Archive for the ‘Writing Tips’ Category
Posted on October 6, 2009 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Great Tips to Help Create Specifics in Your Novel
Another repost from last year, but many readers found it especially helpful.
Try any of these spots for a little help on writing your novel or getting inspired. I plan to keep this fairly updated and eventually turn it into a link up at the top.
Looking for a first name?
First Names and What They Mean
Looking for a last name?
Looking for a pet name?
Looking for a location?
Most Popular Cities World Wide
Want a Blue Print of your house, castle, store, building?
Looking for a house?
Figure out what city you want it to take place in, then in google type the city name plus real estate or homes for sale to find what would be commonly found in that area.
Looking for a job?
This is one of my favorite sites for finding your MC an occupation – this site not only gives you ideas for occupations but also tells you the training and education needed for that job, how much you will make at that job, what types of places hire that type of occupation and what kind of working conditions each occupation has. It’s awesome!
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Posted on November 2, 2008 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
A Few Writing Tips
While these tips mostly go towards NaNo, they are good for ANY writer at any time.
What happens when I change my mind halfway through my word count for any given day?
Nothing. You just keep writing. Even if certain elements of your story have changed, you can keep writing. Don’t allow yourself to get bored with what you are writing and think that a change would be the right way to go. If you do change your mind about your plot, don’t panic, just be sure to find more time to write until you get caught back up.
Can I skip a day of writing and catch up the next day?
Well, you can – but the better question is – SHOULD? No. You should make every attempt you can to make sure you are writing every single day. You want it to form a habit. If you take a day off, it makes it very easy to take the following day off, and continue on with that pattern until you find yourself so behind that you can’t possibly catch up without sleeping for two days.
I didn’t quite make my word count goal for the day, is that bad?
It’s not good, but it’s also not necessarily bad. If you are just a few hundred words off, you can probably make those up pretty quickly, but if you only wrote a few hundred words, that isn’t fairing well or setting a good standard for the rest of the month. Do everything in your power to meet or exceed your writing goals, daily.
This chapter is going nowhere, even though I know what’s going to happen next, what do I do?
You write. There is absolutely nothing that says you can’t skip around from chapter to chapter or scene to scene. Write a scene that is playing on your mind heavily. You will probably get a lot of words down if you are in the mode to write, and if there is a certain place in the story that your characters seem committed to, go ahead and write them. You can always come back. A few years ago, the first year I won NaNo – I tried something I hadn’t done before. I wrote the beginning and the end first. I even wrote about three different scenes in the middle of the book. THEN I went through and filled in the gaps. It made writing so much easier.
Do you have any questions about anything? I’ll do more like this tomorrow.
My word count at this point is just over 3K – I’m a bit behind where I want to be, but I’m not going to bed yet. Just brewed a fresh cup of coffee, I am hoping to do some maneuvering with a few scenes before bed.
Where are you at?
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Posted on October 26, 2008 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Need Help With Your Novel? Great Tips!
Try any of these spots for a little help on writing your novel or getting inspired. I plan to keep this fairly updated and eventually turn it into a link up at the top.
Looking for a first name?
First Names and What They Mean
Looking for a last name?
Looking for a pet name?
Looking for a location?
Most Popular Cities World Wide
Want a Blue Print of your house, castle, store, building?
Looking for a house?
Figure out what city you want it to take place in, then in google type the city name plus real estate or homes for sale to find what would be commonly found in that area.
Looking for a job?
This is one of my favorite sites for finding your MC an occupation – this site not only gives you ideas for occupations but also tells you the training and education needed for that job, how much you will make at that job, what types of places hire that type of occupation and what kind of working conditions each occupation has. It’s awesome!
Popularity: 2% [?]
Posted on October 18, 2008 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
How Fast Are You?
I’m not competitive by nature. In fact, I usually don’t enjoy playing any game with other people because well, I tend to suck at lots of games. LOL I’m actually okay with that.
But when I found TypeRacer, everything changed. I found it fun to play with other people, because it challenged me to get better. So – what is TypeRacer? It’s a typing speed game where in a race-like situation, you type a quote they give you while little cars move across the screen and whoever types fastest – wins. After you have raced, they provide you with your stats - how fast you typed, your accuracy, etc.
Here is a screen shot of my first three attempts at playing:
This was my first attempt – I typed 68 wpm and it was the first time I played (and I won – no I swear I am not gloating – I knew I could type faster than 68wpm!)
The second time I was less than thrilled that I lost. I was happy because I definitely typed faster, I took second place with 78wpm. But then Ethel must have lightening fingers because she finished with 107wpm! Holy bionic!
This was the last time I did a screen capture but was not my fastest. (my computer was starting to go nutty with all the cutting and pasting) I took first place here with 85wpm. I have since scored 92wpm but only once. And guess what – I wasn’t in first place. I took second with that one. The other person typed like 98wpm or something!
The game is fun but it also helps to increase you typing speed. You cannot beat that. Let me know if you play it, and if you like it too.
ETA: I finally got 92wpm and won! LOL
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Posted on August 2, 2008 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
What Genre Are You Writing?
I’ve spent a great deal of time lately thinking about the different genre options out there. There are so many and even within a genre, there might be sub-genre’s that continue on and one possibly with even more sub-genre’s. Confused yet? Yeah.
So, what genre do you find yourself writing a lot of? What genre’s do you potentially avoid? Have you ever stepped outside the box and tried one that you hadn’t before.
Last year when working on a new novel idea I had, I decided I wanted to take a crack at Chick Lit which was a genre I never really thought I’d be any good at. Guess what I found out? I wasn’t.
That isn’t what you thought I was going to say is it?
The whole book started out as a Chick Lit tone and before I got to chapter 5, my MC’s were practically screaming at me to stop the insanity.
I learned a valuable tip several years ago. When you want to write a genre, you need to read at least 100 books in that genre before you attempt to write it. Why? For several reasons.
1. It gives you a good sense of the writing style and point of view and character traits that you must use in your book. Nobody says you have to stick to them, but it certainly gives you a good beginning.
2. It allows you to see what is out there already. I can also tell you it is a wonderful Writer’s Block tool when you are simply stuck and not sure what to write. Sometimes reading a book in a specific genre might give you an idea you might not have thought of before. It will also give you an idea of what stories might have run their course and what works and doesn’t work.
3. Consider it research. Reading so many books in a particular genre puts you in the mood, gets you thinking outside the box hopefully, and accomplishes the research needed to see what styles certain authors seem to go with.
4. It just makes sense. It might not make sense to you, but here’s the scoop. A good writer usually enjoys reading. If you aren’t willing to put in the time to read what’s out there, what makes you think that what you have to say is interesting enough or even special enough that anyone else should take the time to read it?
5. One hundred books seems like a lot, but if you really think about it, you’ve probably already read some, and if you can estimate a number it just looks smaller. Can you read fast? If you can read fast you might be able to read a book or two a week (or more for some speed readers).
So don’t put it off anymore. Just figure out the genre you want to write, and go with it. Best of luck!
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Posted on November 7, 2007 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Writing Tip #7 – Take a Break and Find the Flow
Everyone is faced with writer’s block. It is inevitable, especially when you are writing something huge like a novel. Take a break once in awhile.
Sometimes practicing a writing exercise, or just free writing for a couple of minutes can get you back in the mode to write what you are supposed to be working on. Take a walk, grab a cup of coffee, run an errand, and if all else fails and you are stuck just go outside and get some fresh air, but never let the story leave your mind. No matter what you do. You might be surprised and what you think of and where your characters want their stories to go. They’ll tell you, you just have to open your mind to hear them.
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Posted on November 6, 2007 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Writing Tip #6 – Skip Ahead
Skip ahead.
It is okay to skip ahead in your writing. If you think of a scene in your mind, go ahead and write it. That is what editing is for. You can type in a whole new document and paste it in when you get there, or you can just leave space and type in between. Often this can help because you can come back and fill in the gaps when your mind is freezing on one particular scene. Write the new scene. Then go back and write what leads up to the scene. Sometimes it’s a lot clearer later.
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