Inventing Reality Editing Service Blog

One of the obstacles facing beginning writers is finding a place where they actually can write. Too often our responsibilities and modern civilization’s many distractions don’t allow for a moment – or place - of peace and quiet in our lives. Yet, just such a place where we can put our fingers to keyboard or pen to paper for a while is necessary if we are to write.

To be a writer, you must find a place where you can write with few distractions. That means no new magazines or books in easy reach, no TV, email or Internet to take your focus off the task. It must be a place where others will not carry on a conversation with you. For some, this place is the kitchen table, for others a den, for yet more the coffee shop.

In addition, your writing place should be stocked with what you need so you don’t spend valuable time looking for those items. Always keep on hands items you need to write: laptop/desktop computer, paper, pens, dictionary, whatever it is that will keep you from getting out of the chair so words aren’t flowing from your fingertips.

Wherever you do write, ensure that you can avoid ergonomic issues - repetitive motions (carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis), awkward positions, improper lighting. If writing becomes physically stressful, you’re not likely to keep at it. So avoid the library with the too low/too high of a table, the tree in the park that doesn’t offer back support, the coffee shop where the sun glares through the windows so you can’t see your laptop’s screen.

Remember, to become a successful writer, you must write. And part of writing is finding “a room of one’s own” to practice your craft.

You Do It
Turn a bad experience trying to write into story gold: Think back to a place where you could not get anything written; now pretend that you were a prisoner there in an intergalactic war, and write a 250-word scene describing your trials and tribulations.

Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell

Tags: distractions, getting started, writers block

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n Anthropologize - What might a group that exists now be doing in 50 years?

n Brainstorm/extrapolate - Imagine a new invention. How might it change a profession? What dramatic tale can be told if these changes occur?

n Create maps of imaginary places – Draw coastlines, mountains, cities, nations, star lanes then develop a story around them.

n Distill conflicts into lists - What are incompatible desires and aims that someone could experience? Then match it to an appropriate “What if?” (a situation that aggravates or accentuates conflict).

n Fictionalize yourself in an unresolved situation that someone else faces – How would you resolve the problem?

n Find conflicts in everyday life - Look at the problems those around you are going through and have your characters resolve them in their universe.

n Keep abreast of scientific research and technological development – Resolve the current mysteries of science through fiction. Good sources for new science news are Science Daily, New Scientist, Astronomy, Nature, Astrobiology.net, and my astrobiology blog, Alien Life.

n Place a person you know in a different setting - For example, place an urbanite on a Southern farm or a school janitor in a corner office of a high-tech firm. How does their lifestyle and view on life change? You now have a character and a setting. Next, imagine that a problem occurs, upsetting their routine. You now have a plot.

n Read both science fiction and other good literature - You’ll get ideas by noticing points that are unexplored consequences of the central premise, or turn the central premise on its head. Read bad literature, too – if reading critically, you’ll learn from their errors.

n Start with a “novum” and ask “What if?” – A novum is some element introduced to our world that doesn’t now exist in it, such as the arrival of aliens, a spaceship that can travel faster than light or an artificial intelligence. Ask “Who would fear that? Who has something to lose by the addition of this novum to his world/universe?

Tags: brainstorming, getting started, novum, stoy ideas, writers block

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Unfortunately, writing is hard work. Most who write find themselves filled with anxiety and self-reproachment as they pen their paragraphs and compare it to those authors who inspired them to write. And then there’s always the frustration that comes when the right word (or even no words) won’t come.

As Karl Iagnemma, an MIT roboticist who also happens to also be an acclaimed fiction writer, once said: "A lot of people, when they think about writers, probably imagine people wasting time in cafés, drinking a lot and smoking too many cigarettes, and working when the inspiration - whatever that is - seizes them. But writing is rigorous. Writing, for me at least, takes a lot of concentrated work and effort. It takes dedication and the willingness to do the work even when that feeling of inspiration isn't there at all."

Few of us like to do hard work. But in writing, the rewards are worth the effort. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you get motivated to write:

n Keep a project “bible” - Create a notebook of reference materials in a 3-ring binder of loose-leaf paper. Often “inspiration” will strike on one of those ideas. At least it gives you a collection of ideas you can back to when you don’t know what to write about.

n Keep a daily log - Track how many words you wrote and challenge yourself to top it the next day.

n Keep a journal - Often the kernels of stories later can be found in your journal.

n Keep in touch with fellow writers - They can offer encouragement and provide advice when you’re stuck.

n Start with free-writing - Sometimes when driving aimlessly you see a billboard that gives you an idea for a destination. The same can occur when writing - sometimes when writing aimlessly you develop an idea that gives you idea for a story.

n Begin your writing by editing and revising work already completed and continue onward - At the very least, you’ve polished your past day’s work and maybe have identified trouble spots that you need to mull over to solve.

n Stop at a good point - If you’ve had a productive writing session, put down the pen at a point where you know already what you want to do next. You will not be stymied when starting the next day.

n Ask outrageous questions - Science fiction writer Stephen Baxter once wrote, “If you want to generate new and original ideas, you have to ask yourself outrageous questions. Such as: Could humans survive on the equator of a fast-spinning neutron star?” Well, how would they? Why would they want to? How would such a residence change their outlook on life? Would it change how others viewed them?

n Keep plugging along - No matter the quality of your work or the number of rejections you receive, don’t stop writing, The biggest mistake those who want to be writers can make is to not write.

Tags: getting started, journals, writers block

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Sita from the Bay Area recently wrote asking for tips about how the finish her novel. She’s about three-quarters the way through it.

Her problem is not uncommon among writers. Many writers have unfinished novels and short stories sitting on their hard drives or as printouts in a desk drawer. Often coming up with a story idea isn’t a problem, but finding the time or knowing how to finish the work is.

There are several approaches any writer can use to finish their story:

n Set a deadline - Sometimes nothing works better than the challenge of a deadline. This forces you to avoid waiting for inspiration and to get down to the hard work of writing. Simply set a realistic goal for how many words or pages you will write a day. Figure out how many words/pages you still need to write to finish a work. Then divide those number of words/pages by how many words/pages you can write in a day. That gives you the number of days needed to complete your novel, and that many days out is your deadline. For example, suppose you can write 1,000 words a day. A short novel is about 70,000 words; suppose you’ve written 40,000 so far. That means you’ve got 30,000 words to go. At 1,000 words a day, that means you could finish the novel in 30 days (30,000/1,000). If today is Jan. 1, that means your deadline is midnight Jan. 30.

n Outline the rest of the book - Often writers get stalled because they’re not certain where their book is going. Plot out the rest of the story, describing beat-by-beat how you want the story to develop and how you want the main character to resolve the tale’s central problem. The more detailed you can be, the easier writing those last chapters will be.

n Find a writing partner - Someone else who also is trying to finish their story can be a great inspiration. He can offer encouragement and critiques of your work. If you meet regularly, ensuring you have text for one another to read can serve as a “deadline”.

Of course, sometimes the story is so poorly done in its opening sections that there really is no good reason to finish it. Despite that the story may be unpublishable, I’d recommend finishing it anyway. Completing one story makes completing the second one all that more easy, in the same way that completing your first 5k run makes finishing the second 5k run all that more easy. Finishing the story gives you the full experience of writing one, after all, and that may help you avoid pitfalls on the next go.

You Do It
Do one of the steps mentioned above to help guide you toward finishing your story. If you’re having no trouble finishing the tale, then get back to work writing it!

Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell

Tags: critiques, outlining, writers block

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