Writing Routines

Do you have a routine? So many words a day? A certain time of day? Certain music?

Remember when we were kids and our parents had a bedtime ritual set up for us? I knew when it was bath time, then brush my teeth time, that the bedtime was next. It mentally prepared me to be tired. 

The same is true with writing. Sometimes a set ritual helps prepare our mind to get ready to write. For me, I’m used to the television being on for background noise. My computer is in the living room, so I don’t get much choice in that. I always have a Dr. Pepper beside me. Sometimes a snack too.

I’m looking forward to school starting next week. I can shift my writing time to the night after everyone goes to bed. I’m going to try to write a certain amount of words each day then. I haven’t decided how many yet. With school being out, I have to share my computer with all three kids. So I don’t get much writing time or time without someone saying “when will you be done?”

Do you have any writing habits? What are they?

Cure the Writer’s Block

I’ve managed to spend my day wasting time so that I could avoid writing. You know how it is, you try to look like you’re really doing something useful toward your writing. You’ve done it too. Right?

It’s that dreaded writer’s block. I know my character, I know what I want to happen, but it just all seems so flat. So I’ve been web surfing on the subject.

One of the suggestions I saw was to have a regular writer’s routine. It can be a set amount of word count to write in a day, or it can even be just a regular time to set down and write. Do you like to listen to music while you write? Or do you like total quiet? Me – I usually have the TV on for background noise. Especially since my computer is in the living room. I’m use to hearing it. Of course then I run the risk of wanting to watch what’s on. Do you keep snacks handy? Or a drink? The idea is to have a set of circumstances that tells your brain that its time to write when you do this routine. Kind of like kids with bedtime.

Did you do enough planning? Do you have an outline or a basic plot already in mind? Sometimes we don’t really know where it is that we want to go. So we get stuck. Here is a link that is great with the brainstorming aspect: Brainstorming the Snowflake Method

You can also just write. Don’t worry about whether its good writing or bad at this point. You can edit later. Especially for the first draft, just get the story down. This is a good time to free write whatever comes into your mind. You may find that your character has something to show you that you didn’t know.

Try coming at the piece from a different angle. That’s what I’m going to do. I realized that I feel like my writing is flat because I haven’t found a way to make the plot more personal for my character. He needs to solve the murder not because it’s his job, but because he has a NEED to. So, I’m taking some scenes and writing them in first person from his point of view to get into his head more. To see what he has to say about it. If you’re having trouble with the beginning, write the end. Or something from in the middle.

Sometimes we can all use a jump start. You may want to try a writer’s prompt. Writer’s Digest Prompts  or Creative Writing Prompts

This website has a lot of suggestions to get your mind stimulated. hack-your-way-out-of-writers-block

 This one is fantastic. It has a lot of interactive things to get you going. It even has a name generator that can be broken down by race or even religious roots. Language is a virus 

So lets get writing. Especailly me.

Links to the Craft of Writing

I’ve been web surfing this morning and I just wanted to share some of the sites that I’ve found out there. These sites have valuable articles on the subjects of improving your craft of writing. That is something that I believe as a writer we should always do. We may have talent and a way to set forth the images that we desire, but there is a structure that goes behind it to keep all our pretty words from falling down. These links are just a small part of that structure. I’m a firm believer that we can learn from one another.

http://edittorent.blogspot.com/ This has a post about building the right kind of inconsistant characters

http://inspirationaleditor.blogspot.com/ This is about writing an effective synopsis. There is also a link on top for body language, something our characters use a lot of.

http://suspensenovelist.blogspot.com/  This one has several good posts on it. I especailly liked the 10 writing rules by William F. Nolan.

http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/ There is a new trend for inspirational writers that now include the suspense and mystery genre. If that is the type of writing that you do, check out this information – it includes information about getting published even if you’re a new writer.

Family stories are great

Talk about ideas… I flew from Ft. Worth to where I’m from in Indiana. It started out a trip to go to a family reunion on my adopted dad’s side. At my father’s reunion the subject of my Grandfather usually comes up. He disappeared a little over fifty years ago. So that usually brings up stories and guesses.

Just before I went, my Grandmother on my mother’s side died. It wasn’t a surprise. She was 103 years old. She had broken her hip in December and was in a nursing home. She didn’t feel well for a couple of days and then passed on peacefully in her sleep. Well, anyway, everyone gathered from that side of the family to say their goodbyes. And the stories… Some were hilarious. Not only was my grandmother a humorous person, she was born deaf in a time when it really wasn’t accepted well. So that was even more stories. 

Sometimes ideas for stories are right there in our own families.

Where do you get ideas?

Need a jump start sometimes to get started? Or maybe you have part of a plot but need inspiration to flesh it out? Sometimes I just want something different.

Ideas are everywhere.

The best one for me is to people watch. Not only can you pick up character traits – you can invent stories about people you see. Why is that lady in the big floppy hat so sad looking? Or that lady half dragging that child down the street - What would that child be thinking about? Or what about that cute couple that are so in love looking? Could it be a man and his young mistress and they are planning the demise of his wife so that they can be together?

Sometimes bits of overheard conversation can cause some inspiration. The best one I heard was when a man described Christmas as “almost finished with the marathon”. It brought to mind all of the stress and hurriedness that isn’t what we want. Tempers can fly with overspending. A husband could lose it and hurt his wife. it could be a planned murder…

Another idea is to click on advanced search on your Google browser. It brings up a page where you can put in words that you would like to have links to. I think I used murder, homicide and mystery. I get a google alert everyday with links using those words. It brings up news articles, blogs and books. I’ve gotten some good ideas while looking through the articles. I especailly like the older cold cases. They have more details to work from. I don’t use the case the way it is because I’m not a True Crime writer. But I use ideas from it and mix it with other ideas to make my own plot.

Another idea is to do a google search for “missing persons”, “unsovled mysteries” or “unidentified people”. The only problem with looking through these sites is it tends to make me sad to see so many hurting families out there.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Call of the Writers

Welcome! I’m looking to touch base with other writers out there. Whether you are a seasoned writer or a beginner – I’d love to hear from you. What sort of writing do you do? I write mysteries. I love the clues and the wondering of who-done-it. My favorite part of writing is developing the characters. Making each of them different and to fit the role that they play.