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?

Wisdom quote by Shakespeare

Writers are sloppy letterers and obviously my artist was asleep when I did this. Forgive the artist. She is ill and the writer is so excited to just get this out and posted.

MC&HNY! (Dragon Age Fanart Post)

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's been a while since I posted. Let's be real: holidays, writing, and drawing. That's what I've been doing. I can't post good writing blogs unless I actually write books, so I took some time after Nanowrimo to continue writing. Lessons and tricks learned throughout November; glad to be a part of something big that doesn't involve explosions, or standing on my feet all day and night.

Because I haven't posted anything since November, here is my holiday silhouette series I worked on to curb my Dragon Age infatuation.

Follow me on DeviantArt!

50k in 15: If I Can Do It You Can Do It

Challenge accomplished! 50k in 15 days of NaNoWriMo. Everything after is just a bonus. Want to win the challenge? Charge ahead of the game and keep the momentum. Whatever you do, DO NOT QUIT. Do not skip a day, do not procrastinate. Every hour is precious and they will speed by until it's the 30th and you reevaluate how you spent your time.

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.

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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.