8 Ways to Break Writer's Block

You jump on the creative train and the passengers are missing. 

You check the first train car: conductor gone.

There's no one to help you but you. Happens to the new and veteran of the writing realm. What do you do? You don't know so here's what I do. It may not work for you. These are just ideas to get it going again.

REBEL

1. Start on something you are not supposed to be doing. Or you are supposed to be doing but didn't want to do in the first place.

I'm very serious. When I worked, my creativity bugged the crap out of me when I was actually working on work, instead of working on drawing or writing. I can't explain it. Ask a neuropsychologist. Ask my neuroscience professor. She was amazing. It's like when you're not thinking about it, stressing that part of the brain, your brain can relax. It's like your brain had to go pee, but you're staring at it, waiting for it to happen. The brain can't go when you're creepy. So do something else and it'll be able to relieve itself.

READ

1) Re-read your work! Get back into your story! Haven't written for a while? You might have to read your entire story to get the feel for it again. Sit down, pen 'n' paper close to you, and just read it. Don't focus on the errors, focus on the tone and plot. You need to understand your protagonist again and you need to see where you might have been going with the book.

If I'm stuck, I read the chapters that are huge in plot info. Like a plan that the characters are about to go through or a secret that hasn't been spilled yet. Jot it down so you remember when you start writing again. Need posties? Use them instead. Super Sticky Post-It notes are amazing to keep on the wall by your writing space.

2) Read someone else's work. I got the Longmire series handy because I love his active voice and simple sentences. I get into the mind of Sheriff Longmire and it's peaceful how he is attentive to detail but oblivious to people's romantic interest in him. He remembers what people wear or how they talk. Craig Johnson, author, keeps you in the mind of the sheriff by focusing his perspective in places with sharp prose. They're light reads for a reason. He's very good at getting the point across without sacrificing setting or inner drama. (You might have read elsewhere I love Longmire...it's not even my genre to love, yet here I am.)

WRITE

1) I know this seems backwards, it's not. Write something you know you can keep writing about. Doesn't have to be your story. Example: I have three projects, two are fan fictions because they're fun, the other is my potential money-maker so that remains top priority. Go through your fun writings, ones you don't have to worry about getting wrong or beating a deadline, or whatever your case is. Write your fan fic, or write something that excites you, or just write about your feelings. Maybe dive into writing about your character's feelings. Free flow writing can really help break that block.

2) Write about writer's block. You'll be researching all the ways to break it, then you write about it, and you end up with an entire blog. (Oh look at that. I just did what I said. Ha!)

EXERCISE

1) 30 minutes of working out helps blood flow and boosts your body and mind. Endorphins, anyone? Don't go killin' yourself on some hardcore workout though. You need you to be able to sit at your writing nest for the next couple hours. DO NOT EXHAUST YOURSELF.

2) Download the Charity Miles app on your phone then go for a walk. Walking is a nice way of getting fresh air and experiencing outside. You get to smell and feel the environment around you. Your brain will go elsewhere and maybe that triggers something to write about. Have Notes or a voice recorder app handy.

I learned a few days ago that Don Brown takes workout breaks to keep the blood flowing. He'll do push-ups by his desk, so if this is my advice to you, and a renowned author also does it, then it must be good!

DRIVE

1) Drive to a destination. I once drove to a different place to buy food because I wanted to experience a different ambiance. I went to an asian market and type in Notes everything I smelled and felt. These are things books can do but movies can't: get you to feel what the character feels. Some books are straight up cinematics. You don't want that. So get all your senses in gear and drive somewhere. Did you know walking downtown New York City smells like warm, poopy diapers? Those big crates you walk over on the sidewalk wafts up the sewage and that's what I smell. It's pleasant to me, but could be nasty to someone else. Write everything down!

2) Drive without a destination. Scenic routes and a quiet drive might help you unwind. I don't recommend the freeway; go some place where you don't have to look every three seconds to see if someone's gonna cut you off. Go rural if you can. Once you know you can't worry about anything, your mind opens up, and thinks freely.

MUSIC

1) Make a playlist for your book or character. Got specific scenes that go with some of the music? Play it. Over and over, if you want to. There's a rhythm for songs, there's rhythm for chapters.

2) Listen to your favorite tracks, instrumental or vocal. If it's your favorite, your brain will love it.

EAT

1) Caffeine. One cup of coffee is good for a mental boost.

http://qz.com/358139/how-to-hack-your-coffee-habit-to-improve-your-focus-and-decrease-anxiety/

2) Nutritious meals that incorporate carbs, protein, and vegetables in one fill your stomach, and helps you focus. Starving yourself starves the brain and makes you cranky. Don't do that. Eat something.

And if all else fails...

SLEEP

1) Chances are you're overloaded, burned out, or whatever you wanna call it. Take a day off and sleep on it. You can choose to just take a nap, or just not work on your book at all that day, take the time to relax, forget about the book, and then go to bed your normal time. Then in the morning (or when ever you write), you're refreshed, and good to go!

If this list isn't exactly what you're looking for, I suggest this: 6 Hacks to Motivate Writing.

Tell me what works for you even if it's not on this list. Have you found something that helps you break writer's block? I wanna know about it!

Write Drunk, Edit Sober - What Does It Really Mean?

Although Ernest Hemingway NEVER said this, I wanna live by it. And I'm two shots in. I will not get drunk, but loose. I don't condone nor condemn drinking. In moderation it helps even perfectionists like me to ease out of being such a frissy-frossy. (See? It's working. I'm making sh*t up.) 

There are studies suggesting one or two beers helps INSPIRE ideas, while coffee helps you FOCUS on these ideas. I'm in a chapter that needs to hurry up and finish so I can go back to action scenes, my easiest and more fun writing bits. Hence, the shots to help me unwind, and not fuss over how perfect the scene is. It's a complicated dialogue scene. Lots of information. Lots of stuff I need to just throw out there so when I go Revision mode, I can figure it out then. No biggie. 

Don't worry about your first draft. It's rough because it's for YOU. It's to tell you the story, then you can revise and figure out how it tells others the story. 

Keep writing!

What does "Write Drunk" mean and how did the false quote become so popular?

You could take it literally or less than but the quote simplifies the writer's take on finishing the book first. When you go through the rough draft, you must keep writing, and not care about all the errors, and potential hiccups in your research. Your usual inhibitions are put away when drunk so try to put them away when you're writing. 

What does "Edit Sober" mean?

Without mercy, revise, revise, revise. Remember how you tried correcting your mistakes when you realized what you did while you were drunk? Yeah. You're fixing those. The bad texts, the vocal regrets...you're editing those out of your story. But only Edit Sober when you're DONE WITH YOUR BOOK. Not when you're done with the chapter. Unless you're a blogger. Then yes...please...edit your blog post with murderous enthusiasm.

Helpful Resource: http://problogservice.com/2014/09/19/what-write-drunk-edit-sober-means/

Finding Your Story's Pace in 5 Steps

One of my big struggles is pace. This is posted more for both of us. I'm a facilitator, not a teacher. You can teach me too through your comments and there are lots of past comments that I loved reading! Thank you very much for your insight! We're all in this together. When we love what we do and are achieving our dreams, we build each other up, we don't tear down. Virtual hugs all around!

Now that gushy-mush is outta the way, time for some skill development!

How to Find your Pace

1. Find the Tone

2. Know the Why

3. Understand your characters

4. Know their goals

5. Pick the Environment


1. FIND THE TONE

At Hawaiicon, I went to a writer's workshop taught by two very successful screenwriters, Brad Bell and Jane Espenson. I asked them about pace. They loved that question and so did the rest of the group. Lots of writers in this shop were clearly not amateurs, though not published, so it was refreshing to be with fellow writers who ranged from not-quite-beginner to published-near-expert. Bell's and Espenson's answer: TONE. When writing your story, you need to find the tone you're writing first. Are you the poetic sort that wants to take your readers barefoot through a peaceful stream, or throw on combat boots, and jump into a war? Finding the tone FIRST helps you avoid pacing problems.

Think about what you want the writing to feel like. Do you want it to be active and musical, action-like, or do you want it to be thoughtful and emotional? And most importantly, once you find the tone, stay consistent! Let the tone sink in; you will adapt and writing with the tone will come naturally.

2. KNOW THE WHY

What are you conveying? What do you want the reader to figure out? What do you want them to see? Knowing the why is figuring out your characters. Why did they say that? Why did they do that? What are we learning from this character? Everything must have meaning and each meaningful moment--be it dialogue, action, or introspection--must get the character closer to the solving the problem, the end-goal.

3. UNDERSTAND YOUR CHARACTERS

Some characters will make the tone for you, which makes the pace, which makes the story. What does your character do and think? Do they jump to conclusions, jump without thinking, shoot and ask later? Are they quiet, seemingly anti-social, but paying attention to every detail? Where does your perspective character come from? Do they get lost in thought sometimes? Figure out your characters so they can help you with the tone and pace.

4. KNOW THEIR GOALS

This means EVERYONE'S goals. And if these goals are on a time limit, you can bet millions your pace will be fast, and you'll need to shorten those sentences, and make every word precise and blunt. Your characters won't have time to "get lost in their mind"--they might have quick flashbacks to a painful memory, but never "the leaves ease from a summer green to a burning red" blah blah blah. But if you're not constrained by time, you can put some nice breaks between action scenes; you'll have more slow intervals for character development between achieving goals. Unless character development for the character is the goal....like romance, or some teen stories. Depends on your characters' goals, of course. 

5. PICK THE ENVIRONMENT

Genre. So you found what you're trying to convey, you know your characters and goals, now you must know where you're throwing them. Drop them in a fast-paced environment with fast-paced goals and you have something like the show 24. Drop them in a small town where not a lot seems to go on and you have something like Longmire. If you created your own world, it's all on your preference and the region of that world. 

Now it's your job to assess your pace.

TONE
WHY
CHARACTER
GOALS
ENVIRONMENT

Study your favorite books. It's better with books so you can see the words used to quicken or shorten the pace. But if you need fast advice, you can always check on different series genres. In shows, you can feel it more because you're watching it happen. 

(Tip from Bell and Espenson: TURN ON CAPTIONS.

When studying TV shows or movies (they're screenwriters they do this often) they always have the captions on so they can see the flow of dialogue and the choice words. To them, dialogue is music. It's their entire world or their scripts are nothing. But for novels, dialogue might be half of what is required, if at all.)

Polar Examples:

Longmire - pace of the story is through the eyes of the protagonist and based on his personality and his environment. When you go through the story, you're riding a trotting horse down a long trail. You take in the mountains, the vast farm fields, and trees in the distance. You listen to the nearby stream, you see what kind of rocks line the road as you make your way to your cabin, where a warm fire awaits, with a wife or husband making a cup of hot tea for you.

24 - based on high-stress situations and how fast character needs to achieve goals, and how much faster antagonist wants to achieve their goals. You're in a car and you speed by all the little details because they're insignificant to the problems you must deal with right now. You have to get to the end or you'll die, or your family will die, or America will go explode-y. 

Any other examples that lie in between these two opposites you can figure out yourself. You're smart. 

Go forth and multiply (your word count)!

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Are there ways you figure out your pace? Is there a strategy you use?  Comment below! If this helped you in any way, please share it on Pinterest or where ever your mind desires!

5 Points God Helps With Writing

The Bible is the most printed book in all of existence. And while lots of writers do not believe in God, they should look into why it's the most popular book and how. Supposedly there have been six billion Bibles printed, but nothing is exact. Still. Wow. It'd be a good idea to have a chat with the best-selling author of the world. Yes?

1. HOPE & LOVE

2. UNORIGINALITY

3. DISCOVERY

4. PACE

5. PURPOSE

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1. Hope & Love

ROMANS 15:4 -- For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Readers look for specific things in stories. Let's look at the best-sellers to find out what they are. Take the Top 10. (I hate citing Wiki, but this isn't an official document, so go with it.) 

The Bible, ~5 to 6 billion

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong, 900 million

The Qur'an, 800 million

Xinhua Zidian, 400 million

Book of Common Prayer, Thomas Cranmer, unknown

Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan, unknown

Foxe's Book of Martyrs, John Foxe, unknown

Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jr., 120 million

Harry Potter Book 1, J.K. Rowling, 107 million

And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie, 100 million

(http://www.justanswer.com/general/0nrjs-top-10-printed-books-time.html)

I'm not an expert in most of these books but I have read the Bible, the Qur'an, and definitely Harry Potter. These books contain instruction, hope, an escape, or a peace to accept ourselves as we are. Some have all, some have one. Of course there are lots of other factors that make these best sellers but to the people who actually WANT to read them, they seek hope; they seek love.

What you write should have something like this. Give your readers hope. An underdog is always a fan favorite. (David and Goliath. Katniss and Snow. Potter and Voldemort.) Give your readers love. (God the Father and the World. Lily and Severus.) Give your readers instruction. Give them a moral to a story. Give them mistakes the protagonist made and have the character and reader learn from them.

Faith, Hope, and Love are gifts from God. But the greatest is Love. Hold true to this when working on your story.

2. Unoriginality

ECCLESIASTES 1:9 -- What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

It's okay to be unoriginal. No matter what you write about, someone, or even God already created something similar. The key is to add at least one more attribute that makes it your own. Since I will never give Twilight the time of day, let's go to K. M. Weiland. She inspired me to write this blog, so I should promote her work. In her blog The 4 Tweaks to Writing Truly Original Stories and Characters she mentions her own designs for her genre. She researched the fantasy genre and updated her knowledge on it. She learned about the cliches and tweaked them for her own book. Her dragon became something else. Her races became something more. 

My own example is dragon-related. As Tolkien said, a book isn't worth reading unless there's a dragon, so I made my own race of them. Sort of. People love dragons. It's okay to have them in your work. People love vampires, zombies, and fairies. So does God. He loves the work you do and loves watching you use your borrowed talents. Like a parent smitten with scribbles on a page. God will put it up on a big, heavenly refrigerator, and boast about how awesome your work is. (Not that your work is a bunch of scribbles...)

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is the Valley of Dry Bones. Anything that shows God being dark and creepy to others is absolutely beautiful to me. He wills the bones to come to life. They shake and mount into skeletons, then all the ooey gooey insides form, then the skin, then the breath. Such poetry in the image. When I read this I knew I wrote my first book for a reason bigger than my own. Though zombies and grim reapers are "nothing new under the sun" I made death my own theme. And I knew, just because it's creepy and dark, God loves it. I made it through His help. 

3. Discovery

MATTHEW 7:8 -- For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Our finished works are never what we thought they'd be in the beginning. You have your outline, your characters, your theme, and then you start to write. It's a journey all its own. A character's motivations take them in ways we didn't want them to, but they have to, because that's their way. God may have purpose for Jonah, but Jonah didn't listen. What happens when characters don't listen to the author? We give them trials, consequences of their actions that add more dynamics to the story. We somehow knew something would happen but not precisely what. 

Ever paint? You have an idea of what you're going to make, and you try to make it exactly what's in your head, but it turns out completely different. Yet it might be better than what you thought first. There's concept then production. Happens all the time. That's a good thing. It's fun. It breaks the system and adds vibrance from both sides: behind the keyboard and in the story.

God wants us to discover ourselves, more importantly, he wants us to discover life, and as the result, the beauty of his works. Nothing new under the sun? Cuz he made it. But that doesn't mean we've found everything he's made yet. So go out and find it. Go out and find him. Discovery is a relationship between creator and creation. In such a vast world of imagination, anything is possible except the possibility of nothing.

4. Pace

JAMES 1:3 -- For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

You attend your first date. You sit down with him or her and you say, "Hi," then they say "Hi, my name is blah-blah-blah, I've lived for blah-blah in blah-blah, I do this, this, this, this, and that, that, that, and a little of that, but lots of this. I used to be a murderer/dealer/detective/king/hitman/insert crazy occupation here, until this one other crazy thing happened, so I took up this other thing, and fought with this person crazier than me, but I'm really excited to meet you because I've done all these background checks on you, and you just seem like such an amazing person, and I want to protect you and love you for the rest of our lives, and maybe have children. And a dog. I like dogs." And he or she keeps talking and you run. You run far. That's the sane thing to do, right?

The Bible is layers upon layers of information and we only read one piece and somehow we don't see the same verse we read in a different light until months, maybe years down the road, when we read it again, and it means something else. Or we're first learning about God and only read the nice, happy parts, like the miracles.

"Hi. I'm Jesus. I do miracles."

Then you warm up to him, thinking this is an all right guy. Until he gets angry. He flips merchant tables in the air and yells at people to leave the church. 

What just happened? He's such a chill dude! Why is he acting that way?

You read more. You find out why. One character trait is revealed, and then another, and then another.

Then you want to read the history of this world. This Jesus was planned long before his birth. What? Yeah. How is that possible?

So you read. And the layers keep getting read until you're so involved with the book you can't leave. 

God teaches you pace. He teaches you not to make your readers run away by overloading them with information. He shows you, he doesn't tell you. He shows you active and passive voice. I'm certain God invented the term "info-dump." And even though the Bible is dense with information, he understands that we will become overwhelmed with some pages, so those verses you read years before that made no sense might make sense now. You never know. But that's a faith thing. Not a pace thing. Another topic for another blogger.

5. Purpose

You want to dream big but you have little faith in yourself let alone God. We have to believe there is something more to us than mediocrity. Through hope, love, and discovery, we find our own greatness within what we find already great. It does not mean any of us are the same. It does not mean by others' greatness we are washed out. We are a gallery and the artist. We just need to try and with trying, we find purpose.

ROMANS 5:3-4 -- More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope...

2 TIMOTHY 3:16 -- All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

God used many people throughout many time periods to create the Bible. And crazy as it is, all the books put together check out. Things that are said in the Old Testament about an angel coming to Earth to save people is written in the New Testament as Jesus. Writers for Old Testament had no clue about Jesus. Never saw him, never existed when He was born. Yet it's there, connecting chapter after chapter with this prophecy that a symbol of unconditional love will arrive to save the people God loves. God used all these writers for a greater purpose that they could not see, but God could. God, the master writer. These writers are one page in a book; one thread in the tapestry. What writers do is very important. Writers spread messages through the painting of words. Know that what you choose to write is important. You have a purpose. You are inspired for a reason and those reasons may be selfish, selfless, or all over the place. But there is always one master writer guiding those reasons for his ultimate reason. 

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I am in no way an expert of the Bible. I struggled with this because how do I talk about something that's perfectly made? I can't do it justice. I can only hope as I did my best. Some of the verses have nothing to do with the context I've posted. 

(1 JOHN 4:1-3 -- Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.)

But if this post made you read the descriptive text of each verse, then that means you don't take my words at face value, and that's a double win for God and myself. I know you will do anything to seek the truth and God gets some one-on-one time with you. If you're just here for the inspiration that you are something special, and what you're doing is greater than yourself, that's what this post intends.

You are unique.

You have purpose.

You can do anything.

So...

DREAM BIG.

He is not finished with you yet.

PHILIPPIANS 1:6.

4 Reasons Why We Need Miserable Writers

Some of the best writers were miserable. 

While I'm stuck in the middle of my book, I reflect what the new year brought us. 

Heartbreak, misery, and shock. 

But just because your life sucks doesn't mean you should give up. 

It means you have something to say.

The world hurts and our words are supposed to heal it.

What about healing the writer?

Can our own words soothe us or do we selflessly reveal our souls to help others find their own? 

Misery wants to empathize. 

We want to relate.

(Yes, this is a happy photo I took. There have been no gloomy days here so I've been extra cranky. I need my gloom or all the happy irks me. Balance, people. Works both ways.)

1. Brings Value
2. Makes You Relatable
3. Strong Emotions Produce Best Results
4. Therapy for Writer and Reader


Which writer did you relate to who had horrible experiences? Maybe you didn't relate, maybe you just felt their work was beautiful. One of my favorites is Edgar Allan Poe. If anyone read his work, they have at least one favorite. With my disturbing perspective of what's beautiful, his violent poetry speaks to me. It's dark but it's honest. He lost so many in his real life that his only outlet was writing.

Now what if he lived a happy life? Annabel Lee would not have the same impact.

When darkness veils your life, it's an opportunity to create. When Alan Rickman died, my soul broke. Didn't want to do anything that day. I got drunk and cried. My years of drawing fan art, writing fan fics, and watching his films three-fourths of my life led to a very miserable week. After I sobered up his day of death, I painted. I had to. The brushstrokes were therapeutic. I didn't hurry it up to post my tribute with everyone else, I just painted for my soul's sake. 21+ hours later, I submitted my tribute on my art page. For miserable reasons, it ended up being my best work yet. I handled every detail with perfection (as much as I could). This is one version:

Didn't sleep. Didn't eat much. Even stopped drinking. Cried a lot watching my painting become him. Skipped the Bargaining stage. Disbelief, Anger, and Sadness mostly. I shouldn't use my emotions to work, but sometimes I need to. It produces the best results. If I didn't find a way to channel my emotions, I would've kept drinking. Not good for anyone who depends on me.

Another way I coped with tragedy came more immediate, years back when my dog died. I never got serious about writing until his death. I had to write. I promised him.

It still hurts.

My first book leaks my loss of the greatest friend ever. People will find solace in their loss through acceptance of death. That's my hope, anyway. Nobody should deal with that alone.

Our darkness is what gives us value. Without miserable moments, we can't be relatable. Total misery is doom but if we find the balance to accept the light and dark, then we can find the words to make writing worth reading. I'm not saying be miserable all the time. Not saying be happy all the time either (ugh...that's the worst...so fake...hate fake, all-happy people). But we can't help what happens to us. We can help what we do about it.

Further insight to accepting our darkness: Why Our Dark Sides Make Us Better Writers

Writers who led miserable lives:

John Berryman
Virginia Woolf
Edgar Allan Poe
Tennessee Williams
Hunter S. Thompson
Ernest Hemingway
Robert E Howard
Anne Sexton
Sylvia Plath

And again, not saying misery is a good thing or that we should glorify it, but successful writers had awful lives. Certain all these committed suicide. If you think your life sucks and are not talking to someone about it, don't keep it in. Seek the light. Sometimes writing won't be enough to soothe your ache. I want you to find hope. Every aspect of your life is meaningful, even the misery. But if it hurts too much, please--please--don't keep it to yourself. Those stages to suicide are bullshit. My friend died and no one saw it coming. Wanna talk? I'm here. Seriously.

This post is a mess. No apologies. Talking about misery where spots are still sore is not my favorite, but I have to, especially if it helps you.

Tell me what you think. Tell me your feels.

Movies to Watch to Pick Apart the Story

These are movies I have watched dozens of times. Some are traditions to watch during holidays or important events. But as a writer I see them as trophies to the profession. Lots of story, strong character introductions and development. Lots of plot. Plot twists. Motivations for plot. Arcs. Everything.

 There are flaws in everything, but these I found great films to study. 

And watch. 

Go watch them. 

Now.

Stardust

Character arcs and motivations are clear, concise character development, quickly attached to characters in short time.

Love Actually

Story builds from separate characters and climax is a crescendo of all character arcs woven to one fixed location. Everyone has a favorite character in this movie. Mine's the prime minister (Hugh Grant), but of course I like the author (Colin Firth) as well. Tugs at heartstrings; story never gets old no matter how many times I watch it. Christmas tradition movie.

The Fifth Element

Fast pace in caring about characters and story. 

Fun, cult classic. Never gets old.

Ferngully

Watch for core values in characters and how they're affected by others. Good character internal/external conflict.

The Negotiator

Motivation becomes the plot twist. I obsessed over this movie in my teens. Bought soundtrack to reenact scenes in my bedroom. Nerrrrrd.

The Usual Suspects

Speaking of plot twists and motivations...this movie.

Murder of Crows

And this one.

The Holiday

If Jude Law didn't sell you, the sweet story of internal conflict meeting external conflict will leave you in happy tears. Talk about gumption.

Rise of the Guardians

Character conflict, motivations, story. It's beautiful. Another blog mentioned the man in the moon being a horrible idea. It didn't affect me as much, but I slightly agree after reading their argument. They made "him" too omniscient. But watch this anyway if you like stories about finding meaning in circumstances.

Megamind

Gawd. That swallow. All fangirls know this scene and we rewind it every time. Character dilemma. Lots of internal conflict. And a pretty blue alien.

Run Fatboy Run

Heartwarming comedy about how far characters will go to achieve their desires.

The Kid

Cute story, character conflict, fast attachment to protagonist, great character introductions and quick, powerfully shown personality traits.

The Wedding Date

I just saw this movie last night. No joke. Why didn't I see it sooner!? Clear personality traits shown on the spot, fast care for protagonist, secondary protagonists are equally strong. Motivations, plot moves smoothly. Fun, sweet. Resolution weak.

As Good As It Gets

Motivations and plot. How characters change each other. Effing Jack Nicholson, just watch it.

The Croods

My kid's favorite movie. It's fast-paced and precise with characters and story. To the point with every scene building to an explosion of emotion and you don't realize you're a part of the family until the point of no return.

The Lego Movie

A tear jerker.

Not kidding.

Ratatouille

Happy endings for everyone. Antagonist included. Lots of motivations to drive plot. Main anta and secondary anta, with primary prot and secondary prot. Fun mayhem.

Just Go With It

Don't be sick of Adam Sandler just yet. This one's a sweet take on a French play. Internal conflict and romantic tangles with hindrances. You'll love it.

Flushed Away

K.M Weiland talks about characters who believe a lie. Prot is happy in his lie and you watch him realize the lie isn't all great.

The Patriot

I take this movie seriously. Powerful motivations in all characters. And a huge reason to despise the antagonist right away. Small intervals of humanity and humor to attach audience to prots. Watch plot driven by passion. But watch because it's the Revolutionary War.

No bigger motivation than the people dictated by a king overseas.

Hope this list helps. Leave me a comment! Also I wanna know what movies you love.

What's your favorite movie? Why should a writer watch it?

5 Ways to Reward Yourself During NaNoWriMo

First thing I hear about rewarding yourself includes food. Buy an extra sugary coffee, go splurge on ice cream. I treat all my reward systems like I treat my fitness one: the healthy, non-detrimental way. Certain foods may not have the same effect on you as it does me, but if I carb load or have one too many sugar yums I am in a coma or just the laziest person ever. If I start writing again after I rewarded myself with sugary snack, I will fall asleep with my hands on the keyboard, and nothing further accomplished.

How should we reward ourselves? Rewards should improve our state of mind, alleviate stress, and I know you're thinking "sugar alleviates stress and improves my state of mind", or "beer alleviates..." "chocolate improves..." and I say, you will use it as a crutch and it will break, and drown you. I know. I've been there. Using food as a reward leads to more food and more food and--oh look at that, I will have gained back every pound I ever fought hard to get rid of since I started my weight loss journey back in 2011. Yes, people. I'm bringing this up because I used to be fat and I will not be fat again. I hated how I felt and food reward systems are dumb. All food reward systems will lead me back to how I was. If you are working tirelessly to lose weight, maintain it, or just be healthy--maybe you're starting your nutritional awareness and want to find other means of rewards--this is the list to inspire you to not pick up that donut because you just sat there for hours upon hours and met your word count goals.

1. New Book or Journal
2. Staycation
3. Venture Out
4. Exploit Capitalism
5. Hire Loved One as Servant for a Day

1. New Book or Journal 

Every writer loves paper. Every writer should be reading books to absorb the finished product of other writers, either as entertainment, or to be inspired, or as personal development. I call it personal development because, truly, I don't like reading. Why do I not like reading? Because I love reading and I am constantly bombarded by crappy books, or at least crappy starts. (I will prey forever on the gnawed bones of Veronica Roth for betraying her fanbase.) What makes me giddy is paper. I think you love it too. Don't hide it. Embrace it. Have you reached 5k words in a day? Go out and grab new materials for your writing wantiez and needz. It's okay if you buy another pack of colored pens even though your drawer is stuffed full of them from years of gathering.
I am the Squirrel of Pens. Hear me squeak.

Squeaker squeak squeaken.

2. Staycation

Yesterday I thought this was a great idea. The sun shined, I was done writing by 1000, I got my workout done by 1200, and all I wanted to do was try, and grab those rays with Vitamin D before another rain cloud hit.

 (Hawaii in fall is all rain and wind or solid overcast. It's been rare to see the sun for longer than half a day. Like right now...it's pouring out. It could be all sun northshore, but I don't know. Never trust Hawaii weather. It's the mistress of deception. lol...anyway.)

I took the rest of my day as a sign to unwind. I fed my child and I and, while he played, I lounged in the backyard, and read. Personal development and Vitamin D. Spf 8 so I can stay out longer and I got to live in another writer's world for hours. I sharpened my most important writing tool and got great nutritional value out of the elusive sun. Win-Win (that's Franklin Covey, btw.). 

Take the time to enjoy your home. You don't have to read. Maybe you're sick of reading and just want to play video games. That's cool too. But stay on schedule. Don't tune out the world for too long or you'll wonder what happened to the years of your life.

3. Venture Out

Got family? Take them with you. Go to the beach, a bounce house, or a park. Is it raining? Good. Splash in the puddles. Be a kid again. Enjoy life. Enjoy the oxygen. This one isn't about going to the movies or staying indoors. If you're writing a book that involves the environment, get in the environment! Remember the smells and the feels. Remember what triggers certain thoughts. Don't write it down! This is to live in the moment with yourself or with kids or with your lover. I got a friend who just took her Honeymoon over to Kauai. She's venturing out to Haleakala Crater, and hiking the Na Pali coast, and she just took a helo to see the stuff her feet will miss. A gorgeous place to be (another place where you cannot trust the weather). You can even play a game. Become one of your characters and respond to the world as they would. Did they take a lunch break? What did they order? Have they even seen this century before? That should be even funner. Oh yes. I said funner.

Enjoying the Outdoors now?

4. Exploit Capitalism

You knew this was coming. I don't like to shop unless I know what I'm looking for and then my mind goes into different trails of importance and I remember things I needed to get, so I end up shopping longer. But this is where I need you to focus. I'll try to focus too. FOCUS! Okay. Buy ONE thing that is a luxury item that does not count towards your writing. It can have writing inspiration stuff on it, if you want. But I want you to steer away from buying binders or paper. Omit tools or personal development. Got it? Make it count!

• Shoes
• Clothes
• Jewelry
• Accessories
• Cosmetics (oh you know this includes nail polish! Eeeee!)
• Lotion or other Hygiene Luxury Products
• Candles
• Phone case
• Framed Print
• Video Game
• DVD/Blu-Ray/3D
• Recreational Item

What did I miss? Most of these shouldn't blow a budget if you have one. Just count it under luxury (Dave Ramsey can help you, here, or I can give you a quick rundown--message me) and enjoy the purchase. No buyer's remorse, please. One item. Keep it simple. Cash or Debit. And know that it was purchased from your hard work!

5. Hire Loved One as Servant for the Day

You have told them you're doing NaNoWriMo. You told them it's going to be hard and they should forgive you for any snappy comebacks or lashing-outs you might make. You have done well. Very well. So well in fact you can ask them to pamper you. Do so respectively. You're not a queen or king, but if you say "hey, may I take a break for the day, and you help me relax?" I guarantee they will do their best to make this happen. If not, reconsider who your loved ones are. Unless they're sick or just got off work from 24-hour duty, request it. My husband tells me every day he's super proud of me for doing this. He watches me type insane amounts of words. Insane in my book is over 2,000, because life as a mom does not usually let me write that much in a day. Yet I am performing mommy writer miracles. I ask him to take care of the chores for the day and he has no problem. 

If you can find a day for your loved one to do this for you, so you don't have to stress about the house being a mess, or you being a total dirt bag and not bathing for two days (accused and guilty), make it happen. Have them run you a bath. While you're soaking, they'll do the dishes, or make dinner. If you're a working family, do this over the weekend. If they must treasure their days off, then just have them do a chore or two that you would usually do. We're a military family so all off-days are precious. But my hubby can deal with cleaning the kitchen so it's not dragging through my mind when I also need that precious off-time.

NaNoWriMo?
Good heavens, Master Wayne.
I do think you're in over your head.

After you're done with NaNo, maybe you can pamper them back. It's a balanced relationship. It's supposed to be anyway. Both of you serve each other. Both of you love each other. Let them show you. And you show them.

Don't pamper me, sir.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Avoid the junk food. It hinders your production and leaves your body feeling icky. It might release those endorphins for a time, but you'll be hurting.

You are worth being healthy. You are worth taking care of yourself. Don't let yourself or anyone else tell you different. Find the healthy rewards. You'll look back on it later and be thankful you did.

One last thing: don't reward yourself for every little thing.

Make a challenging goal, set it, and when you reach it, choose your reward. Is it to break your word count of the day from 2,000 to 5,000? Or maybe 750 to 1,500? Is it to reach the NaNoWriMo badges, like 10k or 25k? Make the goal short-term and when the long-term goal is achieved, it's a whole new sense of accomplishment that may be a reward in itself.

I know when I finished my first novel, I was on top of the world, and was so excited about the second, that I just ran right into outlining the second.

My rewards for finishing the overall goal were: (1) calling my parents late night, waking them up, and regaling them about my hard work; (2) posting photos of the final word count (120k+) and a happy selfie to smear in any haters' faces that were stalking me; and (3) cuddling with my son, knowing I just achieved one of my lifelong dreams, and just basking in the afterglow of hard work, determination, and consistency.

You can do this. If my once-procrastinating butt can do it, you can too.

You are worth it.

6 Eyesores to Chop in Writing

I edit my photos like I write. I want clarity and subject. I want to know exactly what I'm looking at. I want all the distractions out of the way so I can admire the view. If anything hinders that, I toss it. First rule: dump the blurry photos. Doesn't matter if it's a great shot; it's not a great shot if it's blurry. There are some I keep just for myself, like if it was a once-in-a-lifetime catch of my kid, but just for me. I don't post it for anyone else. Blurry makes the entire subject an eyesore. If people treated writing like I do photos, there would be more intriguing things for me to read. Like I toss my photos, I toss my books. If I see excessive use of narrating (someone telling me about something, and not letting me experience the moment through the character), I close that book. Especially first couple pages. I'm super picky because my time is valuable. I don't want to waste my day reading a book that could be good. I want to know it's good. (The Shack is still the crappiest book in existence. I don't care how many Christians try to tell me otherwise. I tried three times. I threw it three times.)

The huge turn-offs in reading are found in six eyesores of writing. Want your reader to keep turning the page? Dump the blurry photos.

The 6 (6?) Eyesores:

1. Passive Voice
2. Distracting Prose
3. Said Synonyms
4. Type Usage
5. Telling
6. Cliches


#1 Passive Voice

Active: Sam stabbed Tallis in the face.
Passive: Tallis' face was stabbed by Sam's knife.

Active: I ate the cookies.
Passive: The cookies were eaten by me.

Active: Active is aggressive and hits the point.
Passive: The point which Active hits is aggressive.

Nobody likes beating around passive entrails except politicians, so keep your voice active. In Active, the subject makes the action. Have you ever heard someone talk indirectly? I'd hate to bring up politics again (passive-sounding, did you catch that?), but they're so good at beating the dead Passivity that it's eye-rolling. During the Benghazi hearings, Clinton couldn't come up with a single Yes or No answer. "That could be correct." "That is possible." And so on. Besides making my military blood boil, she makes every use of INDIRECT voice, aka passive. She can't own up to the responsibility of the subject's actions.

Your job is to own up. In dialogue, you need your characters to get to the point because that's what your reader wants. Unless you have that conflicting character who's making life hard for everyone, or is trying to keep a secret. In which case, Clintonify the crap out of that dialogue. Annoy your other characters and annoy the reader. Then at the end of the book, make someone punch that character in the face, because that's what the majority of your readers will want to do.

#2 Distracting Prose

Those over-elaborate details of setting, the character's description (even though the character may not even be noticing these things about themselves), the long sentences with too many adjectives...

...stop it. Read some Stephen King. They're "scary" books. So what? Know what's scary? An angry reader with a tome in their hand waiting to chuck it across the room.

Here's an example page: Declutter Your Prose

When you're writing journalism, you do not use filler words, especially in the first paragraph. News is news, not excessive poetry. In this age, people are fast-paced. Make it so the fast-paced people want something to read in the short amount of time they have between checking Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and calling Mom before lunch break is over.

In fiction writing, don't overstep the "crisp, clear blue water cascading the mountainside, splishing with plumes of mist that cast a veil over the--"

I threw the book away at "crisp" and "clear". I used to write like that. I still might. If I do, and I notice, I growl at myself. Grrr... Yep. You're not the only one I'm hard on. *snorts* Difficult with. That's better. I spend enough time catching myself in my own errors, I really don't need others to do it for me. Color Code Personality: Blue. That's me. Honesty and Rules. I love them. I love rules. I know when to bend them but in distracting prose? No bendy! No breaky! Get to the point!

If you're going into descriptions of setting, make it a short paragraph. Practice journalism and realize what's really important for setting. What is it that your character notices? If it's a male character, do you think they'd notice what shade of pink some girl's lips are? What type of tree they're leaning against? If you leave out detailed descriptions, you give freedom to your artistic fans. You know...the ones that like to draw fan art. Yes. Make them happy. Give them freedom. Make them imagine for themselves what kind of tree he's leaning against. Unless he's an arborist. Then go nuts. But guys don't care about shades of color.

#3 Said Synonyms

One of the best poems I listened to used said over and over again. It didn't matter because it was about the dialogue.

If you keep the "saids" monotonous, it won't distract the reader from what's being said. Fuss over synonyms because you think you said "said" too many times and you're overthinking it. There's a post going around on Pinterest, talking about different ways to say "say"......do not like this. It's for amateur writers who aren't ready for the big books yet. If you're worried about using "said" then you're going to slow yourself down.

I use said even when I know my character is screaming. I use an exclamation point when a character shouts. The exclamation does the shouting for me because I don't use it often. And you don't need to make fence posts out of it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

#4 Type Usage

Italics. Underlines. Fence posts. They're distractions and the reader will come out of your world because they'll notice they've been reading. You don't want them to notice they're reading. You want their eyes to move over words, vessels into your character's eyes. Make them become the character. Type usage goes into deep perspective, or deep point of view.

Leaving out italics kept the words moving. It's Svetlana's perspective, so all words will be hers. The reader is in her head, so any use of italics to show she's thinking is irrelevant. Any underlines for a word she may strongly pronounce isn't necessary if the sentence structure is written well. The reader will get which words are emphasized. They're smart. Let them show you how smart they are. Svetlana wouldn't have an impact on the situation with Caelum if the reader had to read this:

Svetlana looked down at her hands.

If it were that simple then she could just turn her skin to ice.

Her hands frosted over into an amethyst hue.

Now I'm just telling you what she thought with type usage. You're not actually feeling it.

#5 Telling

Will Smith's character in Men in Black brought the viewers along for the ride in the world of sci-fi. If he was just sitting at Kay's desk, being told all the happenings of his new job, there wouldn't be a movie.

Show don't Tell.

We mean it. Get rid of the She thought, he thought; he realized, she saw. It'll look like the story is told to the reader, not the character going through the story. Telling is narrating. Narrating is bad, mmmkay? A character's thoughts are the words. Let them go.

Example:

“Holy spades on a rainy day. Did you quad-shot this?” Darlana asked.

“Only for you, my dear.”

Darlana plugged the port into the register; it beeped, and she placed it back in her pocket.

“You are a blessing,” Darlana said, walking away.

The straw never left her lips from the stand to outside. She even maneuvered herself onto the bike without having to drop the cup in her custom holder. How long was she at work for? In all the gloomy, rainy days, today turned out to be clear, and glistening. As Darlana pedaled (one hand on the handlebar), the chilly air nipped her face; she took in the scene, eyes glancing at the array of flowers and bushes about the parking lot, and the birds singing in the trees.

What a perfect day—away from the curse of monotony, away from judgement, away from the hassles of survivalism. She had a credit port to unleash on the sinking ship of capitalism. What a better place to go than where a girl can drown in a sea of fashion: the shopping center.

* * *

Getting coffee is a favorite pasttime, even for characters. Makes people happy. Makes them do things. Splurge, even. A fantastic example (not of coffee) is in The Shining, where Stephen King pulls us into Jack's mind, and uses deep perspective to make us feel Jack's experience. The movie isn't as personal as the book; recommend reading it to gain insight.

#6 Cliches

One of my problems as a writer is coming up with ways to twist a cliche into something original. Watching shows and hearing the characters talk and know exactly what they're going to say--. Hello, eye roll. I went to a writer's workshop where Brad Bell and Jane Espenson discussed several topics, including this one. They showed us a screenplay Bell did with Husbands (?), and how the character said "elephant in the room" without saying it. It was brilliant. They said, "Wow, how'd that elephant get in here" or something like that. I have the screenplay somewhere in my folders. If you catch your characters saying cliche things, maybe because you're just spitting out dialogue, and those words are the first things that pop into your head, then go back, and re-direct the phrases.

In the earlier text, I wrote "beating around the bush" without saying so, but you got the idea. "...beating around the passive entrails..."

It's time we get creative with cliches because there truly is nothing new under the sun...oh look at that...a bible verse. I wouldn't redirect anything from the Bible...but if it needs to be changed in your book, do so. I'm won't leave God out of anything, though. Bad things happen. O_o (<---oh look! distracting type usage!)

Cliches don't have to be about dialogue, either. Characters and genres play into it. I used cliches in my first book to make a point, that not everything is entirely cliche.

A mad scientist is one layer, a bad German accent is another layer, but add everything else into the story--like how he's not so mad, and he's actually a bio-engineer, and he really is German but only his accent comes out when he's stressed, and some other things I can't say cuz it would spoil the story of my first book...

But everyone loves a mad scientist. And everyone makes them their own style. In order for your audience to care about them, there has to be more than mwahahas and crazy hair.

Practice twisting the cliches. Watch what you say and see how people react. Watch a cheesy show. Once Upon A Time is good. Most of what they say on there is total cliche. Sorry, Espenson. I don't know what the writing team was thinking. Riding old characters for several seasons is a Hollywood cliche in itself. Make something new. Stop reliving old ideas. It was nice at first. Now?

Now I'm ranting. I gotta get outta here!

One week until NaNoWriMo. Are you doing it?

I am. Blogs will be shortened for November, if they exist at all. Maybe I'll post crazy somethings to inspire you, or terrify you, into doing NaNoWriMo next year. XD Fun times.