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Hey KeePers!
Okay. Welp, seeing as how I’ve spent the last ten minutes trying (and failing) to come with a way to segway into this post, I’m just gonna dive straight in: Hope and I are shaking up the newsletter in 2018, and we need your help–well, I need your help. Hope is leaving this part to me, so if it fails…you’ll know why.
But seriously. This new part of the newsletter is dear to my heart, because it combines the newsletter with my favorite part of KP. I’ve been on the forum for almost a year now, and I’ve loved every second of it. There’re great people here, the staff is amazing (they didn’t ask me to say that, I swear), but the real reason I’ve stuck around so long is the community, the way y’all are so willing to make this not only a forum, but a family.
That’s the part of the forum that I’m attempting to capture in my side of the newsletter. Are you ready for the big reveal? Here it is…
Advice, from the mouths of KeePers just like you, delivered to your inbox every week! How am I going to pull off such a feat, you ask? Well…the answer is you. You’re going to help me.
Down below you’ll find…nothing. An empty thread. I need you to fill it up! What inspires you? How do you stop writer’s block? Come up with character names? How do you organize your writing area?Any advice you can share might earn you a spot in the weekly newsletter! And if you don’t make it into one weeks’ email, come back and submit some more advice, because I’ll need it for the next week!
Thanks for your help, guys, and I look forward to hearing from you! 😉
(tags) @graciegirl @ethryndal @dragon-snapper @dekreel @catwing
Tag more people and tell them to drop their advice here!
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
This sounds amazing! Do you mind if I share some stuff?
ON THE PROBLEM OF WRITER’S BLOCK
Yes. I’m going to try my hand at this.
So. How I usually slide past writer’s block is listening to “Inspiration Music”, such as, but not limited to, Lord of the Rings Rohan soundtracks, Taylor Davis, that one Celtic music thing someone had on the collage page, and Unspoken.
If that doesn’t work, I think about the points. For example: Point A = Amber discovers she has fire powers. Point B = Amber is mentored by Catriona. So, I need to get from Point A to Point B and have it make sense and be good. So, I play out scenarios in my head, watching little movies of story until I stumble upon the right scene. Sometimes this works, and sometimes I end up thinking about How To Train Your Dragon. Go figure.
Other stuff I do: Take a shower/Sing/Go Outside/Write something else/read another book/listen to an audiobook/Drawing.
Helpful?
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli@that_writer_girl_99 OHMYGOSH So exciting!!!!
Quick question: Can it be specific like “how to write a good fight scene” or does it have to be something universal like writer’s block or grammar?
You can pronounce it however you want.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@that_writer_girl_99 This is awesome!
Inspiration: I like to listen to Irish music when I don’t feel inspired. Sometimes I just go off and read my favorite book. Also, I enjoy writing in certain spots that just feel comfortable to me. My treehouse, my bed, and my desk. I feel like sometime, browsing Pinterest for a while is extremely helpful. Finding pictures of landscapes, castles, people who look like my characters, etc. Sometimes, I might find a picture of one of these things and think of an exact scene that fits perfectly in your novel.
Some of my best inspiration comes when I’m laying in bed at night. All of a sudden a quote just comes into mind and I think of how it would fit into a short story or even a novel. Speaking of, having a notebook by your bed is very helpful in this or else you’ll almost certainly forget your idea by morning. Believe me.
That’s what I’ve got!
@dekreel For now, give me whatever advice you’ve got, on any subject. If I need something more specific, I’ll probably ask later, but for now, random advice will do!
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
Do they have to be thought over? How thought over? How long does it have to be?
Sorry about all the questions!!
I’ll give it a try…
How to Make Action Scenes Interesting
It can be a fight scene, a chase scene, an argument or even a celebration. My advice: Put the spotlight on the characters, their feelings and their well-being in general. If you JUST write who he’s fighting or how fast she’s running, without looking at how they’re feeling on the inside, it tends to sound like a school lecture.
For example, instead of saying, “He swished his sword and killed five trolls, then jumped back to dodge an arrow,” you could say, “With all the energy he could muster from his tired body, he swung his sword loosely into a line of five trolls, and recovered his balance just in time to dodge an oncoming flying arrow.”
Or instead of, “She jumped over a small creek as she scurried into the forest,” say, “As she jumped over a small creek, she could hear the footsteps coming ever closer. Hiding among the trees may be her last hope, she thought, darting into the forest.”
Words like “tired,” “balance,” “hear,” and “thought” make it more personal, and you can feel what the character is feeling more easily and more freely.
Here’s another thing to think about as you write an action scene. You have probably never fought in a battle or been chased by monsters or something before, but you have felt fear, right? If you know what fear feels like (which I’m sure you do), then you can translate that feeling into your scene, too! As a fellow Kapeefer puts it, “Fear is fear, no matter what causes it, and you’ve felt fear, so you’re just as qualified to write about it as anyone else.”
You can do the same thing with anger if your scene is a heated argument or fight, or joy of it’s a celebration, or any other emotion. It doesn’t even have to be an action scene at all!
I hope this isn’t too long…
You can pronounce it however you want.
@that_writer_girl_99
Oh, dear… this sounds really cool, but I don’t consider myself an expert advice dispenser. I’ll just try to answer the questions you exampled to get myself started…Inspiration) Ideas inspire me. Images, senses, impressions of something that I need to carve out- whether that’s a world for a story, or an exciting character, or something I want to explore in more depth. Michelangelo said that all of his sculpture pieces were already there, inside the stone… he just needed to carve them out and let the see the world. That’s how I feel with my ideas, although none of them are as masterful as Michelangelo’s…
Also, stories inspire me. The stories I love best are what make me want to write stories myself. When I get enthralled in an amazing story, that’s how I start to develop stories of my own.
Writer’s Block) A couple tips: 1. Work on something else for a little while, and come back to whatever’s blocking you
2. Just Do it. Writer’s Block stems usually for me from knowing how to make the next part of the story actually work or be any good- so in that case, just write it, no matter how terrible it comes out, even if it’s sleep-inducing- and then come back to it laterCharacter Names) 😀 Oh, fun. Try taking a normal name and twisting it up a little bit, and make it more adventurous sounding. Think about how the character got the name. Are they from a culture where some sounds are common in names? Are they from someplace far away?
Organizing my Writing Area) *regretful sigh* Who said that I did this?
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.And as you asked us to tag other Kapeefers….
@shannon @seekjustice @jane-maree @inkling-for-christ @jenwriter17 @daughteroftheking @bethanysinkyroses @princessfoo @introvert_girl @lady-iliara @KAPEEFERS! (I’m so glad Daniel found that word X) )
You can pronounce it however you want.
@sam-kowal Never fear, my friend, I can promise you that somewhere inside that head of yours, there is advice that might help someone else. Thanks for your input!
@dekreel No, that’s great! I don’t mind the questions, and I’m happy to answer any more you might have. But would you care to be my guinea pig for a sec? If you had to summarize one of those points, could you?Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
Oh My Word, love this.
CHARACTER NAMES
I prefer having names with meanings that fit characters, so what I do it sorta brainstorm the character, figure out who they are, and then take those characteristics and looked them up. Or I choose what there background is like and choose a name that fits. For example, I had a character that wasn’t supposed to exist. So her father named her Razili, which in Hebrew means my secret.
That’s another thing, I love names that are from different places, because they have some of the best meanings for the best fitting names. So once I find my favorite meanings for a character, I look them up in however many languages I can.
I know some people don’t put thought in the meaning and origin of a name, but I find this easier than picking a name off the top of my head
WIP - Decisions
Kapeefer til we're old and greyWIP - Decisions
Kapeefer til we're old and grey@that_writer_girl_99 *wails* I KNEW IT WAS TOO LONG!
It’s okay. Um…. That’s a problem. Cuz everything I write ends up either very long or very short XD
TAKE TWO!
How to Make Action Scenes Interesting
Instead of just focusing on the action itself, like who did what etc., focus on what the character is feeling. Otherwise it will just sound like a school lecture.
For example, if you’re writing a chase scene, instead of saying, “She jumped over a small creek and darted into the forest,” you could say, “As she jumped over a small creek, she could hear the footsteps coming ever closer. Hiding among the trees may be her last hope, she thought, darting into the forest.”
Also, while you probably haven’t been chased by monsters or something, you have felt fear. If you translate that feeling of fear (or anger or joy or hate or grief…) onto your page, while filling in the context, you get a magnificent action scene that people will want to read.
*SIGH* How was that?
You can pronounce it however you want.
@dekreel Nope, that’s good! Thanks!
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@that_writer_girl_99 This is so cool! 😍
Getting Past The Blank Spot in My Brain
When I get writer’s block, one of the best things I can do is go talk to my characters. I find that making myself write a dialogue actually unlocks another part of my brain to help me solve the problem (usually, for me, it’s how to continue the plot). For example:
“Alex, what should I do now? I know you need to find Robert, but how will you do that if no one knows where he is?
Are you sure no one knows where he is?
Wait, you’re right! Maybe he met up with the Dranga people, so you find him but then you get tangled up in some conflict with the people on the other side of the mountain range….”
And so on. 🙂
My list of other helpful things to do includes:
(1) Cut out the distractions. I don’t do this enough, but closing the other tabs you have up keeps your brain from skipping around to other subjects as much.
(2) Listen to music. I hit “Shuffle all,” find a song I like (preferably epic or sad) and just start writing. It may not be the mood you want for that specific part, but it will get your creative juices flowing again, and you can edit later.
(3) Ask a friend! My sister helped me figure out how to get my MCs out of a castle in a sensible manner. (Yeah, I don’t think that shooting an arrow into a tree and zip-lining down the rope tied to the end would work very well. Thanks, sis.)
👰🏻🦊💥
ENFJ-T. Arbitrary. Greet at your own risk. *trips on a rock*This is such a cool idea! I’d love to share some of the things I’ve learned and discovered…
How I get over writer’s block by summoning inspiration
Every single book I write I get writer’s block at least twice. It’s not fun. Because I really want to write, but the words won’t come or I just don’t feel inspired at the moment. Here’s what I do when I run into this problem:
1) Take a break. It’s really hard for me to shelve a writing project, especially for a long period of time. My fingers just get itchy to write, but I know if I go back too soon, I won’t get anywhere. Maybe I’ll work on a fun short story to unwind or just take a break from writing all together
2) Read. Well, I do this all the time anyway, but when writer’s block kicks in it’s nice to just relax and lose myself in another world, to forget about my story for a bit.
3) Listen to music. I love how different songs have different emotion and stories. Listening to songs I feel like go with the theme of my story inspires me to write and can sometimes cure writer’s block right away! Plus, it’s just so relaxing to listen to some Brian Crane or Helen Jane Long.
4) Enjoy another hobby. Sometimes I’ll take a break to knit, play the piano, guitar (try, anyway), sew, or spend time with my guinea pigs.
5) Laugh. No, I don’t go cackling alone in my bedroom. 😜I think laughter is the best medicine; funny videos, memes, or watching my guinea pig dance to Irish music can help cure writer’s block.
I hope this helps for anyone struggling with writer’s block.
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com
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