You want to get your work out there. You want to gain an audience. You want to build a platform. And so you post. It’s so easy. There are countless platforms and opportunities from personal blogs and websites to sharing sites, like Wattpad, not to mention digital media outlets. The problem is reckless posting can undermine your ultimate goal.
Being a writer requires a strong foundation in many things. It’s more than banging out a few lines and hitting post. Like any profession, there are basics every writer needs to master. Grammar is your foundation, but there’s so much more.
Story doesn’t rely on how to use a semicolon or the definition of a dangling participial phrase. It needs understanding and ideas that come from a broader education and perspective.
Last week, I shared my reasons for joining the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Challenge to write a 50k book in 30 days. But I have more to say about the benefits of taking on such a large writing challenge.
Anytime you can set aside a chunk of time to write is a good thing, but dedicating an entire month to a huge goal allows you to be heroic about it.
Clients often ask me about my process, wanting to know how I am going to spend my time on their project. It’s not an easy answer. I approach every project differently depending on what I’m writing. A script is different than a speech, which is different from an article or blog. There is no one answer. But there are basic steps in common.
There are basic details I need before I start any project. They determine how I begin and how I set up the piece. It also sets up my process, which I will discuss next week.
These are the top seven things I need before the first word is written:
I know a lot of writers who excel when pressured by the clock. There’s something about crunching a deadline that spurs the creative juices.
The best writing transports us to another world, another life, another experience. The only way to reach this level of writing is to change the way you interact with the existing world.
So often we go through life focused on facts, our phones and our to-do lists and not the moments as they pass. We’re too busy looking ahead or behind to see what is. The sad fact is few of us are truly engaged in our lives. It’s one reason we are so often surprised by how quickly time has passed. Where did the summer go? It’s Christmas already?
Setting is key in any story, whether you’re talking novels or films. Setting is what gives a story a sense of place, ambience, mood and texture, so picking the right location is everything. Stories set in New Orleans are vastly different than those set in New York or Hong Kong. Even neighborhoods have different nuances—think Chinatown versus Greektown or Queens versus the Bronx.
This blog had a variety of titles: Be you. Follow your heart, not trends. Write for more than the money. My problem picking one was because they all fit and boil down to the same thing: write what moves you. Write the story that keeps you up at night and won’t let go. Write the character who whispers in your ear. Write what intrigues you.
You could argue that three is the most powerful number in the world. It is found throughout literature, music, and movies. It is the reason Mozart’s music, filled with major and minor thirds, soars. It is what governs photographic composition. And it forms the basis for most story structures.
I spoke to my son’s school recently about writing and the thing that excited the kids most was when I talked about plot bunnies. True, the photos of cute bunnies helped. A lot. Because who doesn’t like bunnies?
Here is what I told them:
Life is distracting. There is no doubt about that. Texts ding. Calls ring. Cats need petting. Children want food. There are so many distractions. Even ideas can be distractions.
There is something about the new and shiny that demands attention. Even new ideas. They are exciting and the urge to drop everything and follow where they lead is a strong one. Unfortunately, it is also a great way to end up with a hundred unfinished manuscripts.