Discussion: Why Do You Love Writing?

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So it's the day after Valentine's Day and I totally didn't write about romance or even mention the word "love" in Wednesday's post, so I thought it appropriate to mention a love-related topic today. Except not quite in a romance-y way because mushy gushy romance day was yesterday. So.

Assuming that most of you reading this are writers or readers who enjoy reading writing blogs, I'm sure many of you have on more than one occasion come across a post detailing all the downsides of being a writer. Hell, you may have even read some of those posts here, because I like to be realistic when talking about the whole writing thing.

But sometimes when the days are particularly hard, or when you have more than a handful of rejections sitting in your inbox, or you look at your writing and wonder why you're even bothering to attempt to write, we writers need a little reminder as to why we embarked upon this writing journey to begin with. Sometimes we forget why we ever wanted to be writers to begin with, why we tell others we love to write so much, why we subject ourselves to rejection after rejection or an assortment of other disappointments that invariably come with the territory. Sometimes we need to take the time to remember why we love to write.

For me, the answer lies in the characters. I never tire of falling in love with new characters and watching them grow and change. I never get bored watching them interact with each other—whether it's a page of witty dialogue or an argument that ends badly. There's something truly incredible about creating characters people care about, and writing a story people want to read, and devising a world with just words that continues to fascinate me.

There's something about creating something out of nothing that I absolutely love, and it gets me time and time again, manuscript after manuscript.

You guys, we writers have the coolest job on the planet: we pull characters and entire worlds from our imaginations and release them to the world for others to see and expand upon. And we do it all with combinations of letters and our minds.

And if you ask me, that's pretty darn cool. And I'll always love it.

Join the discussion! Why do you love writing or reading other people's writing?

A Quick, Easy Way to Write More

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Here’s the thing about writing: when we writers aren’t writing, most times we’re thinking about writing, or wanting to write, or the WIP we’re currently working on that we want to be writing this instant but aren’t. When we actually sit down to write, however, this weird thing tends to happen.

We suddenly aren’t so sure if we want to write anymore.

Ok, maybe that’s not exactly it: usually upon sitting in front of the keyboard, we still want to write...but we aren’t sure where to start. Or we think we know where to start, but the words are being stubborn and not magically appearing like they’re supposed to.

And so we get distracted. We open up Twitter, or tumblr, or Facebook, and start scrolling through feeds. We watch adorable videos on Youtube and look up old Harry Potter Puppet Pals episodes for fun (no? Just me then? Oh well). Then, before we know it, two hours have passed and we haven’t written a single word.

It’s funny, because while we’re unable to write, there are few things we’d rather do than write. When it actually gets to the writing bit, however, oftentimes it seems we’d rather do anything else than write another word. At least, on the sluggish writing days that’s often how it feels.

The problem isn’t so much that we need an attitude adjustment—it’s that we’re too easily distracted when the words don’t come easily. Luckily, there’s a very easy cure. Three cures, actually.

The first is an app called Freedom, that basically turns off your internet for an allotted time. While I haven’t tried this one (I’ll admit the concept of turning off the internet even just for a short time terrifies me), I’ve heard that the only way to turn the internet back on once you’ve set it is to wait for the time to end. While this sounds like some medieval punishment, it does effectively block distractions and allow you to focus on your writing.

The second cure is an online app called Write or Die. I’ve written about it’s awesomeness before, so I’m not going to repeat myself, but it is absolutely fantastic.

The third cure isn’t an app—it’s a feature available on just about every program and it’s called fullscreen. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

It seems almost obvious, but writing in fullscreen has proven time and time again to be a great way for me to really focus on what I’m writing. The rule is just that you don’t exit fullscreen mode until you’ve finished your writing sprint. Or else.

For those of you who use Pages or Scrivener, I’ve found that I particularly like their fullscreen options because it blocks out everything but the document on the screen (rather than stretching the document into oversize mode), which makes it very easy to focus. Even without the nice isolation effect, however, I’ve found that writing in fullscreen can really help to force you to write without getting distracted. And all it takes is a click of a button.

Have you tried writing in fullscreen mode? Did you find it helped? What other tips do you have for cutting distractions out of your writing time?

How to Use What Ifs While Revising

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When talking about brainstorming, many writers often speak of employing the What If? method. For those who don’t know, the What If? method basically calls for asking yourself What if ____? while brainstorming ideas.

For example, if you were brainstorming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it might go something like this:

• What if the protagonist was a wizard? 
• What if he didn’t know he was a wizard? 
• What if everyone but him knew he was a wizard? 
• What if his family knew he was a wizard, but didn’t want him to know (or ever find out)? 
• What if the wizarding community tried to contact him, but his family hid the correspondence? 
• Etc.

The What If? method is a fantastic way to generate ideas and explore possibilities for your book, however this post on revision by Veronica Roth reminded me that the scope of it’s usefulness doesn’t end in the brainstorming stage.

You see, the point of revision isn’t just to make the words on the page grammatically correct or sound a little nicer (that would be final edits or copyediting, not revision). The purpose of revision is to take the story that you have and make it better. Explore the plot, add more layers and levels of complexity, push the limits, delve into the characters and cut it down to the core of the novel.

It’s a lot to try to accomplish, for sure, and sometimes it can seem overwhelming. Where do you even begin?

A great place to start is by going back to the What If? method while re-reading your work. Maybe your first chapter is off—go through it and start questioning everything. Be open to making changes—even huge changes—and know that just because you write down a What If option doesn’t mean you have to use it.

Maybe your protagonist isn't sitting right with you. Start thinking about possible changes in What If? terms and write down possibilities.

The What If? method can open up new directions and potential revision ideas that you might not have considered otherwise. Next time you’re gearing up for revisions, keep this method in mind—it might just open up some new doors of plot possibilities for you.

Have you ever used the What If? method for brainstorming or revision?

Discussion: Do You Like Book-to-Screen Adaptations?

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Confession time: as well as being a book and word lover, I am a major movie fan. Particularly movies with stunning visual effects that transport you into a world where the impossible is possible and leave you wondering how those clearly impossible things on the screen looked so real.

As a fan of both books and movies, you would think that I would be a fan of book-to-screen adaptations, as they are the crossover of two things that I love, and you would be right. I’m one of those people that sees an awesome movie trailer and digs up the book before watching the movie because to me there’s something special about watching the book world I created in my mind while reading come alive on the big screen.

However, while I usually enjoy book-to-screen adaptations, I’m more than well aware that there are plenty out there who don’t share my enthusiasm for that particular category of movies.

Now let me take a moment to clarify something: there have certainly been some particularly horrific adaptations that completely massacred their book parent, like this disaster. Of those, I am not fan, and I complain about them just as loudly as the other horrified readers.

I think the reason, however, that I tend to enjoy book-to-screen adaptations for the most part, is that I don’t go in expecting the movie to be exactly like the book. I understand that elements are going to be cut, and that sometimes elements that I really enjoyed or thought were particularly special are going to be altered or removed altogether. That’s the way it is, and to expect anything otherwise would be setting myself up for a massive disappointment.

The difference, is that unless there are enormous, plot-altering, character-destroying changes, I don’t let it destroy the rest of the movie for me.

For example, I just recently saw Warm Bodies, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. Was it exactly like the book? Hardly—in fact, they altered the ending in a way that I can’t say I was too fond of, however, the spirit of the book was still there. R’s witty internal commentary and the zombie-love awkwardness and the dry humor was reflected in the movie, and I loved watching a book that I enjoyed unfold before my very eyes.

Had I been counting scenes that they cut and changes that they made, however, I would have walked out of that theater as a rather unhappy person. If you nitpick at a book-to-screen adaptation, chances are you’ll never be happy with the result.

Now that’s not to say that I don’t understand why some people don’t like the adaptations—I definitely get wanting to see something that maintains the integrity of the novel, which is why book-to-screen disasters don’t sit well with me. But I suppose my love of movies combined with my love of books makes me a little soft when I watch adaptations because I want to enjoy the movie. I don’t go looking for reasons to dislike it and I even let changes and cuts slide as long as I feel the book is still well reflected. But some people are pickier than me, and I get that, too.

So now I want to hear from you: do you enjoy book-to-screen adaptations, or do you tend to avoid them? Somewhere in the middle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Writing Tip: Maximize Your Excitement

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Usually when we talk about excitement and writing, we tend to think about pacing and keeping our readers invested and interested in the story. And while both of those elements are undoubtedly important, I want to talk about the other side of the curtain. 

That is, you, the writer. 

Completing a novel from first to final draft is a grueling business. It requires months or years of dedication, hard work and motivation to finish something that has no guarantee of leaving your computer. It’s exhausting, sometimes frustrating and often rewarding, but to reach completion, it requires a little extra ingredient that we don’t often talk about. 

That’s right: I’m talking about excitement. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that I do my best writing and editing when I’m excited to work. When I’m eager to get started, or get to that next scene, or edit these words until they shine like The Great Pyramids of Giza in 2500 B.C. When I’m excited to write, it doesn’t feel like work—even if I’m struggling with the words, as long as I can hold on to that little spark inside, the struggle doesn’t seem so bad because I’m doing something I’ve been excited about doing. 

And the importance of being excited about your work doesn’t end when you’ve revised the final page to a glistening shine— it should overflow into your query letters and pitches and tweets to the world about your awesome book. Because the truth is, no one is going to get excited about your work if you aren’t excited about it first. 

I’m not saying that you can’t be nervous, and I’m not saying that you have to be excited about it every day, in fact, I doubt that’s going to be the case (although if it is, more power to you). There are going to be days when you just don’t feel like writing. There are going to be weeks when you stare at the mountain of edits you have to accomplish and feel like throwing the manuscript out the window. And the thing is, that’s ok. It’s normal. 

But if you can remind yourself how it felt when that initial spark of excitement about your new project hit, or when you had that flutter in your stomach after writing a particularly awesome scene, it can be a huge step towards getting back on track when you’re feeling down. 

And if you can hold on to that excited energy while you’re working on your WIP, or pitching it to agents and editors or selling it online, people will take notice. Because excitement is contagious—it leaks into your words and overflows into your smile and it makes people want to get in on it too. 

It makes people want to be excited with you. And that can make all the difference. 

Thinking back to your last (or current) WIP, at what point did you feel the most excited about your work? Share your experiences in the comments below!  

Cover Design Winner and Service Launch!

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I have the results! One of you lovely people who entered my first every e-book cover giveaway has won either an e-book cover, banner or bookmark design of your choice, and I know who.

Are you ready? Are you sure you’re ready?

I guess I’m not very good at dragging this out.

Alright, alright. The winner is…

DANIEL SWENSEN! *throws confetti* Congrats, Daniel! I’ll be e-mailing you within the week about your choice.

As for everyone else, there’s still good news! For those of you now or in the future in the market for an e-book cover design or something of the like, I now have a shiny new website that explains my services, the prices and all those other goodies. And in celebration, I’m currently running a sale on all e-book covers, so definitely check it out (or click the “Cover Design” tab, which is all brand new now).

Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway and helped spread the word! It would not have been a success without your wonderful support.

How to Survive the Waiting Game

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It's no secret to most writers that a large part of the writing process is actually the waiting process. Let's face it, we writers have to learn to wait a lot. For example:

• We wait for our manuscripts to cool between writing and editing. 
• We wait for beta readers and critique partners to get back to us. 
• We wait to hear back from agents and editors while querying. 
• We wait to hear back from agents and editors while editing again. 
• We wait until we're able to share fantabulously exciting book-related news to the world. 

And so on.

They say patience is important, but I think it's twice as important for writers as it is for everyone else, because we truly can't escape the inevitability of waiting, nor should we try to.

You see, the trick isn't to try to avoid the waiting altogether, it's to learn how to deal with the waiting so we don't go crazy. Here are a few tips to help you along the way:

• Don't look at it. What "it" is depends on what exactly you're waiting for. If you're waiting to hear back from beta and CPs about your WIP, then don't look at your WIP. If you're waiting to hear back from agents and editors while querying, hide that query. If you're waiting to hear back from agents and editors who are looking at your partial or full—put the WIP away and for the love of God, don't look at it. Why? The answer is simple. If you look at your WIP or query letter after you've already sent it, chances are you're going to find a mistake. A typo. A misplaced comma. Something that's going to drive you crazy and give you an unnecessary panic attack about how whatever you sent is atrocious because of that one error.
  
  Look, you've already sent your work out. You can't retract it now, you can't update with edits, you can't fix anything. So save yourself the anxiety attack and keep your work hidden until you get feedback. In this situation, ignorance is most certainly bliss. 


• Distract yourself. This may seem somewhat obvious, but we writers tend to be a little obsessive. It's one of the quirks that many writers share, and because of that, it makes the waiting game much more difficult because we can't. Stop. Thinking. About it. It's all in our heads, and we're usually aware of it, but it really makes things much more difficult than need be.
  
  Solution? Find a distraction. Many distractions. Read a bunch of fabulous books, start brainstorming your next WIP, watch a lot of crappy TV and catch up on your Hulu queue. Whatever it is, make sure it's sufficient enough to keep your mind off whether or not you have fantastic (or terrible) news sitting in your e-mail inbox. 


• Set your e-mail to automatic notifications. Whether or not you're able to do this step will depend largely on the technology you have available. I've had my e-mail set to automatically notify me when I have mail for years (both on Windows and Mac computers, so it's available on both platforms) and truly, it's a lifesaver during the waiting game because it saves me the temptation of sitting in my e-mail inbox and pressing "refresh" every five minutes. My computer and devices tell me when I have e-mail without having to check it, so unless I've been notified, I know I can rest easy because there isn't a response waiting for me in my inbox. It's a little convenience that has saved me quite a few headaches. 

Those are just a couple tips for surviving the waiting game, but now I want to hear from you: What tips do you have for waiting writers?