I’m so smart! Well, really I’m not, because it took me so very long to figure out these things, but at least I did eventually figure them out. In the last several weeks, I have come up with some good “Writer’s Tricks” and I will share them with whoever might be interested, in case you find they could do any good.
1. NOTES. Notes are really important for me. I can’t keep it all in my head, so I have to write down a lot of notes before even getting started. The problem was that even though I could remember that I wrote something down, after a while I didn’t know if I wrote it down in my notes, or in my actual story, so I would have to go back and check. I came up with the idea of doing my notes in a different color ink than my story, this way there is a visual cue to remind me. It’s not foolproof, but I think it will work sometimes.
The best will be when I can finally get a laptop and start composing on a keyboard. Then there will be no chance of mixing up notes with actual text. Right now I’m at 68,000 words and still going strong, and it has recently occurred to me that at some point I am going to have to sit down and transfer all this into a computer. Uuuugh! My typing speed is currently about 60wpm, and I think by the end of this task, I should be up to 75 or 80. Lots of good practice!
2. LOCATION. Don’t get stuck only being able to write in one location. I used to always write sitting up in my bed, and if I wasn’t there, I wasn’t comfortable writing. Get used to writing in public places like Borders or the Broward County Courthouse, in the car under a streetlamp, standing at the corner of Hollywood and Vine. If your personal physical location is not a mental distraction to your writing, then you will be able to write just about anywhere. I don’t write at work, by the way, but I do take notes on little slips of paper throughout the day.
3. CALENDAR. I just came up with this one this morning, and I think it’s brilliant. All stories take place over a period of time, don’t they? My story is taking place over an entire calendar year, so I figured out that I should “plot” the events on an actual calendar. For instance, if it is important in your story that Fourth of July falls on a Sunday, and you also give your character a birthday on May 22, then you need to know that May 22 is a Saturday, not a Monday or a Thursday. Especially if you want your character to be doing something special for their birthday, and if they are at work on a Monday or Thursday, then it’s not very special, is it? Or, if need be, you can always change the date of your character’s birthday (which, of course you can’t do with the Fourth of July).
Not that anyone other than yourself will probably ever look into all this in such great detail, but you yourself will always know whether or not what you wrote makes sense, as far as a real calendar goes. I just picked up an old calendar from 2004 and started using it. I think it’s really going to be able to help me stay organized.
That’s enough for now. Writers, let me know what you think, and if you have any little “Writer’s Tricks” that help you keep your story going in the right direction.
I like that thing about the calendar. I actually DO pay attention to time in stories. I will stop reading for a second and go “Okies, so this would be sometime in the middle of August…” and stuff like that. When I am watching a movie or reading a book I find myself noting things like the weather and what people are wearing (hot or cold weather clothes) in order to determine time and such.
One of the things in Ranma 1/2 that annoys me is that there is a complete lack of time organization! There is an episode where Akane does something for the “2 year anniversary of Ranma and his dad coming to the Tendo Dojo” but they are still 16 years old somehow. Not to mention that throughout the ENTIRE series Kuno is introducing himself as “Tatewaki Kuno, age 17” and time is CLEARLY passing. I mean, there are atleast 2 Christmas episodes! That means two years have to have passed, yet they are all still the same age. Kuno and Nabiki should have graduated!!!!
See, I am qute the stickler for time in stories. Not that I am very good at organizing it correctly, I can just point out the mistakes. I know, I know, thats terrible, eh? lol 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hollywood and Vine????