FREE Writing Tips – Page 10 – Write for a Reason

Is your laziness preventing you from writing? 6 Steps to Defeat this Enemy!

This week we are returning to our Defeat Your Writing Enemies theme with LAZINESS.

(If laziness never stops you from writing, read something else from the blog, because this tip isn’t for you!)

But for those of you who suffer from the I‘d rather sit on the sofa than get up and switch on my computer syndrome from time to time, even if you’d really quite like to write, and feel guilty if you don’t… this is for you!

Here’s the crunch – you need to get some momentum going.

So, this is what you need to do when you’re slobbing on the sofa with the remote, feeling lazy and thinking you should be writing…

You promise yourself you will write for just 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes you can go back to doing whatever.
You get up, without stopping to argue with yourself, and walk straight over to your computer.
You switch it on and start work, again without stopping to argue with yourself.
You start, remembering you promised yourself you can stop after 20 minutes.
You do as much as you can in those 20 minutes.
You keep going if you want to, or stop if you don’t.

Then you do the same the next day. Just 20 minutes.

This is what will happen:

You will start to enjoy your 20 minutes.
You may go on longer sometimes.
Your novel will start to take shape.

Then you will look forward to writing… and your laziness will drop away as you begin to see the end in sight.

You can do this! It’s time to defeat that lazy enemy!

Hope that helps – this is something that has worked for me. The big keys are to not give yourself time to argue with your lazy side, and keep the momentum going.

Can you think of someone else who might find it useful? If so, perhaps you would be kind enough to share? 🙂

See you next week,

Janet

P.S. We’re going to squeeze one more Write for a Reason Academy into 2020. It’s been a strange year, and we’re nothing like out of Covid yet. I want to help as many writers as I can, while I can… who knows what next year will bring? I’ll be telling you more about it in due course, but if it’s something you’ve been thinking of doing, pray about it. Maybe now is your time.

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Essential Creative Writing Tip for the Start of Your Story

Good morning!

Apologies to any of you not in the UK who might have been expecting a writing tip yesterday: we had yet another Bank Holiday!

I’m interrupting our series of writing tips on defeating enemies, with a quick tip sent in by writer-for-a-reason Jan Godfrey (you can find her beautiful books for children in Christian bookshops).

Jan said, “I came across this recent quotation from author Joanne Harris the other day and thought it worth sharing with other writers…

‘… keep thinking about what’s most important in your story. Is it a character, an incident, a relationship? Whatever it is, it should feature in your story’s opening. You’re taking the reader on a journey. You should at least hint at where you’re going.’”

This is excellent advice, which I hope will help you with your opening scene. 🙂

Hope all is well with you where you are. We are mindful that although things are improving for us here in the UK as regards the Covid-19 pandemic, there are people who are experiencing great suffering. If this is you, please be assured of our prayers.

Every blessing as you continue to write for the glory of God,

Janet

P.S. Just in case you’re looking for a good Christian book for a child/family on your heart, Dernier Publishing (my main job!) is about to release a brilliant book called Nobody’s Dog. It’s all about a boy who befriends a stray dog – the themes of trust, faith and answers to prayer run through the story. It’s a lovely family bedtime story, or for 6-8s to read alone. There’s a competition, too: one person who pre-orders the book will win a whole selection box of books! Didn’t want you to miss out. 🙂 (Sorry it’s currently only available to people in the UK.) This is the link.

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Writing Enemies – Distractions and How to Beat Them

I hope you find this week’s writing tip useful – the third in our series on defeating Writing Enemies. If you missed how to beat self-doubt and imposter syndrome, click on the links to catch up. 🙂

Distractions. We live in an age of endless distraction. Each time our phone pings we receive a rush of endorphins as we go to answer it. What will it be? Will it be a message from a friend, or another email from an airline with amazing deals to anywhere in Europe (um, not right now, thanks!)?

And there are endless other distractions, too – the Amazon parcel arriving, dinner to prepare, the old lady down the road who’s ill, the kids who need help with their homework (hats off to all you parents out there who have done the most amazing job over the last few months!), Zoom meetings to plan for… and that’s not counting work, housework, the garden and all the paperwork that fills life…

EEEEEeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk!

How does anyone ever get any writing done, ever???????

Here are a few tips if you have seemingly endless distractions:

Make writing part of your daily (or at least weekly) routine. This is the biggest and best tip I can give you. If you always write on Tuesday evenings, or from 6-7am every day, or during your lunch break at work, it will soon become a habit, and you won’t have to think about it – you’ll just do it. Everyone around you will expect you to do it, too, which will help!

2. Make it easy for yourself. Work on a computer that does not have internet access (a grim WiFi spot might do it!) and leave your phone in another room. Put a do ‘not disturb sign’ on the door, grab a drink before you get stuck in so you’ve no excuse to get up, put the cute kittens in another room. Do it fast, so your brain doesn’t get a chance to argue. (Aw, those kittens! I know, but they will still be there when you finish writing. And think how amazing you will feel when you come out later with your next chapter outlined! Yay!)

3. Talk to yourself as if you were your best friend. You don’t have to check if you’re on the prayer meeting rota now, do you? Really? Come on, Janet, get a grip, girl!

4. Get excited. Look forward to your writing time! Tell your brain that your writing time is a privilege, a responsibility and also the most wonderful joy. It’s going to be GOOD! So when washing the kitchen floor or mending the jug handle that was broken several weeks ago seems more appealing, remember how much you love writing!

5. Accept that life happens. There will be days/times when none of that works. Hey-ho! Just get back up, smile and get back to plan as soon as you can. You’re only defeated when you give up. And you’re not going to do that, are you? 🙂

So wherever the distractions come from – inside, outside or every which way, it’s time to give them the boot. When you feel them coming on, pray, take a deep breath, say 5,4,3,2,1, get up and just do it.

What’s your best tip for avoiding the inevitable distractions that stack up against you? Did you find any of these helpful? Write a comment below, or send me an email so I can pass it on. Let’s encourage each other!

Every blessing with your stories,

Janet

P.S. If you found this helpful, please share with your friends – it might be exactly what they need to hear right now.

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Defeat Your Enemies: The Self-Doubt Giant

Good morning! Today we’re going to continue with our “Defeating Our Enemies” series, with a quick but hopefully helpful look at self-doubt.

Today’s is not a creative writing tip in the purest sense of the word, because we’re not discussing narrative voice, characters, plot or any actual writing processes. However, self-doubt can stop us writing good stories, so it’s still a writing tip!

Self-doubt is an enemy we all have to face from time to time. The writer-for-a-reason who mentioned self-doubt in a list of enemies he faced actually called it crippling self-doubt. Ooh, that’s a nasty beast!

Crippling self-doubt can be an ugly giant standing between us and getting our story done.

Who has not felt the mocking voice of self-doubt in our heads, telling us to give up, we’re useless, our writing is rubbish, why bother?

I’m not going to go into why we doubt our abilities. Whole books have been written on that!

However, I would like to suggest seven nice round stones you can use to sling at your self-doubt giant when he starts to laugh at you and make you quake:

1. Acknowledge the truth. You may not be brilliant right now, and that’s OK! Be at peace with your current ability, knowing that you will get better. If you’re reading this, it proves that you are doing something to improve! Keep learning, keep practising. I have no doubt that even the most amazing artists once drew pictures of people that were a couple of circles with sticks for legs and arms. No one is born with all the skills you need – you have to learn them and hone them. This is a normal process.

2. Set an immediate, small goal. This can be as simple as deciding on names for your characters, writing a paragraph to summarise your next story idea, draw a map of your island setting… anything, really – just one small step towards success. Do that one step straight away! Then do one small thing every day to move towards your goal. Self-doubt will have to move out of the way as you see yourself getting your story written. Momentum is a wonderful thing. Keep it going!

3. Write down your mission statement. This is a statement of faith – in what the Lord has given you to do. Who are you writing for? Why? Believe me, God can use you. If he can use me, he can use you. There aren’t any “super people” about, so he has to use us!

4. Stop worrying about what others think/comparing yourself with others. There will be people who mock, even kindly. Are you the next J. K. Rowling then? We’ve all been given unique gifts, and we all have a different writing journey. Looking round at what everyone else is doing and saying isn’t helpful. You are you. God made you unique! Be you.

5. Learn from past successes and failures. Didn’t manage to finish your last story? Why not? Children loved the story you wrote for them? What about it was good?

6. Stay close to God. Even when we are weak, we are strong. We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Pray about your writing, read his word. Let his words lead and guide you, and encourage you.

7. Surround yourself with other encouraging people/writers. Remember you are not alone in your self-doubt – it’s an enemy we all face from time to time. It’s not fussy, anyone will do – you, me, all of us! But we can defeat it. (You can request to join our Write for a Reason Facebook group here – we’d love to have you!)

So don’t let self-doubt get in your way. Collect these stones and start throwing!

Trust that helps. If it does, please would you pass it on to at least one other person who might find it useful in their writing journey? Thank you!

Have a wonderful week,

Janet

P.S. This is the link to join our Write for a Reason Facebook group for more support and encouragement.

P.P.S. Do you have a story of how you have defeated the self-doubt enemy? Got any more ideas to help others? Add them below or send them in an email!

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Enemies… and How to Defeat Imposter Syndrome

I was reading from the Psalms this morning, and it struck me how many enemies surround us on all sides. Of course our fight is not against flesh and blood. Our enemies are not Moabites and Ammonites, but we still do have enemies, who would love to stop us writing Christian books for children!

Over the next few weeks I thought I might mention a few, and how we can defeat them.

This week, I’d like to talk about Imposter Syndrome.

You may or may not have heard of it, but it is a real thing – and many of us suffer from it (my confession is below).

Do you suffer from imposter syndrome with your writing?

If you get nagging feelings of doubt in your ability, and wonder if your label (writer) is really a delusion of grandeur, you may be living with imposter syndrome.

Here’s another clue that you are suffering from imposter syndrome: you live with the fear that sooner or later someone’s going to find out that you really shouldn’t be a writer at all. You feel unworthy; insecure; a fraud.

You might be thinking:

I’m wasting my time
I’m not good enough
I’m too old, too young, too something else
There are so many people better at this than me!
People who tell me my story is good are just being kind
One day people are going to realise that I’m rubbish. (Part of Imposter Syndrome is worrying about being found out!)

The Big Problem

Here’s the big problem: If we allow ourselves to be defeated by Imposter Syndrome, our stories won’t get written.

Who then misses out? Your readers. My readers. All our readers.

Just imagine for a minute that you are an enemy, wanting to stop children reading Christian stories to encourage and inspire them in their faith. Sowing imposter syndrome seeds in the minds of writers would be pretty devastating, wouldn’t it?

Fighting Back

So how are we going to fight back? How can we defeat this sneaky enemy?

1. Speak the truth.

I suggest you write out two or three positive statements in your writing journal, in capital letters if you need to! You might like to use these, or feel free to use your own:

I have been called to write by God.
Children will miss out if I don’t finish my story.
I need to use my gift

This leads me on to:

2. Persevere

We may never be able to completely banish all thoughts of what we conceive to be our inability, but we shouldn’t let that stop us doing our very best. It may feel to us as if we’re writing rubbish, but it probably isn’t. It might be just what a child needs to read. And even if it’s not the best writing ever, we all have to start somewhere – we can only improve by practising!

3. Pray

Pray and don’t give up – for you, for me, and for everyone in the Write for a Reason community. Prayer is powerful. Well, God is powerful, and he answers our prayers!

4. Get Support.

Please come over to our Facebook group for support (you can ask to join here). Fighting alone is hard. If you don’t do Facebook, get some support from family, friends and church family.

A Confession

I still struggle with imposter syndrome sometimes. Aren’t there people so much more accomplished than me who could write, teach and publish?

Do you know what I have come to realise? There will always be people who write better stories than me. There will always be people who can teach better than me. There will always be people with more experience than me in publishing.

But the Holy Spirit is using me because I have been willing to step out in faith.

There are many flowers in the world – make sure yours blooms! We have a good reason for writing. We mustn’t let our enemies triumph over us.

May the Lord do more in and through us than we can ask for or even imagine!

Janet

P.S. What is your worst enemy when it comes to your writing? Please leave a comment wherever you are reading this, or ping me an email. You might get featured in the next blog post. 🙂

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Are We Reading You Loud and Clear?

Today I have a very important creative writing tip for you, if you write novels for older children/teens.

Don’t try to be too clever at the expense of CLARITY.

Being CLEAR is one of the most important rules of a good novel for children. Lack of a clear picture is annoying!

Your readers will vary in their ability to read, and also in their ability to take in information they are reading.

It’s therefore rarely a good idea to hold back information, in the hope of creating an air of mystery. You have to be really careful not to confuse. Children/young people need to know what’s going on, so they can be right there with the characters in the story.

If they’re not sure what’s going on, and why, they’re more likely to put the book down than try to work things out.

Of course you need an element of mystery in your plot, but your readers need to know:

what your characters are thinking
why they are there,
what they are hoping to achieve
what the stakes are if they fail.

For example, if you have a scene where your characters are hunting wild boar in a forest, make sure your readers know who is involved, why they are included, what the hunt is about, how many boar they are aiming to kill, how the boar are going to be killed, what your characters feel about that, how the hunt is expected to pan out, and so on.*

Also include details like the type of weapons, the ease of use, the dress, description of the forest, how long the hunt is likely to take… if you have included all these details, your readers will be able to ‘see’ the scene. (Make sure, of course, you use lots of show-not-tell descriptions, and all the senses. What does the forest smell like? How heavy are the weapons? What can they hear?)

Then when something starts to go wrong (which it will, I’m sure!), readers’ hearts will start to thump. Well that’s the aim, anyway!

So make sure that clarity triumphs. Then your readers will be right there, rooting for your characters’ success.

Hope that’s useful. If it is, would you be kind enough to share with at least one friend who would benefit? Many thanks!

See you next week,

Janet

*I use this example because we have a historical novel with a wild boar hunt coming soon at Dernier Publishing, called The Dove Stone, by writer-for-a-reason Pam Daunton!)

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Vanishing Perspective

Good morning! Hope you are keeping well and safe.

Some things in life change; some stay the same – even laws, at the moment!

What has this to do with writing? Well, there are rules to writing fiction that do not change. Just as there are rules for drawing. I’ve been learning to draw recently – this is me practising the one-point perspective. 🙂

Before starting the drawing course, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a vanishing perspective! It was a revelation (apologies for my ignorance!).

Here’s an equivalent-ish rule for writing fiction: always keep the end in mind. Whatever happens in the story, keep the end in view. All your scenes and characters and ‘things that happen along the way’ must all be working towards that final point.

Hope you find that reminder helpful! If you have anything to add (or any writing tips for me!), please come on over to our Facebook Community group (if you don’t belong, you can request to join here – we’d love to have you).

Blessings to you all. Stay safe (and remember, following the rules will help!),

Janet

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What is Success?

Apologies for missing a week – I had a last minute opportunity to get away for a few days – so I took it – to the south downs not too far from Brighton. Lovely! Hope I’m not making you too envious. 🙂

Right, back to writing!

Here’s something a writer-for-a-reason, Kathleen, said to me recently in an email:

“I wrote a book of stories for my granddaughter. It was a tradition in my home to give “love gifts” for Christmas. For a number of years I dedicated a story to my granddaughter. The story was read at the Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone seemed to look forward to the Christmas story about a green unicorn named Spearmint who was born in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve night. I enjoyed writing it.”

Isn’t that wonderful? Could you do that?

Why not take some time aside to consider what would success look like for you (in regard to your writing). A story for your godson? A story for your grandaughter? A story for your Sunday School children who are about to go up to secondary school/middle school/next grade?

I know we shouldn’t really be talking about Christmas in July (eek!), but could you write a story for Christmas for a child on your heart? 🙂

We all have a unique calling and a different writing journey. What’s your next step?

Let me know who you’re writing for. And if you’re determined to write that story, come and join in our Write for a Reason Community facebook group. Hope to see you there!

Love to you all,

Janet

P.S. Would you share this with a friend who shares your interest in writing? Thank you!

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Will Your Readers See Your Setting?

You have to work hard to describe settings your readers won’t recognise – three different kinds of settings in particular:

1. Stories set in the past. Suppose you are writing your story set in the UK in the second world war, and children are being evacuated. You will have to describe the station platform in a way you wouldn’t have to if your story is set in the present day. You may have seen images of children waiting on platforms in London to be evacuated to the countryside, but your readers might not have any idea what it will be like. You will need to describe the noise of the engine, the smell of the steam, the atmosphere, the dirt, the clothing (mothers in hats, for example), and so on.

2. Stories set in a fantasy world. You may be able to see your fantasy world in your own mind’s eye, but you need to make sure you can describe it well to your readers. Don’t forget to bring in all the senses – not just what it looks like, but the sounds, the smells, the temperature, the ambience… and anything else relevant.

3. Stories set in another region/country/situation which won’t be familiar to your readers. Will they have seen a Buddhist temple? Will they have smelled the incense, heard the chanting, seen the brightly painted images of gods? What about the sea? Will they know what it’s like to dip their toes in the ocean?

If you’re not sure about a place you have written about in your current work in progress, go back over and see if you have described your scene well enough to take your readers there with you. Do you need to add anything? A sound, a smell, a feeling?

Trust that helps! If it does, and you find value in these writing tips, would you share Write for a Reason with a friend? Thank you! Perhaps you might know someone who would like to do the free ‘Gripping Beginnings’ course? Let’s spread the word together.

See you next week,

Janet

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Seven Reasons You Need a Plan

Starting to write a novel without some kind of outline can be a mistake.

I’ll be honest – I’m not naturally a planner. I love to leap right into things and make a start!

However, I have learned from experience that taking the time to write a story plan gives me a huge advantage when it comes to actually writing the novel.

Many years ago I started writing a sequel to my first novel, London’s Gone, but I began writing with nothing but some good ideas. Result? I lost the plot, started again, then lost the plot again. And that book is still sitting in a Word document, unfinished. (One day I’ll get it out, dust it off, make a plan, and start again… please remind me!)

Making things up as you go along sounds like it’s freeing; being able to take the characters wherever they want to go is part of the creative process, surely?… well, actually they’re more likely to get lost along the way. It would be like a worship leader turning up to church on Sunday without a song list!

Here are some of the reasons I now always begin a new story with a plan, and suggest you do, too: (if you have any further thoughts, please add them in the comments!):

Pace. If you know exactly where you’re going, you won’t be wandering around with unnecessary scenes which detract from the plot and slow it down.
Tension. If you have carefully plotted your conflicts, you will build tension. So your reader will need to read on, to see what happens next!
The beginning. Have you heard the expression “begin with the end in mind”? If you know what’s going to be happening at the end of your story, you will know what you need at the beginning.
The end. So you need to plan the end!
Rounded characters. Knowing your characters well in advance of writing will help them seem real to you – and thus you can make them real for your readers.
Theme. If you have a story plan, you can keep your theme running like a golden thread all the way through. As we are writing for a reason, our theme is important, whether it’s God’s love, the power of prayer, the importance of community, justice and forgiveness…
Confidence. Having a complete story plan helps avoid overwhelm when you sit down to write. And that’s so important to getting your story not just started, but finished!

I never write, now, without having an outline. Sometimes I change things – add a spy, a twist, a scene. But the bones are there. And I suggest you do the same thing.

In the Write for a Reason Academy we work, step-by-step, week by week, on a story plan. It’s a new element of the course I introduced last year, as I realised that students were finishing the course not always sure of the next step. Now, at the end of the ten weeks, not only will you have built on your writing skills, but you will have a complete story plan ready to write. Or if you don’t like the one you’ve been working on, you can dump it and start again – but you’ll know what to do. You’ll know what you need to include, what you need to leave out, and you will know exactly where you’re going with it.

Let me know what you think! We have a Facebook group for anyone determined to get their story finished. Let me know if you’d like to join and I’ll let you in – we will be discussing this topic over there! 🙂

Every blessing to you all,

Janet

P.S. If you’re not interested in joining the Write for a Reason Academy, skip this. If you think you might be interested, here’s a little bit of information:

The next course will begin on Monday 6^th July. Registration is open now. It’s a ten week online course you can access from anywhere in the world. If you are new to writing Christian fiction for children, I designed this course for you, so you can become the novelist you dream of being and inspire children with your stories. If you know you have been given a gift, but understand you need to put that gift to work, this is for you.

Because of the difficulties we are currently facing with the global pandemic, I have made the course half price. This will probably be the last time I will do that, as lockdown begins to ease.

For further information, please click here, or don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any particular questions. 🙂

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