In the words of Journey . . .

Don't Stop Believing!

After the Glee overhaul of Don't Stop Believing, Journey's song became known nationwide, an iconic tune. And the words are relevant to pretty much everyone: Don't stop believin' / Hold on to this feeling. Journey were onto something there.

Don't ever give up hope when it comes to writing. Everyone has their own voice and sometimes, you need to shout to be heard but rest assured - you're there and someone will hear you. There will be so many times in your writing life when you just want to pack it in and get a job as a grocer. While that may be great (and fantastic for inspiration), it's not you. If you truly believe that you're a writer through and through, it's something you have to hold on to. Perhaps keep the grocer position but keep the writing too. Even if it's only a hobby, don't let it slide.

There was a time a while back when I boycotted writing. Things weren't going well and I didn't want to disappoint myself even further by writing rubbish stuff. I was halfway through the second book in a series and I just stopped. I haven't touched that series since, even though I loved it, because it hurts but I shouldn't have given up completely. For over six months, I think, I didn't write at all, not only that project. I was scared and I lost belief in myself, that I had the capability. The thing is, everyone is capable.

If your project is bringing you down, just put it to one side. Don't get rid of it or you'll regret it. Just set it aside and try something new. Maybe you're writing a utopian fantasy for kids when really your calling is to be writing a crime thriller for young adults. Try experimenting with various genres. For years, I was writing adult chick lit and then I dabbled in fantasy but now I've realised that I'm best at teenage literary fiction. I like to explore possible lives of other people my own age, in different societies and from different backgrounds. Take a look at different genres around or try writing in the voice of your favourite writer. You might find that you enjoy it and want to do your own take on their work.

Whatever you do, keep your faith in yourself. After my long hiatus, I decided to have a go at the first ever Camp NaNoWriMo where I wrote in the voice of an eleven year old American boy fleeing his home town after a government lockdown. While I realised that I wasn't sure about writing in that sort of unrealistic genre, I did learn a lot about my voice. I learnt that I like writing in first person, from the point of view of younger people. I enjoyed being eleven for this book and I'd do it again. I even find that I love to write from a boy's point of view. I never thought that would be my type of writing but I went out on a whim and it was a serendipitous experience.

Lydia

Pinterest for writers

So, at first I didn't really warm to the idea of Pinterest but I read an article earlier that has had me begging for the waiting period to be shorter! Many of you may well know about Pinterest but for those of you who don't, it's like a virtual corkboard where things don't fall off and it can be used for any area you're interested in.

As soon as I was accepted into the site, I set about collecting images for my corkboard: I'm using it as a virtual storage place for all things Novel. My most populated board is for a book I plan to start writing during the August Camp NaNoWriMo (I'm currently doing the June one - 42,000 words in!). I find it helps to be surrounded by these images so that I don't forget my allegiances to my other writings. Instead of filling up pages and pages with detailed descriptions of my main character's girlfriend's step-mum's brothers, I can just pin any photo that piques my interest.

Warning - this may lead to excessive trawling of the internet to find the perfect photos. It's not only photos you can pin. Try quotes or recipes, anything that comes in a picture format or can be found under google images. People have boards for all sorts of different things: fashion designers might pin clothes and designs they like or interior designers might create the perfect rooms. It's your free heaven upon which to unleash your creativity. Let yourself go wild, pinning this way and that - after installing the Pin It button on your bookmark list, you can pin any image from any site directly to your pinterest with the click of a button.

Lydia

Naming your characters

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ... right? Who cares if my character is called Kasey or Laila or Persephone? Well, as irrelevant as it is, names are an important part of your character. It's easier to imagine a scary looking bouncer called Keith than Sandy or a stripper called Candy rather than Wendy. Names do account for a lot but whatever they're called, your character will inevitably grow around the name because of social stereotypes. 

Some may say that giving a character a name is the most important part of the story because a name tells you a lot about their background, nationality and class but that's not necessarily true. An upper class family of posh toffs could call their children Wayne and Sharon just as easily as a lower class family could call their children Rupert and Clementine. It depends on the parents so that doesn't come into it but names do matter. 

If you're really struggling, just give them a name: any name will do. In the first book I ever wrote, I called a guy Wendell (I don't know why - I had never heard of the name before) and I didn't like it. However, the guy grew into it and I found that I couldn't change it because it was his name already. 

Another example is with this month's Camp NaNoWriMo - I just started writing and the first name that came to mind was Roger. It doesn't really fit my character (a bumbling sixteen year old boy) but he's grown into it too. He's awkward and a bit cynical and old before his years, yet lovable. I hope. 

Your character's name will become a part of them - people will give them nicknames and make jokes if they can. Whole conversations can come about from characters' names so it may serve you well to think it through in depth, picking time and age appropriate names but in my experience, it's more fun to pick a name first and see what sort of character you create. (On a side note, doing this shows you what type of stereotypes you make!) 

Lydia

Just Start Writing

Having trouble with a story? Perhaps you've been mulling over and idea for a while or you just want to write but don't have any ideas.
Just start writing. If you think about an idea for too long then you'll be afraid to write it down in case you ruin the perfection that you've created in your head and you'll never be satisfied, even though we know that everyone's first drafts are rubbish anyway.
 
As you know, I like to participate in NaNoWriMo and I've realised that the books I actually finish are the ones I've started off the top of my head on the day.
Let your characters lead the way. Perhaps start with a description of a place and then, when you have one, introduce a character into the mix. Let them lead you along: take them by their hand and ask to be shown around the story.

Soon, you'll be teeming with ideas but if not, just take a look around the internet (the NaNoWriMo forums are great - you don't have to be a member to read them) and perhaps take a few quotes. You never know what could spark the next event in your story. Just pick a situation, dump your character in it and watch as they get out. Don't forget to write it down.

For example, I dropped a clueless, "good boy" sixteen year old guy into a party filled with alcohol and kids smoking pot at five in the morning. I had no plans whatsoever for the story but now I'm 35,000 words in and ideas keep flowing in. I know what I want to write and it's exciting.

Be excited by your writing. These are your creations. Don't wait around for someone to tell you to write, or to give you the words. You have to want to write and if you want to, truly want to, then the words will come. They'll overflow and you'll have carpal tunnel by the end but boy is it worth it.

Lydia

Timed Writing Sprints

Are you struggling to write? Finding you don't have much to say? It happens all the time, whether you're suffering from the renowned writers' block or perhaps just lacking a little. Try timing yourself. During the months of NaNoWriMo, wrimos (the participants) have an entire forum dedicated to word wars, sprints and timed challenges because this stuff works. If you set yourself a goal, you're much more likely to actually do something.
Try WriteOrDie, a popular website for such use. You can choose how much you'll write, a time period to write within, your delay time and your punishment. The longer you don't write for, the darker red the screen becomes until it either emits an unpleasant noise or in the most vicious of settings, it will start deleting what you've written until you start again. Harsh, I know. That's why it works. It doesn't matter if what you write is rubbish; at least you're writing. You're getting the words down on the page and you'll have plenty of time to edit them later. Try setting yourself a ten minute timer, or longer if you've got a while with nothing to do, and see how much you can write. It might be that you fuss over little details and the timing stresses you out but for many competitive souls out there, timed writing is perfect because it brings out that sense of competition. "If you can write a thousand words in thirty minutes, you've won!" It doesn't matter that there's no real prize - it's reward enough that, even if you don't complete it, you'll have more words than you had before.

Give it a go. Set a timer in a quiet place and just write. You might be surprised with what you come up with.

Lydia

Feeling blocked? Write a letter

You're bound to experience Writers' Block at some point, it's inevitable, but you don't have to be subservient to it. It doesn't bind you to the ground, unable to pick up a pen. It just means your creative outlets are somewhat lacking. Don't try too hard to write on your current project while you're feeling blocked because the outcome will be forced, crappy writing which just doesn't flow.

Sit back. Relax. Pick up a familiar pen and a favourite notebook (or a keyboard for you technological types) and write a letter. Maybe it's to yourself as the author, or to one of your characters. You never know what you might find through addressing your characters directly. You may even discover a new voice, or perhaps the solution to a sticky situation. It's like whittling down the possibilities: try writing a letter and while it may not work for you, you're one step closer to finding a way to relieve this pain-in-the-arse of a problem. It might just be a confidence issue and in addressing your characters, you overcome your fear of writing. I know that that's often the problem with me. Push past those barriers. Voice your feelings to your creations.

Perhaps Jeff the librarian is really hindering your character's progress: tell him. Let it all out in a letter to Jeff, whining to him about how he's screwing things up. You never know, He might just reply.

Lydia

Don't Abandon Old Ideas

I'm sure we all do this to some extent, don't we: you're writing a story or a book and suddenly you're bored with the idea, or you want to pursue a new one. That's perfectly normal and while many will say that it's best to stick with the original idea and see it through, I say don't. There's no point in writing something that you're not interested in writing because nobody will be interested in reading it. Save it for when it's exactly what you want to be writing at that time.
This month, as it is the first month of the 2012 Camp NaNoWriMo, I had an idea all set but then disaster struck: my trusty Alphasmart Neo died on me. After replacing the batteries and then taking it all apart, I couldn't figure out the problem (nor could three very technologically advanced acquaintances) so I was distraught. How to do nano if I didn't have my little portable computer? I didn't want to write the idea I had unless it was properly (don't ask me why - because I care about it, I suppose, I wanted to do it right) so I went through idea after idea, trying to come up with something else to do in the three weeks it will take for my new Alphasmart to arrive. I had a great little story in my head - great in that it was warm and cosy and I liked the characters, but it wasn't what I wanted to be writing at the time. I had to change to something else but I know that one day, I may well want to use that idea. Don't throw any plots, plans or bits of writing away because you never know when you might want to revisit it. Keep a box or drawer for old bits and bobs, or pin them on a corkboard as I'm planning to do.

Lydia