Beth Greenslade's Blog, page 50

Tips To Jumpstart Your Creativity & Boost Your Writing Career

If you need some motivation or inspiration to help give you new ideas, get back into the writer’s mindset, or to kickstart the writing career that you’ve always dreamed of having, these tips can help.

Every writer faces challenges along their writing journey, and below are some tried and tested methods to help boost your writing and ensure you overcome these obstacles with ease.

Reading more will always equate to better writing.

Many writers barely find the time to write, let alone the luxury of sitting down to read a book. The truth is, though, if you don’t read, your writing won’t be any good. You have to treat reading as a kind of study. This means you don’t light some candles and kick back in a bubble bath to read. You select a variety of books purposefully, both within and outside your genre. You learn how to both skim the work and become eagle-eyed so you can pick out parts that resonate with you, ideas that inspire and get a good understanding of the structure of the story too.

Do some research

While reading stories can massively boost your own writing skills, you need to be committed to doing more than this. Research is a natural part of writing, and you should hone your research skills to help to ensure your work is detailed, thorough, and factually correct. Research also brings with it lots of ideas and points of interest that can be used to write other pieces. Keeping a bibliography of sources and reference texts can help you stay organized and turn to the same fruitful sources, time and time again.

Find your voice

To be a real writer, you need to discover your unique writer's voice. Don’t try too hard to be the next [insert famous author’s name here], instead work hard to find your own unique sound. You need to find a tone and style that feels natural, not forced, and one that feels the most authentic to who you are. 

Create a challenging writing routine

All successful writers know that writing frequently is the key to success. It would be best if you created a writing routine to help ensure you remain productive and effective. Be realistic about what you can achieve, but at the same time, don’t go easy on yourself. Make sure you are challenging and always pushing yourself to produce your best work yet. 

Work to know your audience

The most successful writers will strive to get to know their readers as intimately as they possibly can. Every time you begin a new piece, in fact, every time you start to write, ask yourself. Who are you writing for? What knowledge do they have? What are their expectations? What are their goals in reading your work? Defining your audience in this way means you’ll write with purpose, and your writing is more likely to be received by them well. 

Practice the craft

There are lots of different ways you can practice the art of writing. While putting pen to paper is one of the most effective, this isn’t enough. Just writing will teach you a lot, but there are so many more ways to study and practice and experiment and improve. You need to be willing to set aside time to learn about the craft and explore it like you would learn a new language. If you do, you’ll discover some invaluable advice that will help make your writing the best it can be.

Submit widely

Make sure that you don’t let yourself get away with doing all this hard work without anything to show for it. Serious writers submit their work. So if you want to get serious, send your writing to agents and publishers, and get it out there. Submitting to a variety of different publications gives yourself the best chance of success. Because it takes a while to hear back, it’s generally considered acceptable to send your book, short story or article to several publishers and agents simultaneously - you never know, you could end up with a bidding war on your hands!

Follow the above tips to help ignite creativity and boost your writing career. Good luck!

The post Tips To Jumpstart Your Creativity & Boost Your Writing Career appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Stop Ruining Your Writing By Comparing It To Others

Comparison is the thief of jot when it comes to writing. Yet not comparing ourselves to others is much easier said than done. Here’s how you can stop comparing yourself to others and become a healthier, happier writer because of it.

Reduce your social media time

Social media is important for writers as it can help to build audiences and connect with new fans. However, if you spend your time on social media looking at what other writers have achieved and feeling jealous and hopeless, you are doing yourself no favors. Switch off social media and take the time to focus on your own writing instead.

Realize what your niche is and find your audience

We all have something unique and of value to bring to the table. Don’t forget it. Take the time to discover what your niche is, what your USP is, and then go out and find those people who want to hear what you have to say. You don’t need to have mass appeal if you have a specialist army of loyal fans clamoring for more!

Turn rejections into positives

Rejections are just stepping stones that indicate you are moving forward in your writing journey. Try not to let rejections devastate you, or the lack of them for other writers make you feel demotivated. Many writers have been rejected, in fact, almost all of them. So even if you know a person who got a publishing deal after sending their manuscript to one agent, know that’s the exception, not the rule.

Write about the things you love

Be authentic, stay true to yourself, and write about the things that fill your heart with joy. That’s really the only way to make writing worth it after all.

Only measure your success by the goals you have set for yourself

Instead of comparing yourself to others, think about the things that would satisfy you, would make all the effort you put into your writing seem worthwhile, and then focus on achieving these goals, come what may. Nothing else matters.

Learn how to take advice and criticism

To be a good writer, you need to have thick skin. Learn how to take advice and yes, even criticism well. It doesn’t mean people think your work is terrible, or that they are better than you. The sooner you accept this, the better.

Find writer’s that inspire you

Reading is imperative for every writer. However, it is important to make sure that you choose to follow those writers who truly inspire you and motivate you, not the ones that leave you muttering and green with envy. 

By following the above, you can learn how to reduce the amount of time comparing yourself to others and focus on your own writing journey instead. Good luck!

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Don’t Let Fear Stand In Your Way! Use These Tips To Overcome It

Writers all go through periods of self-doubt, worry, and fear. Unfortunately, that is just part and parcel of being one. While these challenges are somewhat inevitable., if you accept that they will come, and prepare yourself for feeling this way, you will be well equipped to overcome fears and concerns quickly. You will come out of the other side feeling more robust, more motivated, and more determined than ever before. 

Fear is usually born out of vulnerability. There is nothing quite as scary as putting your writing out into the world to be judged by others. However, if you fail to do so, it will be impossible to achieve your goals and dreams. When you feel afraid, it's so difficult to be creative, to tell your story in the way you know best, to reach those places of raw emotion that make stories so beautiful, shocking, and real. But lots of writer’s fears aren’t real. There is no real danger, no real threat. Often the concern that manifests within us is self-created. We owe it to ourselves to take action and try to defeat it. 

So, what are some ways that you can kick self-doubt in the butt and refocus with renewed energy to do your very best work? 

Learn how to proofread and edit your work

The more confident you are in your ability to proofread and edit your work, the less doubt you will have. You will minimize the chances of readers pointing our your errors to you and will have a deeper understanding of what to look for when going through your manuscript to ensure that it reads well and is error-free. 

Get competitive with yourself

Writing can be a solitary pursuit, and if you aren’t part of a writers group or don’t have a writing buddy (both of which can be very helpful as an aside), you need to motivate yourself. Get competitive. Find ways to challenge yourself to be a better, more productive writer. Set goals, always aim to improve and be better than you were the day before. 

Collect ideas as you go

Keeping a bank of ideas means that you are less likely to run dry and feel as though you have nowhere to go with your story. Whenever an idea strikes, however half-baked or small, make sure you capture it and store it somewhere - it could come in handy later. 

Stick to your writing schedule above all else

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. You have to be responsible for protecting your writing time. If you don’t, you’ll lose it, and it will be so difficult to recover. A strict and productive writing schedule is the number one thing you can do to ensure you keep moving forward.

Actively learn

Read books, both fiction, nonfiction, and books about how to write well too. Go to talks, conferences, and seminars. Subscribe to writing blogs, do writing exercises - just keep learning - there is so much advice that can help you improve - don’t dismiss it. 

Find your USP

Your unique voice, your story, your way of viewing the world and your experiences - they count for something. Think about what you have to offer that no one else does. Focus on that and make sure you use it in your writing to stand out. 

We can’t promise that these tips will rid you of your writing fears, but will help you understand how to recognize them and tackle them effectively when they do arise. So go forth and conquer!

The post Don’t Let Fear Stand In Your Way! Use These Tips To Overcome It appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

Quick Secrets Every Writer Needs To Know

So there might not be one big secret that means that the book you are writing will automatically become a bestseller. However, there are still plenty of great insider secrets out there that can help you become a better writer, and enjoy the process a whole lot more too.

Here are some of the most helpful:

Saving your best until last is bad advice for writers. Instead, try your best as soon as you put pen to paper. Put all your eggs in one basket. Spend all your energy. The better you do at the start, the more motivation you'll have to keep going. 

Your beginning is the most important. Make it perfect. It will set the tone for what's to come. A lousy start is damning for your book. 

As a story writer, you must entertain. This, above all else, is important. People read novels for pleasure. Make sure that you make your story entertaining, but include a vital life lesson or two at the same time!

Wallace Stevens wisely said. "Not ideas about the thing, but the thing itself." This is the best way of saying "show don't tell" that we've ever heard, and every writer would b wise to remember it. 

Make sure you find your voice and feel confident and comfortable using it before you start writing. You need to be able to say the things you want to say in your specific, unique, and brilliant way. So work out what your writer's voice is first. 

The story needs to be perfect. Publishers and agents are a lot more forgiving of imperfect content if this is the case. 

Expect writing rules to be confusing and contradictory. Follow the ones that suit you best. 

All good stories have a conflict at their core. If your account has no battle, nothing to fight against, or fight for, you haven't really got a story at all. 

Pay attention. Any error, any inconsistency, any single jarring word, can rip your reader out of the story, and once you've rudely ejected them in this manner, it can be hard for them to get back in. 

Provide your readers with closure. There is nothing worse than finishing a book and feeling cheated of resolution, of conclusion. Make sure you don't do your readers this disservice, or they will be your readers no more. 

Make every sentence interesting. Don't overwrite. Don't use ten words when you can use seven. 

Really, truly understand that revision of your novel may take longer than writing the first draft of it. You won't get it the right first time around. But by the fifth time, you might just have it. 

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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Need Some Writing Advice? These Quotes From Successful Authors Will Give You Inspiration!

“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while, the muse shows up too.” 

- ISABEL ALLENDE

“This is how you do it: You sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy and that hard.” - NEIL GAIMAN

“Protect the time and space in which you write, keep everybody away from it. Even the people who are most important to you.’ -ZADIE SMITH

In the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.”-ROSE REMAIN

Always carry a notebook, and I mean always. The short term memory only retains information for three minutes. Unless it is committed to paper you can lose and idea forever.” - WILL SELF

“Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing. - Henry Miller

“Never use a long word where a short one will do.” - GEORGE ORWELL

"A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it” - EDGAR ALLEN POE

"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed" - RAY BRADBURY 

Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action. Start as close to the end as possible. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of." -KURT VONNEGUT

 “The historian records, but the novelist creates.”E. M. FORSTER

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.

Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.” -WILLIAM FAULKNER

“You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn't mean that you can't have noise outside. I know some people who put jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse. I'm told one writer stands for six hours with a typewriter on a podium—he stands and types. And I know a woman who has her computer in a closet and she goes in, closes the door, and, with her back to the door and her face to the wall, she writes” -MAYA ANGELOU

“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.”  - LES BROWN

“ignore all proffered rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to Say” -MICHAEL MOORCOCK

These writers all found great success in their fields, so are well worth listening to. Absorb their advice, take note of their wisdom, and do everything you can to follow in their footsteps. Good luck!

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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How To Make Sure You End Your Book Well

There is nothing worse than investing time and effort into reading a novel, only for the ending to fall flat. A disappointing end that doesn't provide resolution and satisfaction can ruin the story, no matter how good it was before those final pages.

Readers will feel cheated if you don't provide a good ending for your book, and so it is essential to get this right. Writing the perfect conclusion, however, can be tricky. Here are some useful tips and mistakes to avoid to ensure your book ending is as robust and compelling as possible.

Common mistakes to avoid

Your characters suddenly acting differently in the final chapters 

It can be all too easy to suddenly change the personality of a character to fit in with your ending. A previously mild-mannered character who becomes suddenly brave or aggressive, a character full of rage who, without warning, sees the error of their ways, or one who has always made rash decisions and been hot-headed suddenly becoming calm and sensible when disaster strikes will confuse your readers. Characters need to change over time; they should learn lessons that affect them throughout. Make sure you foreshadow behavior changes, so your reader doesn't feel as though the character has had a sudden personality transplant for no reason. 

A shocking ending that blindsides the reader

There is a difference between injecting a clever twist in the concluding part of your novel and making the ending devastating or unpredictable without warning. You have to stick within the boundaries of your genre and the general remit of your story, within reason. If you are writing a romance, readers will expect romance at the end, not massive explosions and everyone dying. Similarly, if you are writing a thriller, you need high tension and drama, with resolution in the final chapters, not characters falling in love. Shocking endings are different from smart conclusions, so having a sudden change of events, massive disasters, or writers fighting for their lives just for the sake of it will do your story no favors. 

Adding new information to make the ending make sense

Tying up loose ends before the book finishes is essential. However, one method that some writers use is to add entirely new information to ensure this happens. Doing this sticks out like a sore thumb and will demonstrate a lack of skill and will be incredibly frustrating for your reader. If your threads are unresolved at the end and you can't figure out how to tie them up in a way that makes sense because of the groundwork you have laid throughout. 

How to practice writing the perfect ending

The best way to get better at writing book endings is to practice and experiment. The first method is to read as many different book endings as you can. Recognize what's wrong and right with them. Think about what the author failed to do, how it could have been made more satisfactory, and the reasons why the ending didn't work. You can also spend more time examining your story endings and ensure that they don't fall into the traps laid out above. 

Remember, it is your job as an author to provide a satisfactory ending to your novel. Your book's success depends upon it. So it's well worth investing time and energy into getting right. 

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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How To Add Intrigue To Your Story

If you want your story to be successful and well-received by your target readers, you need to make sure it intrigues them. Regardless of the kind of story you are writing or which genre it falls into, this, at the very least, is imperative.

So what can you do to ensure that your story holds your reader's interest? Here are some useful tips. 

Become an expert at foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is all about dropping pieces of information that suggest what might happen in the future of your story. To do this skilfully requires practice. You don't want to reveal too much too soon, but you also don't want significant events to come out of nowhere and blindside your reader. You want to create anticipation and a sense of excitement, or foreboding about what will happen in the future in your fictional world. You need to leave a breadcrumb trail that keeps your reader guessing but also heading in the right direction. This can be done by leaving physical or sensory signs, symbolic signs, and revealing particular details that are of much greater significance later in the story, 

Make your hook unusual

If you want to draw your reader in, it's a good idea to create a sense of mystery. The hook of your story should be unique but also secretive and slightly obscure. By adding layers of mystery, we naturally catalyze the reader to ask questions that will only be answered if they keep on turning those pages. 

Keep identities secret

Another easy way to add intrigue to your story is by making the identity of a character or characters a secret. This is commonly done in murder mystery books where we don't know who killed the victim or their motivation for doing so. However, this works in many other genres too such as the tall, dark, handsome stranger who walks into a room, the hitchhiker standing on the road in the night, or the person leaking information to the other side. You can play with the identity of your characters in many ways and reveal different sides to your cast and play with the reader's expectations as a result. 

Create a sense of urgency

Another way to ensure readers stay interested in your story is to create a sense of urgency. This is an easy way to keep the action fast-paced and to ensure that characters are forced to make big decisions quickly. The greater the urgency, the more tense and exciting the plot becomes, and if your characters must discover something before they run out of time, this can make for high stakes and will keep readers on the edge of their seats. 

By using the tips above, you can ensure that your story is packed full of intrigue and will keep readers hanging on your every word!

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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How To Develop Your Story’s Hook

Writing an alluring hook is an integral part of every novel. It can make all the difference between finding an agent or publisher and struggling to get your book traditionally published.

A successful book will appeal to a mass audience, and its hook is what will draw them in and make them unable to put your story down until it's finished. So what are the things that all writers should consider when developing a hook for their novel? Here are some things to think about:

Does your hook create questions?

Your hook should catalyze several questions that the reader then wants to discover. If you think of the basics of storytelling, you need to cover five questions, those being: who? what? when? where? and why? Of course, these questions need to be exciting and emotive ones to hook the reader in. The difference in interest between 'who ate all the salad, and why did they do it?' to,' who killed such and such a character and why did they do it?' is obvious. You need to create compelling questions from the beginning through the way you present characters and the world they live in. 

Create immediate action and push characters to make crucial decisions. 

If you spend too long scene-setting or revealing backstory, your readers might not care what happens by the time the action begins to unfold. Instead, it's a smart idea to immerse readers in the action immediately. By doing so, you conjure a vivid picture for your reader and suggest the world is one full of life and energy and character and occasion. 

Stick to the point and don't beat around the bush

A story with an excellent hook will realize the essential details to include, and also the not so important information to leave out. By focusing on the most pressing and crucial details, the reader's attention will remain constant. If you start to describe irrelevant or uninteresting events and situations, they will quickly lose interest. 

Make sure your reader can relate and that they care

A good hook will make the reader care. A reader needs to care about the characters and what happens to them for the story to work. If readers don't empathize or aren't affected emotionally by the unfolding action, they will find it hard to stick with your story. 

Add mystery, intrigue, and suspense

Making sure that your hook continues to captivate your readers is by learning how to write in such a way that your story creates suspense and intrigue. Your readers don't want to know everything all at once. They want things to be revealed to them in a suspenseful way. Drama and action should build, and your readers should be drawn along, becoming more and more intrigued and desperate to find out what happens next as the story moves forward.

A great hook will entertain and fascinate your reader. Try looking through some of your favorite novels and write down what they do to catalyze particular questions. Understanding what it takes to create a great hook that captivates your audience and makes them deeply care about your characters is essential for the success of your book. So it's well worth spending some time on. Good luck!

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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Using Vivid Imagery To Enhance Your Story

Creating a world and a cast of characters that your readers can effortlessly picture is one of the key ingredients to writing a successful novel. The way to do this is by carefully choosing words that create crisp, clear images - ones that not only help your readers visualize the scene but also help to enhance the story overall. 

So how do we do this? 

Scene setting to highlight significant changes

A change of scene can indicate something big is about to happen in your story. Placing your characters in particular locations at specific times is a useful tool to demonstrate to the reader that changes are afoot, and by using evocative imagery to create a sense of place, you can build the drama and tension that leads up to this dramatic turning point in the plot. 

Reveal more about a character through the places they like to be

Where we like to spend our time speaks volumes about us as people. A character who wants to spend most of their time at home in front of the TV will have a very different personality to one who is always out hiking in the countryside. By taking the time to describe the places that your characters like to be, readers will get a better insight into the kind of people they are too. 

Create suspense and build tension

Use your setting to create suspense and increase the tension in your story. If places have a particular feel to them, this will indicate to the reader that something terrible might happen here, thus increasing tension. If they have an air of mystery, this can add to the suspense and ensure your readers will be desperate to find out more. 

Create a particular tone or mood

A vivid description of the setting can also work wonders in creating a particular tone or mood. If your characters live in a beautiful, serene, space brimming with energy and color, the atmosphere will feel very different to those who are barely surviving in a dark, dank squat with mold creeping up the walls and water leaking through the roof.

Using vivid imagery and thoughtful, creative descriptions can significantly improve your story on several levels. By carefully choosing language that paints an evocative, arresting picture in your reader’s mind’s eye, you will fully immerse them in the world you have created and ensure they remain engaged and involved from the very beginning to the very end. 

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

The post Using Vivid Imagery To Enhance Your Story appeared first on Writer's Life.org.

How To Launch Your Writing Career

If you have decided now is the time to write full-time, you need to start by immersing yourself in the craft. Writing can be a fantastic and rewarding career. But before you quit your day job and invest all your time and resources into launching your writing career, you need to ensure that you know what you are getting yourself into. 

You need to make sure that not only you understand what it takes to be a full-time writer, but that now is the right time to make this bold move. 

Once you have done so and decided that you are ready to give it your all, you need to devise a solid strategy to make sure that you hit the ground running, know how to address any obstacles that may crop up and set out your intentions and goals, so you have something tangible to work toward.

Being successful isn't just about having a passion, and it isn't just about having talent. It's about grit, determination, and perseverance. It's a little about luck. It's about understanding what the market wants at any given time, but most of all, it's about knuckling down and actually doing it. 

If you want to have a career in writing, you have to write. The more you write, the more you will learn, grow, and improve, and the more successful your writing career will be. 

Here are some things you can do in the lead up to your career change.

Read as much as you can. 

Write as much as you can

Take a relevant class

Call yourself a writer, and believe it when you say it.

Once you want to start, you need to put your game face on. You'll find many many reasons why quitting is a good idea. Ignore them. Don't quit. 

Accept that there is a learning curve, and it's never-ending. You need to take the time to study the craft, to research your writing (whether factual or fictional), to grow as a writer, to be rejected, to work really, really hard, to accept criticism and editing input, to spot your own mistakes, to understand your audiences and always be prepared to revise and reshape until you have something that's genuinely great. 

Every day you need to sit down in your chair, in your office or wherever your designated writing space is, and take the time to write. Get words on pages. They won't be flawless, but if you don't write, you'll never improve. 

Go on a journey of self-discovery. Understand what your passions are, and then take the time to indulge in them, learn about them, become an authority on them, and write about them from your unique perspective, from the heart. Develop your style, your instantly recognizable writer's voice. Work on your brand and build your fan base. Hone your writing skills every single day.

Don't forget to create a kickass website, which is your platform, and your opportunity to showcase your skills. Even if you get told you're the best, don't think it. There is always room to know more, to get better. 

Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Get out there; make a name for yourself. Pitch to the publications that you want to write for. Build your portfolio, ask for reviews, and recommendations. Keep company with like-minded people who can inspire you, motivate you, and help you when you need it the most. 

Launching a writer career involves many different components. You need to be willing and ready to cover all aspects and do them all well in order to be truly successful. However, if you are eager to put the hours in, to take bold leaps, and to commit to the process, there is no reason why you can't enjoy a writing career that's a massive success. Good luck!

Bethany Cadman - bethanycadman.co.uk

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