Archive for the 'The Writer’s Life' Category

What I have learned from the many books I have read about the craft of writing is that every writer has a different style of writing. There are many different methods, so-called secrets, formula and styles employed by successful writers.

Meticulous Planners

Some writers are meticulous planners. They plan the whole plot of a story or novel from the beginning to the end. Some use large sheets of paper and map out all the details; characters, settings, twists in the plot, sub-plots and so many other aspects of their story. Others use pieces of paper or post it stickers and rearrange all their notes until they make some sort of logical sequence. This type of writer may spend months or even years in this planning stage. The actual writing may then only take a few weeks or several months at most.

Seat of the Pants writers

Then you have those writers who come up with just a single thought, idea or snippet of dialogue and this is the sum total of their plan. This type of writer can sit at a keyboard and start writing, letting the story and the characters literally take over the plot line. This is “writing by the seat of your pants” type of writing. It can be very exciting if it works – or it can be very frustrating if it doesn’t.

Different styles:

In between these two extremes you have a whole range of approaches to writing. Some writers do some planning at the beginning, others may stop half way through and plan the ending. There seems to as many different styles of getting down that story as there are writers.

My Writing style:

As I develop as a writer I find that more and more I am able to write “on demand.” Blogging has done that for me. The goal of writing a new article every day keeps me accountable to myself. I find inspiration all around me and now I rarely struggle to come up with ideas. Often I feel swamped with ideas with too many to use.

I also find that I can write almost anywhere. I have my favourite spot of course but now I have a laptop I am very flexible in where I write. I sometimes write with music in the background, sometimes even with the television going.

I get a real buzz out of thinking of a setting, a character’s name or some other starting point for a story. I then start writing, letting the story or the characters take over. Discovering where the story or characters take me is just like reading a novel or story for the first time; you don’t know the ending. Sometimes the ending is as much a surprise to me as it is to the reader. Risky – yes; exhilarating – certainly.

To read more on this topic, read the article in the link below. It was written by Adelaide crime and romance author, Kirsty Brooks.

Related article:

· Writing fiction – planning your story or writing by the seat of your pants: individual writing styles written by Kirsty Brooks.

What is your writing style?

Tell me about it by leaving a comment.

Ever shoot yourself in the foot?

Painful, I’d say.

Trouble is, many emerging or want to be writers do exactly that – shoot themselves in the foot. Not literally, mind you. Inexperienced writers spend months – perhaps years – writing their “literary masterpiece”, the novel to top all other novels, the book that will bring them fame and untold fortune. Then they fail to do basic research on how to submit a manuscript to a publisher or literary agent.

Kirsty Brooks, Adelaide author of crime and romance fiction, has published a very useful article on this very subject on her blog. She writes about some of the pitfalls, some of the problems and how to overcome them. Click on the link below to read the article.

Link:

• Submitting your writing to literary agents and editors – the distant sound of gunfire.