%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Here you'll get lots of tips, motivation and experience to finally write your novel |
 Welcome and great that you found your way to my blog! My name is Evie and I write books that take readers out of their own worlds and into new ones that readers won't soon forget. I blog for artists, writers, creatives, multi-talents and all those who want to become one. In life, you don't need to be rich: Joy, curiosity and commitment are enough to reach your goal. Just like I am doing right now. In this blog, I'll give you tips on how to finish the monster "book project“. I'll also give you tips on how to find motivation to write (daily?) and how to incorporate it into your everyday life. You can also expect some prompts, ideas and step-by-step instructions here. Let me surprise you! I wish you a lot of fun with writing, Evie |
| These tips are NOT for writing better, but for writing healthy and happy and keeping it reasonably organized. KEEP IT ALL! You're about to delete that one story because you've improved? Stop. Save it for yourself. It may well be that (a) the idea is good and can be "reused," (b) you just need to revise the story so it shines in its full glory, or (c) it's just nice to reminisce about the writing process as you read it. You'll regret putting it out. Whether the story is half a novel or a short story, keep it! GET UP EARLY This may not be the tip for morning grouches, but it's definitely the first tip that allowed me to set my goals much higher and write a novel in 3 months (first draft). Just get up an hour or two earlier and write. BUT: sleep is important! I would recommend getting up an hour earlier and going to sleep an hour earlier so you can start the day well-rested! POMODORO - ON TO THE TOMATOES Here's how you do the pomodoro technique: - 25 minutes of writing - 5 minutes break - Write for 25 minutes - 5 minutes break - 25 minutes of writing - 35 minutes break I would definitely exercise during the longer break. This brings us to the next tip. YOGA, JOGGING, WHATEVER: EXERCISE IS IMPORTANT The title is fairly self-explanatory: exercise is important. Period. Go for a walk, do yoga, go for a jog, go for a swim. Whatever. Scientists have proven that just 10 minutes of exercise a day can prevent various diseases. Maybe you too would be willing to take the challenge of at least two hours of exercise a week (sure, 10*7=70, but if you don't exercise every day, you need more a week)? PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR NEEDS Even if you are writing a lot, you need to eat, drink, sleep and exercise enough (see previous point). Therefore, try to eat healthy, sleep at least 8 hours a day and exercise every day. But all this is not healthy without... BALANCE - FUN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ... Fun! Be happy and do everything for it! I assume that writing is fun for you. But if you don't feel like it at all right now, give yourself a break and do something you enjoy! |
| Here you are now. On the Internet. You're reading through this article. It's good to see you, but didn't you actually want to ... write? Most likely your answer will be "yes." Even then, you are welcome to read on. This one more article. Then you should start writing. Anything. Some people wonder how to start writing a novel. Note: If you speak German, you should definitely visit Schriftsteller-Werden.de, there are a lot of helpful tips and tricks. I, too, have thought about this question. Little by little, a training plan has emerged from these thoughts. It helps you get into the flow of writing and learn techniques, but it doesn't help you plow through a novel or give you tips for every scene. What more can I say? Let's do it! TRAINING PLAN SHORT STORY (~100 words). We're going to start small. Really small. You want to write a novel? Then you need to be able to write chapters, scenes, paragraphs. So now write down five to ten terms that come to mind and connect them into a concept map (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map) or, if that doesn't work, into a cluster (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_(Creative_Writing)). From these terms you then write a story. Not even a real story, more a snippet of text. It doesn't have to have a beginning-middle-end structure! It is enough if it has a punch line. If it doesn't seem right to you, you don't have to mention all the terms, but try to use the manufactured references and include at least 3 terms in a meaningful way. ATMOSPHERE TEXT (300-500 words) Now write an atmospheric text. You put yourself in a situation and try to create an atmosphere. Read through the text again and make sure you've stuck to show-don't-tell. So you should write "she was shivering" instead of "she was cold." Say "she ran around the house like crazy, rummaging in all the boxes. For days. Nothing. She slumped down in the chair and took the coffee cup in both hands. The coffee was cold." and not "She looked for a long time, but couldn't find it anywhere. She had no strength left Bund no hope." COMIC STRIP (~600 words). This is one of my favorite exercises. You take a comic strip, Snoopy, Dilbert, whatever. Preferably this is only three, four boxes (panels) long, but if you feel up to it, you can of course take a longer one. Now write about 200 words for each panel and try to connect the panel descriptions. Feel free to set a timer or use a prompt-giving, motivating, and time-measuring website like this one: https://thestoryshack.com/writing-exercise/ What point of view did you choose? Were there also thoughts or only action? Did you describe the setting? Did you describe rather than tell? Take the time to check. Now you can pat yourself on the back. You've come a long way. Take a break, eat something or sleep. The article is not running away from you. |
| The question always comes up in author circles, "Are you a plotter or a pantser?" There are both. Both types are good, both can be successful, and neither is better than the other. Personally, I say there are not just those two types. There are also planners who plan their story in advance but don't do scene outlines, etc. Personally, I panned my first novel, knowing only three or four things I wanted it to deal with. The second one I planned and now - oh wonder! - I'm plotting. If you'd asked me two or three years ago if I thought I'd ever plot, I'd have said, "No. I'm born to plot. I'm a born pantser!" The truth is, I'm not. I just didn't try it because it seemed "too elaborate." So I can only suggest you give it a try. But now to the first area. 1. PLANNING Legs Planning is mainly about creating a solid basic framework. For some, it's so polished that it's almost a millionaire's mansion without decorations (when plotting, the decorations would already be there 😉 ), for others it's more like a shopping list with bricks on it. There are just different people and therefore different approaches, and that's fine. But ... how do I plan now? You should answer the basic story questions when planning: - How does the book start? (a boy finds out he's a wizard). - What is the middle like? (he lives in a wizard boarding school, learns magic, befriends a smart girl, etc.) - How does it end? (it's the vacations and he goes back home). Hello Harry Potter! 👋 Some people find it easier to plan the middle first because you can develop a beginning and an end from it. Just see how it fits for you. Now you can go a little deeper into the details: - What are the characters' names? (Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Lord Voldemort, etc.) - What are their main character traits? (brave/nice/smart/scrupulous/strategic/helpful/etc.) - What are their relationships like with each other? (Friends/enemies/partners/opponents/lovers/relatives/unknowns/etc.) And now you can think about the readers*: - What feelings do you want the book to evoke? What adjective should it use to describe it? (exciting/quiet/interesting/satisfaction/gratitude/grief/etc.) - What genre should it be assigned to? (Fantasy/Romance/Romantasy/SciFi/Crime/Mystery/Comedy/Erotic/LGBTQI*/etc.) - Who is the target audience? (Children/youth/[age]/adults/retirees/small children/parents/teachers/students/Americans/depressed/lonely/LGBTQI*/women/etc). If you want, you can walk further towards the millionaire's mansion. Or you can go straight over to the ... 2. PLOTS The best tip for all plotting that I have is *drum roll* the snowflake method. It divides plotting into 10 steps. You start with one sentence and move step by step to 1 paragraph plot, 1 page plot, 4 page plot, scene list and much more. You can find it here: https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ I highly recommend this method. However, you must not feel intimidated by the steps or the information about them. Omit steps that you feel are unnecessary, add ones that you feel are necessary or fun, and take as much time as you need! What you won't find in this method are character sheets. There is a wonderful character sheet by a German author and blogger who wrote twelve books in one year. You can find this one here: https://schriftsteller-werden.de/dokumente/Charakterbogen.doc It is in German, but you can translate the file easily, for free and without registration e.g. with DeepL.com. You can find the explanation here: https://schriftsteller-werden.de/dokumente/Charakter-erlaeuterung.pdf If you want to design your characters without help, do it. But do you want to make it unnecessarily difficult for yourself? You should write these few things in your character sheet: - First impression (appearance, effect, etc.) - Appearance (attitude, clothing, speech/voice, characteristics, etc.) - Motivation (goals, dreams, etc.) - Inner conflict - Character traits - Status (profession, income, etc.) - Body (age, height, weight, build, reaction, strength, skin, body color, hair color & style, eye color, face, effect, etc.) - Mind (intuition, willpower, persuasion, etc.) - Likes and dislikes - Friends and family - Enemies - Abilities of mind and body - Home - Past (facts, changes, knowledge/education, social environment, etc.). I think I've said enough about plotting for now. Let's move on to the ... 3. PANTSER How to effectively be a Pantser is easy to answer: you write away. You don't have to have anything but a vague idea in your head. It can be helpful to track your progress, because some (the emphasis is on some!) Pantsers tend to give up more quickly because they don't know how to continue. E.g. if you have written a thousand words, you can put one paperclip on the next, and after 50,000 words you already have 50 paperclips. This way you make your progress tangible. Or do like I do and enter when you write and how much on NaNoWriMo.org and have stats, charts, and average times and speeds effortlessly generated. To sum it up, decide if you: have more or less of a plan -> planning have a more detailed process and plan -> plotting want to write on the fly -> pantsing Have fun writing/planning/plotting, Evie |
| Want to become really successful? Get rich from your books? Only write bestsellers? I can show you how to get a good step closer to that. But first, we need to clarify: What is success anyway? SUCCESS According to duden.de, success is a "positive result of an effort; occurrence of an intended, desired effect." According to spektrum.de, "Success, in motivation or learning psychology, refers to certain reinforcers that make similar future behavior more likely and generally have an activating effect (formation of contingencies between action and reward)." So success is achieving goals that you have previously defined or which are generally desirable. What is your goal? That your book will be a bestseller? Forget it. I have a feeling that many think success is easy. They say many novels and books have become bestsellers "overnight" after all. But is that true? The short answer is no. The long answer is: Behind these novels, too, there are years of practice and experience. There is also a lot of work behind them. In most cases, it's not the first book that succeeds. Maybe the first one published. But not the first. You might not see in the book how much work is behind it. But it is behind it. HOW DO YOU BECOME SUCCESSFUL? If you have understood that being successful is not that easy, you definitely want to know how to become successful now. The key to success is continuity. To be successful, you have to write more and more books. You will get better and better. With each chapter, with each book. And if you enjoy writing, isn't writing what you want to do every day? Yes? Great! Then I'd say you should do one thing right now: write. BONUS TIP My fans, or those who stop by the Community Newsfeed often, may already know it. We've all had those days where sitting down to write those 1,667 words seems impossible. But 10 words? You can do that. And then 15 words? You can do that too! The idea of this crawl is to break up a big wordcount into tiny, manageable chunks so it doesn't seem as daunting. It's really good for days when you just don't feel like writing, because by the time you've gotten through a few steps, you're ready to keep going! So without further ado... Write: - 10 words. - 15 words. - 25 words. - 50 words. - 75 words. - 100 words. - 100 words. - 75 words. - 100 words. - 110 words. - 120 words. - 125 words. - 150 words. - 100 words. - 125 words. - 150 words. - 120 words. - 100 words. - 80 words. - 60 words. - 50 words. - 75 words. - 100 words. - 150 words. - 200 words. - 175 words. - 150 words. - 125 words. - 100 words. - 150 words. TOTAL: 3,065 words Try it out! When is a better time than now? Now! |
| Hello! I already have some articles on my blog and would be happy if you participate in my survey. It only takes about 5 minutes (if you type faster than me and have fewer ideas, more like 2). The survey is anonymous. https://www.surveymonkey.de/r/3V88KTL |
| Most of you know this situation: you're out of motivation, you can hardly find ways to procrastinate and you have no idea what and what to write about now. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the solution: Prompts! You can find them everywhere there are writers 😉 . I present to you the three best ways to use them in a promising and motivating way. 1. SLACK IN THE BRAIN? - THE IDEA JAR HELPS If you're a Pantser, you'll (probably?) already know this problem. You've written about 15,000 words, maybe as many as 20,000, and suddenly: lull. The climax comes later, the kidnapping, the kiss, the zombie attack or the flying elephant has already happened. And now? You have two choices: give up and keep writing. I hope you don't choose to give up. I have two step-by-step guides for you that I hope will convince you. 1. Print out prompts or handwrite them on a sheet of paper. 2. Cut out each prompt. 3. Paint jam jars with opaque paint and label them 1, 2, and 3 or "Novel," "Short Stories," and "Other." 4. Sort the prompts into the three jars. You can use more, of course. Arrange them so that jar 1, for example, contains prompts that fit your book project, jar 2 contains those that can become short stories and flash fictions, and jar 3 contains all the others - those that fit both or nothing. However, it may be that you'd rather not do anything elaborate. In that case, if you need a prompt, do the following: 1. Go to a website with prompts, e.g. the NaNoWriMo.org forum. 2. Blindly choose a prompt. Decide if it helps you. If not, choose another one. Or it may be that you're just having a problem with your plot. Let's move on to the next step. 2. PLOT PROBLEMS - SOLVED IN THREE STEPS Sometimes I ponder and ponder because I have a gaping plot hole in front of me that doesn't want to shrink. I have some suggestions for this, I could certainly write a separate article on it. If this is desired, please let me know. The three steps on how to shrink or eliminate a plot hole are quite simple. First, you need to find the cause. No matter how cleverly you distract the reader, there is no real hiding an absence of information. If your story currently requires an impossible event, then no amount of optimization will make what you ultimately choose as a solution work. What needs to be addressed is why it is currently impossible. Then they should identify the facts. What are the facts about your situation? Suppose your characters are trapped somewhere; they need to escape, but for some reason they can't. Why? Write down the exact details of the situation. Do they have knowledge, resources, or help they can use to escape? What makes the situation so unchangeable? Last but not least, shrink the plot hole based on the facts. Look at the facts and rehearse - in your head or on paper - which ones you can change to close the plot hole. This step is where you need prompts - or the idea jar. You are now looking at a prompt. Just do it. To add some variety to shrinking and erasing the plot hole, they implement the prompt if possible. It usually even helps close it if you don't have an idea. To summarize: 1. find the cause 2. note the facts 3. change the facts and thus reduce the plot hole 3. CHALLENGES As you know, you can do them with anything - challenges. That's why you can make up your own version. Here two or more participants get the same prompt and write a micro- or flash fiction, a drabble or a short story. Everybody who takes part wins. But of course you can also publish the texts on writing.com and see after 1 week who has the better average rating. 4. PROMPTE Now I'm talking about it here all the time and in the whole article not a single one has appeared yet? So now come the prompts. I tried to think up and choose them in a variety of ways so that there are concrete and non-concrete prompts. Additionally, I have a website with some of my own prompts: https://thestoryshack.com/create-your-own-generator/?id=63f3380fc70f842d0b496142... Have fun trying them out! 1. You awaken one morning as a dragon in the present and are now faced with hiding from the government and ignoring the urge to reduce their cities to rubble. 2. You visit the grave of your best friend on the 7th anniversary of his death. The grave is totally devastated. The coffin is dug up and empty. You want to go back to your car and call the police. There's your best friend behind the wheel, alive and kicking, looking at you expectantly and saying, "Get in, we have to get out of here!" 3. You live in a universe where everything turns to color as soon as you touch your soulmate. The protagonist touches their soulmate when they were only a few months old and grows up thinking that the color they see is the "default color." They are now in adulthood and can't seem to find their soulmate. Will they ever find out and meet again? 4. Write a complete story that takes place in a single second. 5. You are a peaceful dragon in a fairy tale and are highly allergic to humans. Actually, you would like to be friends with the humans, but every time they send an armored spiked human to you, you start sneezing fire uncontrollably. 6. The prota feels totally unrested after every night's rest, but nothing he/she does about it seems to help. What does he/she do to sleep better? Does he/she perhaps drink hot milk with honey to fall asleep or does he/she consult a doctor? What kind of help does the doctor offer? Does the prota perhaps even get the idea of filming his/her sleep and discover that he/she is sleepwalking or is haunted at night by a succubus/incubus? What can he/she do to sleep better again? 7. The prota receives messages from a person he/she believes is already deceased. Who is the person? How did they die and how long have they been dead? Is it possible that there was a mix-up and the person is still alive? But then where has she been for the last few years? 8. The prota has been taking a lot of pictures lately. When he/she looks at them now, he/she notices that on each picture, at the edge, one and the same person can be recognized. This cannot be a coincidence! Who is this person? Can the protagonist remember that the person was there, or not? How does the prota react to this? Does he/she seek out the other person? Can he/she find them? The prota observes an asteroid falling to Earth. Does he/she go closer? Does he/she notice that all of a sudden all of the plants in the vicinity begin to die? Does he/she report his/her discovery to anyone? 9. The prota observes in a public transport how someone forgets his/her bag. Since he/she is a nice person, he/she wants to return the bag. So he/she runs after the other person, but he/she does not turn around, although the prota calls out. All at once, the other person disappears behind a corner of a house and is subsequently gone. The prota is left with a bag full of disturbing stuff. Make something out of it! 10. The prota is totally fascinated by a statue and looks at it for a while. What fascinates him/her about this statue? Is it rather a beautiful statue or rather repulsive, creepy,... Does it perhaps have magic powers? Does it even move? How does the protagonist react? 11. The prota is awakened by the shrill cry of a little girl. Does he/she run out to see what's going on? The girl is not hurt. However, doesn't know who she is, where she is, or how she got there. What does the prota do with the child? The prota wants to be artistic. Where does this desire come from? Does he/she have talent? What art form does he/she choose? What does he/she create and will he/she perhaps even become famous with it? 12. A former classmate contacts the prota. What does he/she want from her? Are they meeting each other? Do they have something to tell each other or is there more of an awkward silence between them? How do they part? The prota wishes someone dead with all his/her heart. What is the background? Is it a bitter enemy of the prota, whom he/she simply wants to get rid of, or a good friend, for whom continuing to live would be a torture? Describe in detail what the prota thinks and feels that confirms his/her desire. 13. The prota becomes traumatized and begins to hear voices. What voices does he/she hear? What do they want to tell him/her? Are they helpful or do they rather harm the prota even more? 14. The prota hears that a person wants to get married. However, he/she is absolutely sure that the person would never marry voluntarily. Who is the person to marry? Why would he/she never marry voluntarily and what led to the prospective marriage? How does the prota react? Does he/she want to help or does he/she think there is nothing he/she can do? What does he/she do? 15. The prota goes blind for a while. What has happened? How does he/she deal with it? How can he/she be cured? The prota goes deaf for a while. What happened? How does he/she deal with it? How can he/she be cured? 16. The prota becomes lame for a while. What happened? How does he/she deal with it? How can he/she be healed? The prota has a painting that has been passed down in the family for generations. What can be seen on it? Does the prota like the painting or find it terrible? One day, as the prota walks past the painting, something unusual happens. What? 17. Your superpower isn't anything special. You can make stuff disappear behind your back then pull it back out again. When a friend at a party asks you to do it to them it sounds like a great laugh. But when you pull them back out they look older, disheveled, and are frantic to be sent back. You have a reputation for being a Master Thief. You don't understand why, you've never even borrowed anything without permission, let alone stolen anything. 18. You wake up in a chair in a padded cell. Someone else sits across from you. A voice from a speaker in the ceiling says, "One of you is a natural person. One of you is artificial. Determine which is which. The real person gets to go free." You can't remember anything before this room. Let the protagonist sing karaoke! Where does he/she hang out where he/she can sing karaoke? Did he/she want to sing, or was he/she forced to sing? How does he/she feel about it? Does he/she get applause or is he/she booed? Have a character climb a tree! Why does he/she have to? Does he/she do it skillfully? Is he/she having fun? 19. Your protagonist oversleeps! Where would he/she have to be on time? By how much does he/she oversleep? How much does this change his/her morning routine? Does he/she get naggy as a result? What are the consequences of oversleeping? 20. A character disappears for an entire chapter. Does anyone notice? Who notices? How do the other characters act? How does the protagonist behave? 21. An electrical appliance gives up the ghost! Which one is it? Does the protagonist need it urgently? Can it be repaired or does it need a new one? |
| 1. MONSTERMOTIVATION.DE monstermotivation.de is a German platform and should only be recommended if you actually speak German. Smaller language skills should be enough, the monster-letters can also be translated with deepl.com. The point is that you adopt a monster and then "feed" it with written words. What can be a bigger motivation than a monster smile? 2. 3 DIGIT CHALLENGE With the 3 Digit Challenge you can increase your motivation and increase your wordcount. It goes as follows: Person A writes the last three digits of their wordcount, for example 406. Any other person then writes 406 words and leaves the last three digits of their wordcount. She writes "taking x (here 406), leaving y (last three digits of her new wordcount). This challenge exists in the NaNoWriMo forum, there it is great because there are many active people and you don't have to wait all the time, but of course it can also take place in an author chat group. You can do the challenge in pairs or with more than 200 people, the number is entirely up to you. In the NaNoWriMo forum, the comments are correspondingly impersonal and consist (almost) only of "taking x, leaving y", but in a smaller group, which you can also form and create on the NaNo site, the comments are more personal. 3. SENTENCE OR DRABBLE CHALLENGE First things first: A drabbel is a scene or part of a scene, i.e. a literary text. It must be exactly 100 words long. You can post it in NaNoWriMo forums or on writing.com. You can also write it for yourself, of course. Now, what is a sentence challenge? This challenge can be done live and in person or in chat groups. The first person writes or says a sentence, such as "Peter is looking forward to Thursday." The next person says a sentence where the first word must start with the first letter of "Thursday," the second word with the second letter, and so on. So you always write/say a sentence where each word starts with the letter of the last person's last word. In terms of Drabbels, this does NOT mean that you have to write a Drabbel for a sequence of a hundred letters (even if that would be a nice idea for sentence challenge experts, of course...), but: Person A writes a Drabbel and publishes the last five words. Person B has to take the last five words as prompt for his own drabble and then publish his own last five words, person C then takes them as prompt, and so on. You can play it with two people or more, although it's only really fun with three. You can do the Drabbel-Challenge for e.g. one month and then publish all written drabbles in the group. And what is the use of Drabbels now? Drabbles are all well and good. They (1) improve your writing style, (2) make you creative and (3) are fun. But what good are they for your novel? Why don't you write a drabble that tells the content of your novel? This is good for plotting, but also as a first draft of your synopsis. Or write the beginning of the next scene as a drabble. It can (4) help you if you don't feel like writing because you're only writing 100 words, a small amount, (5) help you develop a (daily?) writing routine, (6) teach you to be concise, and (7) get feedback for many snippets of your story. In addition, (8) you'll learn to write an engaging closing punch line. 4. KEEP A WRITING JOURNAL A writing journal is a diary in which you record if, what, and how much you wrote today. It motivates you to write a number in it. Your writing journal might be structured like this: [date] [What did you write about, how did it make you feel? If you can't think of anything in particular, just leave that out]. Daily goal: Words new: Total words: It's up to you. You can also just keep it in a file, you don't have to get a notebook, but if you keep a BuJo anyway, this could be a good addition. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
It's my favorite section of WdC! 