Tag: writers

A Writer’s corner: Stability killing my creativity

“I’ve been struggling with writing (and journaling) in the past few years, basically since my life took a turn and it became ‘normal’.”
A writer in my favorite subreddit related their continued struggles to produce any work. I can very much relate to the frustration and angst behind this statement. I think it is something all artistic people fear.

I stopped doing anything creative when I was living a normal life with a stressful job. The only time I started writing again was when I was either between jobs or when I had a job that gave me hours of downtime. Once, when I was required to travel for work, I ended up with six hours of time to kill per week. I wrote a non-fiction book in that time.

During the pandemic, I started a fiction novel. Creativity requires energy and concentration, and I find it very difficult to work, socialize and be creative. Something must be sacrificed.

That said, I think carving out 30 minutes a day is not too difficult. It will take longer, but in the end, you will have something.

A Misalliance with Love: Ely Cathedral

“The weather was perfect, with the sun shining bright and a cool breeze blowing. Rosie felt exhilarated as she kept pace with the more experienced riders, and they galloped through the vast expanse of marshy flatlands, the soft ground cushioning their horses’ hooves.

It did not take them long to reach Ely, and they stopped in view of the town to admire the grandeur of the towering cathedral, majestically rising above all else in the distance. ”

Excerpt From: Dee Harper Lewis. “A Misalliance with Love.”

A writer’s dilemma: Boredom

What’s the most boring part of writing for you?

This question was asked in a writer’s forum that I like, and I couldn’t answer it immediately. I had to think about it.

There will always be days when every little thing is boring. The writing, the characters, the situations. And then there will be days when it’s all exciting and feels fresh and new.

The responses from other authors were pretty uniform. It’s the mundane tasks that most writers find tedious, centered on proofreading: line-by-line edits, checking grammar and punctuation over and over, and still not catching everything. A few authors confessed that they liked this phase because it gave them time to fine-tune and tweak their prose. And, curiously, what can also be boring is trying to follow the ‘rules’.

I was astonished to see that the creative side causes angst as well: making their prose less boring, the challenge of introducing characters in a captivating way, or coming up with fresh ideas. One claimed that connecting scenes was tedious.

Some said that writer’s block and lack of motivation are a dilemma. But this can be a sign of a more serious issue with the story itself.

I confess I have experienced most of the problems that were mentioned, but I’m not certain I would call them boring. Writing is sometimes tedious and actively avoided at other times. Mostly I just slog through it and try to get something done. This persistence enabled me to finish my book, for better or worse.

Image generated by Canva and digitally manipulated.

Rosie is his target – A Misalliance with Love

Rosie’s choice to live apart from her husband means that she faces unwanted attention for another man.

-A tumult of disordered thoughts raced through her mind. She recalled the intense fear that had gripped her when Sir Gaylord had come too close to her during the estate sale. As she had moved from one room to another in the vast house, he had trailed her, and she had sensed that he was stalking her. Even now, her fingers dug into her arms as she struggled to keep her panicky thoughts under control.-

A Misalliance with Love

Image generated by Canva and digitally manipulated.

At the Theater-A Misalliance with Love

“As they ascended the grand staircase and found their box, she could feel the excitement building around them and eagerly anticipated the beginning of the play.
Lowering herself demurely into a seat and opening an ornate Chinese jade fan, she turned to Alton, aware of the eyes of society upon her.
Since signing the marriage contract, they had not laid eyes on each other, and on that occasion, she had been in a fit of pique. She could not help but smile, remembering the look on Sinclair’s face when it became clear she knew exactly what she wanted and was brave enough to ask for things that her father would never have asked for on her behalf.
“What are you thinking?” Alton glanced down at her curiously, puzzled by the expression on her face.
“I was thinking of our upcoming marriage,” she replied, then a wrinkle formed on her brow. He must think she meant . . . what comes after.
“Are you unhappy with this marriage?” He had seen her hesitate, and a frown and brief flare of disappointment passed over his face.

Excerpt From: Dee Harper Lewis. A Misalliance with Love.

Image generated by Canva and digitally manipulated.

A writer’s corner: Big red flags

In the writer’s forum I belong to, a writer posed the question: What are huge red flags, no-nos, or just downright cringe-worthy things you have identified in books or manuscripts you’ve read?
There were some great answers. The OP revealed that they dislike books with too many characters that remain undeveloped. I second that. Knowing the backstory of secondary characters and the motivations behind their action can bring the story to another level.
Many writers admit that they dislike certain tropes, and for some, the biggest pet peeve was unrealistic dialogue that ‘explains’ too much: info-dumping.
A detailed description of a character’s physical features that are baldly written was mentioned, or when characters are stereotypically perfect.
My biggest pet peeve is setting up a character’s personality, history, and traits and then having them behave completely out of character in order to advance the narrative. E.g., the character is lauded for their intelligence, which surpasses all others, and they proceed to make one dumb decision after the next to move the story along. Or they are rational people who are suddenly, stupidly made incoherent by lust. Just.not.believable.
Contrived activities that are not credible but are added in order to elicit a certain behavior from the character also get my goat.

What is cringeworthy for you?

A writer’s corner: Writing for fame

In the Reddit writer’s group I frequent, an author made the statement: “I stopped wanting to be a famous writer; now I can actually write because I want to tell stories.“

This resonated with me immediately. I’m in this space right now. I never started writing for fame, but I want people to read my book, and I want feedback.

I write because the characters are in me and are waiting to get out. I have a long habit of daydreaming and building characters and scenarios in my overactive imagination.

I had pandemic years to develop them, and now I am beginning to release them onto the page.

Writing for fame or money is like becoming an actor because you want to be a star rather than because you love the craft. Wrong motive and doomed to fail. You gotta love your craft, not the eyes on you. Wanting accolades, ratings, and reviews can be rewarding and, at the same time, discouraging, but mostly, they will be distracting. This is something I must always keep in mind.

A writer’s corner: Productivity

An author in the Reddit writers group posed the question: “When do you feel the most inspired or productive in your writing?”
They went on to ask is it morning? Afternoon? And they asked if we ever dream about our characters and get up to write more.

I had a good laugh out loud at that. I would love to dream about my characters. I used to dream about work all the time. Why can I not have a lovely nocturnal fantasy about the ever-fascinating characters I want to create?

The truth is, I am most productive two times during the day.
I am very productive early in the morning with a clear head and no distractions when my mind has not yet been cluttered with the minutia of daily life.

But many times, I’m super creative when I’m just about to fall asleep. From a very early age, that has been a time filled with fantasy. I have a long habit of creating other worlds in my mind as a way to erase the clutter and dream.

The more complex and detailed these ‘nocturnal daydreams’ are, the faster I will fall asleep. Now that I am writing regularly, this is a time when I grab my dictaphone and start rattling off dialogue or descriptions. To produce the best work, I can’t have anything else in my head. I immerse myself in the mindset of the characters, and that happens best when there are no distractions.

A writer’s corner: Characters

An author in the Reddit writers group I belong to posed the question: “How do you develop characters?”
They had a method to develop characters concentrating on four things: The character’s function, personality, physical attributes, and family background.

Many writers responded, some revealing that they concentrate on backstory first, others stating that they jump right into the scenes and let the character develop organically, a kind of character role-playing.

One author had a very different approach. They decided on a ‘theme’, which they likened to a ‘mission statement’ for the book. And then, they determined the types of characters that would support the theme. I love this approach and will definitely try it sometime.

Right now, my approach is very close to the OP’s, except that I don’t care what the characters look like unless they have a feature that’s important to the story. Function and personality are key, and I spend a lot of time figuring out what kind of childhood or life experiences the character had in order to become who they are. I do this for minor characters also, even though their backstory may just be hinted at in a sentence or two. The backstory of every character informs their dialogue and actions. With this approach, I make sure they are never acting out of character.
It was very interesting to read about different approaches and what works well for other writers.

Character inspiration

Once in a while, you see something that screams for a book to be made or a movie to be written about it. I saw this clip on Reddit and want to create a character as badass as this woman. What would her backstory be? How would she meet her love interest? My writing focuses on the Victorian era, but I will do post-WWI just to have characters like this.

She belonged to the Thirteen Black Flying Cats, and they deserve their own miniseries.