Writing Mania discussion

If you have any helpful little tips you want to share, or questions you want to ask, please post 'em here!!!

Ha ha, I think I'm the one needing the tips, not giving them. XD

LOL, me too. My creative juices dried out once summer started.

Mine leaked. All over the floor. Like, two years ago. XD

I think someone accidentally drank mine. :(

XD

LOL, I usually dry out over the summer. Once school starts up again, then I'll be able to write. Which is tragic, because I have sooooo much free time this summer, but once I pull out an old book I'm working on, I just kinda stare at it like "Duuuur... what's this thing about again???"

I like, I get this thing. Where I just don't like anything I write. So I just don't write. And then months later I'll write an amazing chapter.

I DITTO THAT!!!!! Actually, I don't really enjoy any of my work, but my critiques say my work is good after I wake up in the middle of the night with an amazing idea and need to scrawl it down for morning. Which, needless to say, is annoying on my part.

Ha ha, I get ideas at night all the time 'cause I can never sleep, so I just think all night. I got two white boards hung on my walls so now I can write ideas down when they come.

Oh muffins! I'm gonna do that!!! :D That's a fantabulous idea! :)

One's right by my bed for easy night time access. It helps loads

That an awesome idea!!! I'll hafta get one.

My friend said free-writing helps. Just kind of writing what first pops into your head, and then going back and turning it into a more firm story. It helps me overcome writer's block.

Sometimes prompts help. Like, our writing teacher in 7th grade would just give us some stupid, funny, thoughtful, etc. prompt for us to finish or answer. The idea wasn't to turn it into a story or anything, it was just to get you in the writing mood. I wonder if I still have that journal for prompts somewhere...

Ooooh, good one. I'll hafta write that down somewhere...

I wish my English teacher had done that.

It was cool. It was stuff like "Invent and create an ad a crazy device or product." and "Create a cereal." and "You are a package on a truck. Write an entry in that POV."

Eoin Colfer says the hardest part about writing is doing nothing but write for eight hours straight. I guess there's some truth to that.

I really want to be an author. I know I'll have trouble with that too.

One tip I have is to write every day. Especially if you're writing a book. Write a thousand words of it every day, and give yourself a day off once a week. Write ALONE. If there's no place you can write alone, write at a time when everyone else is asleep. My golden time is 5 AM.

Another tip to get creative juices flowing is free writing. Do a ten minute session every once in a while :p

Thanks, Cheyenne! That sounds fantabulous!!! I have to admit, I've gotten lazier and lazier about my books, and I could use this.

Yeah, me too. 5 AM sounds good. My siblings are too lazy to bother me at that hour. ;)

http://www.pgtc.com/~slmiller/index.htm

I find this a very helpful writer's website.

I create what I call a 'world' first. I write down everything, the plot, the characters, how they live their lives, crime, punishment, holidays, celebrations, social rankings. When you write all that stuff down, the plot just kinda flows into your mind. And also, when you forget something, you can always go back to where you wrote down all that stuff.

Cool. I'll try that some time.

Some of the things I find that helps me is Listening to music while I write or writing outside. I keep a notebook with me in case an idea pops into my head that I might be able to use in a book or if it is somehting I might be able to make a book out of. I also use it to keep track of things that I might use or have used in a book. That way I never know when I might need it for a book that I am working on. Sometimes I will read another book to help maybe help me also come up with ideas for my own book. I hope this helps you all as well.

I have a problem with taking notes about my books. It feels wrong to put them down on paper. I prefer to (as Fardar Coram once said in The Golden Compass) hold my thoughts in my mind, but lightly, as if they were something alive.

I think that's what I do, too.

That is good too. Just because I write it down for an idea or that I used once before, just keeps me from coping myself with other books too. Or its something I can always use later when I look back on an idea.

I think these tips are going to help me out a lot. Just what I was looking for to get started again - I hope, fingers crossed. lol I'm glad I came across this group. Thanks everyone. :)

Hi Miss Asima!!! It's wonderful to see yet another new face on board. So glad we've been able to help to some degree!!!

Oh, something I read somewhere is basing the characters off of the world they live in. For example, if the world was extremely hot then the things living on it would have certain body types to accommodate that.

Just an idea, I've never really tried it.

That makes sense. I'll hafta give that a go, especially on my "not-so-human" fantasies.

Hope it helps ^^

Start at the beginning, keep going until you reach the end, and then stop.

Whenever I'm writing an essay or something, repeating that really helps me to stay calm and focused. It reminds me not to worry about the lenth or whatever, and to stop rambling, and not to give up- all in one simple quote! Having a mantra might not work for anyone else, but I like it.

Taliah wrote: "Start at the beginning, keep going until you reach the end, and then stop."

No way. XD

But good method.

PLEASE HELP!!!

My computer room is so cold! Whenever I try to type, my fingers start to freeze. I can only write for maybe 10min before I have to warm my hands up again. Does anyone have any advice?

Um... mittens? Heating? Maybe a warmth lamp aimed at the keyboard while you're typing?
Sorry, I suck at these...

I wish I had computer class again at school...We had all this free time at the end. Of course, that was when I didn't have a GR account, so I just Googled Twilight pics and played Dust on notdoppler.com. XD

I tried gloves, but they were so annoying to type with. Thankyou for trying anyway! I think the only solution is to wait until summer...

Or march up to the school office and start yelling for them to turn the heat up. ;D

Yeah, that'll work.

I just realized I'm a fairly sarcastic person.

XD Hey, me too. I'm always harassing my brother with heavy sarcasm, because he is so oblivious to it, it's hysterical. XD XD XD

Ducky wrote: "Yeah, that'll work.

I just realized I'm a fairly sarcastic person."

You just realized that??? That's like me just realizing I say "D'arvit" a lot. XD

XD

Kyra wrote:
You just realized that??? That's like me just realizing I say "D'arvit" a lot. XD"

I went through a phase of that a while a go. It's a really cool sounding word! Then I stopped when I went back to school.

"Oh my cheese", "Holy cheese", Oh muffins", and "Holy muffins" have become a part of my everyday speech. XD Of course, for normal people, it just confirms their theories that I'm insane. XD

'Goodness gracious' and 'goshness' are words I've been using recently.

GOSHNESS!!!!!!!!! OMG, that's awesome!!!!!!!! I am going to go to school and use that now.