When you’re not a verbal learner: Look for the white space on the page. Are there long stretches of narrative and introspection rarely broken up by dialogue?
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 278
Physical Learner
Have a variety of tactile objects around that help you describe how things feel to your touch. This also keeps your fingers active when you’re thinking. Having a wooden, posable model found in art stores may help you capture the exact phrasing you need to describe an action. Speaking of action, don’t forget to describe the quiet times, too.
Learning new concepts may require you to leave your house. Go to the park or museum to get actively involved in what you’re describing. If you’re drafting a police procedural, sign up for a ride along. Visit the rodeo if you’re penning a western. The best part of this writing gig is that your job might require field trips!
Sitting for long periods of time might hamper your creativity. A treaddesk or standing desk might be a great investment for you, or try to write at the kitchen counter. Maybe one of those bouncy desk ball chairs will work for you.
If you’re stuck on a plot idea, take a walk. Although flashcards might not be your thing, the physical act of writing them might. If anyone told you to be still, stop rocking or popping your gum while you worked—they were wrong.
When you’re not a physical learner: It’s still really important to stand and move around for your health. Get up and move around, shake out your hands, roll your neck and stretch your back.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 279
Logical Learner
To challenge yourself, you might enjoy writing courtroom dramas, mysteries and suspense. Your characters might be engineers or gamers and your plots filled with abstract concepts. Now is the time to indulge in those grids and diagrams of your characters’ traits. Storyboard your plot.
You may always be in pursuit of the perfect procedure for your writing. Breaking up a novel into to-do lists might help you out. Jotting down theme and character mottos and displaying them around your desk might help you keep your understanding of your characters first in your mind.
Because you’re so logical, you may want to overanalyze and dwell on certain aspects of your writing or story, so think of each component—character, plot, editing—as part of a whole and that each one plays an important part of the book. If you find you’re not getting words on the page, analyze how you are spending your time. You may want to make a sign: Write it and move on.
You understand algorithms and enjoy searching out keywords and phrases, so marketing and promotional activities could tempt you to take too much time away from your writing. All your friends might ask you to help them with their projects.
You probably love facts and figures, but don’t be afraid to challenge your reader to think critically. Just remember they will need moments to breathe, to reflect. To feel. Don’t cheat them by glossing over the emotion.
When you’re not a logical learner: You may want to rethink plots and characters that require tons of research. You’ll also want to do a double-check for plot holes. Keep a map of your world handy to help keep your world details straight. Added bonus: if you wish, you can offer the map to your readers as a free download or story extra.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 280
Reflect and Catch Up
While you’re working hard to become an author, life happens and your viewpoint will change. What you write at twenty-five will be very different from what you’ll feel compelled to write at thirty-five, forty-five and so on. Stay fresh. Remain true to who you are. Don’t cling to a project, rewriting, endlessly tweaking, entering contests, subbing to agents and editors, searching for validation. When a project no longer sings, let it go and move on to the next. I promise she will grab your imagination and sing just as beautifully. The ones you let go weren’t written for no reason; aren’t a waste of time. They become part of who you are as a writer.
—Award-winning author Stephanie Feagan
Day 281
Social Learner
Writing can be a solitary profession, so you might want to seek out opportunities to connect with others. What about joining a local writers group? Perhaps consider writing with a co-author. Your critique group or beta readers may take on a special role in your life. Bounce ideas off other people. You may spend your downtime researching and ranking editors and proofers or agonizing over a decision. Social media might be your jam, but remember writing and publishing books is your ultimate goal.
You learn new concepts by attending lectures and other social events, but you can also listen to your favorite podcasters on your commute.
Decorate your office with pictures and gifts from friends and loved ones to remind you that you’re loved.
You might tend to create a large cast of characters and give your main character a wide range of friends, so think about crafting your books into a series and spinning off secondary characters for their own stories. When working through your plot, envision your characters on stage, playing a role. How do they move and interact with others on the stage? See and hear through their eyes and ears.
When you’re not a social learner: At some point you will need input from others. Reaching out and asking for a beta reader or securing a proofreader or editor will be something you shouldn’t put off until the last minute. Make sure your main characters have a friend. Keep non-verbal communication in mind when constructing scenes.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 282
Solitary Learner
Secondary characters are more difficult for you. Promotion may be more difficult, too, because social media is not your favorite thing. Consider picking one rather than spreading yourself thin over several. When you can, delegate social media to a trusted assistant or family member.
Give yourself time to think things over. While writing in a coffee shop or library may seem like the hip thing to do, setting yourself up in a quiet place with few distractions might be your best bet.
Incorporate your personal hobbies into your work. If you love to sew or woodwork, give that same trait to a character you’re not connecting as much as others.
When creating a character’s RANGE, you must decide why certain things matter. Print out the results and post them where you can see them or refer to them as you write. Your characters may be prone to long paragraphs of thinking and sifting through options. Challenge yourself to balance narrative with action and dialogue. You may also be attracted to the backstory of every character. Backstory, while important, should not be your main focus; otherwise your book would have started there.
Creating and devising your own study plan is a great way for you to learn new things. You may find yourself gravitating to the self-help section of the bookstore. To motivate yourself, envision the outcome rather than the process. Create plans of action for yourself and your characters and post your goals.
Respect your own process. You may be tempted to change, thinking, “I should be able to do things this way.”
Visualize that you have already written the book. Get inside your character’s head the way you get into yours. Make sure you’re adding in body language in dialogue scenes.
Because you tend to spend a lot of your time alone, you may know yourself and values really well.
When you’re not a solitary learner: Give your main characters some alone time to think and reflect. Create a situation where their friends scatter, how will your character react to being alone? Your characters may not be as set on their goals.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 283
Go Ahead And Stare
Don’t let anyone tell you staring off into space isn’t part of your work day. We’re thinking, dang it! Thinking!
Your assignment: Write roughl
y 250 words for your novel.
Day 284
Today Is The Day: Drama
We all know that one person who comes into your life, workplace, or conversation and blows it up with their drama. Should this happen to your main characters? How will they react?
Perhaps the hero or heroine is the one creating all the drama and angst in the first place. Maybe they realize that they are their own worst enemy. But how will you show that kind of drama in your manuscript?
If you need help, try following these 3 steps.
Establish what triggers the drama earlier in the manuscript. (Unless this a new aspect to the character and will surprise him/her.)
Trigger it.
Show the ensuing chaos.
Your assignment: Double your daily word count! Write roughly 500 words for your novel.
Day 285
Infodumping
Have you ever read a book that explains the mechanics of the story world page after page…after page? Information you didn’t really need is given all at once. Well, that is what’s called an info dump. A lot of readers will skip or skim info dumps. How do we know? Because we do it, too.
Save your readers the trouble and aggravation. Ask yourself: What information is vital in this scene? What can be parsed out as the story progresses?
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 286
Link…Link…Link
You can link character emotion to different parts of your novel.
Setting: A place they love or hate, for whatever reason.
Memories: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Conflict: Readers can relate to being at odds with someone else.
Other characters: Again, the good, the bad and the ugly.
You can link your character’s emotion to anything, really. Emotions draw your reader in, connecting them to your characters and story, keeping them involved and invested until the very last word. Readers like to see beloved characters succeed. On the other hand, they want to see despised characters punished.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 287
Reflect and Catch Up
I wish I had taken more time off. Writing is hard work. This business is so competitive and there’s so much pressure to get books out there. After a while it takes a toll. Don’t feel compelled to write every day. Take time to enjoy life. Take vacations, take naps, hang out with friends and family or just stare up at the ceiling. Time away from the work refills the creative well. The writing will be better—and more enjoyable—if you do.
–New York Times bestselling author Jaci Burton
Day 288
Thank You For This Failure
There’s a million quotes about learning from failure, always persevering, and getting back on the horse. But it still sucks to fail. You can only make it suck less.
The reality of this job is that you will face failure no matter where you are in your career. Be forewarned. There will be rejections and bad reviews and editors asking for complete rewrites.
So, to circle back, here’s what you can learn from failure:
Creativity: How can I turn this failure into a success?
Determination: I’m gonna show them!
Reveals your depths: Wow, I can do this. I can do anything.
Wisdom: Okay, now I know that didn’t work. I’ll try something else.
Acknowledge the failure, glean what you can from it, and keep writing. Each failure is a stepping stone on the path to success.
Your assignment: Double your daily word count! Write roughly 500 words for your novel.
Day 289
Plagiarism
Lifting words straight from another writer to pass off as your own is theft. Almost every year a new plagiarism scandal breaks out. It’s not fun to realize someone has siphoned off of your hard word to sell as their own. Respect the labor of others.
(Please note that Gena and Jill are not lawyers. They can only offer opinions. If you have questions about plagiarism, seek professional guidance from an attorney.)
Some writers allow other authors to dabble in the worlds they’ve created. This is a type of fanfiction, but the original author is always agreeable and paid.
Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot Bay series is a perfect example of this. Contracts had to be signed, and contractual obligations had to be met. Not all authors or publishers allow this, however. Do your homework before writing in another author’s world!
Also, don’t allow your non-fiction research to slip into your fiction book. Just like in high school, you must process this information and write in your own words. Specific research should be credited in an author’s note.
We’ll use Gena’s Lords of the Underworld series as an example. If you took her first book from the series, The Darkest Night, then changed the character names, jobs and physical description to fit your characters, that’s plagiarism.
Now, you can be inspired by ideas within The Darkest Night, and that’s wonderful. You may really like the “band of brothers” aspect or possession by demons, and that’s totally fine. Gena did not invent either trope, nor is she the only one to use it. Feel free to run with it!
When can you retell someone else’s story? When that story is in public domain. Retelling classic stories based on folktales, fairy tales, myths and legends is not considered plagiarism. But you cannot take someone’s unique idea and tell it in your own words. You cannot take someone else’s characters, craft your own story, and sell it either. That violates the other author’s copyright.
Many authors stop reading all together so they won’t accidentally lift an idea or passage, and that’s a shame because most likely reading is one of your favorite pastimes, or you wouldn't be writing. When it comes to inspiration, keep these words in mind: Deliberate, Unique and Original.
Are you deliberately copying from someone else’s worlds, characters and words? Are you presenting your world, characters and words in unique and original ways?
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 290
Grammar Basics: Nouns
JILL: Gena and I met while working on a writing contest sponsored by our local RWA chapter. I think between the two of us, we’ve read hundreds of first chapters. We’ve also talked with editors and agents about their grammatical pet peeves. While we are not giving grammar lessons here, we are sharing pitfalls writers can avoid.
Think of grammar as the first impression you make on a reader, whether that reader is an editor or a customer who purchased your novel.
Like it or not, grammar is something you must conquer either by learning (or relearning) it yourself or hiring someone to read your manuscript for you. Readers will report your book to online retailers for grammatical mistakes and typos.
Here are the basics:
A noun is a person, place or thing.
An apostrophe “s” does not make a noun plural.
Pronouns take the place of a noun (antecedent).
Double check that pronouns are connected to the proper antecedent. Example: Gena and Jill wrote a book. She loved it. (Great, but which she loved? One? Both?)
Prepositions take the objective form of the pronoun. ‘Between you and me’ is correct. ‘Between you and I’ is not.
Add the word “it” to your list of words to check and replace when you’re editing. Sometimes “it” can be replaced by a more powerful noun.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 291
Hobby Like It’s Hot
Writing and journaling may have been your fun, creative outlet before you started working to publish, but the two fail to excite you now. That's because writing is no longer a hobby but a job. Jobs can come with stresses. You might even lose your passion for creating. Why not find a new hobby to help fill your creative well and make writing a joy again?
GENA: I foster and play with dogs and cats in my free time
. They bring me such incredible joy, they’ve become my new passion. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is write one of my animals into a story. I look forward to delving into my book and finding places to add their shenanigans.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 292
Create Your Own Deadline
Why do we procrastinate? We don’t know, but we’ll research it later.
We kid, we kid. There’s actually quite a bit of research into why humans need deadlines. We don’t necessarily love them, but different online studies suggest our productivity usually increases if we have one. Some people believe deadlines kick up our fight-or-flight response while others believe they increase the impact of scarcity.
All Write Already: Year Of Your Book Page 22
