Creative Writing

I’m always looking for weird ways of getting my creative juices flowing.  Being someone who loves to write short stories, mainly for myself, I try to come up with little tricks that will give me a whole new scenario to work with.  One of my tricks consists of picking out items that I look at everyday, but rarely pay much attention to, due to the fact that they’ve become part of the background.

Here’s how this little thing works.  Look around your room and pick out 3 items.  Doesn’t really matter what they are, just pick three things.  I’ll play along to give you an idea.  As I look around my desk and the surrounding area, I notice these items:

1.) Coffee Cup
2.) Telephone
3.) Ballpoint Pen

Now, use these objects in a story.  For me, I’m thinking of a romantic type of story.  I’ll use these items as a way for the 2 main characters to get to know each other.  The coffee cup makes me want to set the scene in a coffee shop, the phone makes me want to have one of the characters talking on their cell phone, and the pen makes me want that character writing something down in a notebook.

Ok, now I have my basics, and I can really get started on the story itself.  I know that the main scene will take place in a coffee shop.  In my mind, I see my main female lead, let’s call her Becca, sitting at a table, alone.  She’s on her cell phone, talking to her boss about her next assignment.  I see her as being a journalist and she’s hot on the trail of her next story.  She’s writing as fast as she’s talking, and suddenly her pen breaks and shoots ink all over her notebook, her hand, and spots her new blouse.

The gentleman sitting at the next table gets hit in the face with a drop of ink, and notices Becca frantically trying to clean up her mess, without making a bigger one.  That’s when he reaches into his pocket and hands her a new pen.  She looks up, and giggles a little at the spot of ink on his cheek.  She takes the pen, finds a clean sheet of paper, and continues on with her writing.  So, where will the story go from there?  I don’t know yet, but I’m loving what I’ve done so far.

So, when you’re fighting with something to write about, look around at the mundane objects sitting right in front of you.  Pick 3 and take it from there.  What worlds can you create from the little things you probably take for granted?

No, this post isn’t about something I’ve personally written and had published.  This post is about how to get your name out to the world, without having to spend thousands of dollars in advertising costs.  One of the biggest challenges that new writers come across, especially online, is how to get people to read their work.

For new writers and authors, you need to remember that no one will come read your work simply because you’ve written something.  You have to let them know that you’ve written something, and where they can find it.  I’ve found many younger and newer writers now have blogs where they post their stories and poetry.  But, they get frustrated because no one ever reads their work, or never leave comments.  Here’s a couple tricks that might help.

If you’re a regular visitor to any forums, be sure to leave a link to your site in your signature.  This will bring people who already know a little about you to your site.  Also, create a signature in your emails, so that anyone you communicate with can find your site.  You would be amazed at the amount of traffic this will bring in.

If you visit other blogs and leave comments, make sure to add a link to your blog there.  Most blog comment sections will ask you for your name and website, so you don’t have to worry about spamming the comments section with an unwanted link.  One thing to remember here, is that you should always leave a viable comment.  Don’t just blurt something out in order to post your site’s link.  Chances are that you’re comment will be deleted without being seen.

If you have several stories and poetry in different places, create a page on your blog or website that will lead your readers to all the different places where your writing can be found.  If you’ve written a book, or had a story published in an anthology, be sure to add a link to where that book can be purchased online.

When it comes to getting the word out about what you can do, you have to be your own best PR person.  Nobody can market your work as well as you can.  Don’t be afraid to showcase your own work, but don’t be conceited.  A brilliant editor once told me that the best writers are their own worst critics.  The writers who are sure they are the greatest writers alive are the ones who usually need the most work.  Be proud of your work, but don’t be over confident.  If you work hard, allow others to find your work, and continue to improve on all you do, it won’t take long to build a regular reader base.  And with regular readers, comes regular traffic.

First of all, I wanted to let everyone who tried to leave a comment the past couple of days, but found a notice that they had to sign up in order to do so, that this option has been removed. It was a minor glitch, and it has been rectified. Things happen sometimes, that are totally beyond our control, but the amazing people behind the scenes here at Today.com have fixed the problem and all is well once again.

Now, on to the business at hand. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know all there is to know about the writing industry. However, I learn something new all the time and as long as I continue to learn, I know I’m on the right path. One thing I’m learning as I go is that the things you experience in your daily life can be used in your quest to become a better, and a more creative, writer.

There’s an old saying that tells you to write what you know. Personally, I believe that if you strive to write about things you’ve got to research, you become a more well-rounded person. But, what I’m getting at here is that a lot of people don’t take into consideration everything they know. Writing what you know, doesn’t just mean writing about what you’re an expert in. It goes much deeper than that.

For me personally, I have a lot of things that I can take into this subject. I’m the child of divorce, I’m a mom, I’ve been a Boy Scout leader for 11 years, and I’ve worked with the public since I was 16 years old. Each of these elements can be used in the “write what you know” topic. Let’s use the Boy Scout experiences as an example.

In Boy Scouts, you need to learn a lot of stuff. First of all, you need to know first aid. It’s not a requirement, but it’s a really good idea. Because of this, I’ve been able to create a few articles about putting together first aid kits, ideas on emergency preparedness, and what to do in case of minor scrapes and burns. In the fiction genre, I can use this to create a mother who has to rescue one of her children or someone else around here. The possibilities are endless.

Another part of my Boy Scout experience is that I spent many years going to Boy Scout camp. This is a week long endeavor, and I learned a lot about myself and what I’m capable of. But more than that, I came up with some killer ideas for short stories. I’m currently working on a romantic story that takes place at a summer camp. No, there are no Scouts in the story. LOL

Take a little time to sit back and reflect on all the experiences you’ve had throughout your life. No matter how mundane they might seem right now, they could be used as fodder for the next great story, or as a way to help someone else out who is looking for answers. If you’re going to write what you know, reach down deep inside and collect all the data you have to work with.

I know you’ve heard a lot of people talk about writer’s block, and I’ve probably discussed it here more than once.  The thing is that there are millions of things that can kill writer’s block, it all comes down to finding that one thing that will spark a creative ember.  Today, I’m going to post a few things that might help overcome the problem.  Now, please keep in mind that I’ve grown to believe that writer’s block is basically brain overload, meaning that you’re not really blocked, you’re creative centers have just had a temporary short circuit.  Let’s see if we can fix that.

Ok, now I can’t say that these will work on everyone who stops by, but who knows.  Maybe one little idea will help at least one person find something to get back into the writing game.  If that happens, I consider this a success.  So, here are a few of the things I do to get myself into the writing mood.

Think about someone from your past.  An old boyfriend/girlfriend, your favorite high school teacher, the one person that made your skin crawl.  Doesn’t matter who it is, just sit back and think about them for a minute.  Now, set that person into a character in a story.  Make them the hero, the villain, the reason behind the story, again this really doesn’t matter as long as you turn them into a character.

Talk to yourself in a mirror.  Ok, stop laughing, I know how ridiculous that sounds, but try it.  The trick is to NOT see yourself.  Did that make sense?  Here’s what I mean.  Look at yourself as though you’re looking at one of the characters in a story.  Use various voice tones, facial expressions, head movements.  Get a feel for what you think you’re character would be like if you were to meet them in person.  (Word of caution, don’t let your kids see you do this, they’ll think you’re nuts).

Write out a list of single words.  They don’t have to make any kind of sense, just write whatever words come to mind.  Milk, frog, plague, dinosaur—whatever.  Just write until you can’t think of anything else, then go back through the list and pick out the words that really catch your eye.  Why do those words catch your eye?  Where else can you go with those words?  Run with it.

Finally, if you just can’t seem to get the words to come out, write a letter to yourself.  Explain to yourself what’s going on in your head, in your life, whatever.  Put all your feeling on paper/computer screen and get them out of your system.  All your anxieties, all your frustrations, all your emotional traumas.  Scream on paper, tell yourself off, do whatever it takes to make the words come alive.  Believe it or not, you’ll find yourself writing like your fingers are on fire.

Every writer has good days and bad days.  If you’re finding yourself in a slump, try a few of these little tricks to get back into the swing of things.  Better yet, come up with a few of your own and get back to doing what it is that you love to do; write!

I’ve written about fighting to get the words to come out, and I’ve written about getting the words to slow down long enough for you to put them to paper.  I love writing.  It’s more than just something I do, it’s what I am.  I’ve also written about my adventures in writing for other bloggers.  But what happens when one of the people you’ve written for proclaims you to the world as “one of the best” in the business?  How do you live up to the hype?

One of my best buddies is a great guy named Garry Conn.  If you ever have any questions about the business of blogging, he’s your go-to guy.  Someone asked him about hiring a writer to do their writing for them, and that’s when my buddy not only wrote an amazing review about my services, he went so far as to do a video blog about it.  I was both humbled, and horrified.  What if I can’t live up to all that he made me out to be.

Writing for the Internet is a tricky business.  It all comes down to writing in a way that sounds normal, but will still catch the attention of the search engines.  It’s not easy, but it can be done.  I know because I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years now.  But, my dilemma is that I don’t see myself as being all that good at it.  In my mind, I’m just a goober country hick from Nebraska that fell into a pile of crap and came out looking like a writer.

Think about all the things you do as a writer.  If someone was to come along and tell the world about all your fabulous qualities, how would you handle it?  What would you do if your reputation was on the line?  All comments on this are more than welcome.