The Troubled Writer's Blog

The publishing page has finally been writen! I hope you find useful information there; good luck with your writing career. My next update will be that of constructing the “Names” page. And I just want to end on the note of asking what kind of posts you would like to see here. Anything in mind?

Sincerely,

The Silly Turtle

   Abandoning your novel is one of the worst feelings a writer can have. Before you let your novel go completely, put it in your files. Store it, keep on it on hold, and just don’t abandon it yet.

   Thing is, whenever I’ve abandoned a novel, it is because I don’t feel enough passion for it. I’ve usually thought of one good idea and other than that, I don’t care much about anything else. It happens frequent where I’ll have an idea in my head for awhile but I haven’t done any thinking on the characters. Their personalities are left generic, no sub plots added. Sub plots + one key plot = a good idea. Sub plots add drama, tension, emotion. You NEED sub plots to express the characters in some other way than the main plot.

   I’ll give you an example. In my most recent project, I’m writing a story of this girl visiting a new world (I’ll leave the details out, as I’m not trying to advertise it). Part of me being able to express her better is her trying to change her younger cousin going through a suicidal time. It shows her character and emotion, which is why I use sub plots (ok, now I’m advertising. SUB PLOTS! Make them while they’re fresh!)

   In stories where I don’t have backgrounds for the characters, they never get anywhere. You can’t just have a good story idea. Give yourself a week to figure out the plot before you even start writing. Don’t “write as you go” if you quit writing a lot. I mean SERIOUSLY plan. Find some interesting things to include in your story. This will really make it feel more alive. I did a few hours research one day on fireflies which made me excited to include them in my novel.

Remember; don’t trash your work – ever. You most likely did have a really good idea, but like I said, something else did not give you the passion to write it (whether it’s the characters, setting, plot, ect.) I’ve found that keeping story ideas I have quit can later be incorporated into something better.     

If you feel that your main problem with abandoning your novels is just not writing them, try this: tell yourself to just write for five minutes. If I don’t get in the mood after 5 minute and have nothing, still, I guess it might be something you need to abandon. But really try, just force yourself to sit down and start writing for 5 minutes every day. If you can’t get anything out of that, I don’t know what to say.

I know once I START writing, I don’t want to stop. This method happens to work for me because I’m always stressed out with not knowing what do first, so I sometimes end up doing nothing. So if I have the time, I try to write. Usually five minutes into it, I’m glad that I chose to write.

From what I understand, a lot of readers hate prologues; however, I recently found a page on Worthofpublishing.com by Antony Bradbury (g6ypk). He is a proffesional writer who will take you through the important elements of a prologue (if you wish to include one in your novel).

And here we have it, your goodie for today! http://www.worthyofpublishing.com/book.asp?book_ID=13242

Look – it’s a shiny Pilot ® pen!

Pens by corn-soup

   While yelling that was completely pointless of me, I may have grabbed your attention. So listen up. If you want to become a fiction writer, then you’ve come to the right place, and by the end of your stay here, you will fight to the death for that shiny pen I mentioned a minute earlier. You will just have to get through me first.

   What you should expect to see here are posts from being inspired  to write to publishing your end product novel, novella, short story or whatever it is that you want. Why will this be different than another writing tips website? This site will be different because I’m taking as much experience from writing as I can to your feet; that’s about 7 years of writing and learning (yes, I’m including my fan fiction of Scooby Doo).

   So, welcome, troubled writers! I look foward to seeing you.

Sincerly,

The Silly Turtle