Writing Tips: Brainstorming

For brainstorming, there really isn’t a particular way you can brainstorm. People think in different ways and brainstorming is easier in different ways for different people. Here are just some ideas I can give people based off my own experience.

1.      Always carry around a pen and paper with you. Ideas can come to you at any time, and by any time I literally mean anytime. I’ve gotten a lot of ideas in the middle of class one day, in the car, at the movies, and all sorts of other strange places.

2.      When you get an idea, WRITE IT DOWN! I cannot stress how important this is. There are many occasions when I thought of a really good idea and didn’t have any time to write it down, and then forgot it later, and it either took me several days to remember it again, or I never remembered it at all.

3.      Take time to think. Thinking about the different possibilities is something that can really help me to think of more ideas. For me personally, the time before I fall asleep at night and a long car drive are the times that are most productive for me.

4.      Take inspiration from things in your own life. Sometime you take a lot of time trying to think of some crazy creative idea when the best thing to write about is what’s right in front of you. When you take inspiration from things in your own life, it also makes your writing more personal, and it might even effect your writing style.

5.      Other tips there are a lot of other brainstorming techniques that I know of but don’t personally use because they don’t work for me, but they work for plenty of other people.

a.       Make a Web: those are those things that you make for school when brainstorming for an essay, and even though they are helpful for essay writing, they can also be very useful for creative writing as well. So basically, just think of any random word you can think of and put it in the center circle. Then, you just start branching off ideas for things that relate to that word.

b.      Free Writing: This is basically you take out a piece of paper and write anything that comes into your mind, not matter how stupid and random it is. The point is, is that once you take the time and read it over, something you wrote down, whether it be a word, a phrase, or an idea will spark some kind of inspiration.

c.       Writing Prompts: When you get really desperate and need something to write, or you just aren’t accomplishing anything from the brainstorming that you’ve attempted, then start to look for writing prompts. You can find these all over the internet, and all you have to do search “writing prompts” and a whole bunch of them should show up. If you look through enough of them, one of them is bound to interest you.

                                                                                                             

~K.M.D.

Writing Tips: Poetry

Poetry is one of the largest genres of literature. Some people find it boring or too hard to write, but most people don't recognize the vast types of poetry that exist. There are many different types of poetry from, rhyming and non rhyming to three lines haikus to page long epics. No matter what type of poetry, there is some type of poetry for everyone. Poetry can be easily used to express emotions, tell a story, or just express a burst of creativity. Here are just some of the basics for those who want to start writing poetry.

Rhyme Scheme

This is what most people think of poetry when you sat the word poetry, most of them go by the rhyme scheme of ABAB. Other types of rhyme schemes include couplets which are paired lines that rhyme (ex: AA BB CC). Rhyming seems easy enough to do, especially with  websites like RhymeZone.com easily accessible, but the problem most people face is writing forced rhymes. Forces rhymes occur when your writing a poem with a particular rhyme scheme and struggle to find a word that fits, so you make an awkward phrase in order to include a rhyming word Forced rhymes never sound good, so if you're not the kind of person that likes rhyming, then go with a different type of poetry.

Free Verse

With free verse poems, you basically have all of the freedom you want while writing. There's no specific rhyme scheme you have to follow, it can have as many lines as you want, and the lines can be as long or as short as you want. The only thing with free verse poetry you need to watch out for is rhythm. Even if the poem doesn't have to rhyme, it is still important to make sure the words flow well. Avoid mixing long and short lines, keep all of your lines around the same length, and read it out loud to make sure it flows well.

Haiku

Haikus are one of the simplest and easiest types of poetry to write. Haikus are three lined poems with a five syllable line, followed by a seven syllable line, and then another five syllable line. Haikus don't have to rhyme and can be about anything you want them to be, but most are usually about nature. They usually don't take long to write, and once you get started, before you know it you have a whole page full of haikus.

Sonnet

Sonnets are one of the more difficult and complicated poems to write. They have a very strict rhyme scheme and number of lines. All sonnets must have 14 lines and follow the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Although they are more complicated to write, it doesn't mean they are impossible or hard to do. People who excel at writing poems with rhyme schemes will find sonnets easier to write then people who prefer free verse.

Here are just some basic forms of poetry, and are by all means not the only kinds. Overall with poetry, you really have the freedom to write whatever you want. The different types of poems are so vast, it's not hard to find something you like writing. So the next time you pick up a pen or get in the writing mood, try writing poetry for a chance, and don't be scared. You might discover a new talent!

~K.M.D.

Writing Tips: Writing Action Adventure

When writing action adventure stories or just even scenes, you want to focus solely on the action that is taking place. It is very easy to find yourself getting side tracked during an action scene, so here are some things you want to watch out for.

Imagery: While Imagery is always an important factor to take into consideration when writing, you don’t want to go overboard on this when writing action adventure scenes. You don’t want to be in the middle of a really intense fight while going into extreme detail about the weather outside or the sweat on someone’s face.

Dialogue: While some dialogue is always needed, especially in fights, where dialogue is usually used to induce the fighting, you don’t really want to overdo the dialogue. You don’t want to get up to a point where you think your characters are about to fight and then just have to read a whole bunch of useless conversation about nothing. When characters start to throw insults at each other during the fights, you start to get on border line cheesy.

Another thing to watch out for with dialogue, is that if you’re writing a scene where you have an evil villain who has captured your hero, please don’t go off in a long monologue where the villain reveals all of his evil plans to the hero. Although this approach is often used, since it is used so often, it can get boring and predictable. If you want to really wow your readers, find a different way of releasing the information, like overhearing bits of a conversation or having him or her find out bits and pieces that are spread out throughout the course of the story and they put them all together at the end.

Character’s thoughts: Whether you’re writing in third or first person, the middle of a fight is not the place for a character to go off on an internal monologue or have some sort of flashback from the past. When someone is in a fight, they will realistically focus almost all of their attention on the fight. If you character is one of those characters who will feel time slow down will process what to do next in like the time period of a second, that’s fine, but just don’t make a huge deal out of it, and don’t go into unnecessary detail.

So to sum things up, the thing you really need to concentration on while writing action scenes, is the action. Action scenes will be in almost every kind of genre you encounter, so there is no way to avoid writing them. 

~K.M.D.

Writing Tips: Writing a Novel

Because I'm currently working on my novel, I thought I might as well give some advice to those who want to write a novel.

So you want to write a novel? Good! Great for you! But be warned, before you start on this long and hard journey, here are some things you should consider: 

1.  Do you have enough content to complete a novel? A regular Young Adult novel has at the bare minimum 60,000 words. Nothing is wrong if you end up below that benchmark, but if you’re aiming for a novel, that is the word count you should be aiming for. If you come up short, you can always expand on some things you only skimmed on the surface of before, and if you go way over, no worries. You can always take things out in the editing process.
2. Do you have a main character that will develop over the course of the book? No main character stays the same throughout the course of a book. That’s the main point of the plot, to see a change in your main character brought on by some massive event in your character’s life. Characters that are static and act the same way throughout the course of a novel are boring and will make your reader put down your book halfway through. 
3.  Don’t be afraid of change. If you go into a novel knowing exactly what is going to happen from the beginning to the end, that’s great for you, but don’t get upset if things begin to take a change off the course you want them to go. Don’t try to go back and fix the plot so the ending still ends up the way you had planned. The best thing to do is to just let the characters take the course they want to go. Don’t get surprised if they begin to write the plot for you. 
4.  Make sure you are committed. Writing a novel can be a potentially very long process. It can take some authors years and years to reach a finished product. Writing a little bit each day is always a good habit to keep up, even if it’s only a few sentences. Writing a little bit each day can help to remind you that you are working on something that needs to be finished. Although people get busy in life once work or school sets in and the dreaded writes block can settle in, don’t let that discourage you. Even if you have to set your pen down for a few weeks or even a few months, just reread a few pages or lines from your story every few days to remind yourself of the task that needs to be accomplished. Maybe it will even help you get rid of your writers block.
5. Once you write the last sentence of the book, don’t think you’re done. Editing is one of the most important steps when writing. Editing is where you can fix your little grammar mistakes, make your writing a bit better and cleaner, and even take out that pesky character that doesn’t need to be there. Don’t go through and edit things while you’re still in the process of writing (although this does work for some people). The easiest way to do something is to write the whole thing and go back and edit later. 
6.  Have fun while you’re writing! The point of writing a novel should be to entertain readers and to have fun writing it. Don’t force yourself to write something you don’t want to. If you don’t like writing paranormal romance, then don’t write about it! Don’t feel pressured to write about something just because it’s popular. Write about something you love. If you like pirates fighting ninjas, then write a book about pirates fighting ninjas! Who cares if some people think it’s a stupid idea, no one writes a novel without facing some criticism. Chances are that you’ll write better when it’s about something you enjoy!

~K.M.D.