Robert C. Day's Blog, page 56

Calendar

We all have busy lives. No matter how much extra time, money and space we happen to come across –here’s the funny thing: your needs, work and spending tend to expand to fill the gap. This is why, if you want to do something extra – like write, you have to forget aboutfinding time to do it – you have to activelymake time.

Making time to write is actually very easy if you are dedicated to your task. All you have to do is follow one or more of these simple-to-apply methods:

Do it first. This is...

Heaven and Hell

Heaven is when you’re feeling good and hell is when you’re feeling bad – right? Well, maybe that’s just how it seems. Maybe a better definition is: heaven is when you do good things for people and hell is when you do bad things to them. For that to be true you have to subscribe to something called ‘karma’, which generally means ‘what you give is what you get’ but actually goes a bit deeper.

Consider a person who writes a book that benefits a lot of people – like the Dictionary. I wonder if th...

Megalithic Monuments

Big fat hairy books are like megalithic monuments in that they are a testament to the age in which they were constructed. Just think of the Harry Potter series and thenpicturewhat future generations of readers will think as they look back in awe at the wonder of architecture that J. K. Rowling has wrought.

Follow these tried and trusted tips to be the latest, greatest creator of Epic Literature:

Read far and widely Be inspired by your readings Write a book about something cool Edit it until...

Gymnastics

“Everything is about your movements and precision and timing, which is what gymnastics is about.” (Shawn Johnson – US Gymnast)

When writing, it will be necessary to move the story forward at a variety of speeds, according to what is happening in each scene. For example – readers will need to be moved quickly through an action scene and slowly through love scenes. The method by which we do this is pacing, which controls the speed and rhythm at which a story is told. Pacing is partly about the...

Belly Dancing

As a solo, improvised act that is dedicated to drawing the attention to the abdomen, belly dancing is really all about fertility and sexuality. Now, here comes that part where I make a tenuous link between the title of this pieceand some aspect of writing. And the link is (drum roll) erotica.

If you feel that you may be offended by the frank content that follows, then please do not read any of the wordsbelow this line.

I once read that the difference between pornography and erotica is that...

Arranged Marriage

It’s a fine thing to be in love and then to marry and it’s just as good to marry and then to love.

It’s a good to plot out your novel, sketch your characters and then write all the words out one by one, starting from the beginning and finishing at the end. It’s just as good to write with the first word that comes into your head and continue until the last word is written and all the while making up characters and plot as you go along.

In truth though, although you can organise your life or wr...

Leisure

Writing should be fun. Here are five popular ways to make it more so:

At the beginning of your writing session – write for ten minutes without stopping (set a timer) about anything you like. You could write about life, pizza, Spanish guitars, economic growth, parenting, special interest groups, planetariums, junkie mothers, spines – absolutely anything that pops into your head as you write. The point is just to get the words flowing and, in the process, get over your fear of that blank page....

Evil

In storyland, there must be a protagonist, who is good, and an antagonist, who doesn’t really have to be evil butmust, at least, be opposed to the good protagonist. Actually, when I think about it, the protagonist could be evil and the antagonist good – it dependson what kind of message you want your story to have I guess.

Here are some tips for writing a good bad guy (yeah – I know):

Flesh out the bad guy as much as the good guy. There’s no point having a wonderfully roundedprotagonist and...

Miracles

Facing your monsters is a significant technique in creative writing. Rather than turn away from your personal demons and hide in an activity – such as reading or watching television; instead, turn and face them by incorporating them into your creative fiction. In this way, you will be writing about the sorrows, defeat and losses that are fundamental within the dynamics of humanity. This will speak to your readers like no other technique can. They will be able to identify with your pain, and t...

Creation Myth

It is a myth to think that creation is difficult. All you need to do is put a few things in place and then apply a little time and energy.

Things to put in place:

Sling together some characters. You will need to know their physical characteristics, personality traits and, to make them more realistic and give them a chance to grow, their flaws. Figure out a setting for your story. You need to be clear where and when your story will take place. Work out what kind of conflict you’re going to th...