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Focus is at the heart of success. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world that nurtures concentration and single-minded devotion to one’s art. So, how can you minimize those pesky interruptions that keep you from writing?

Digital Distractions
Let’s start with all things online – they are just beckoning for your time and attention. Luckily, there are some tricks to reduce your susceptibility to those online Sirens.

1. Only check email, social networking and news sites once or twice a day. If absolutely necessary, check every hour but only for five minutes
2. Turn off email and smart phone notifications of any sort while you are writing
3. Close your Internet Browser while you’re working – do your research beforehand
4. If feasible have a dedicated computer or lap top that is strictly for writing – nothing else, not even checking the weather

Activity Distractions
Of course, not all activity distractions are digital. You may be pulled in by your favorite TV show or sidetracked by the need to clean the house from top to bottom. It’s also not unusual that cravings for ice cream or potato chips supersede the writing process (I’m in the potato chips category). Here are some tips to minimize the temptation to self-interrupt:

1. Create a very calm and nurturing writing environment
2. Remove TVs from your writing area
3. If at all, only keep very small amounts of snack food in your writing area
4. Leave all reading material that is not immediately related to your novel outside your writing space – read for fun in other areas of the house that you can’t see from your desk

People Distractions
While you have quite a bit of control regarding the Internet and activities that pull you away from your novel, people distractions are a little bit more complex. Setting boundaries can be challenging.

First of all, decide on the people who are allowed unlimited access to you – such as small children. Then list the people who are very dear to you but would be fine with you being unavailable at times. In these cases, telling people in advance when you are busy is most helpful – especially when you live in the same house.

People on your periphery are much easier to deal with. A simple, “Sorry but I am really busy right now. Can we do this later?” usually does the trick. In addition,

1. Turn off your cell phone while you are working – or at least your message notifications
2. Assign a gate keeper if you are living with somebody - that person can screen phone calls and visitors for you
3. Protect your writing time with velvet fists
4. Practice saying no to anything you don’t really want to do

No more distractions – let the words take over!
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Renate Reimann, PhD (bottom photo) is a co-instructor in the upcoming class, WRITING YOUR NOVEL FROM THE GROUND UP: How to Build Your Story While Building Yourself as a Writer for Long-Term Success–In Two Parts. Part I starts on Tuesday, September 17, 2013. For more information, visit our classroom page.

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Exploiting Point of View to Make Characters Come Alive

by Diane O’Connell

Remember the last time you read a great novel? What was it that stood out the most, that stayed with you long after you closed the last page? Chances are it was the characters. But more than that, it was the way those characters thought and viewed the world around them. In other words, it was their point of view.

POV is — I believe —the most important, yet least understood element of fiction writing. Too many novice writers never go beyond simply deciding whether to use the first person or the third person. They don’t understand how to really use POV to make their characters come alive for the reader.

Ask these five questions to help you exploit your use of POV:

1. How does my character view the world? Is your POV character an innocent naïf or a bitter old man? An unrepentant alcoholic or a genteel housewife? A slick con artist who thinks nothing of screwing an elderly couple out of their life savings, or a public defender who believes in justice for all? Each of these characters will see the world in a very different way. And how they see the world affects every interaction they have.

2. What does my character think about? No one knows what’s really in another person’s mind. But when you fully exploit POV, you invite your readers into the place where your characters feel most at home — their thoughts. And because people’s thoughts are uncensored, this is where you really are telling the truth in a deep way that connects with all of human nature.

3. What are my character’s inner drives? Suppose your POV character is a vigilante. Just having him take the law into his own hands isn’t enough motivation for readers to fully connect with that character — even if he seems to be justified. You need to determine what drives him deep down inside, whether it’s to “protect the innocent from the scum of the earth” or — as in the case of Batman — to “avenge the brutal murder of his parents.” Readers can forgive a character nearly anything if they understand what drives him.

4. How does my character see herself? A character who sees herself as a helpless victim or hopeless loser will act very differently from the character who believes she’s smarter than others or deserves only the very best that life has to offer. That self-POV determines her actions and relationships. Remember: villains always see themselves as being right.

5. What words would my character use to describe what he sees? Imagine a spring morning in a park. A person mourning over a lost lover might notice the lilacs bending under the weight of the morning dew and think of them as “lugubrious.” A woman desperately longing for motherhood might focus on the apple tree, “pregnant with blossoms.” A man who has just had an argument with his wife over his whereabouts the previous evening might zero in on the ivy that’s “threatening to choke the life out of a tree.”

By exploiting POV, your story will engross your readers. They will become emotionally invested in your characters and will feel a personal stake in what happens to them. Your characters will come alive as real flesh-and-blood people — with strong inner lives that connect to your readers.

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