By Teri Terry

Part 2 in Making Things Up: a blog series about the creative process.

So...you like writing. You think you’ve got a knack for it, and you have some things to say. Or maybe you’ve written loads already, and the time has come to write something new, but you’re stuck. How do you get started?

A Blank Page...EEEEEEEK!!

Where do you get your ideas? 

Here we have working notebooks! From left: Slated; Book of Lies; and the current one, book one of my new trilogy, Dark Matter

The size of your notebook matters, too. A small notebook can be kept in your pocket, but then you have small thoughts... It is true that the inside world creates the outside world, but the outside world and our tools also affect the way we form our thoughts.

Just a few of my notebooks in waiting...

Of perhaps you love a good romance. This

True love! In one of its many guises

isn’t so much my focus so I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure you need more than one character, whether it is boy-girl, girl-girl, boy-boy-girl – you need at least two to tango. You need reasons why they come to care for each other, you need challenges, growth: who are they, and what do they want? How do they meet? Why are they right or wrong for each other? What comes between them? Can this be overcome?

Writing – especially the coming up with ideas part at the beginning – should be fun*, not torture. Enjoy it!

One of the more popular series I’ve written is 30 Days to a Stronger Author Website. It breaks the process of creating an author website and blog into a series of daily tasks. Theory covers the WHY, WHEN, and HOW. Technical aspects are covered in depth. More important, it gives solid reasons for WHAT, or the content of your site. Learn what readers want on each of these pages: Home, About, Books, News, Contact, Privacy. Get ideas on how to write your first 15 blog posts.

But first you need a site.

This post will lay out a clear, simple, 15-minute process for starting your website, with lots of visuals. For other details, read the 30 Days to a Stronger Author Website series.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase. Thank you for your support in this way.

1) Hosting

First, you’ll need to decide where to host your website/blog, or where your computer files will actually live on a server. While some opt for free services, I’ve had a self-hosted WordPress site/blog for over seven years and love the freedom of doing whatever I want on my own site. I don’t have to worry about the terms of service, because I create my own policies.

While there are multiple options for hosting, one of the most popular is Blue Host, which I recommend because of its simplicity and reliability.

Click here to go to BlueHost. This opens a new window so you can go back and forth on the instructions here.
Click the green GET STARTED NOW button.

Next, you’ll need to choose a plan. All of BlueHost’s plans come with one free domain, so there’s not an extra step for registering that–it’s a one-stop service.

2) Choose a Domain

Authors, you should use your name or pen name for your domain. And get a .com if at all possible. This website is DarcyPattison.com. Sometimes, you may want to create a website for a book, so you can use a book title, if desired. But the gold standard is your name.

If you already have a domain, BlueHost makes it simple to switch over; just use the Transfer Domain box.

You’re almost there. Fill in the form with contact info. Make sure the email is working because that’s where you’ll receive information about how to login.

3) Hosting Package

You have a choice now of hosting packages. I’m always amazed at the affordability of a self-hosted package.

I rarely add on any of the extras. Some people like the privacy option, but I’ve never found it necessary.

Of course, it’s time to fill in your billing information. Read the Terms of Service and policies and confirm. Then click NEXT.



You’ll be asked if you want upgrade; I usually skip all these. You can always add things later, if you need something. Instead, skip over to your email and find the welcome email from BlueHost. It’s time to look at your dashboard or the backend of your site. Most hosting companies use a CPanel. You’ll want to read more later on CPanel basics, but for now, we’ll cover how to install your WordPress site.

4) Install WordPress

Go back to BlueHost and Click LOGIN at the top.

Use the info you received in your welcome email to login.
At first the CPanel can look overwhelming (read more on CPanels here), but we just need to install the WordPress that’s listed under Website Builders.

Click on the green START button.

Click on the website where you want to install the WordPress blog. Usually, you leave the directory blank.

Your WordPress user information is important. Do NOT use ADMIN. This will be your login information for the site, so create this with care. Click on the Advanced Options and fill in your site information. Don’t worry: you can always change this later. The admin email is also important because this is where you’ll get emails about the site. When you’re sure everything is correct, click Install Now.

You should see a “SUCCESS” status. Wahoo!

5) Log in to Your Author Website!

You should receive an email with login instructions. Basically, you’ll go to www.YourWebsite.com/wp-admin/login (Replace YourWebsite with the name of your site).

Now, the fun really begins. It’s time to create some content and get your site/blog going.

First, you’ll want to customize your WordPress installation, develop the functionality of the site with plugins, and choose a theme that governs how it looks.

No worries! The 30 Days to an Author Website series will walk you through the next few days!

The following is a guest post from one of WD’s bloggers from our NaNoWriMo project, EJ Runyon. In this post, EJ describes the importance of moving past using writing exercises and learning how to turn the exercises into usable content for your work-in-progress. Using an exercise should only be the first of several steps in beginning your writing process, particularly as a beginner.

*     *     *     *     *

Novice writers spend a lot of time reading blogs and other websites that offer exercises, story starters and prompts to try out writing skills.

Write a list your antagonist will use shopping.
What would an apple say if it could plead for its life?

And we all dig in and write out small drabbles. It’s a start. Especially for new writers wanting to flex writing muscles.

But if you exercise, then nothing more, will you ever discover where those exercises might take you?

Let’s take the steps of expanding those exercises by questioning them. The goal is reviewing with an eye for “exercises into scenes”:  looking at your work and taking the next step; reworking exercises into actual storytelling.

Let’s say you were given a word or two for starting the beginning of a sentence,

“First thing in the morning…”

Your task is to write anything for 5 minutes. So you look at your paper, or the keyboard and you begin writing:

First thing in the morning all I have to do is get up and write my page. I tell myself this every morning yet I can’t seem to follow through. I reassure myself I will tomorrow. Am I lacking the will or am I unable to do it at all? Instead of doing what I need to do, want to do, I end up wandering into the kitchen, getting coffee; then I’m off through my day.

Cool.

After a while you have disk files or notebooks full of these exercises. But you don’t have many finished stories or novels written. How much time do you think the average beginner spends working with writing exercises? How much time creating short stories or novels?  Where is the disconnect? What does it take to move to the next step? To begin looking at your own work? It takes questioning. Not much else.

Ask yourself questions like these:

• Does the exercise paragraph mean anything?
• Can you use this for a character study?
• Can you use this as a piece of dialogue? 
• Can it be expanded into a scene or a hunk of narrative? 

Your answer might be, “I’d say, the way it reads now, a lot more work’s needed.”

Unhappily, if you work the way some novices do, the way I started out working, you’re constantly exercising, but anxious about the rest. You’re glad for the immediate gratification, and attention, in feedback of the polite, “That’s good work.” But you’re afraid to try writing something really whole that begins, has a middle, and ends.

You’re afraid of something that requires a quantity of re-writing, editing and revising. That is, you, functioning as a writer by looking, questioning and working with those drabbles.

Let’s take a look at that sample paragraph. And ask it some questions.

After you’ve exercised, start by asking the questions above. Take notes. Call these notes of yours pre-work, if you want. You can then turn questioned exercises into a new start of a scene or story.

*     *     *     *     *

Looking for some exercises to practice EJ’s techniques?
Try James Scott Bell’s The Art of War for Writers, which
features strategies, tactics and exercises for fiction writers!

*     *     *     *     *

Not every exercise will blossom into a viable story, but then, if you’re given an exercise you can always make sure it will: Focusing on what you want the exercise to become.  Make the exercise work for your writing, not the other way around.

Let’s use the sample paragraph to work though what we have on our page. After the sample you can move on to your own exercises. Getting them to work for you. Here’s what to ask:

Does the paragraph mean anything?
No, not much now, at least not the way I left it. Nothing I can see.

Can you use this for a character study?
I can probably write a girl who is bored with her job, but can’t let herself take up writing for a living.  Or a guy who got a new journal from his girlfriend for his birthday—maybe she’s a real artsy type—he’s trying to score some points with her.

Can you mold it into a piece of dialogue?
It might work for internal dialogue, how she talks, putting herself down. To her mom? Or hey—about what she says to a shrink, or a best friend? Yeah.

Can it be expanded into a scene or a hunk of narrative?
The wandering into the kitchen, getting coffee is a good part. Maybe more with descriptions? How the kitchen looks, things like that. 

Maybe the guy can be talking to his girl over coffee on the weekend, when they’re together and she gets on his case ‘cause the journal she gave him is still empty.

Do you see where looking at your work can take you? Exercising is only the first step.

Posing these types of questions and answering them is step two.

And acting on those answers is step three—that’s the getting down to writing that counts the most.

About EJ Runyon: I’m a lucky soul. I’m living my dream. I began my transformation in 1992. Started writing NaNoWriMo in 2001, and in 2006 I sold my house to go back to school, for degrees in English/Creative Writing and Online Teaching & Learning.

Now it’s writing and coaching daily. It’s my new life and I love it.

NaNoWriMo sent me on the path to reach writer’s nirvana. In 2012, six short stories pulled from various NaNo novels became part of “Claiming One,” a story collection from Inspired Quill (UK). Then, in 2013, my 2008 NaNo became Tell Me (How to Write) A Story, a writer’s guide. This year, 2003 NaNo’s became my debut Literary/LGBTQ novel, A House of Light & Stone.

I’m a Scrivener pantser all the way, and even created a jumpstart template for coaching clients. It’s been everything wonderful I’d possibly dream. 2016 & 2017 will see another how-to and a second novel. I alternate literary fiction with how-to guides.

The following is a guest post from one of WD’s bloggers from our NaNoWriMo project, EJ Runyon. In this post, EJ talks about the important steps that need to be taken between first draft and revision, and the difficulty of working with a piece or a story that you can become too close to. Sometimes it’s better to step outside of your writing and world, and spend some time with the story in your mind rather than on a Microsoft Word page.

*     *     *     *     *

The first short story I wrote, that I hoped might be published, got worked on quite a bit.

I edited it many times. Well, what I thought was editing at the time: small tweaks of lines, and wording. Shifting bits around from one section to another.

Then, it dawned on me that I’d written too much. I think I must have cut at least 500, maybe 700 words from the whole story then. Not a full scene or two, but bits out of nearly every scene. It was then that I really felt I might get to be a real author. When I re-read and found myself cutting bits for each paragraph.

That culling was followed by reading the story out loud at my Saturday workshop.

As a writing coach I sometimes wonder how many beginner writers are in workshops. It’s a totally different dynamic than posting your work to your blog and waiting for some comments to pop up about it. Especially if what you say is, “Hey, come see what I’ve posted.” But that’s not quite the same as having folks help make a piece stronger.

At those workshops, folks mostly told me, “Good writing, but that ending…”

So, back I went and thought a lot. What was wrong with it was, as one guy put it, “You’ve got the first two scenes of a three scene piece of work.” And once that was pointed out, I knew there was more to do. But what?

But I didn’t sit right down and begin at working a re-write, scribbled pencil notes in my notebook, fingers on keys. Coming up with more to tack on to the end of my piece.

All I did was think on things. I ran “What if?” scenarios in my mind. Over and over again. Mind work. Away from any writing implements. I wanted this to be me, steeped into the solution, before I tried writing it out.

So I read. It was like I was searching for an answer, and knew I didn’t have it yet, in me, or I would have seen, myself, that the piece needed that third scene.

So I went looking elsewhere, beyond my pages for the solution. And then it hit me.

I remembered a device from a short story I’d read in some English class, a way of framing the story. Reading that story I’d thought it was unique. That I’d not seen it coming at all. At the end of reading that story, I’d thought—”Wow. This guy is good.”

So I tried something like it myself. I wrote my third scene. And re-wrote the opening.

I followed that with editing it all many more times. More small tweaks of lines, and wording. Shifting bits around from one section to another.

Asking myself, “Had I’d written too much?”

And culling. Again.

That, of course, was followed by reading it at workshop the following Saturday.

The two leaders of the group were nodding, and they smiled when I got to the end. One leaned forward, one sat back. One said, “Good. Good work. It’s Raymond Carver-like.”

And I beamed.

The other added a deadpanned, “I hate Raymond Carver.” And we all laughed.

That was the first short story I ever submitted. And it got accepted for publication at the first place it was sent. Was it because I was a writer who read? Or because I was a writer who worked the story until it was worth publishing? Or because of those workshops?

Or maybe I got published on my first try because I thought about why and how to do something better with my story?

Because of all of that.

About EJ Runyon: I’m a lucky soul. I’m living my dream. I began my transformation in 1992. Started writing NaNoWriMo in 2001, and in 2006 I sold my house to go back to school, for degrees in English/Creative Writing and Online Teaching & Learning.

Now it’s writing and coaching daily. It’s my new life and I love it.

NaNoWriMo sent me on the path to reach writer’s nirvana. In 2012, six short stories pulled from various NaNo novels became part of “Claiming One,” a story collection from Inspired Quill (UK). Then, in 2013, my 2008 NaNo became Tell Me (How to Write) A Story, a writer’s guide. This year, 2003 NaNo’s became my debut Literary/LGBTQ novel, A House of Light & Stone.

I’m a Scrivener pantser all the way, and even created a jumpstart template for coaching clients. It’s been everything wonderful I’d possibly dream. 2016 & 2017 will see another how-to and a second novel. I alternate literary fiction with how-to guides.

Two Cups of Tea by peppermint quartz on DeviantArt, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, http://fav.me/d4ahdt1

Happy New Year!

Happy … and yet.

Everywhere you look, it’s all about pushing ourselves, isn’t it? First came November’s NaNoWriMo, with all the tips for writing more, more, more, writing faster, faster, faster. Then came the holidays, with 12 days left to shop/plan/wrap/bake/revise that manuscript from last month, 11, 10, 9 … And now it’s on to who can make the biggest commitment to his or her writing in the coming year.

I should start by saying that I am a huge believer in having a writing discipline. When I’m in the midst of a writing project, I feel I have to work on it most days—often at odd hours, and for longer than I’d intended (much to the frustration of the non-writers around me)—to keep the momentum going.

And yet, it’s not always human to expect ourselves to maintain that intensity and speed and productivity indefinitely. So with all that said, I’ll also say this:

If it starts to become a drag, you’re doing it wrong.

Best in Class Writing Advice

For a long time, I’ve been wanting to start a series of blog posts here celebrating the best-in-class writing advice that we at Writer’s Digest have collected over the years. I’ve had the privilege of discussing the craft of writing with so many authors who I deeply admire for our WD Interview cover stories. You’d think all those conversations might run together in my mind after a while, but in fact the opposite happens: The best advice rises to the top.

I’d like to kick off 2015—and this Best in Class writing advice series—by spotlighting wise words from two famed writers who offer unique twists on the age-old writer’s advice that we must Write Every Day. Both of these interviews were “click” moments for my own writing discipline, and they just might be for yours, too.

You Don’t Have to Write Every Day, but You Should Do This

• The first is from my October 2010 WD Interview with literary legend (perhaps best known for The Color Purple) and activist Alice Walker:

 “… Part of writing is not so much that you’re going to actually write something every day, but what you should have, or need to have, is the possibility, which means the space and the time set aside—as if you were going to have someone come to tea. If you are expecting someone to come to tea but you’re not going to be there, they may not come, and if I were them, I wouldn’t come. So, it’s about receptivity and being home when your guest is expected, or even when you hope that they will come.”

• The second is from my October 2012 WD Interview with Patricia Cornwell, a very different sort of writer, who almost single-handedly launched the forensic thriller genre with her iconic series character Dr. Kay Scarpetta:

“Treat your writing like a relationship and not a job. Because if it’s a relationship, even if you only have one hour in a day, you might just sit down and open up your last chapter because it’s like visiting your friend. What do you do when you miss somebody? You pick up the phone. You keep that connection established. If you do that with your writing, then you tend to stay in that moment, and you don’t forget what you’re doing. Usually the last thing I do before I go to bed is sit at my computer and just take a look at the last thing I was writing. It’s almost like I tuck my characters in at night. I may not do much, but I’m reminding myself: This is the world I’m living in right now, and I’ll go to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”

What they’re both saying, and what I myself believe to be true, is this: You don’t always have to force yourself to write every day, but you do need to make the time and space to spend with your writing as regularly as you can. If you do, it will come when it’s ready.

To my mind, that’s a lot less intimidating than writing every day. It’s a lot more zen, organic, intuitive, enjoyable—and effective, too.

How to Really Start the New Year Right

One of my favorite articles in our January 2015 Writer’s Digest—a comprehensive novel writing guide boldly proclaiming on its cover that “This Is the Year You Write That Novel!”—is an in-depth look from therapist-turned-writer Tracey Barnes Priestley on the real reasons so many writers give up on their writing resolutions, and how we can get out of our own ways and make real progress in the weeks and months ahead. That article, “Why So Many Writers Give Up Mid-Novel—and How Not to Be One of Them,” and the January issue as a whole, is a warm, encouraging companion for the writing year ahead. It’s on newsstands for only one more week, so I encourage you to get your copy while you can! Of course, it will also remain available for instant download in The Writer’s Digest Shop.

What’s your philosophy on your writing routine in this new year? What’s your own preferred approach to writing (or making room for writing) every day? Let’s continue the discussion in the comments thread below!

Wishing you and your writing a great year ahead.

Jessica Strawser
Editor, Writer’s Digest Magazine
Follow me on Twitter @jessicastrawser.

Sometimes, as a writer, it’s difficult to think about large, overarching goals when you’re working on a project or planning to start on something new. Thinking, “I’m going to write a novel and have it completed by XX date,” is ambitious. And maybe it’s too much of a reach.

Instead, develop a plan. Write in chunks. Write sections of your novel or story that you find more interesting than others. Challenge yourself, but make your goals and expectations reasonable and attainable, because it will make the payoff satisfying.

Below is an excerpt from our go-to guide, Crafting Novels & Short Stories: The Complete Guide to Writing Great Fiction. The selected portion will help you develop a plan to start writing immediately and turn writing into a habit, rather than a chore or an exercise. The entire book will assist you with whatever you’re currently writing: flash fiction, a short story, a novel, or an epic trilogy. It features advice and instruction from best-selling authors and writing experts like Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Sims, Hallie Ephron, N.M. Kelby, Heather Sellers, and Donald Maass, plus a foreword by James Scott Bell.

Are you writing or putting the finishing touches on a short story? Consider entering it into Writer’s Digest’s Short Short Story Competition, where the winner will receive $3,000 in cash and a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference! This year, all entrants will also receive a special pass to attend a live webinar conducted by award-winning author Jacob Appel. Hurry, though: The deadline is December 15!

“So, what do you do?” asks the fellow dad at the soccer match, glancing over at you while he keeps an eye on his daughter, the star forward.

“I’m a writer,” you announce proudly.

“That’s fascinating! Anything I would recognize?” he asks, while you both cheer a save by your team’s goalie.

“Not yet,” you admit. “I haven’t had much luck yet in getting published.” There is a pause while he makes a sympathetic-sounding cluck. “Actually, I haven’t been writing much lately at all,” you continue. “Being home with the kids takes so much of my energy that by the time they’re in bed at the end of the day all I want to do is watch television. Plus, writing is so discouraging when you can’t get someone to even look at your work.”

There is a beat while he processes this. “But, you’re a writer, right? How can you be a writer without actually writing?”

This scene may cause you to chuckle with recognition or possibly to hang your head in shame. Real writers write. Successful writers find the time every day to hone their craft and meet their writing obligations—whether those obligations are external (from editors) or internal (from an incontestable desire to write). What usually separates good writers from bad ones (and often, published writers from unpublished ones) is a strong work habit. That’s it. That’s the big secret. Real writers work hard. In fact, most work ridiculously hard.

Professional writers know there’s nothing like a looming deadline to make them focus on their work. In fact, the real problem for beginning writers is usually not scrambling to meet a deadline, but simply organizing their time efficiently enough to find time to write at a productive pace. All writers feel this way from time to time. As other commitments encroach on our days, writing is often pushed aside like an unpleasant chore.

Accomplishing your writing goals requires making a writing plan, which is a time schedule that lists what you need to do and when.

Choose to Write

Everybody on the planet has the same amount of time every day. How we choose to use that time makes some of us writers and others of us short-order cooks. If you are a short-order cook who wants to write, however, you should probably take a bit of time to think about how you use your time.

Sandra Felton, who has written more than a dozen books on how to get organized, including Neat Mom, Messie Kids, and The New Messies Manual, points to prioritizing and dedication as helpful organizational tools for writers. “I think the whole answer is focus,” she says. “I think what focus means is you have to decide what you want to do and lob off other stuff that you also want to do. Because you want to write more.”

Note that the choice is not between writing and doing something else that you don’t want to do. The choice is among a nearly overwhelming array of things that seem appealing: checking in with your friends on Facebook, reading for pleasure, or having people over for dinner. Then there’s going to movies and the theater and the opera and family get-togethers and on trips and watching way too much television. Sometimes people would even rather do laundry and dishes than write. (All writers have days like that, but if that’s your constant M.O., you may wish to rethink a literary vocation.) Faced with so many options, people tend to choose too many and feel like they’re short of time.

Some people actually can use stray snippets of free time to write, penning novels on the back of envelopes while waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store. If they have ten minutes between helping a child with homework and driving her to flute lessons, they use those ten precious minutes to write or polish a small chunk of prose. Such people are the envy of the rest of us. For the rest of us, writing for publication requires larger pieces of time to research, ponder, draft, rewrite, and polish.

Make Writing a Habit

Finding writing time requires a modicum of organization, but using it productively demands dedication. The theme of virtually every article about getting organized to write is straightforward: Just do it. Wanting to write and writing itself are cousins, not identical twins. Psychological research indicates that writing every day, whether your muse is whispering in your ear or has deserted you, produces not only more writing but also more ideas for future writing.

The writing habit, like the exercise habit, is its own reward. When you don’t do it, you feel as if you’re cheating yourself. Real writers don’t sit around and wait for inspiration to strike before they put fingers to keyboard; they put fingers to keyboard and know that somewhere during those hours they will discover small nuggets of inspiration. The fingers-to-keyboard, butt-in-the-chair pose is like exercise for the writer. In a way, this is just like real runners who pound the pavement or the treadmill in all weather, whether they are busy with work or on vacation. Like physical exercise, writing is often not enjoyable while you’re doing it, though occasionally an endorphin or two will spark and the serotonin does its thing. Most of the time, though, writing is just a matter of discipline, plain and simple. Discipline comes more easily to some people than to others, but it is certainly a skill that can be cultivated.

“The only thing I can tell you I do that’s inviolate is when I have to write, I get up in the morning and literally go straight to the typewriter,” says Stephanie Culp, who has written books on organization and time management. “Any little distraction that takes me away from my desk kills it. When I’m writing something large, it takes about three fitful days, and then I’m in the rhythm of it, and I write it. I can still write a book in three weeks.”

Here are some tips for getting into a writing habit.

• Start by setting aside an hour or a half hour every day to write.
• Or make a goal to write a set number of words each day.
• Try to write at the same time every day so it will feel peculiar to do something else at that time.
• Write even if you feel uninspired, even if you don’t feel ready to write. If you want to be a writer, you must write.

Your Writing Plan

Often, getting started on a writing project is the hardest part. Most writing jobs, however, can be viewed as a sequence of doable tasks that follow the same general path from beginning to end. If you accomplish each task in order, you can follow the plan to a finished piece. The more you write, the more you will be able to anticipate how much time a particular project will take you.

The planning guidelines below help you break your book project into smaller tasks. Start with individual chapters, and break down the chapters into component parts. Schedule your writing project into your day at specific times, and, with a little luck but more hard work, you’ll finish your pieces on time.

If you’re a person who resents and resists scheduling, remember that creating a writing plan is intended to help you, not restrict you. The goal is to relieve some stress, organize your life, and make your writing process more efficient. Meeting even mini deadlines can lift your spirits and bolster your confidence. Simply crossing items off to-do lists feels so good that the act in itself becomes a reward and keeps you writing.

Take a look at the following guidelines, which will help you better organize your writing time and, in turn, finish your projects.

1. Set reasonable, measurable goals. Even if you’re not writing to someone else’s external deadline, give yourself your own deadline and treat it seriously. Because you understand the power of the written word, write down a specific goal, with a due date: “Finish chapter by [whatever date].” Some people even establish a punishment and/or reward if they meet or don’t meet their self-imposed deadlines: “If I complete chapter five by Friday, I can go to see a movie; if I don’t finish on time, I will force myself to scrub the toilets as penance.” Well, you don’t have to clean the toilets, but a little self-flagellation is probably good for you.
2. Divide and conquer. View your writing project not as an overwhelming monolith, but a compilation of many smaller items. The reason hard jobs get bypassed is that they often seem too daunting if they’re written as one entry on your list of goals. For example, “Write a book in the next year” can be overwhelming. The scope of the project is so big, and the deadline so far away, that achieving the goal seems impossible. Instead, focus on smaller tasks to do today, tomorrow, this week, and this month to help you reach that goal. You’re likelier to accomplish smaller tasks in the near future than a vague goal in the abstract faraway. The tasks help you reach that distant goal step-by-step.
3. Create a plan of ordered tasks. Writing down tasks in the order in which they should be done keeps you focused, as well as frees your mind to concentrate on the important things—rather than wasting mental energy trying to remember all the niggling details that must be done each day. Break the task down into manageable steps.
4. Select dates and stick to them. “Someday, I’m going to write a book.” How many times have we all thought this? Turn your lofty dream into an actual accomplishment by adopting a workable schedule. For example, choose a date on your calendar for beginning your writing project. Make it today. You’ll be surprised by how much more quickly you’ll work with deadlines, especially if they come with positive and negative consequences. For example, if you miss your deadline at a major magazine, you may never be hired again and may in fact not see your piece in print, which are both negative consequences. But if you make your deadline, determine that you will give yourself a real day off, a massage, an entire chocolate cake, or what have you. Enlist other people to hold you accountable.
5. Work backward. The most important step in planning the time for your writing project is this one: On your calendar, mark the story’s final due date. (If you don’t have a deadline from a publisher, give yourself a reasonable one.) Then figure out when each of the specific items, in reverse order, must be completed if you are to meet that deadline. Allow a little wiggle room in your calendar for the delays that inevitably happen: an interviewee gets the flu and has to postpone by a few days, the computer crashes, etc.

Next to each item on your list, write the time you think it will take to accomplish it and the deadline for completing it. People commonly put far too many items on their to-do list and, as a result, feel defeated when they have to copy uncompleted items from day to day. As William James once wrote, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” So jot down what you can reasonably expect to accomplish in a day. Some people have success using online organizational websites to help them stay on track. For example, on www.Toodledo.com, users can create goals for themselves, color code them, assign themselves deadlines, prioritize the tasks in a “hotlist,” and keep track of the time spent on each project. There are other similar sites as well, including many that are compatible with PDAs and smart phones. (Of course, the old-fashioned system of a pen and a sticky note works fine, too.)

‘Tis the season … of short stories! Contests and journals are currently calling for submissions; to be selected, your story must stand out. By building strongly defined characters, a rich backstory, and the perfect pace and momentum, you can ensure your work makes the cut. Write & Sell Superior Short Stories is a kit that guides you through every phase of writing your short story, from gathering ideas to publishing your completed work. With creative writing prompts, advice from writing experts, and step-by-step guides to constructing scenes, choosing the right narrative and more, this kit will help you compose short stories that readers love and publishers can’t resist. Includes: Crafting Novels & Short Stories, Where Do You Get Your Ideas?, Writing with Emotion, Tension and Conflict, 2015 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, and much more!

Cris Freese is the associate editor of Writer’s Digest Books.

Light-bulb moments. Aha moments. Flashes of recognition. Revelations. Call them whatever you like. I like to think of them as clicks.

In the writing life, the best kind of click is that moment something makes you realize exactly what’s been missing from the not-quite-right scene you’ve been working on. Or the instant you put two plot points together and suddenly have a clear view of what’s really beneath your character’s behavior. Or the random tip on plot structure that magically conjures for you a map of how everything in your messy draft might fit together after all.

Clicks. They’re satisfying, exciting, inspiring, invigorating. And they’re the stuff writers live for.

The January 2015 Writer’s Digest—devoted to all things novel writing—releases today, and I’m so excited to finally be able to offer you a preview of what’s inside. We’ve done our best to fill this issue with the types of craft advice and writing techniques that help things click into place. Because whether your own moments of realization are quiet head nods or loud exclamations of triumph, as subtle as the click of a key in a lock or dramatic as a stack of papers launched into the air, we know it’s the bits of advice that resonate that can make all the difference for your novel-in-progress.

First, award-winning novelist David Corbett shares what made his own characters finally click on the page—and how you can paint more effective pictures of the players in your own stories, too. Then, longtime contributor Elizabeth Sims details techniques for mastering one of the most notoriously difficult elements of fiction: dialogue. Bestselling novelist Steven James shows you precisely how to manage the flow of tension and conflict in your story—through multiple plot points, climaxes, subplots and more. Therapist-turned-writer Tracey Barnes Priestley delves into the real reasons “Why So Many Writers Give Up Mid-Novel—and How Not to Be One of Them.” And four bestselling series writers take you behind the scenes with their iconic characters to show you what it is that gives a novel that special something that makes readers want another installment, and another, and another.

We all know that writing a novel isn’t easy. But in those moments that something clicks, suddenly anything seems possible. Here’s to many ahas on the pages—and in the new year—ahead.

Get your copy of our “This Is the Year You Write That Novel!” issue on your favorite newsstand starting today, or download the January 2015 Writer’s Digest and start reading right now.

Happy Writing,
Jessica Strawser
Editor, Writer’s Digest Magazine
Follow me on Twitter @jessicastrawser.

When I compiled the roundup of reader-submitted tips, stories and advice for our “Plan Your Own Write-a-Thon” feature in the November/December 2014 Writer’s Digest, one of my favorites was from a mother who was inspired to try NaNoWriMo because her daughter was doing it. Here’s a part of what Angela C. Lebovic, of North Barrington, Ill., wrote:

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. One day, I’d actually do it—write a complete story. I just hadn’t done it yet. I had plenty of ideas, and many starts, but no completion. Then one day my 10-year-old daughter was given an assignment to write a 15,000-word novel for NaNoWriMo. I was encouraging her, letting her know that she could accomplish anything if she set her mind to it, when I thought I should put my word count where my mouth is and join her. If she could write a book in one month, then why couldn’t I, a grown woman who has aspired to be a published author my whole life?

When you read that story, what’s your takeaway? Here’s mine:

1. In encouraging someone else to write—or read—you might just find that you encourage yourself.

One of our forthcoming issues of the magazine (stay tuned!) features an author by the name of Jeff Gunhus. In encouraging his 11-year-old reluctant reader son to read, he made up a story about a hero named Jack Templar Monster Hunter—and ended up launching an Amazon bestselling series for young readers in the process. (You can read more about his story—plus his 10 Tips for Reading Your Reluctant Reader—here.)

2. By encouraging someone else’s love of words and stories, you are cultivating an audience of more readers.

Neither of my parents are writers, but both of them always supported my love of books—and words. When I had to stay home sick from school, my mom would play Boggle with me for hours on end. When we went to the store and my brother begged for baseball cards, I was allowed to pick out a Nancy Drew. When I was on summer vacation, they signed me up for a writing day camp (I still have the “I Heart Writing” button that used to adorn my jean jacket). And when I was old enough to volunteer at the library but not yet old enough to drive, they took me to and from my shifts manning the public library’s Summer Reading Program table.

Today, I’m not just the writer in the family. Guess who also buys—and shares—the most books and magazines? Guess who everyone else buys the most books and magazines for on birthdays and holidays?

As a writer, you need an audience. As an aspiring writer, you’ll need future readers. People tell us everyday that the reading public is shrinking. Why not do your part to combat that? As bestseller Brad Meltzer is fond of saying: Ordinary people change the world.

3. Good stories connect people.

There’s a reason book clubs are so popular, and it’s not just that people want to have motivation to actually read the stuff on their wish lists. It’s that people want to have an excuse to get together, socialize for a few hours and talk about a common interest.

We moved to a new neighborhood over the summer. I was eager to meet our neighbors, hoping my kids would find playmates on our street. Of all the families we’ve met, one family of four has become our fastest friends—and it’s not because our kids are the same age (they’re not) or our backyards meet (they don’t). It’s because the mom is a school librarian and I’m an editor and when her e-reader hold on Gone Girl expired before she was done reading it, I had a copy on my shelf. It’s because the dad reads presidential biographies like they’re going out of style and my husband is addicted to history-themed podcasts. We have since discovered that none of us ever feel like cooking on Fridays. A win-win for everyone, including the pizza man.

4. Sharing makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

My 3-year-old is a ball of energy who almost never sits still—unless we’re reading a story. Every night, he gets to pick two. We snuggle up with his stuffed animals, and most nights, my baby girl listens in, too. It’s my favorite part of the day, and I think it’s theirs, too.

The other night, he asked me whose photo was on the back flap of a picture book we’d just read. I explained that that was the man who had written the book.

“I want to have my picture in a book one day,” my son said, sleepily.

Music to my ears.

5. Whatever has influenced your own love of words, it’s important to pay that forward.

How have others shared their love of reading or writing with you in memorable ways? How do you share it with the people in your life? How could you do more of that?

Share your story in the comments below to keep the conversation going. Who knows—you might inspire someone else right here!

And for those in the midst of NaNoWriMo, to learn more about how the support of the writing community can do wonders for your word count, don’t miss the November/December 2014 Writer’s Digest, all about Writing a Book in a Month, available online and on a newsstand near you.

Happy Writing,
Jessica Strawser
Editor, Writer’s Digest Magazine
Follow me on Twitter: @jessicastrawser

For some writers, the most difficult thing about writing is just getting started. For myself, I can’t think of anything more intimidating than a blank word document. I spend so much time trying to construct the perfect sentence that it no longer feels like writing. I analyze every word choice. That’s unhealthy.

Many of our NaNoWriMo experts suffer from the same thing. There’s a real difficulty in getting started the right way. And maybe that’s the heart of the issue—it’s not about starting the right way, but just starting in general. Just write. Don’t analyze or think. That can (and will) come later.

And until then, hopefully you can learn a thing or two from our experts. All of them have something important to stay, whether they’ve hit a homerun on their first swing or are still stuck in the mud, waiting to get started.

As always, feel free to respond to our question in the comments below! Maybe you have a trick to getting started and staying motivated that our writers haven’t yet shared.

[Note: If you missed the first part of our NaNoWriMo blogging series, you can find an introductory post from each of our contributors, here.]

Question: Do you find it easy or hard to get started writing? What was your motivation for getting NaNoWriMo kicked off?

Rachael Herron: This is my ninth NaNoWriMo, so I can say with some confidence that for me, writing a lot in November means writing even more than I predict I will.

When I was a kid, I had a ham radio. I could spend hours each night turning that hair-trigger tuner, a fraction of a millimeter at a time. Most stations came in fuzzy and scratchy, but then I’d hit exactly the right sweet spot, and I’d be listening to New Zealand—a whole world away—coming loud and clear into my attic bedroom. After that, it didn’t take much extra effort to lie there and listen until I fell asleep, the words streaming into my ears. That’s what NaNo feels like to me. I’ve found that I write more blog posts than normal in November. I write longer, more detailed emails to family and friends. And it’s not even a method of procrastination (I swear—I’m writing this post only after finishing my words for the day). It’s just what happens.

It’s like I tune in to something that was already there. I tune in every day, without fail, and the words flow (not without difficulty, mind. Never trust a person who says all the words come to him easily, that he’s channeling a muse. He’s lying to you. Words come at a price, but if you’re tuned in to the right frequency, they don’t have to cost so much). The words that flow onto my page in November are not the good words or the right ones; my sentences are not even remotely anything like the polished ones I’ll be proud of later, but that’s okay. I know that now. I don’t pause to fix a single sentence because I trust my ear. What sounds wrong now (so much!) will sound wrong again in exactly the same way when I’m revising, and then I’ll bring a different skill set to the work to fix it.

Don’t worry, though: you don’t need that skill set now. For November, you just need to write. That’s it. You don’t even need a plot. That will come as you write. By doing nothing more than showing up and writing every day, you tun in to the station that plays the words you’re looking for, the words that you put onto the page in black and white, the words that get you closer, every day, to a finished first draft.

Nikki Hyson: I usually find myself teetering on the edge of wild excitement and paralyzing fear before every new writing project. NaNoWriMo has never changed that for me, but it has prevented me from lingering there for too long. Minutes and hours spent wondering if an idea is any good isn’t lifting my word count.

Regina Kammer: By November 1st, I’ve been thinking about my NaNoWriMo story for so long, I cannot wait to get it down! I find it very easy to start and usually my first day is pretty productive. Halloween is really quiet at our house, so I don’t burn out—I stay up until midnight then start writing. Even if it’s only a little bit, that’s okay. I wake up later on November 1st having some words under my writing belt!

But the first days of NaNoWriMo 2014—a weekend—were challenging because of I had a mini-family reunion scheduled, so I had to get as many words down as possible those wee hours after midnight November 1st. At one point that weekend, though, my doggy and I sat in the sun (yes, we traveled to a sunny place) and I wrote a few hundred words while she slept. 

Kathy Kitts: Usually starting is easy for me, but not this time. I couldn’t get my inner critic shoved in his box for the duration. Allow me to explain.

During one of my region’s pre-NaNo events, we passed out Chinese takeout boxes on card stock. We drew or cut out of magazines something that resembled our inner critics. We crumpled them up, shoved them in our boxes, sealed them in, and promised to not open the boxes until December 1. Unfortunately, I was traveling for work and missed that event. So, I said to myself, “I don’t need no stinkin’ box, I’m a veteran. I’ve done this eleven times already. I can handle my inner critic.”

He handed me my butt and them made nasty comments on its size, shape and amount of cellulite.

On day one, after leading a workshop on NaNoWriMo for fifteen new wrimos, I sat down to write, and it took me twice as long to get to 800 words as it usually takes to make the daily word count. It was almost midnight. I had to post my anemic word count. Ah the chagrin!

So [Sunday] morning (day two), I used felt pens to draw the little [expletive deleted] and shoved him in his box. I kicked out 2,000 words in no time. (For a PDF of the foldable Chinese takeout box I made to share, click here.)

Moral of the story? I need NaNoWriMo and I still need to be reminded that you can’t edit what you don’t write.

[As for my motivation,] I was giving a workshop on NaNoWriMo and Writer’s Digest is profiling me. No pressure.

 The November/December 2014 issue of Writer’s Digest
is geared towards making sure you are ready to meet your
goal of 50,000 words during the month of November.

Tiffany Luckey: It’s actually pretty easy for me to get started on NaNoWriMo. Finishing is what’s challenging. I’m actually doing a modified version of NaNoWriMo, where I’m writing three or four short stories instead of one 50,000-word novel. I’ve been wanting to get back to writing more short stories, so I’m using NaNoWriMo as motivation to do so. That’s how I roll.

Kristen Rudd: The one thing that seems to be marking my NaNoWriMo experience this year is that nothing is consistent. I mean, it’s only been two days so far, but whatever.

The words are either flowing easily, or I’m sitting there starting at that little flashing cursor, or I’m pecking away, bit by bit. I may or may not have spent the first hour “writing” my novel this year procrastinating putting the first words down by piddling around on the internet. This is normal, yes? Something about committing—there’s no turning back. It’s scary. It’s messy. And I don’t like messes. So I wrote two separate intros, which I have to say, is very good for the word count.

I’ve seen a lot of people online question whether they should do this. I say: DO IT. Just jump in. Whatever voice is nagging you to create something is bigger and better than the voice nagging you about all the reasons why you can’t. Shut that second voice up. Write.

EJ Runyon: For me, it’s power naps that motivate me. Strangely, I enjoy the idea of starting in right at midnight. I’m a night owl anyway. There’s a tool I’m using that figures out when you need to go to bed in order to wake refreshed, so I plugged in Midnight and worked backwards from there. Got in 105 minutes of shut-eye and when I woke up I was revved and bright-eyed, very motivated after the power nap. Getting started felt like a cinch!

Brian Schwarz: Well, fellow Nanoers, two days have passed and I’m about 178 words into my masterpiece (which, by the way, is ahead of schedule from last year). Each year I tell myself the same things:

1) Don’t get behind schedule
and
2) Really Brian, don’t get behind schedule

But, unfortunately, there is no magic way to make room in your life for writing a book. Most of the time, this room comes in tiny slices, odds and ends that used to be reserved for naps or snacking or catching up on the latest episodes of your third and fourth favorite TV shows (I’m sorry, but no book will ever keep me from watching The Walking Dead or Dr. Who). If you’re anything like me, you’re probably feeling a great bit of despair right now, maybe even mixed with some anxious and gripping terror, but take a moment to take a deep breath and remember this—there are only 30 days in the month of November. For all the hair pulling and teeth grinding, the amount of physical time remains the same, and eventually it will pass and you will be staring at a really long word document. That’s how it happened for me last time, and you better believe that’s how it’s going to happen for me this time. I will write with reckless abandon. When I miss the first two days, well, that just means the next two are going to be more reckless; if I only catch up by one day, I’ll hang on to that 1,700 words and ensure I fit it into my schedule somehow. That’s the trick after all, isn’t it? Not giving in to the despair and the frustration. Not letting those negative can’t-do attitudes, the external voices or the internal voice win. Because you CAN do this.

Let me tell you what NaNo has been for me, so that hopefully you can use some of my hard-learned lessons to your own advantage.

I find it incredibly hard to get started writing for NaNoWriMo. I always start slow. Very slow. But once I’m moving, I stop counting words and struggling to hit a certain number and just start getting lost in my story. I want to get it out of me, because if I keep it inside I feel like it will never do anyone any good. And that’s what motivates me. I want to impact someone with the message that keeps burning a hole in me. But I feel like I need to get this out so that someone can hear it, find truth in it, and feel what my characters are feeling which is in part what I am feeling. In last year’s NaNo, I worked on a project (my first) that was 40,000 words in the making. It took me two years to get to 40,000 words. But after NaNo was over, I had 120,000 words, literally two times the length of what I wrote in two years. That’s why I love NaNoWriMo. It’s a great motivator (apparently it’s a better motivator of me than I am of me).

Jonathan Wood: I’ve been writing every week day, rain or shine for about 8 years now. It’s very routine for me. So getting started isn’t a huge problem. Also, Natania [Barron] and I did a lot of planning for this, which helps me a lot. I’ve got multiple bullet points outlining each chapter, so I know exactly what I need to be doing at each point in time. There’s no fretting about plot, just the act of exploring the character in the situations we’ve created.

As for my motivation—this was just the right project at the right time. I recently delivered book 4 of my Hero series to my publisher, and was casting around for a new project. I’ve known Natania for years and we’ve knocked around the idea of collaborating a few times before. But the timing has never worked out. This year it did. So far the experience has been awesome.

*     *     *     *     *

Everyone thinks about doing it, yet most people who do start a novel end up stalling out after a few chapters. Where do these would-be novelists go wrong? Are the characters dull and clichéd? Did the story arc collapse? Did they succumb to a dreaded bout of “writer’s block”? Or maybe it was all just taking too long?

These problems used to stop writers in their tracks, but nothing will get in your way after reading Write Your Novel in a Month. Author and instructor Jeff Gerke has created the perfect tool to show you how to prepare yourself to write your first draft in as little as 30 days. With Jeff’s help, you will learn how to organize your ideas, create dynamic stories, develop believable characters, and flesh out the ideal narrative for your novel—and not just for that rapid-fire first draft. Jeff walks you through the entire process, from initial idea to the important revision stage, and even explains what to do with your novel once you’re finished.

Cris Freese is the associate editor of Writer’s Digest Books.

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My neighbor John loves to work on his hot rod. He’s an automotive whiz and tells me he can hear when something is not quite right with the engine. He doesn’t hesitate to pop the hood, grab his bag of tools and start to tinker. He’ll keep at it until the engine sounds just the way he wants it to.

That’s not a bad way to think about dialogue. We can usually sense when it needs work. What fiction writers often lack, however, is a defined set of tools they can put to use on problem areas.

So here’s a set—my seven favorite dialogue tools. Stick them in your writer’s toolbox for those times you need to pop the hood and tinker with your characters’ words.

#1 LET IT FLOW.
When you write the first draft of a scene, let the dialogue flow. Pour it out like cheap champagne. You’ll make it sparkle later, but first you must get it down on paper. This technique will allow you to come up with lines you never would have thought of if you tried to get it right the first time.

In fact, you can often come up with a dynamic scene by writing the dialogue first. Record what your characters are arguing about, stewing over, revealing. Write it all as fast as you can. As you do, pay no attention to attributions (who said what). Just write the lines.

Once you get these on the page, you will have a good idea of what the scene is all about. And it may be something different than you anticipated, which is good. Now you can go back and write the narrative that goes with the scene, and the normal speaker attributions and tags.

I have found this technique to be a wonderful cure for writer’s fatigue. I do my best writing in the morning, but if I haven’t done my quota by the evening (when I’m usually tired), I’ll just write some dialogue. Fast and furious. It flows and gets me into a scene.

With the juices pumping, I find I’ll often write more than my quota. And even if I don’t use all the dialogue I write, at least I got in some practice.

[Learn the 5 Essential Story Ingredients You Need to Write a Better Novel]

#2 ACT IT OUT.
Before going into writing, I spent some time in New York, pounding the pavement as an actor. While there, I took an acting class that included improvisation. Another member of the class was a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. When I asked him what he was doing there, he said improvisational work was a tremendous exercise for learning to write dialogue.

I found this to be true. But you don’t have to join a class. You can improvise just as easily by doing a Woody Allen.

Remember the courtroom scene in Allen’s movie Bananas? Allen is representing himself at the trial. He takes the witness stand and begins to cross-examine by asking a question, running into the witness box to answer, then jumping out again to ask another question.

I am suggesting you do the same thing (in the privacy of your own home, of course). Make up a scene between two characters in conflict. Then start an argument. Go back and forth, changing your actual physical location. Allow a slight pause as you switch, giving yourself time to come up with a response in each character’s voice.

Another twist on this technique: Do a scene between two well-known actors. Use the entire history of movies and television. Pit Lucille Ball against Bela Lugosi, or have Oprah Winfrey argue with Bette Davis. Only you play all the parts. Let yourself go.

And if your local community college offers an improvisation course, give it a try. You might just meet a Pulitzer Prize winner.

#3 SIDESTEP THE OBVIOUS.
One of the most common mistakes aspiring writers make with dialogue is creating a simple back-and-forth exchange. Each line responds directly to the previous line, often repeating a word or phrase (an “echo”). It looks something like this:

This sort of dialogue is “on the nose.” There are no surprises, and the reader drifts along with little interest. While some direct response is fine, your dialogue will be stronger if you sidestep the obvious:

I don’t really know what is going on in this scene (incidentally, I’ve written only these four lines of dialogue). But I think you’ll agree this exchange is immediately more interesting and suggestive of currents beneath the surface than the first example. I might even find the seeds of an entire story here.

You can also sidestep with a question:

Hmm. Who is “he”? And why should Sylvia know? The point is there are innumerable directions in which the sidestep technique can go. Experiment to find a path that works best for you. Look at a section of your dialogue and change some direct responses into off-center retorts. Like the old magic trick ads used to say, “You’ll be pleased and amazed.”

[Understanding Book Contracts: Learn what’s negotiable and what’s not.]

#4 CULTIVATE SILENCE.
A powerful variation on the sidestep is silence. It is often the best choice, no matter what words you might come up with. Hemingway was a master at this. Consider this excerpt from his short story “Hills Like White Elephants.” A man and a woman are having a drink at a train station in Spain. The man speaks:

In this story, the man is trying to convince the girl to have an abortion (a word that does not appear anywhere in the text). Her silence is reaction enough.

By using a combination of sidestep, silence and action, Hemingway gets the point across through a brief, compelling exchange. He uses the same technique in this well-known scene between mother and son in the story “Soldier’s Home”:

Silence and bacon fat hardening. We don’t need anything else to catch the mood of the scene. What are your characters feeling while exchanging dialogue? Try expressing it with the sound of silence.

#5 POLISH A GEM.
We’ve all had those moments when we wake up and have the perfect response for a conversation that took place the night before. Wouldn’t we all like to have those bon mots at a moment’s notice?

Your characters can. That’s part of the fun of being a fiction writer. I have a somewhat arbitrary rule—one gem per quarter. Divide your novel into fourths. When you polish your dialogue, find those opportunities in each quarter to polish a gem.

And how do you do that? Like a diamond cutter, you take what is rough and tap at it until it is perfect. In the movie The Godfather, Moe Greene is angry that a young Michael Corleone is telling him what to do. He might have said, “I made my bones when you were in high school!” Instead, screenwriter Mario Puzo penned, “I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!” (In his novel, Puzo wrote something a little racier). The point is you can take almost any line and find a more sparkling alternative.

Just remember to use these gems sparingly. The perfect comeback grows tiresome if it happens all the time.

#6 EMPLOY CONFRONTATION.
Many writers struggle with exposition in their novels. Often they heap it on in large chunks of straight narrative. Backstory—what happens before the novel opens—is especially troublesome. How can we give the essentials and avoid a mere information drop?

Use dialogue. First, create a tension-filled scene, usually between two characters. Get them arguing, confronting each other. Then have the information appear in the natural course of things. Here is the clunky way to do it:

Instead, place this backstory in a scene in which John is confronted by a patient who is aware of the doctor’s past:

And so forth. This is a much underused method, but it not only gives weight to your dialogue, it increases the pace of your story.

[Here's how to turn traumatic experiences into fuel for your writing.]

#7 DROP WORDS.
This is a favorite technique of dialogue master Elmore Leonard. By excising a single word here and there, he creates a feeling of verisimilitude in his dialogue. It sounds like real speech, though it is really nothing of the sort. All of Leonard’s dialogue contributes to characterization and story.
Here is a standard exchange:

This is the way Leonard did it in Out of Sight:

It sounds so natural, yet is lean and meaningful. Notice it’s all a matter of a few words dropped, leaving the feeling of real speech.

As with any technique, there’s always a danger of overdoing it. Pick your spots and your characters with careful precision and focus, and your dialogue will thank you for it later.

Using tools is fun when you know what to do with them. I guess that’s why John, my neighbor, is always whistling when he works on his car. You’ll see results in your fiction—and have fun, too—by using these tools to make your dialogue sound just right.

Start tinkering.

Thanks for visiting The Writer’s Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.

*********************************************************************************************************************************
Brian A. Klems is the online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Sign up for Brian’s free Writer’s Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

First we talked about the anxiety stirred up when it’s time to start a writing project. Then we talked about four causes of this “weakened mind anxiety,” a term coined by Eric Maisel in Fearless Creating.

The next obvious question is: what do we do about it?

As it turns out, we do many things in order to make ourselves create. Some are appropriate and helpful. Others, however, are not. Let’s mention those first.

Unhelpful Responses

Things we do that get us writing, but do NOT help in the long run, may include:

• Beat yourself into submission with “shoulds.” Call yourself names and force yourself into your office.
• Find fortitude (or relaxation) in heavy doses of chocolate, caffeine, or other drugs to dampen the anxiety enough to work.
• Narrowly focus on something do-able, perhaps something you’ve done before that can be “tweaked” or modified, instead of creating something new.
• Rationalizing an interest in shallow commercial work that seems to sell better in today’s culture instead of producing what is true and deep and sincere.

I think we’d all agree that those solutions are temporary, at best. You also rarely enjoy the writing process when you choose such a “getting started” method.

Helpful Solutions for Writing Anxiety

There are 22 techniques in Mastering Creative Anxiety (Maisel), but I will only list a handful of things you can try. If anxiety over getting started is a big problem for you, I’d recommend getting both of his books. The sample solutions I list may not apply to your particular problem.

1. It’s here to stay.

“Embrace the idea that sitting there and doing the actual work of creating provokes anxiety. Accept it.” (Mastering Creative Anxiety) This may sound like bad news, but it was rather a relief to me. I could stop thinking there was something wrong with me for feeling anxious. “Do not hope for the process to be different,” Maisel says. Instead, learn anxiety-management tools. In other words, the feeling won’t kill us–we can learn tools to overcome it and write anyway.

2. Power Thoughts

Physical relaxation coupled with power thougths can drastically lower your anxiety level and help you slip right into writing. (Don’t discount this till you try it. My first reaction was, “Oh this is hokey.” But after it worked for me, I was impressed!) First, learn to breathe deeply, five counts when breathing in and five counts when breathing out. Then write out some power thoughts to contradict the neagative thoughts you’ve been telling yourself. Say the first half of the sentence to yourself when breathing in, and the second half when beathing out.

Sentences like this along with the slow, deep breathing can work wonders:

• (I am equal) (to this challenge.)
• (I am called) (to write.)
• (I can do) (hard things.)
• (Anxiety can’t) (hurt me.)
• (I write) (with ease.)

Begin using these daily as part of your anxiety-management program.

3. Get Physical!

Discharge your built-up anxiety with physical activity. Stretch, run around the block, or jog in place. (Of if you have a treadmill desk like mine, rev it up faster for a few minutes.) Don’t sit and brood and grow more anxious.

4. Develop an “artist’s discipline.”

Do you want to develop discipline as a writer? Understand that an artist’s discipline is a different kind of discipline. We think of discipline like doing an exercise program daily or disciplining ourselves to show up for our day job on time. However, for a writer “there is only one discipline, the discipline of creating regularly even while anxious,” says Maisel. Learn the tools!

So…Where’s the Hitch?

Can you master creative anxiety instead of it mastering you? Maisel says yes–but there’s a condition.

“Anxiety mastery requires that you actually do the work of managing and reducing your anxiety. It is not enough to have a refined sense of why and when you become anxious:  you must then do something.”

Because I don’t want to plagiarize his books, I won’t list more of Maisel’s solutions. But they include lifestyle changes, behavioral changes, changing the way you think, various relaxation and guided imagery techniques, “detachment” training and identifying those things that trigger writer’s anxiety in you.

As Anna Held Audette said,

“There are probably as many ways to get started as there are ways of chasing the blues. Use anything that works even if it seems ridiculous or not what an artist does.”

If getting started writing troubles you to a significant degree, take steps to change as much of the anxiety as you can. Yes, a certain amount appears to be inherent in the writing process, but it’s up to us if we let it cripple us–or if we choose to use it as a springboard for writing growth.

Some of this is Grammar 101, but you’ve got to master the rules in this section for an editor to take you seriously. If these rules are elementary to you, skip them. For everyone else, type them up, print them out, and nail them to your computer monitor.

Rule #1: When a new speaker speaks, start a new paragraph

Right: “Did you hear what happened to Mary last week?” Joseph asked.

“No. Do tell!” cried the little drummer boy.

Wrong: “Did you hear what happened to Mary last week?” Joseph asked.

“No. Do tell!” cried the little drummer boy.

Rule #2: Keep dialogue brief

I’m a devotee of nineteenth-century Russian literature, and one of my favorite chapters is the Grand Inquisitor section of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. The success of such a chapter carries with it an assumption that no longer holds true today: One speaker can tell a long story, without interruptions, and his audience will be rapt throughout the telling.

In the age of television, the Internet, e-mail, and even books (remember them?), the art of oral storytelling has gone nearly extinct. Yes, we all still run across the occasional person who can hold a dinner party spellbound with his telling of a story, but there will nonetheless be interruptions, interjections, and asides. In our twenty-first-century world, in fact, no one gets to go on as long as nineteenth-century characters could, so dialogue in which someone speaks without interruption feels awkward and stilted to us.

If it’s necessary to your narrative for someone to give a long speech, there are a number of possible solutions.

1. Make it a real speech.
2. Have him write a letter.
3. Break it up with interjections that further the narrative and/or develop character or relationships at the same time.
4. Consider why it’s necessary for this information to be imparted this way. If it’s important, perhaps it should be done in a scene. (If doing such a scene presents a point-of-view problem, have someone who’s there write a letter.)

Rule #3: Always put terminal punctuation (commas, periods) inside the quotation marks

This one’s simple. Note where the comma and period appear in each example and then commit the above to memory.
Right: “I wonder,” she said, “if he is going to show up.”
Wrong: “I wonder”, she said, “if he is going to show up”.

*This excerpt is from Mind of Your Story by Lisa Lenard-Cook.

Buy it now!

For the past week, I’ve been suffering from “weakened mind anxiety,” according to Eric Miasel’s Fearless Creating. It’s the anxiety that comes when you begin a piece of work.

It’s not the anxiety that comes from choosing an idea. It’s not anxiety from developing characters and plot. It’s not anxiety produced by setting some deadlines.

It’s the anxiety that grips us when we try to actually begin the writing—and what can prevent us from ever getting started.

Symptoms of Weakened Mind Anxiety

How do you know if you have weakened mind anxiety? (Don’t be alarmed if all these symptoms feel familiar. There are some very workable solutions we’ll talk about later.)

Symptoms of “weakened mind anxiety” can be experienced as:

• Fatigue
• Heaviness
• Fog in the brain
• Depression
• Apathy
• Boredom
• Emptiness
• Dullness
• Stupidity
• Desire to cry/sleep/watch TV/surf the Internet

All the symptoms—and I experienced most of them every day last week—do not mean you’re a failure, or the story isn’t ready to be written, or that you’re not a “real” writer. They are simply the physical and mental consequences of anxiety.

As Maisel says, “Your mind has weakened in the face of the difficulties you believe will engulf you if and when you begin.”

We’re In This One Together

The inexperienced wannabe writer and the experienced published writer both go through this. It’s not because you’re a beginner. And it may not happen all the time. I never, ever have this issue with nonfiction.

Nonfiction feels like term papers from school, and those were always easy for me, so I expect nonfiction to be easier. It’s just something to sit down and do. But for me—and many of my fellow writers—spinning a fiction tale out of thin air feels as comfortable as bungee jumping.

What’s a Writer To Do?

There are inappropriate (and harmful) ways to treat this weakened mind anxiety. There are also appropriate (and helpful) ways to treat it. (We’ll talk about both cases next week.)

However, not writing is not a solution—not if you’re called to write and it’s your dream. As Fran Lebowitz said,

“Not writing is probably the most exhausting profession I’ve ever encountered. It takes it out of you. It’s very psychically wearing not to write—I mean if you’re supposed to be writing.”

Maisel says when you feel like this that your mind has lost its muscle tone. I love that image. Next week we’ll talk about getting rid of that mind flab—and getting it back in shape to create.

Do you want to write a novel? In addition to creating a solid plot, you are also going to need a strong concept for your novel. Wondering how to conceptualize your story? Todd A. Stone, author of the Novelist’s Boot Camp, shares essential elements for developing a story’s concept.

Developing A Story’s Concept

One common civilian technique for developing an idea for a novel is fairly straightforward: Start with a bit of information that piques your interest, then ask What if? But the answers to the What if? questions you asked in the civilian world of writing just aren’t strong enough to base a novel on. Instead, you need something stronger—you need to move from What if? to a comprehensive concept.

A comprehensive concept is a foundation builder. It is a short statement that combines the following four essential elements to form a strong base for your complex novel: (1) genre, (2) main character, (3) opposition, and (4) macro setting. You can arrange these elements, in any order.

Examples of Story Concepts From Popular Novels

Here are some example comprehensive concept statements formulated from popular novels.

In a mystery [genre] set in modern Los Angeles [macro setting], a female
bomb squad technician [main character] pursues a mad bomber [opposition]
who killed her partner.
—Demolition Angel by Robert Crais

A by-the-book Army officer and a break-the-rules Green Beret [main
characters] battle a new Nazi Fourth Reich [opposition] in a techno-thriller
[genre] set a newly united Germany [macro setting].
—Kriegspiel by Todd A. Stone

Now, to go from What if? to comprehensive concept, you need to leverage the what in What if? That is, begin with your scrap of information—idea, person, place, thing, tidbit of news, slice of history, scientific observation, or whatever else that sticks and inspires you—then ask specific What if? questions designed to formulate each of the four elements of your comprehensive concept.

For example, start with this fictional news item: Private plan crashes. No pilot found. Now, instead of asking yourself random What if? questions and allowing your train of thought to pick its own destination, focus and direct your What if? questions to determine genre, initial main character, opposition, and macro setting. You can address these four elements in any order.

• Genre: What role could this fact play in a horror story? What role could this fact play in a spy novel?
• Opposition: In a horror story, what kind of monster might be involved? What could that monster do to make planes crash and pilots vanish?
• Main Character: What if the protagonist was the missing pilot? What could be his reason for disappearing? What role could his disappearance play in his discovery and pursuit of the monster? What would the main character do to track and kill this kind of monster?
• Macro Setting: What kind of setting might be interesting for this story?

Arrange your answers to form a comprehensive concept statement. As long as you focus your questions on genre, main character, opposition, and macro setting, your novel concept will be strong enough that you can confidently mo

Your story’s opener is your one opportunity to capture an editor’s or agent’s attention. Learn how to avoid the critical mistakes (such as providing too much backstory) that lead to rejection and write a great beginning for your story. Today’s tip of the day, taken from Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers At Page One by Les Edgerton, illustrates the five wrong ways to start a story.

Opening With a Dream

Never, ever, ever begin a narrative with action and then reveal the character’s merely dreaming it all. Not unless you’d like your manuscript hurled across the room, accompanied by a series of curses. Followed by the insertion of a form rejection letter into your SASE and delivered by the minions of our illustrious postal service. Even though we’re dealing with beginnings here, it bears mentioning that you should never–and I never never–end a story by revealing that all that has gone on before was just a dream. Not unless you enjoy the prospect of strangers hunting you down and doing you bodily harm should such a story somehow find print.

Opening With an Alarm Clock Buzzing

Don’t open with your protagonist waking to an alarm clock ringing, or to someone shaking her awake, or to a cute little birdie chirping from her bedroom window, or to a blazing sun shining through the window.

This is always a groaner for the agent or editor–a beginning in which she’s introduced to the character waking up to an alarm clock ringing or to a clock radio announcing something important, such as the Martians have landed. Such an opening signals clearly to the agent or editor that the writer is about to take her through a tedious and thoroughly dull journey of the character waking, eating breakfast, greeting all the numbingly boring children in the house, and so on. It’s going to be hours before she gets the actual story. Hours she’s probably not going to invest.

The only thing worse than a story opening with a ringing alarm clock is when the character reaches over to turn it off and then exclaims, “I’m late!” I actually saw a movie in which that happened–wish I could remember the title so I could give it its deserved props. An intelligent reader will root for a cruel and unusual death for someone so irredeemably stupid as to set her alarm clock so she’ll be late and is then surprised when it goes off at the time she set it for may actually meet a person of the opposite sex who is equally brain damaged, and the scary thing is that they may have offspring. Resulting in progeny from the shallow end of the gene pool. Now, that’s a terrifying thought!

Being Unintentionally Funny

Don’t write sentences like: “Was she going to come in or stay out on the porch, he thought to himself.” It’s been fairly well verified down through the annals of history that when a human being thinks, he almost always does so to himself, and scarce

Every writer has to start somewhere. Whether you are a hobbyist looking for a creative outlet, or someone who aspires to be a bestselling author, the Beginning Writer’s Answer Book answers all of your questions about writing and getting published. Each of the book’s 29 chapters will give you get a better understanding of writing and provide insight into the publishing industry.

The Best Advice For Beginning Writers

The book features hundreds of questions and answers about the craft and business of writing. You’ll find tips and techniques about writing fiction and nonfiction, starting a freelance business, and more. Author Jane Friedman explores questions such as:

• Do I have what it takes to be a writer?
• How do I get published?
• How do I format and submit my work?
• How do I find an agent?
• How do I edit and revise?
• Why am I getting rejected?
• How do book publishers operate?
• How do I start a freelance career?

Not only will you get the answers to these questions and more, but you’ll also get valuable insight into the way things work within the world of publishing. In addition to practical writing advice, each chapter features resources for writers, and information you need to get started in writing.

What does it take to become a writer?

You’ve committed to becoming a writer. Now what? A good place to start is to discover your personal preferences.  At what time of day do you write best? What is your preferred writing environment? Do you like absolute quiet or do you work best in noisy surroundings?  Once you figure out your preferences, it’s time to explore the  tools and equipment you’ll need, such as a computer, printer, telephone, Internet access, and more.

How do I get published?

Getting published is every writer’s dream. In order to make this dream a reality, you have to do your research, understand a publication’s or publisher’s submission guidelines, and write a query letter. You’ll learn how to research the market and target the agents and editors that are right for your work. You’ll discover where to find listings for agents who specialize in your genre, and specific submission information. You’ll also get etiquette pointers so you know how to initiate contact and respond to editors and agents. Plus, you’ll get tips on writing and submitting a query letters for both books and magazines.

The Beginning Writer’s Answer Book guides beginning writers through the publishing process–from start to finish. It’s an essential resource that every writer should have on their bookshelf. No matter where you are in the writing or publishing process, you’ll refer to it time and time again for advice and guidance.

Buy the Beginning Writer’s Answer Book now!

The path to becoming a published author is full of twists and turns. No matter what stage of the writing process you are in or how busy your schedule is, you should always strive to get better and leave room for improvement. Below, author Aine Greaney talks about the importance of writing daily and strengthening your writing skills. She also discusses three qualities every writer should possess in order to succeed in the writing world. Start building your writing stamina now!

Have the Desire to Write

For a writer, desire means you want to write as much as you want anything else in your life. In your life’s bucket list, writing is listed among the top three.

I’ve met some writers who have chosen to live alone, who have eschewed romantic relationships in order to have a writer’s solitude.

For you, this may sound a little drastic—and certainly a high price to pay to be a writer. But overall, what I’m talking about here is the act of getting tough on yourself. If you really want to be a writer, you must do what it takes. If you want it badly enough, you will have to make real sacrifices and give up other things, other activities, wealth, or ego trips.

All life changes require behavior modification—a process by which you are going to stop one habit or activity (whining, pining, procrastinating) and start and maintain another habit (regular, sustained writing).

Develop Self-Discipline

It’s such a grim old word, isn’t it? It conjures Dickensian punishments and town-square floggings. But self-discipline is key to writing. The simple fact is this: If you leave writing until “I feel like it,” or “I feel inspired,” or “I feel I have something significant to say,” then you will be doing just that—leaving writing.

In the cliché department, it’s an oldie but a goodie: Writing is half inspiration and half perspiration. It’s true. And it’s especially true for writers who are also holding down another career.

From making excuses about going to the gym to stealing that last chocolate-chip cookie, we are all capable of acting like five-year-olds. We’ll all push the envelope and spin our own excuses. Worse, we’ll even believe these excuses. Wag your finger at yourself. Become your own procrastination police.

Create a Daily Writing Habit

Some working nine-to-five writers will tell you that the workweek is simply too packed and exhausting to get any writing done. “I’ll just do it on the weekend,” they say. “I’ll devote the entire weekend to writing.” Sounds good, right? After all, you have two full, paid days to devote to your craft.

Hmmm … I’m going to way a finger here and act like your mother and say, “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

First, I don’t believe those so-called weekend writers. Fine, they may not be actually sitting at their writing desks from Monday to Friday. But I’m going to be that they are, in some measure, visiting or revisiting their writing projects. As they drive to work or munch on their lunchtime sandwiches, they are imagining or reimagining that last scene they just wrote. Or they are taking time out to jot down lists of ideas, edits, and plot solutions. Then, come Saturday morning and their designated writing time, a portion of the work has already been done.

If you’re a beginner or even a beginner-to-intermediate writer, you need to write something—preferably a set, targeted amount—every day. By spending time—even if it’s just ten minutes—with your

No matter what type of novel you want to write–horror, romance, science fiction, mystery, or fantasy–we have bundled some of the best books, webinars, and workshops together to help you write a novel. When you buy this month’s premium collection, 10 Essentials for Writing a Kick-Ass Novel, you will learn how to structure your novel and tell your story effectively, get the essential tools you need to start and finish a novel, and learn what editors and agents look for.

Learn How to Write A Fiction Novel With These Resources On Novel Writing

If your goal is to write a novel in a month, finish a novel, or simply learn how to write one, you’ll find the best advice and tips on novel writing in this premium collection which includes:

• The Writer’s Compass: You’ll learn how to organize your story’s ideas and events through story mapping and the seven stages of writing. You’ll also receive tips on writing a novel, including, building your story’s structure, creating memorable characters, and developing crucial scenes.

• The Plot Thickens: Write a novel that catches the attention of agents and editors! In this online writing webinar, author, editor, and literary agent Andrea Hurst discusses plot methods and story structure. She also explains the reasons why manuscripts are rejected and what agents look for in a story.

• From First Draft to Finished Novel: Discover what it takes to write a novel from start to finish. You’ll learn the fundamentals of writing, including the basics of developing characters and plot, strategies for self-editing, and general guidelines for submitting your novel.

• Start Your Story Right: When writing a story, it’s essential to craft a strong beginning that grabs the attention of readers and agents. Guest speaker and literary agent Sara Megibow discusses how to write strong opening scenes, examines common clichés and problems, and shares insight into what agents and editors look for.

• Novel Shortcuts: Develop your story and turn an idea into an amazing novel—fast! Whether you are pressed for time or simply want to write a novel faster, you’ll explore time-saving strategies and tools for writing your first draft. You’ll also find practical exercises and comprehensive checklists to help you tackle the writing process.

• Story Structure Architect: Author Victoria Lynn Schmidt explains how to struc
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No matter if you are just getting started or want to break into fiction writing, setting is a crucial element to any story. In order to create an imaginary world for your story, you’ll need to know the fundamental elements of setting first. Discover the basic elements of setting in a story from Between the Lines.

Fiction has three main elements: plotting, character, and place or setting. While writers spend countless hours plotting and creating characters and then imagining their character’s arcs and dilemmas, often too little attention is paid to place. This is a fatal mistake, since the place fiction is staged provides the backdrop against which your dramas ultimately play out.

But setting is more than a mere backdrop for action; it is an interactive aspect of your fictional world that saturates the story with mood, meaning, and thematic connotations. Broadly defined, setting is the location of the plot, including the region, geography, climate, neighborhood, buildings, and interiors. Setting, along with pacing, also suggests passage of time. Place is layered into every scene and flashback, built of elements such as weather, lighting, the season, and the hour.

The Fundamental Elements of Setting

Here is a list of the specific elements that setting encompasses:

1. Locale. This relates to broad categories such as a country, state, region, city, and town, as well as to more specific locales, such as a neighborhood, street, house or school. Other locales can include shorelines, islands, farms, rural areas, etc.
2. Time of year. The time of year is richly evocative and influential in fiction. Time of year includes the seasons, but also encompasses holidays, such as Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Halloween. Significant dates can also be used, such as the anniversary of a death of a character or real person, or the anniversary of a battle, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
3. Time of day. Scenes need to play out during various times or periods during a day or night, such as dawn or dusk. Readers have clear associations with different periods of the day, making an easy way to create a visual orientation in a scene.
4. Elapsed time. The minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months a story encompasses must be somehow accounted for or the reader will feel confused and the story will suffer from a lack of authenticity. While scenes unfold moment by moment, there is also time to account for between scenes, when a flashback is inserted, and when a character travels a long distance.
5. Mood and atmosphere. Characters and events are influenced by weather, temperature, lighting, and other tangible factors, which in turn influence the emotional timbre, mood, and atmosphere of a scene.
6. Climate. Climate is linked to the geography and topography of a place, and, as in our real world, can influence events and people. Ocean currents, prevailing winds and air masses, latitude, altitude, mountains, land masses, and large bodies of water all influence climate. It’s especially important when you write about a real setting to understand climatic influences. Harsh climates can make for grim lives, while tropical climates can create more carefree lifestyles.
7. Geography. This refers to specific aspects of water, landforms, ecosystems, and topography in your setting.
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One of the challenges writers face when writing a novel is balancing scene with summary. Today’s tip of the day focuses on what you should not include when summarizing a scene or event. Plus, try your hand at writing summary with a free exercise from Novel Shortcuts.

When To Write Summaries Versus Scenes

Writing summary does not mean starting at the moment the last scene ended and covering everything that happens up to the moment the next scene begins. You only need to include those things that are significant to [the story]. There is a lot the readers will assume.

5 Things You Don’t Need To Include When Writing Summaries

1. Uneventful travel. People walking out of rooms or riding, walking, or flying to a new location. Unless there’s something important about the way they got to the next place, leave it out.
2. Home-life maintenance. If you don’t say what happened the rest of the night, readers will assume that normal things took place: sleeping, reading, and watching television.
3. Workday maintenance. We know that the lawyer will probably have meetings, take phone calls, and read briefs. We’ll assume the teacher will give lessons, grade papers, and have coffee in the staff lounge. No need to even skim over that stuff unless doing so helps your story.
4. Relationship maintenance. If you skip how your hero kisses his wife and kids when he gets home, what he says to them, and the look on this face during dinner, readers will assume that his relationships are rolling along as before.
5. Ongoing emotions already stated. If you describe your protagonist being depressed and skip telling us her frame of mind between breakfast and dinner, readers will assume she continued to act depressed. No need to repeat or fortify this idea unless it helps the story.

Try This: A Summary Writing Exercise

Take a year of your life and try summarizing it into one paragraph. See if you find the most significant aspects to highlight. What changed that year? What would someone need to know in order for the next year of your life to make sense? Read it to someone else and see if they get a sense of that shortened journey through time. If you have trouble with a year of your own life, try summarizing a year of someone else’s life, a season of your favorite TV drama or comedy, a season for your favorite sports team. Repeat until ease sets in.

This excerpt comes from Laura Whitcomb’s book, Novel Shortcuts. Learn more about her book on novel writing and read an exclusive author interview. Plus, don’t miss out on these online writing workshops that focus on the novel:

• Focus
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