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Writing Process

Getting Your Story Down

September 18, 2019 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

Reader Alert… this is a marketing post about a new journal I’ve just published. So if you’re not interested please feel free to walk on by 😉

It’s said everyone has a story in them. But not everyone can translate that story onto the page. First Draft in One Month guided journal is ideal for anyone struggling to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), for new writers and as well as those who have a bit of history.

The first draft is just getting the story down. It’s the beginning, not the end, and can easily be done within a month with a little preparation. Whether you’re participating in a write a novel in a month challenge, or thinking about your goals in the near future. Whether you are a panster,  a planner or somewhere in between, this journal is designed to help you do that.

Filled with plenty of space, lined and plain, to scribble, doodle, sketch and write, First Draft in One Month also includes:

Preparing your story writing month

  • Brainstorming Ideas
  • Defining key characters
  • Sketching out a plot
  • Thinking about scenes and story lines

Advice and suggestions for managing your life during your writing month

  • A Meal Planner to save time and ensure energy
  • Creating play lists to stir your imagination
  • Garnering friends and family support
  • A calendar for clearing your desk and your mind

Resources to manage your writing month

  • A motivational word tracker
  • 31 writing prompts to spur you on if you get stuck
  • Suggestions for clearing your head for writing sessions
  • Suggestions for what happens after ‘The End’

 

Filed Under: Publications, Writing, Writing Process, Writing Resources Tagged With: first draft, nanowrimo, planning a novel

Monthly Goals: September

September 4, 2019 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

So how did I do last month? August is always a tricky one with visitors and the heat. I didn’t have the first excuse this year for the first time in many…😌 apart from the one month a year neighbours.

😊Complete Wolf Moon – this target was my priority and I just hit it as the sun went down on the 31st August. Feeling rather chuffed!

😉Continue with the 15 minute prompts – five days a week which totalled 22 in the month and I managed 19… not a bad return and they did help with #1 target

😊Social Media posts planning for October – writing quotes and prompts are scheduled and I’ve now reached over 400 followers on Instagram… not sure if that’s a good thing or not!

So, being realistic with my goals for last month meant I was able to get them all done, which is a great feeling… here are this months:

The Big Stuff

✔ 3rd Edit of Wolf Moon for line editing via table for me and to Kindle for Simon to read *eeek*

✔ Rainbow Warriors review – start a bullet journal in preparation for NaNoWrimo

✔ Partake in a couple of writers challenges (post everyday in response to a task) probably #Writer Warriors and #FantasyWiPSeptember

✔ Daily Writing Prompts Monday – Friday – I’d really like to keep this up. It’s good for my soul

✔ Update my journal ‘First Draft in 30 days’ to market for NaNoWrimo

and in between

  • Research editor for final draft Wolf Moon
  • Social Media Posts for November
  • Submit Italian Tax Returns!

Let me know what you plan to get up to!

Filed Under: Monthly Goals, Writing, Writing Process Tagged With: instagram, nanowrimo, rewriting, writing challenges, writing goals

Great Opening Lines

August 21, 2019 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

Opening lines are important. Some stick in the mind longer than others and some will mean that short moment in which a reader decides to read on (that all important ‘hook’) … or not. Here are a few of mine.

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must want for a wife.” Jane Austen:  Pride and Prejudice

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.” Iain Banks:  The Crow Road

“124 was spiteful.” Toni Morrison:  Beloved

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were very normal, thank you very much.” J.K.Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

What are yours and why?

Filed Under: Writing, Writing Process Tagged With: attracting readers, creative writing, famous opening lines, fantasy writing, jolambauthor

Morning Pages: 5 Reasons I Write Them

July 17, 2019 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

I’ve been doing ‘Morning Pages‘ ever since I first read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron back in 2015. This exercise entails three pages of long hand, free consciousness writing.

I don’t follow every bit of writing advice that’s put out there, nor do I generally give it. What I do is share what works for me. And this does. For the past four years. I’ve had the odd gap and paid for it with a severe case of the wobbles about me, about my writing, and castrophising (a term I’ve nicked from the indomitable Dawn French).

There is nothing to learn, but there is a habit to create. For me, first thing in the morning, in bed when my dreamy sleepy self is still not quite conscious. I just write whatever is on my mind. It’s not meant to be read, revisited, or used for any other purpose than de-cluttering.  Although sometimes I do write down something I need to remember because it’s crowding my head space.

So these are the five benefits I have garnered from doing this very exercise…

  1. Creating Head Space – writing down what first comes to mind helps to clear the cobwebs away. It’s like a regular bit of house keeping for the brain. The thoughts that trouble me, the dreams that scare me and the things that are troubling me just seep away onto the paper. The actual issues don’t go away but I’ve parked them.
  2. Problem Solving – it could be about a life issue, or more than likely sorting out something in a writing project that’s been troubling me. I can write it out, as it were, and as I do I come up with solutions. It’s a great feeling when that happens.
  3. Easily Achievable – 10 minutes it takes me. Simon knows that it’s the first thing I want to do, the animals, well they don’t quite understand but I refuse to let distractions get in the way. First thing before the day begins to control my activities and it’s done.
  4. Improves my Confidence and Self Esteem– not just in my writing life but in all sorts of area’s. I often ask myself ‘what is the worst case scenario’ if something is troubling me and often it’s insignificant and I can forget about it… until it raises it’s head again! When I slack off this exercise, like whilst we were away, my belief in myself dwindles fast, like water going down a drain.
  5. Increases Productivity – I always feel ready to get on with whatever I need to do, it allows me to allocate priorities, set goals for the day and get things done. I’m not saying I never have a day where there is stuff I didn’t get done, but I’ve usually done the important stuff, more often than not that means something to do with writing.

It’s the best bit of daily work out I do… pity it doesn’t help the waist line! 🙂

Pages clarify our yearnings. They keep an eye on our goals. They may provoke us, coax us, comfort us, even cajole us, as well as prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. If we are drifting, the pages will point that out. They will point the way True North. Each morning, as we face the page, we meet ourselves. The pages give us a place to vent and a place to dream. They are intended for no eyes but our own.

Julia Cameron

 

Filed Under: Writing, Writing Exercise, Writing Health, Writing Process, Writing Resources

Monthly Goals: July

July 3, 2019 by JoAnna 2 Comments

So, I’ve been away in our faithful old camper-van, Bobbus for nigh on five weeks so my routine hasn’t been all that… well routine. The weather was against us for a lot of the time meaning two soggy humans and two even soggier Springer Spaniels cramped in a small space. Excuses, I know but you try it!

So how did I get on the past few weeks?

😍Schedule all Social Media posts as far as I can up to end of June – well I’ve gathered all the weekly quotes and prompts up until end of September… and scheduled until end of July. So a big win!

🤐 Re look at Journals for Writers and plan relaunch (for my return in June) utter fail, again but I have access to some different media so that might give me the impetus I need.

😊 Organise and clean up my One note Bujo (which is essentially my whole life) and Pinterest Boards – well, I managed the first half, downloaded a planner which I’m loving. Need to work on the Pinterest boards.

🤔 Work on scene list and world building for Rainbow Chronicles – I’ve done a lot of thinking about this… not much ‘work’….

😎 Read, read and read! – oh yeah, I did a lot of reading, mostly fantasy and non fiction books around world building, but at least three sessions a day. And I’ve caught up on a lot of the articles I had saved to Pocket.

This month we have work on our bathroom, essentially it’s having to be re-roofed and re-fitted. That means a lot of work, noise and disruption. But it will be fab when it’s done. So I’m trying to be a little realistic… ha ha famous last words

🎯 Write to a prompt for 15 minutes five days a week

🎯 Look at one writing journal to concentrate my thoughts and hopefully, the others will follow

🎯 Participate in World Building challenge for Rainbow world setting

🎯 Upload my short fantasy story (20k words) The Earth Dragon of Sassi to Kindle

🎯 If possible, edit last four chapters of Wolf Moon

Filed Under: Monthly Goals, Writing, Writing Process

Planner or Panster – The Snowflake Method

May 21, 2019 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

It is said that there are two kinds of writers in terms of approaching a project. The Pansters  and the Planners.

Pansters are the kind of fly by the seat of your pants (hence the name) kind of writers who don’t know where their story is going to start. Or finish for that matter. They go with the flow which ever way it may take them. One of the disadvantages reported of this approach is the danger of becoming stuck because there is no plan and the danger of having multiple unfinished projects gathering dust on the shelf.

Planners on the other hand, are the opposite, naturally. They have a plan, know where they are going, what’s going to happen when, and for that reason find it easier to deal with writers block. However, the disadvantage is that the plans can become too rigid and leave little room for change without a lot of work re-doing outlines.

If you had asked me several years ago which camp I fell in it would definitely be the first. And yes, I had in excess of six, yes 6, manuscripts all gathering that proverbial dust. But, I’m not a natural planner either, my brain is not that organised to know what I’m doing before I do it and I like to make diversions where I can.

So I guess I’m the third kind of writer (a Planster?) who falls between these two camps and with the help of the Snowflake method, I’ve learnt how to create a successful approach for my projects. Remember… I don’t profess to have any right answers. I just share what works for me. The Snowflake method allows me to combine both Pansting – I’m not sure that’s a verb 🙂 – and Planning.

It starts from the most simple premise possible, a one sentence story summary. From there nine more steps combine both plot and character development, each building on from the last step, making it very easy to go back and change things that will affect the final outcome, a detailed scene list. The system is essentially about growing your story so that you have a template from which to work from and discovers and identifies the plot holes, flat one dimensional characters and arcs before you start. So the flexibility of being a free spirit with the ability to easily re-trace your steps. What could be more perfect?

What’s more, Randy Ingermanson the creator of this method, helpfully recommends how much time you should spend on each step. This is helpful in understanding how long it will take you before you start writing the story but also will indicate if you are spending too much time on analysis and need to buckle down and start.

To find out more about the step and this method here are some resources you can consult and make up your own mind…

  • Snowflake Method an overview on the Reedsy Blog
  • Advanced Fiction Writing – the full story on Randy’s site
  • Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method – written by Randy, this is one of the most useful books I own on novel writing….

 

Filed Under: Character Development, Writing Process, Writing Resources Tagged With: creative writing, outlining a novel, panster, planner, planning your novel, snowflake method, techniques of writing

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