Write for a Reason

Good morning writer friends! Not just a writing tip this week, but a writing exercise as well. 🙂

Do you have an alter ego from a much-loved childhood story? I bet you enjoyed reading as a child, or you wouldn’t be reading this! I’m wondering: was there a book, or series of books, you kept going back to? If so, was that at least in part because you could identify with the characters?

Would you have loved to have tagged along with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five on their adventures, when you were a child? Or sailed with brave Jim Hawkins to Treasure Island? Or lived with Laura Ingalls in that little house on the prairie? [Insert your own favourite novel/protagonist here – go on, who would you have liked to have been? :-)]

Does your protagonist inspire such feelings, do you think? Is he or she someone your readers would love to be, or have as a best friend (flaws and all, of course!)?

If your answer to that is yes, great! If your answer is maybe not, it would be worth taking some time to think your story through. You don’t want a whingey, whiney, selfish protagonist – nobody wants to spend time with people like that, not in fiction, or in real life!

To fully engage your readers, you need an inspirational character your readers can identify with and feel for, who ends up overcoming obstacles, saving the day and becoming a better person along the way. (If only it were that easy to become a hero in real life! :-)).

There is so much to this topic, I could be here all day! We go much deeper into characters in the Write for a Reason course, which starts next month, so if this has whet your appetite, do take a look and see if it may be for you.

In the meantime, here’s an exercise for you: write a paragraph about your protagonist from the point of view of their best friend. Then take a long, hard look at what you have written – have you got your characters right? If not, what changes need to be made? If you need any help, let me know. 🙂

Look forward to being in touch again soon,

Janet

Dear Writer Friends,

Just a very quick message – I wasn’t planning on sending a writing tip today,  as it’s Christmas Day, but I had an idea so I thought I might as well share it . . .

Of all the people you are spending time with today, who would make the best protagonist? And who would make the best baddie? 🙂 You don’t have to tell them, hehe!

Why you have chosen those two people? Any tips there for your writing?

Hope you have a wonderful day, celebrating the birth of our wonderful Saviour!

Every blessing to you and all your loved ones,

Janet

Hello again – can you believe another whole week has gone by? Hope you are enjoying the run-up to Christmas!

This week’s creative writing tip comes from last month’s monthly programme, as we were looking at editing our manuscripts. One of the things I suggested looking out for, is anything old-fashioned that may have crept in.

If you are a bit older, you may find that old-fashioned words, concepts and culture have been sneaking in unawares, like a draft under a door!

Are your protagonists called Susan and Janet, or Courtney and Madison? Do they call their next door neighbours Mr and Mrs Isaacs, or do they call them by their first names? Does their mum call them in for tea wearing an apron? At this editing stage, try to read the book through with younger eyes. Our children live in a different world to the one some of us were brought up in!

I know I have exaggerated a bit here, but I hope you will get the drift – and look out for anything from past times that might need be looking a bit tired and need a bit of updating. 🙂

If you’re not sure, get some kids to read your story, and ask them to highlight anything that sounds a bit old-fashioned. You might be surprised!

Hope that helps, as it’s really essential that we say relevant for our readers.

And in case I don’t see you again before Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful, old-fashioned time with friends and family!

God bless,

Janet

P.S. That’s me on the left in the 60s at Bognor Regis on the south coast of England . . . you can pretty much guess my age from my name! 🙂

Hello again, is it possible that another week has gone by? Amazing! But this means another creative writing tip, so here goes:

If you have used quotations in your story, either from Scripture or other sources, you need to make sure that you:

• Quote your source exactly, including correct punctuation
• Obtain permission to use the quotation
• Attribute the work correctly

Why is this important? Because anyone who has created a work automatically holds the copyright, whether it’s a painting, a book, a poem, a song, a short story, a piece of music, a booklet or any other creative piece of work. So it’s important that you follow the rules, or you could find yourself on the wrong side of the law!

Trust that helps! Have you heard of anyone who has broken the rules? Do you have any advice for others? Any comments, please don’t hesitate to write them here on the blog, or on our facebook page. 🙂

Janet

PS If you have any writing related queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me! 🙂

Save

Hello again, and welcome to this week’s creative writing tip!

In your writing, look out for stereotypes. If I say “grandma” to you, what image comes to mind? Grandparents of ten-year-old children are more likely to be in their fifties and sixties than seventies and eighties. And they’re not all sat at home with a cat/rug on their knee – they are likely to be at work and busy! I know because I have a ten-year-old grandson. 🙂

Keep an eagle eye out for dads washing cars while mums bake, or boys playing football while girls go shopping.

Still with characters: it’s important to be inclusive. Could one of your characters have a disability? Are several ethnic groups represented in your story?

Keep up the good work, folks! And if you feel they are useful, please pass on these writing tips to your friends!

Many thanks,

Janet

P.S. If you have recently joined, or would like to read more free writing tips, you can visit the blog here.

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s free creative writing tip! I have taken this one from our monthly programme, which you are more than welcome to join if you long to go deeper with your writing. No worries if that’s not for you right now: I hope you will find this free tip helpful. 🙂

Once you have finished the first draft of your novel, the hard work of editing begins!

One of the things you will need to do is to check your facts, and research anything you’re not absolutely certain about. If a child has fainted at the doctor’s, make sure that what happens in your book would, in fact, be correct procedure. If you are writing a novel set in the past, check that all the historical details are accurate.

If your book is set in a real place, make sure anyone who knows that place would recognise it. Check that times and dates fit in correctly with the flow of the story. Have you accounted for the time between the daffodils and the apple harvest? Does it take your characters the right length of time to cycle from one town to another? Does the school year start in September in South Africa?

Now is the time to check everything. Go through your novel with a critical eye and ask yourself, “Is that right?”. Don’t risk your readers saying, “That couldn’t have happened.”

As writers, we may be “right-brain” creative types, but we also have to bring out the analytical “left side” of our brain from time to time!

Trust that helps! Any comments, please do share below, and share this post with all your writer friends!

Thanks for being here,

Janet

P.S. If you have any questions about anything writer-related, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Always glad to help if I can.

Save

Save

Save

Morning, writer friends!

Today’s creative writing tip is for you, if you have finished the first draft of a novel. (Congratulations if you have, by the way!)

Here are FOUR of my BIGGEST and BEST EDITING TIPS:

1. Leave your first draft alone for a while – a couple of weeks if possible. Coming to your story with fresh eyes will help enormously.
2. Make a copy of your original manuscript and edit the copy. If you get tied up in knots while editing, you can go back to the original. Phew!

3. Read aloud as you edit. It’s amazing what you hear that you do not see.
4. Print out your work. It’s amazing what you see on paper that you do not see on a screen!

I use these editing tips every time and they really do help – hope they help you, too!

Which one of these four tips will help you the most? Be lovely to hear from you! And don’t forget to share them with your writer friends. 🙂

Janet

P.S. We are going deep into editing in our monthly programme this month, taking a look at all the different elements you need to check on, e.g. sentence structure, point of view issues, characterisation, plot structure and pace. You’ll have to be quick if you want to join us, but you’d be very welcome. 🙂 Learn more here.

Save