Some Lessons Learned - Part 1

So you think you want to write.  You have this great idea...it came to you in a dream, or during class, school, work or a funny incident you witnessed.  That's awesome! Congratulations!



Celebrate good times!

  Now we have our brilliant idea... I will give you the best advice ever.

WRITE IT DOWN!!!

Ideas come and go like little birds fluttering in and out of your mind. I believe it is a little known fact that many birds can be quite vicious and as the ideas start flying around in your head, they can start attacking each other. Pretty soon you have feathers everywhere and you aren't quite sure what happened to that awesome idea.



You all have heard of angry birds right?

LESSON 1- Capture your idea.

It REALLY stinks to forget or not remember all of your really GREAT idea. I am one that often has ideas that come from dreams and this is how it goes.  You wake up from the dream going, "This would be a really awesome book!" You think about it as you lie in the dark at two in the morning and say to yourself, "There is absolutely no way I am going to forget this! I don't need to write it down."  Then you drift off to a peaceful slumber, a smile on your face as you imagine yourself writing this brilliant book. The alarm goes off at six thirty and you think, "Oh yeah...that dream. Hmmm, I kinda remember it. Didn't it have something about this guy who did this thing? But I do remember there was this really awesome balloon and ahhh Fu--dge, I can't remember."

So get your idea down on paper, computer, napkin, notebook, old electric bill, your arm, or anything else nearby. Most writer types always carry a pocket journal or some other notebook or even a phone notepad app to capture our flashes of literary genius at any given moment. (Of course it is all genius when it is a new, fresh idea right?) You just want the basic concept maybe any characters you are starting to think may fit into the story. If you have a very vivid image of a scene in your head go ahead and write that out. On paper it may not seem so vivid at first, but that doesn't matter, you can always go back and fix it later.

Once you have your idea firmly down so you won't forget it, you may be so excited your ready to flip open that journal or word document and start writing. I know that is what I did for the first couple books I tried to write. (Notice the emphasis is on the word tried.) 

LESSON 2- Figure out a general outline for your story.

So you have your idea and you're writing away.  Maybe the words flow from you like no other person on earth. Five, ten, fifteen chapters in...BLAM you hit a barrier. No matter how much you try, nothing seems to work. You sit watching the blinking cursor on your computer for hours and you begin to get snow blindness from staring at the white page on your screen. Believe it or not, stories can be ornery critters. They do tend to develop a mind of their own at times, and if you haven't figured out a general idea where you are going...bad things happen.

What kind of bad things?

• Settings that don't fit the story. I have written this in a place where it can't or would likely not happen.
• Disjointed and confusing plot progression
• Lost plot points---or worse NO plot points
• Characters that are boring, lackluster, and feel contrived
• Characters that don't need to be there--or maybe they do. Really where did this character come from? 

There are so many things I can't possibly list them all. Now I am not one that goes and outlines my entire novel from start to finish on paper. However, I do spend a great deal of time before I go to bed or during other relaxing moments for many weeks fleshing out my characters and deciding how the story is going to develop before I start writing. My outlining is internal, a little like filming scenes of a movie in my head, BUT it is still an outline. You have a whole lot to figure out once you decide on your basic idea, such as the characters, the setting, the PURPOSE and CONFLICT and RESOLUTION of the story. It is easier and less confusing for most people to write these things down in the beginning. The story may morph as you write, but you won't write aimlessly. 

Aimless writing is often boring, confusing, and the result is not going to be something an agent or publisher is going to want in most cases.



So that is the end of Some Lessons Learned- Part 1! I hope you enjoyed this and maybe pulled a couple helpful hints from some mistakes I've made in the past. Stay tuned for more but I promise not to do 102 posts in a row on this type of stuff. 

Goodbye for today and remember to Write...Live...Dream!