Jessica Brody's Blog, page 8

Break Through Writer’s Block With this Easy Hack!

Stories are made inside our heads. Worlds are built, characters are born and die, universes are constructed. And yet, sometimes our silent brain space fails us. Sometimes, we get stuck and just can’t think our way out of a problem. That’s when you have to get out of your head, stop thinking, and start…

Talking. 

Aloud. 

To yourself. 

Yes, I’m referring to straight-up, insane asylum type stuff. I do it all the time. And believe me, it HELPS. I will often run a recording app (like Evernote or Audio Memos, or whatever voice recorder came with your phone) so that I don’t have to keep notes and try to capture everything I’m saying. I can just…talk. It’s very freeing knowing something else is keeping track of what comes out. 

I walk around my office and I just talk through the scene or character or plot point I’m stuck on aloud. Sometimes, I’ll even recite the dialogue between two characters. I also do this a lot in my car when I’m driving by myself. I do some of my best thinking when I’m driving. Also talking aloud in my car feels safer somehow. Because, like, everyone talks to themselves in the car…RIGHT? 

If you’re unsure how to start talking to yourself, just pick a scene or plot point that you’re stuck on, press record on your app, and literally start describing the scene to yourself. Say something like, “Okay, so Lauren is on her bike when the call comes in. She pulls over to the side of the road to answer the phone and that’s when the car comes blazing around the corner…” You’d be surprised how far you can get and how many breakthroughs you can uncover simply by getting it out of your head and into space. 

Remember, no one will ever hear these recordings but you, so try to let down your guard, shut off your inner critic, forget what people might think of you, and just start chattin’ away!

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

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And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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Put Your Darlings to the Test (Before You Kill Them) – A Tip for Revising with Clarity

Have you ever found yourself staring down a page or chapter in your revision, knowing you have to cut or rewrite major chunks of text, and thinking, “I DON’T WANNA DO IT!” Or maybe you say to yourself, something along the lines of, “But I love that passage! It’s some of my best work!”

But we all know that sometimes to make a good scene great you have to (let’s say it all together!) “Kill your darlings!”

Well, here’s a mind trick I discovered to put those darlings to the test and discover if they really ARE that great…or if they’re just sort of, kind of great, and my reluctance to kill them stems more from the fear of not being able to do better. (Sound familiar???)

Here’s what I do: I cut and paste the entire scene or chapter I’m trying to revise OUT of my main document. Get it out of there. REMOVE IT COMPLETELY. I paste it in another separate document. I then set those document windows side by side so I can see them both at once and I start the scene or chapter from scratch. That’s right.  Blank page. Fresh Start. White horizon. (Sometimes I’ll even start a brand NEW document just for the revision of that scene). Now here’s where the hack comes in. You’re allowed to put anything from the original scene/chapter back into the new version of the scene/chapter BUT…here’s the caveat. You can’t copy and paste anything back in. You have to RETYPE it. Every. Single. Word.

What this little nifty trick does is:

1) Forces you to really decide if it’s worth keeping. It’s a lot harder to retype than it is to cut and paste (or type around text that’s already on the page.) Once you have to retype that entire passage back in word for word, your brain goes, “Ugh. Is this really worth it?” And you’ll have an easier time answering that question truthfully. You might get halfway through retyping that passage you thought was the best work you’ve ever done, only to discover that it’s really not and all of this retyping work is not actually worth it.

2) Just the act of retyping the words (which is essentially re-writing it) puts your brain into a different gear. Essentially, it puts your brain BACK into drafting mode and you can see that old passage with new eyes. It’s strange, but just the act of retyping it, often gives me a new perspective on the text and I find myself typing NEW things along with the old things. Literally revising the passage as I type. Instead of trying to cram new things into an existing chunk of text (where my ego is clinging desperately to things it probably shouldn’t be clinging to) I’m able to revise as I type and decide what stays and goes in the “moment.” Which oftentimes works out better for me.

So give this little hack a try. Find a scene or chapter or passage that needs to be revised, get it out of your manuscript and add it back “manually”—word by word. See if it helps you look at your writing with a bit more clarity.

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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The Crappy Writer Hat versus the Fancy Writer Hat

When I speak to writers–professionals and beginners alike–there seems to be a LOT of worry out there about being a “good” writer. Imagine that!

Apparently a lot of us writers out there want to write WELL. The nerve! Consequently, I also get a lot of questions along the lines of, “how do I stay motivated enough to finish a project?” And I find this line of questioning extremely fitting because I’ve always found that the struggle to write well goes hand in hand with the struggle to finish a novel. In other words, as soon as I start obsessing about whether or not my writing is “good” that’s when I lose all my motivation to write.

And that’s because finishing a FIRST draft is not the same thing as finishing a GOOD draft. They are essentially two different skills. And trying to accomplish them both at once is like trying to whistle and play harmonica and sing the national anthem (backward) AT THE SAME TIME! It can’t be done! You have to think of these things (finishing a draft and perfecting a draft) as two different tasks that require you to put on two different hats.

The first hat (the one you wear when you’re struggling to get through NaNoWriMo, or just struggling to finish a rough draft) is a washed-up, faded, sweaty ball cap with the words “Crappy Writer” barely legible on the front. The writer who wears this hat is exactly what the hat says: A CRAPPY WRITER. This writer is a lazy,  F-minus slacker who doesn’t give a darn about what goes down on the page, as long as something goes down on the page. This writer is a student who turns in homework with all the answers wrong, and often leaves questions blank. This is the crappiest of all crap writers! And this is what YOU must become in order to keep going and finish that rough draft. In fact, let’s just stop calling it the “Rough Draft” and start calling it what it really is: “The Crap Draft”

Then, once Crappy Writer is retired and the Crap Draft is done, only THEN can you take off the faded ball cap and put on the other hat: the prim and proper, attending-a-wedding-in-the-English-countryside hat with the designer label that says, “Fancy Writer”. The writer who wears this hat is a perfectionist who speaks in a posh accent, throws elegant dinner parties, and uses correct grammar in every sentence, even when it sounds ridiculous like, “With whom are you going to the ball?” This writer likes to plant rose gardens, and buy expensive art and drink tea with their pinkies out. This is the writer who’s going to turn that stinky pile of crap into a beautiful, shiny book. This writer would never even use the word “crap.”

But like I said, you can’t be both at once. These two writers would NEVER get along in real life. Fancy Writer wouldn’t even dare be in the same room with Crappy Writer. So don’t try to make them get along in your head. It won’t be pretty. Give them their separate spaces, let them do their very separate jobs and the world (and your mind) will be a much happier place.

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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YA Scavenger Hunt: Fall 2018 Edition

Welcome to the Fall 2018 YA Scavenger Hunt! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! (THE GREEN TEAM!!) But play fast: this contest will only be online for 5 days!

 

 

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are seven contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GREEN TEAM — but there is also RED, BLUE, GOLD, ORANGE, PINK, & PURPLE teams for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt Author List.

If you get stuck or need help, you can check out the How to Hunt page.

Scavenger Hunt Puzzle

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GREEN TEAM, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, Oct 7th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Welcome, Patricia B. Tighe!

Today, I am hosting Patricia B. Tighe on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

The award-winning YA romance author of THE ZONE series and the SECOND CHANCES series, Patricia B. Tighe lives in West Texas with her husband and dogs. She’s a sucker for romance and loves to put her characters in sticky situations to see what happens. When she’s not writing, she eats way too much pizza, drinks way too much coffee, and watches way too much NFL football.

Find Patricia online: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

About Amanda vs. the Universe

Even after a couple of months, sixteen-year-old Amanda Bryson is still nursing a broken heart. And now her parents are forcing her to attend the traditional summer family vacation in New Mexico. She’d much rather be home taking care of her sick great-grandmother than doing chores and dealing with her brother and his friends.

But when they arrive, Amanda learns that the studio of local potter and friend Cady Sanders has been hit by taggers. Not only that, but the older woman broke her foot chasing them off. Now Amanda has the chance to give back by helping out—with the added perk of no thoughts of her ex, or family chores, or obnoxious brothers.

There’s only one problem. Cady’s nephew, Kyle Young, is staying with her for the summer. He’s surly, ridiculously cute, and clearly doesn’t want her around. That makes two of them. But as Amanda and Kyle compete for Cady’s attention, they find they have a lot in common, including a growing attraction. But is Amanda ready to date again? Or will Kyle, despite his intense gazes, turn out to be just as jerky as her ex?

See on Amazon

Exclusive Content: Playlist for Amanda vs. the Universe

 

Hi, everybody! In my YA romance, AMANDA VS. THE UNIVERSE, both Amanda and Kyle have been dumped in the past few months. In working on their playlist, I chose break-up songs to start with and then transitioned into love songs to show them getting closer. It was fun putting this whole thing together. I hope you see a few of your favorites on this list.

1. I’m a Mess—Bebe Rexha

2. Head Above Water—Avril Lavigne

3. Remind Me to Forget—Kygo & Miguel

4. Want You Back—5 Seconds of Summer

5. Since You’ve Been Gone—Kelly Clarkson

6. Too Good at Goodbyes—Sam Smith

7. When I Was Your Man—Bruno Mars

8. You Say—Lauren Daigle

9. How You Get the Girl—Taylor Swift

10. Girls Like You—Maroon 5 (feat. Cardi B)

11. Just the Way You Are—Bruno Mars

12. Perfect—Ed Sheeran

*****

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Patricia! Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me (Jessica) and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 11. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GREEN TEAM and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

 

Continue the Hunt

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author on betsycornwell.com.

 

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Find the Perfect Story Title in 5 Easy Steps!

Desperately in need of a good title for your book, screenplay, paper, article, or short story? Yeah, been there.

I find that, for me, titles either come right at the very beginning (along with the idea) or not until the very last minute (i.e. the book is about to be printed and my editor is breathing down my neck saying, “We can’t very well write ‘untitled’ on the cover and I’m like, “Why not? Sounds like a compelling read to me!”)

With 52 REASONS TO HATE MY FATHER, the title came instantly. The moment I had the idea for a story about a girl whose father makes her take on 52 low-wage jobs, the title popped into my head a second later. It’s nice when it’s that easy! But it’s not always the case.

For other books like IN SOME OTHER LIFE, THE GEOGRAPHY OF LOST THINGS, and ADDIE BELL’S SHORTCUT TO GROWING UP the titling process was brutal. I brainstormed for days and weeks on end for each of them, ending up with lists and lists of mediocre titles before coming up with the right one.

But it wasn’t until my last title debacle, for my upcoming sci-fi novel (a retelling of Les Miserables set on a distant planet, co-written with Joanne Rendell), that I discovered the ultimate title brainstorming game! And I thought I would share it with all of you, in case you, too, are stuck on the titling phase of your book or story.

Here’s how it works: 

Rip or cut up multiple small strips of paper (the more the better!)
On each piece of paper write down a word (or phrase) that in someway is associated with the story (these can be related to themes, imagery, locations, character traits, life lessons, catch phrases, key objects in the story, even a character name!)
Randomly divide up the slips of paper into two equal groups and put them in two different hats (bags and bowls work too). For an added challenge, try THREE groups/hats!
Pick one slip of paper randomly from each bowl and try to mash the two words or phrases together into something coherent.
Write down ALL combinations (even if they don’t strike your fancy at that moment, you never know when a bad title could inspire a good title later down the road)

 

Once you’ve made your way through all the slips, repeat steps 3-5 as many times as you like!

Last year my co-author, Joanne Rendell, and I were struggling to re-title our Les Mis retelling, (which was sold as THE DARKEST NIGHT, but everyone agreed that wasn’t compelling enough). We played this game (each of us creating a list of titles and picking random combinations from the hats.) One round, she picked sky and I picked stars. And while yes, alone these are two very simple concepts, it wasn’t until we worked at putting the two together in different ways did we come up with SKY WITHOUT STARS, which is now the title!

So give the game a try and let me know if you come up with anything brilliant! Good luck, title masters!

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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Get 10 Bonus Beat Sheets When You Pre-Order Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

Pre-order a copy of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and receive a FREE companion eBook containing bonus beat sheets (plot breakdowns) for 10 popular novels. That’s over 120 pages of extra content to help you plot your own bestseller!

The bonus eBook includes Save the Cat! plot breakdowns for the following novels:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck


Prey by Michael Crichton


1984 by George Orwell


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas


Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo


Emma by Jane Austen


Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo


Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney


A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens


And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


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What’s Wrong with My Story? – The Ultimate “Hack” for Fixing Broken Plots

So, there you are. You’re writing like the wind. Things are going well. Words are flowing. The story is epic. The dialogue is snappy. And then SCREECH! You suddenly slam on the brakes because, wait a second, something is wrong. Everything you thought was going to work suddenly just…doesn’t. 

Why???

YOU HAVE NO IDEA!

Uh-oh. This is a huge problem. A problem I’ve dealt with several times in my writing career. I call it a Plot Clog. Something is wrong with your story, but you have no idea how to fix it. And until you do fix it, you can’t really move on. Because too many other things in the story depend on this one not-working thing.

Fortunately, I recently discovered a handy “hack” for busting out of the Plot Clog, figuring out what’s wrong with your story, and getting things flowing again. Since discovering this little trick, I’ve tried it out a few times and I’m happy to report that it really does work! And it’s pretty simple too. So I thought I’d share it with all of you.

Whenever you reach a plot problem, road block, or challenge in your novel (or really any problem you’re having in any aspect of your life, but I won’t get into that), here’s all you have to do to bust free from that pesky problem:

Write an email to an imaginary editor explaining the problem.

Whether you have an actual editor or not is irrelevant. The email can also be to an imaginary critique partner, an imaginary best friend, or an imaginary literary agent, it doesn’t matter. As long as they’re imaginary because here’s the secret…

The email will never actually get sent!

So it doesn’t really matter who you write it to! Write it to an imaginary plot solving mad genius (hey…they exist!) The point is, just the process of explaining your plot problem to someone new actually helps you work out the problem itself. Particularly if the recipient is someone who’s not 100% familiar with the story you’re working on.

Because when you have to lay out how the plot problem fits in with the larger plot of your book, it forces you to not only see the bigger picture of your story as a whole and how the plot problem connects to it, but also forces you to boil down the essence of your story into a single email (lest you rewrite the entire book in the body email.)

I discovered this trick a few months back when I was stuck on a plot problem and I opened up an email to my editor to tell her ALL about it. By the time I was 3/4 through the email, what do you know? I’d solved that darn thing myself. I thought it was just a fluke until it happened again when I was struggling with a different plot problem for a different novel and I started typing out the WHOLE thing to a fellow author friend over instant message, convinced SHE would be the one to help me work out the issue. But before I could even send the message, HUZZAH! the answer had come to me. That’s when I knew I was onto a pretty cool hack.

So give it a try. Next time you run into a stumbling block, open that email, picture someone who has ALL the answers on the other end, and start typing like you really are going to send it. Tell that plotting genius ALL about this problematic book or story of yours, and see if it opens up some channels in your mind.

Good luck!

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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The Power of the Bullet (Point) – How to Fast Draft a Scene or Chapter

Not all scenes or chapters come to us fully formed, with witty dialogue, striking metaphors, beautiful prose, and perfect structure. Wouldn’t that be nice?

For me, more often than not, scenes come to me in chunky, choppy bits and pieces. A dialogue exchange here, a nice description there, a sentence or two about how the character is feeling, or maybe even just the flow of how I imagine the scene taking place.

For instance:

Jenny gets in the car
Reese just sits there, staring out the wind shield, not saying anything.
Jenny wants to talk to him but doesn’t know what to say.
They both sit in silence.
Reese finally talks about something else (the weather? The road conditions?)
Jenny knows something is going on but is it really her job to bring it up?
Reese: Do you want to stop for food.
The thought of food makes Jenny want to vomit.
Jenny: I’m not hungry.

And that, my friends, is exactly how I’ll write it. Yes, I’m a big fan of the bullet point. I use it to quickly get down my thoughts and the structure of the scene or bits of inspiration before they fly away and are gone forever.

Like, have you ever started writing a scene and suddenly had a brilliant idea of what will happen at the END of it? Except you’re still pages away from actually writing the end? BULLETS!

Or have you ever come to the end of your designated writing time and are still full of ideas for the next chapter but don’t have time to write the whole thing? BULLETS!

Or maybe you know what the current scene has to be in order to move the plot forward, but you’re so much more inspired to write the NEXT scene. BULLETS! AND MOVE ON! Come back to it later.

The bullet point is the ultimate place holder. And thanks to its “note-like” format, the bullet point keeps your mind in “overview” mode, so it doesn’t feel like it has to flesh anything out just yet, it only has to get the ideas down. Usually by the end of my first draft, I have at least five scenes that are still in “bullet point” form. But then in my first revision, when I have a better perspective on the entire plot, I can easily go back and fill out those scenes, grateful to Past Jessica for leaving me such detailed notes!

So give it a try. Embrace the power of the bullet point!

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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SKY WITHOUT STARS – Cover Reveal

Woo hoo! The cover for SKY WITHOUT STARS has finally been revealed! And it is GORGEOUS! Check out the cover and read full book summary!

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Less Words, More Often (How to Stay Motivated to Write Every Day)

You can’t become a concert pianist practicing only once a week. Just like you can’t become a proficient writer writing only once a week.

 

Those of you who have taken my online Productivity Hacks course know that I’m a big fan of setting up a writing routine. If there’s one piece of writing advice that I can give you it’s this: WRITE EVERY DAY. (Or at the very least 5 days a week.) I don’t care if you only have 5 minutes between important meetings, sit down and get some words on the page. You may only get 10 words. You may get a 100. You may get a 1000. The number doesn’t matter. Checking the box that says “Wrote today” is what matters.

 

Getting into the habit of writing every day is, I believe, one of the most important steps to being a successful writer. Writing 100 words every day, in the long run, is more beneficial than writing 5,000 words once a week. Finishing a novel or project is as much about mindset as it is about actual words on a page. And getting into the “writing mindset” every time you sit down is easy if you sit down each and every day.

 

Think about all the things you do daily: brush your teeth, eat breakfast, maybe drive to work or school. You barely have to think about these things, do you? You just do them. They’re not a chore. You don’t hem and haw over them for hours before actually setting out to do them. You just do them. Because it’s what you’ve done for years. It’s part of your routine. Writing can work exactly the same way. If you make it part of your routine, it won’t feel like a chore. You won’t procrastinate it so much. You won’t stress over getting it done. You’ll just do it.

 

I write every single day. Even on Christmas. Yes, occasionally things come up and I simply can’t get my butt in the chair that day, but you know what? The next day, I feel it. It’s so much harder for me to get into my manuscript. It takes twice as long as it normally would to psych myself up to write and to actually start. And that frustration is enough to get me in the chair the next day, and the day after that. You sit down at that computer or notebook. Write something. Because you’re a writer. It’s what you do. 

 

Don’t Miss Out on Free Writing Tips!

If you’d like more free writing tips from Jessica delivered straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for the Writing Mastery Newsletter below!

And as a free gift for signing up, we’ll automatically send you a copy of Jessica’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Starter Kit”

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