Quote For the Week

 

“You can’t fail if you don’t quit. You can’t succeed if you don’t start.” 

                                                                                        - Michael Hyatt

Every Writer Needs To Know This

 

perseverance is everything

  

    I had originally planned to write a post on a different topic, but I decided that since I've been struggling with my writing lately this would be a better, more honest, subject to break down. Lately, I've been going through a dry spell in my writing. It's been a struggle to get my thoughts down on paper and while I have my entire novel planned out, I'm having trouble figuring out how to get from point A to point B. I love my characters and my fantasy world, but whenever I sit down at my computer it's like trying to plow through quagmire. Writing even a paragraph takes half an hour, and that's on one of the better days. 

     

    The thing is, as much as I hate having to struggle with writing, such trials are a natural occurrence in the writing world. Inspirations and hardships come hand in hand with writing, and everyone goes through a time when it is difficult to get their story down on paper. Some of the greatest authors of all time have hit the proverbial "brick wall." But if you want to be a writer, you have to be ready for the days when you're staring at a blank page. If you aren't willing to spend hours struggling until you have a breakthrough, then writing isn't for you. Because perseverance is the key to success.   

    

    Right now, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who are writing books in the world. But only a handful will ever finish their written works. A lot of the people I've spoken to who are working on a novel will tell me that they enjoyed writing but that it was just "taking too long" or they simply "couldn't write anymore" so they just stopped. My heart goes out to the those people because they had the ambition and maybe even the talent to become authors, but they couldn't because they lacked perserverance. 

    A while ago now I wrote a fan letter to a favorite author of mine by the name of Melanie Dickerson. I've reviewed a few of her novels on this blog and if you've read those reviews you know how highly I esteem her. She replied to my letter with more grace than I had expected, giving me tips about the writing industry, answering my questions, and even giving me some resource references that could help me in my writing. But there was one thing in that letter that meant more to me than anything else. And it was her ending line. She said, and I quote "Just remember, never give up. Perseverance is the most important thing a writer can have." 

     Those words are the most sage advise you will ever get in this industry. It doesn't matter how much you write - a chapter, a page, a paragraph, or even just a sentence - the key to being an author is that you never stop writing. 

 

~Lydia R. Sherren

     

Quote For the Week

 

“You fail only if you stop writing.”

                                                                              — Ray Bradbury

Should You Include Death In Your Writing?

 

The D-Word

    

     This question might not seem worthy of much attention, and depending on your personal preference you may believe you already know the answer. However, given today's culture and the sensitivities many individuals have towards certain words, plots, and phrases, I think that it should be addressed. I've noticed that a lot of complaints against movies or novels can be divided into two camps: people are either upset because their character ship didn't work out or a character they loved passed away. You should give the latter your primary focus. Death is often a touchy topic, and is thus one which should be discussed.

 

   To begin, I will answer the question simply and honestly: yes, you should 100% incorporate the topic of death in your novel. The only excuse I would accept from you to do otherwise, would be if it went against your established magic system. As we all know, death occurs in the real world, but if your fiction novel takes place in a realm where there is no end of life (such as heaven) then death would not be relevant. 

 

    So why should you include death in your writing? The primary reasons are because it makes the reader savor the character(s)and also become more deeply immersed in the novel. These two reasons go hand and hand. When the reader suddenly becomes aware that death is a possibility for their hero, they will relish that character even more, enjoying the life that the character has in the novel while they still can. Then, naturally, when the reader becomes attached to the character(s) they will become immersed into the fictional world you have created, eager to see if their hero will survive.

 

    Readers like something real. Even if it hurts and makes them shed a few tears, they want the raw emotion. Some people might be upset and stop reading a series because their favorite character was lost, but that is up for them to decide. It's up to you to write things how they are. There is death and there is life. 

 

    Thus saying I strongly encourage you to address death in your writing...how you do that however, is up to you. 

 

~Lydia R. Sherren

     

Overcoming Doubt For Writers

 

You Don't Have to Be Like The

 

   I had just finished working on my novel and decided to hop onto You Tube to relax for a bit. As I was scrolling through my home page I happened to notice an edit someone did on Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. Even though I'm not a Hunger Games fan I know how popular the series is and found myself confronted by the strangest thought: My books will never be famous like the Hunger Games. This negative sensation I was feeling didn't make any sense, especially when lately I had been feeling pretty confident about the potential of my novel. But regardless of how strange the thought was, I hearkened to it and convinced myself that it was true - I would never be as well-known as Suzanne Collins.

    

     You see, I got caught up in the common trap of doubt that many writers - especially those who are just starting out - face. It's a slippery slope, and once you begin to slide, it's difficult to stop. First you might begin doubting your ability to be on the New York Times bestselling list, then you start to abandon your project and try writing other things, thinking the last one wasn't good enough, and then finally, you think that your writing in general is not worthy. Before you know, you've stopped doing the one thing you've been passionate about for so long. All because you compared yourself to another writer.

    That is why it is so important to be confident in the gift God has given you. It is so easy to get intimidated by the heroes of your genre, and struggling against doubt is going to be a constant battle for you as a writer, but don't let fear win. You are never going to know what you or your writing will become unless you push forward. 

    Let me tell you something and listen carefully. You aren't going to be the next C.S. Lewis, J. K. Rowling, or Stephan King. You are going to be the first    (your author name here)   . 

 

~Lydia R. Sherren

Quote for the Week

 

"When you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

                                                                           - Unknown

 

Writing Drafts: What To Expect

 

The First Two Stages

 

    I'll be perfectly honest. I have made numerous mistakes as a writer, and my first draft was one of them. Or rather, I should say my lack of a first draft. Hopefully, this post will prevent you from making the same mistakes I did as a young writer.

   Unfortunately, when you write a novel, you can't just type it out and then go over it once to check for spelling and grammatical errors.  In order to write a decent book, you need to write several drafts, or preliminary versions of your book before you can begin to consider sending it out to beta readers or to a publishing house. My mistake was that I wrote my first draft and called it quits. Only minor modifications.

    That was a mistake, because the first draft is just one of many, and it is never the actual book.

   While there are a number of drafts in the process of writing a novel, the first draft, I find, is the one that most writers seem to have trouble with. Especially if they are perfectionists like myself. You see, the first draft is never meant to be the real story. It's all your ideas, everything you have in your head, sloppily transcribed onto a Word or Google document. There are going to be plot holes, inconsistencies, missing characters, and so much more. Your first draft is the unformed lump of clay. All your ideas, good and bad, squashed together and making almost no sense.

    The second draft (the stage I am currently going through in the writing of my own novel) is where you take that lump of clay - sticking to the metaphor here - and begin to slowly shape it into something new. It's where you begin to work out all that mumbo-jumbo that you wrote in the first draft. Also, don't expect your second draft to be a slight revision of the first. A lump of clay is never the same after the potter begins to mold it. Same thing with your second draft. It will be completely different than the first. With me, only a few chapters stayed relatively the same and I ended having to redo my magic system, add a whole other world, and rewrite seventeen to twenty chapters.

    What does this mean? Well it means this: Expect your first draft to be a mess. When you are writing your first draft, don't try and get it "right" or fix something whenever your run across an inconstancy or plot hole. Just write. Write out every idea and everything on your mind. Once you've finished your first draft and move on to the second, just be prepared to do a lot of editing because that's the way it's meant to be.

    Remember: first draft is the lump of clay - all your unpolished ideas. The second, is when you start to mold that lump into something totally new and amazing.

~Lydia R. Sherren