’s excellent Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking. It reminds me of Elizabeth David’s books, which I’ve read and reread over the years.

Elizabeth David’s books have been selling consistently for 70 years: A Book of Mediterranean Food was first published in 1950.

I adore blogging, so of course I also thought about Julie Powell’s “The Julie & Julia Project Blog.” The blog became the book, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, published in 2005. That book became a movie.

There’s a lesson in those books for anyone who wants to write a cookbook, but feels challenged in the kitchen. A great cookbook offers more than recipes… Just as well, because you can find millions of recipes online.

via www.angelabooth.com