Writers And Readers Websites Wednesday - On Creativity

Writer? Artist? Creatively inclined in any way?  

This week you don't have to be a writer or of any particular persuasion to enjoy Creativity Portal

Go explore and play. Lots for the creatively inclined. Writing, artwork ideas, puzzles and a whole lot more. Free stuff too.

Writers And Readers Websites Wednesday - Enchanted Mind

The mind is a wonderful thing and if you are a Writer, a Reader or both it can be a fantastic playground. Our brains are amazing!

So, today I give mention to a website called Enchanted Mind. Their tagline is "Magic Happens" and they have lots of categories to explore like humor, brain, mind, inspiration, creativity and more.  Don't you love the 'and more' - well sometimes the list can just get too long with categories and subcategories.  Head on over and explore a bit yourself.  Watch the short videos, explore, learn things, and if you're a writer, maybe get a fresh new idea.

And don't forget to tell me what you think in the comments below.

Writers and Readers Websites Wednesday - Story Generators

Kinda desperate for a new story idea? Or at least something that will kickstart the creative process and get that brain wandering off in new directions? 

Toss in location generator, first line generator and more and this site is perfect to get those ideas churning. 

About themselves Writers Plot Idea Generator says: This plot generator creates original and random story lines for plays, novels, short stories, soap opera, TV series or a movie script. The plot lines generated are not guaranteed to make sense but they do inspire writers by triggering a creative chain of thought. Most of the results might be off-the-wall but some are pure gold. Keep trying and sooner or later the perfect idea will appear. Some plots sound like a short story; some will fill a novel or could even be the start of a huge franchise. 

Go ahead, test it out, play a little! 

Writers And Artists Nurture Your Creativity

We’re coming up on a holiday here in the US – Thanksgiving.  So, I thought I’d spend a little time musing about creativity and what it takes to keep that part of us pumped up, nurtured and ready to go. Some suggestions, as it were, to help the blocked, confused and wandering – also the steady writers and artists out there who might need to take a breather or find a new path.

          Hopefully some of these ideas will perk you up, give you a new slant or just assure you you’re not alone.

          If you’re stuck on a story or whatever you’re attempting to create – and I know you’ve all heard this, but you probably need to hear it again – for heaven’s sakes take a break. Do something mindless or that will force your conscious brain to focus elsewhere and give your subconscious a chance to free range a bit. Take a walk, shovel the drive (in winter), mow the lawn (in summer), do the ironing or maybe cook dinner. Surprise your spouse with that dinner, he or she is no doubt so used to you being so immersed in your creative work that they rarely see a decent meal. Seriously, give yourself a break, give everyone a break, unclench.

          Here’s something else you can do to enhance creativity. Just watch people. Really. Watch them. People…the things they do and say. They can be funny, startling, offensive, romantic – you know, all that stuff you want to infuse into your creative endeavors, quirks and happenings you want to put into your stories.

Another ~ Let your mind wander. Unhook the discipline for a bit and let it be what it is, let your thoughts take you where they will.

          And how do you keep track of random thoughts that crop up with all this relaxation and subconscious stroking? Well you can easily keep a note pad handy, but if you like you can also think about using your phone to make a record of those thoughts. If your phone has a record feature, use that, if not, call yourself and leave a message in your box. You don’t want to lose those gem ideas.

          Another idea? How about going to the place you’re setting your story or where you most associate with the creative work you’re doing. If you’re a writer and the story is set at a beach and one is nearby, head on down and do some jotting there. Airport? Bus Station? Hospital? Mall? Small town? Go on, take a field trip. Might not be practical if you’re planning on writing about Jupiter or the depth of a volcano is your inspiration for your next creative work. But no doubt you’d be able to come up with variations on a theme.

          Variety is another great inspiration. The more you have, the more likely you’re going to be successful in generating the ideas so vital to your creativity. Start a garden, get a hobby, play with your dog, take up knitting – do more than one! I garden in the summer, create jewelry all year (want to take a peek – I have a little shop on ETSY, Silverstreak) I also knit, read, make lampwork beads in the flame (that really is focus!) and do some occasional bead weaving.

          So the long and short of it is you need to give yourself some time to let the ideas percolate and to come up with fresh one. Deadlines may loom, pressure build, but that doesn’t mean you can skip the creative process in the middle – and that takes some nurturing.

To Write a Series or Not To Write A Series ~ That is the Question

Have you ever thought of writing a series of books? Of following in the footsteps of such writers as Orson Scott Card (Ender Series) J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)?

By comparison, a single novel may seem like a sprint when compared to the marathon of a series. But the lure is there both creatively and financially. What could be better than one successful novel? How about a whole set of them?

There are some great benefits to readers who can return to their favorite world you created again and again, satisfying that curiosity I’ve mentioned in previous posts. They can follow characters they feel they’ve come to know, follow new adventures in a familiar setting. Writers get a break as well. The writer of a series doesn’t have to start from ground zero and work his or her way through. The second in a series may also be easier to sell since publishers are even more happy to publish a book that will no doubt have an audience waiting for it.

But, and it is a very large but, despite how worthwhile a successful series can be for everyone involved, readers, writers and publishers, it’s still a huge undertaking and there are pitfalls. And despite the pluses, the series is more difficult than stand-alone books.

I’m going to mention just a couple of things here that need to be taken into consideration when contemplating a series.

For one thing, a story that spans a number of books takes a long time. Reality is life has a way of shifting. Years can pass between installments in the series. Even decades. Readers waiting for the next book can get irritated, disgruntled, even throw up their hands and abandon you, the writer. Publishers can bet pushy, demanding, determined to get that next book out of the writer. The writer has to ask himself if the project is of such interest that it creates in him the stamina to keep going, to complete the journey. You won’t win friends by simply dropping a project in the middle.

Another thought.  Each book should, if at all possible, stand on its own. Not always possible. In fact frequently impossible. But if you think about the series you’ve read, many of them manage to by giving some closures on some issues and leaving others unresolved. In that manner the reader feels completion and yet anticipation for the next installment. It’s a tricky high-wire act. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter is a good example of that as is Orson Scott Card’s Ender Series.

In both it’s plainly best, in fact necessary to read them in order, and yet the reader does have a feeling of ends being tied up and moving on in anticipation of the next book.

Another challenge for the writer of a series is keeping the readers’ interest from one book to the next. That means the writer needs to keep those books coming and not allow  a long span of time to flow between them. Additionally, the reader expects the new book to be the same but different. What I mean by that is if the writer sticks too close to the formula he used in the first book he’ll have readers complain book two is just book one all over again. On the other hand if the writers goes too far off course the reader will complain it’s not the same world at all and be frustrated with the series. No way to please everyone, you have to write what you feel.

The hero in a series must move forward, cope with trials, learn from them, and yet can’t master every challenge or task or what would be left for the next installment? The same applies to movies – it is storytelling after all. Series like the Bond films go on and on. Other series, again, like Harry Potter, have a good long run and then conclude.

Quite the challenge. Tell me your thoughts and if you think you’re up to the challenge.

Writers & Readers Websites Wednesday - Titles

This is just a fun site. Great for writers stuck for a title; a way to generate them by the dozens and use them to kick start ideas of your own. 

Fun for readers to click on through. play and see what kind of titles you turn up - see one that tweaks your interest? Put it below in the comments section. Who knows, maybe someone will write it! 

Check out the Random Title Generator by Maygra.

Life Lessons for Writers ...and Others

There are lessons that have been learned having been a writer over the course of years.  So, I thought I’d share some of them with fellow writers and at the same time give readers a glimpse into the writer’s life. 

Here’s the thing. A writing life is a great life. BUT, some additional planning needs to go in to it above and beyond what working at say an office or a store or another profession might require.  I mean, stuff happens. 

And, when it happens, you’re a self-employed indie with few resources other than the ones you’ve prepared and planned on.  If you’re ‘laid off’, i.e. can’t get a writing gig at the moment, you don’t have unemployment. You also no doubt don’t have health insurance. Some writers take the route of having an outside job for money as well as benefits, but if you are exclusively an Indie, welllll….. you need to plan for the down times. 

Save as much as you can. This can be tough because many Indie writers  whether published by major houses or self-published, live pretty much on subsistence level income. Keep a file on resources that can help such as organizations you might belong to that offer assistance for artists/writers in distress. Those same organizations such as The Freelancer’sUnion, The Author’s Guild (if you live in the right state and qualify to be in the Guild), Romance Writers of America and other writers’ and independent workers’ associations offer avenues to pursue health insurance at a cost you might actually be able to afford because in our country we don’t have the good sense to have universal health care available. Of course there are usually membership dues that have to be met, but not always.

Do you have family that might help out in an emergency? I wouldn’t make a habit of that, but in extremis, it’s good to know.  

Take your writing and yourself seriously. You’re not just a creative, you’re a business person. You’re going to have to learn to read contracts, negotiate and generally keep track of what’s going on in the industry (aka writing/publishing world). Yes you can have an agent who negotiates contracts for you, but I hope you aren’t reading those things blind and are actually taking time to understand the language. And that’s IF you have an agent. If you’re Indie to the bone, doing it all yourself, then  you’re going to have to learn or you’re really going to get shafted somewhere along the road. 

Another lesson I’ve learned is never throw any of my creative work away.  Rewriting a story written years earlier, one you just didn’t have the skill to do justice to at that time, can be an unexpected boon. And that doesn’t count cannibalization. Maybe that old story stinks, but some of the characters were great or the setting was perfect for a new story idea. Think about it, work with it. Don’t throw past work away, especially now that it can be saved on disc!

 Yet another lesson. Give your readers something to think about. Don’t give them all the answers. Now, by that I don’t mean leave your story hanging, but rather leave a little something behind that gets them to ask questions that might not have occurred before. Something to remember you by. Something that niggles enough that they want to read what you write next.