I got asked a question today. (By the same friend I quoted in my last blog, the lovely Sue Babcock.)

She asked, “How do you make novel writing fun?”

To which I replied…

I will BLOG!

Hehe. Got to get readers somehow, right?

So here we go….

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HOW TO MAKE WRITING A NOVEL FUN

Guideline #1

Think hard about something you enjoy doing. Besides writing. For me personally, I really enjoy organizing stuff. (I know, sick… just plain sick.) I could spend hours reorganizing my file cabinet, my “office space,” books, etc.

So for me, I find Google Docs to be a gift! Again, I’m pimping it. Why? Because we’ve all had those I-thought-I-saved-the-novel-to-the-computer-but-it-was-slow-and-crashed-and-then-it’s-gone!! moments.

There is no such thing as a 100% reliable computer. (Or internet connection, or web server, or anything, really.)

However, I have amazing faith in Google.

Besides that, Google is easier to use than my clumsy Microsoft Word, indefinite space to use, and they save far more regularly than I remember to, without the auto-save function that tends to freeze Word up. Possibly interrupting a serious writing fit.

Check this out:

With Google Docs, it’s far easier (for me, anyway) to highlight notes, add bullets, change things up, etc. (I can’t explain why I’ve had such a hard time doing this on Word, but I have.)

For me, this is so much fun. When I’m writing, I don’t have to worry about the load time between Word windows and such. It makes taking notes about characters, changes I want to make, ideas about future events, etc. so easy to create and save…. it’s practically a slut. I get all I want for free, at that! I never have to pay for any of these services. I feel like a John that scampered off satisfied with a full wallet!

This is my play time, as much as my work time.

Everyone should find something they love and figure a way to incorporate this into their novel-writing.

For example, if you love staring at abstract art, find ways of bringing it either into the writing or into the act of writing. If this were my favorite hobby, I would start each writing session by searching for new art work, one page at a time per session. Picking one fave from the very first page of results I get, setting that as my new desktop back ground and using that picture to set the mood for writing that day.

Remember, no one ever said your novel had to be written like this…

Or:

I’ve separated my novel into single chapter docs. To help with the editing process, so I don’t get overwhelmed looking at all those words to edit.

Also because each chapter has a different flavor, vibe and focus. Each chapter, or so I’ve always believed, should have its own identity as well as being part of the whole.

Part of why I adore Google Docs is because this process is so easy… again… I feel like a John that cheated his hooker!

To reiterate, Guideline #1: Find a way to bring what you love into your writing. No matter how silly or weird, or downright dumb you might think it is, it will do you and your novel good if you’re enjoying writing it.

Guideline #2

Keep it Simple.

Remember yesterday’s blog about talent and practice? If you don’t, click here.

I was reading an article about Writer’s Block and how there’s no such thing. The author of this article, a Robert Gregory Browne, suggests that there is no such thing as writer’s block.

Real writer’s need to write. They need to put words down like mega-athletes need to drink gatorade.

The simple solution to getting past a writing hiatus?

The A.I.C. Method

Ass

In

Chair

Keep it Simple. Sit down and write. Whatever it is, no matter how bad or off topic or totally unrelated to the words you’ve already written, just sit down and write.

The longer you sit there and write, the sooner the words you want will start coming.

As you write, don’t worry about flowery prose. Don’t worry about getting that just right word. Don’t hesitate because you don’t want to repeat “suddenly” in the same paragraph.

This is just your Rough Draft. This is the version you’re going to literally rip to shreds before showing it to the light of day.

If you’re going to hesitate writing the version you are unlikely to show to anyone but the most trusted of pre-readers, you’re ten times more likely to hesitate when submitting your finished 10th draft for consideration.

Don’t fear being dumb, silly, too wordy, repetitive, un-literary, humorous, scary, prideful, and etc., etc., etc.

If you can’t get the words out first, you’ll never get the chance to edit them.

So keep it simple. Put your Ass In your Chair. Set your hands to the keyboard and write. Make a word count goal. Something you can do easily, at first. Like when you first start an exercise program. Start small, work your way up bigger.

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Wow. Those are the only guidelines I can think of.

Keep it Fun.

Keep it Simple.

Steady goes the tortoise. It’s not a race to win, it’s a race to finish. Enjoy the scenery as you get there. Smell the flowers, watch the clouds. Talk to people.

You’ll only write your first novel once. You’ll want it to be an experience you can remember, as well as be proud of.

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RANDOM PARANOID FEAR OF THE DAY #76

That someone who knows me too well will jump out of the closet and make horrible duck sounds at me. I have an outrageously silly and terrifying fear of ducks.

And sorry about #195. I messed up the point-of-view in it. I should have written it in first person point-of-view (including “me” instead of “you,” which is second person point-of-view). My deepest apologies. I won’t correct it. I’ll let my mistake stand.

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If this has helped you any, or you just want to call me out as the fool I am, drop a comment below!

With a lovely thanks to a friend (Sue Babcock), may I humbly present to you…. the truth about success.

Excerpt from Corporate Curmudgeon, Dale Dauten, dated July 20, 2009

…Geoff Colvin, author of “Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else.” As you’d guess from the “really” in the title, Colvin argues that IQ and innate ability are less important than you’d think, and that hard work is the real determinant …but not just any old work – only what he calls “deliberate practice.”

For instance, research at a German school for violinists divided 18-year-olds into three groups based on performance/potential. The researchers examined every variable that might explain the differences in the three groups, including estimating the number of hours they’d practiced throughout their young lifetimes. The highest group had put in 7,410 hours, the middlers had 5,301 and the stragglers had 3,420.

That led to a conclusion, the secret nobody really wants to hear, that thousands of hours of practice are what separates the best. However, as I mentioned, it isn’t just any old practice that counts – it’s methodically working on getting better. Colvin tells us that a study of ice-skaters finds that the mediocre ones spend most of their practice time working on jumps they can already do, while the great ones spend time working on ones they can’t, falling over and over. As Colvin puts it, “Landing on your butt on cold, hard ice is what progress is all about.”

So here we are. The plain, ugly, and unvarnished truth.

The only way to get better isn’t to just practice — you have to practice that stuff you don’t know how to do yet.

Here’s our dilemma as writers, folks.

We tend to write what we know. Not in that write-what-you-know-because-that’s-familiar sense. An example of which is: If you’re a plumber in your day job, write a story about a plumber in space if you write sci-fi.

No, what I’m talking about is sticking to your usual genre. Or sticking to writing single POV, either with a main character from your gender or with your background, etc. (For example: Stephen King’s Main Characters are usually writers. A lot of other writers believe this to be lazy writing. I might agree, except that it certainly makes the writing easier if you’re not spending agonizing hours researching something you just don’t know.)

In my own case, ironically, most of my Main Characters are male. (I can’t explain why. I just subconsciously create male characters to be the leads in my stories. I’ve written only a few female centered stories. Perhaps this explains why I’m not published more often….. Hmmmm…….. This requires deeper thinking.)

We should be stepping out of our safety zones. We should be writing stuff we never have the gall to write about before.

Write about Main Characters who’ve done things you’ve never experienced. Take it to places you’ve never been. Write more dialogue, less description. Be brave and bold in your writing.

These things are difficult to master. These things may even still require some research, talking to people who have the kind of experiences you’re writing about, so on and so forth.

But that’s what real practice is about. Doing the thing you can’t do, over and over, until you finally nail it.

Here’s where we need to define ourselves as writers.

I am already working on this. I’m tackling a novel, which I’ve never done before, but am making sure the experience is worthwhile and plain old fun. On top of that, I’m writing stories of a type I’ve never written before.

Remember, it’s not enough to just think outside the box…. sometimes you have to play outside, too.

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RANDOM PARANOID FEAR OF THE DAY # 195

That one day as you’re walking out of the bathroom, you’ll look down to find a ceramic kid’s clown has attached itself to your leg… and is climbing up!

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Okay, the next blog will be Part 2 of my Writer’s Online Tool Box series, featuring online market databases.

Today, children, we’re going to learn about the tools to be found online that grant aid and sustenance to the struggling writer.  This will be a multi-series blogging experience. A first for me, and my readers.

As a writer, I need access to my current work-in-progress (hereafter addressed as WIP). You never know where you’ll be when the mood to write strikes you, much like a lightning bolt could always pick your car that one fateful night on the road.

I generally carry a journal for these writing emergencies. It’s a magical one that I believe passed along a newer, much more productive Muse. Also, it’s bulky, heavy and wrapped in wood, bound with leather. (An expensive gift that I love very much. Thanks, Kristen!)

If the mood really strikes, then there’s no way my hands can possibly keep up with what’s racing around my head. I just can’t write that fast. But I do type that fast, so if I’m really getting whipped by my Muse, I turn to a computer – any computer – in reach.

Here is where we find a major dilemma.

While most of the United States is, for the most part, tech-savvy, I still meet people who have no idea what a flash drive is. (A flash drive is a small device you can carry around, plugs into the USB port on your computer and stores information.)

I had never considered using a flash drive to store my stories, those active and completed, until a friend of mine suggested it. My poor, abused flash drive goes with me everywhere. The day it’s not in my purse is a rare one.

In its journeys with me, we’ve learned that sometimes carrying the WIP on a flash drive is down right frustrating.

First, there’s the wait while the computer acknowledges the flash drive, pretends to need the software in order to use it, etc. Then there’s the Crap-the-stupid-thing-didn’t-save-properly-last-time-and-I’m-missing-half-the-story issue.

Beneath it all is the lurking fear that you’ll drop your bag/briefcase/purse/wherever-you-keep-your-gizmos, and somehow permanently mangle the drive so it never loads again.

Through it all, you know that one day, you will have to buy another flash drive. It will run out of space, sooner or later.

There is a solution to these obstacles, though. As writers, I think we’ve underestimated the value (and distraction) of the Internet.

My favorite web service of all time is Google.

Why, you ask?

Because Google doesn’t play. The wonderful people at Google spend all their waking time on the Internets trying to find ways of making our lives easier. (Recently they released a new browser, designed specifically by them, called Google Chrome. Check it out. It is awesome.)

Not too long ago, they released what is essentially an Open-Source Word Processor ….. Online.

They call it Google Documents.

When I say that it is one of the most incredible, mind-blowing gifts I have been given as a writer, I am not joking around.

Through Google Documents, I have complete, secure access from any location to every single one of my documents. (Permitted I have uploaded them already.) I can pull up a story in a new window or tab, do some writing, quickly pull up a blank document if I feel like making notes as I write, and if necessary, pull up another tab to do some fast research. All within a single browser. All at a fairly decent speed.

The best part?

The possibility of Google Documents crashing is ridiculously minimal. (Though I would never inherently trust Google to fight to the death to save a little nobody newb’s writing. I do back-up what I put on Google, though I feel secure enough not to do it every day.)

They also offer you INFINITE space for every document you imagined you would write/work on.

Not only that, they also have templates for other projects (ranging from spreadsheets to resumes), you can “allow” outsiders to peer at your work, regardless of whether or not they have a Google account. They can edit, offer comments, make up a new part of the story, whatever.

The only thing that hinders you with Google Docs is your own imagination and paranoia. (That thing when you save 4 copies in different places and still worry about losing the whole shebang.)

I personally find Google’s organizational options to be more than satisfying. I can make as many folders as I want/need, rename at will and change label colors.

My only complaint is that Google Docs is falling behind as far as format goes. While writing, I tend to do so in block paragraphs, justified left, with an extra space between. In order to submit, that seemingly neat set of words must be double-spaced, tab indented, with zero extra lines between paragraphs. (Not to mention, headers and a cover page.) Here is where I’ve found my only problem. Google Docs at this time does not allow a lot of these changes. (It will probably change in the future.) So you will still need to copy/paste the WIP to a new doc and alter the format to suit your market’s needs.

Writer’s Tip #47: Once you have correctly formatted a story in standard manuscript format (see an example here), save it twice – once as your story, the other as a Correct Format Template. Then all you’ll need to do is copy/paste your future stories into the template and alter headers, title and byline, etc. as needed.

Also keep in mind that some markets chose to do things differently. Always read your markets guidelines before submitting!

So if you haven’t tried Google Documents yet, get yourself over there. It’s perfect for those times when you’re visiting family or friends and are, for whatever reason, unable to use your flash drive or whichever preferred method of keeping your stories close by.

I personally find the folders, labels, colors and infinite organization to be my favorite part. It’s far easier to move stories from folder to folder, or rename them in seconds, and so on and so forth. Imagine it as a gigantic filing cabinet, and you’ll never run out of file folders!

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Here we come to the end of The Writer’s Tool Box – Online. I hope I’ve offered some interesting tidbits and maybe some helpful advice.

Look forward to another installment next week. We’ll tackle the various websites online where writers can find markets to submit to. As well as any other ideas that jump into my head.

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As for other cool gadgets online, I just found an extension on Flock (my chosen web browser) that allows me to create and save screenshots of anything. (Where’d you think the screenshot of my Google Docs came from?)

It’s really cool and so easy to use, even I have no trouble. Check out Flock and their amazing extensions/add-ons.

I love playing with my gizmo.

If you haven’t already, stop by Myspace and add me as a friend. Just click the shot of my profile above.

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One more shot before we close the bar….

Talent in cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
Stephen King

Yeah, it’s pretty darned late at night. And yes, I have written blogs this late at night before. No biggie.

I’m still up, despite an early morning wake up call, because I was working on a flash fiction (which is 1000 words or less) for a friendly contest among writers. . . . that ended up turning into an over 4000 word short story.

Yes. It is awesome, I know.

Now, with a head full of accomplishment (and if I were to be honest, a bit of narcissism, but who said I was being honest?), I find myself lacking in the tired and overflowing with the “what can I write next?”

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. If this were any other night of the summer, this would have ZERO bearing on my inability to sleep. I could stay up until I did get tired and then sleep in some and be A-OK.

Except I need to get the car in the morning so I can haul the laundry to my Mom’s house to wash it (haven’t gotten a washer/dryer for the new digs yet) and Mom has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, and I’m not letting Mom drive my stepdad’s Jeep around in 100 plus degree weather without an A/C to keep her brain from imploding.

So. Hence my dilemma.

Since I can’t really stay up to do anymore writing (I’ve already edited the finished story a bit and will look for a place to submit it tomorrow) I figured I’d run by here, say a few words and then head on to bed.

Here it is.

A FEW WORDS.

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See? Told you. Just a few words.

Aside from that, I wanted to pass on a link to you all that I find helps me fill the empty moments when no one else is online and you can’t bear the thought of taking another quiz/playing a dumb flash game/staring at Twitter and wondering why you aren’t wittier/etc. anymore.

Check out Ill Will Press. It’s a hilarious site where a guy makes little flash cartoons and comic strips about an angry squirrel named Foamy, his assorted crazy squirrel friends and a goth chick named Germaine.

Just believe me. It is funny.

In fact, I just got done watching a toon that summed up my view on horror movies completely. (But only if you’re listening to the squirrel, not the human.) It’s called “Horror Flick Chicks” and for a quick link, click HERE.

Yes. You should click and watch. If not, you are missing out on the funniness.

(That is a made-up word. I will one day have it copyrighted, for it is mine!)

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So….. yeah. That’s all I’ve got. It’s nearing 3 a.m. I’m finally getting a wee bit tired, which is magnificent. I need some rest. My fingers are worn out.

I’ll leave you with a taste of Ill Will Press. It’s funny.

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Oh, and I will be back tomorrow. Got a blog to write about writing. The craft of said art form, not more of this junk above.