Writing Techniques I Found Useful

www.amazon.co.uk/MAZ-AND-ME-Sharon-Loveday-ebook/dp/B00CHNLR6E

A Few Simple Writing Tecniques I Found Useful

One of the first things I was taught, and found useful, in the creative writing process was simply, 'freewriting'.  Forget, at the initial stages, about grammar, spelling etc. and simply choose a memory and write about it.  Let your mind roam free, think about sights, smells, sounds associated with that memory and write them down.

Give yourself a time limit of twenty minutes and write, write, write.  At the end of that time, read out loud what you have written.  Put it aside for some time, possibly until the next day, and when you return you might find you want to develop it. You could edit, using a pencil so that you can keep the original vocabulary if, in the end, you decide you prefer it.

Listed below are a few other tips I found useful:

Analyse your characters (almost as though you are seeing them as people you are discussing with another person)

Decide on your genre

Setting is important, as is timeline

Research detail

Think about your reader and don't make assumptions that they know something you have not told them!

Take your reader on a journey

Start a story in the middle of some action

Listen to dialogue.  Use it in your story.

Let the reader 'see' your characters show emotion by describing their actions rather than 'telling' how they feel.

Chose a convincing narrative 'voice'

Finally edit and edit again

These are just a few tips I found useful perhaps you would be kind enough to post others on to this page...........

Louis L'Amour and Words of Wisdom

I have just finished reading Louis L'Amour's excellent autobiography based around the books he read from the age of sixteen.  He tells of the jobs he undertook, while all the time continuing his own education through these books.  The book is 'Education of a Wandering Man'.

Louis L'Amour was an American author of over 100 books, quite often 'Western' novels.  He wrote in 'Education of a Wandering Man' that, 'the more one learns, the more he understands his ignorance'.

Although my book 'Maz and Me' is a comic novel, it is intended that the reader should think about the
narrator, Tony Goodbody's continuing education through the situations he is placed in, and through his relationship with the older woman Maz. 

Louis L'Amour, in his book gives the reader so many insightful thoughts, for instance, 'a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think,' and 'no-one can 'get' an education for of necessity education is a continuing process.'

It is, in my opinion, important for us to reflect on what we are reading, not necessarily always go for the 'page turner' type of book.  Louis L'Amour's book is one that I would certainly hope my grandchildren will read and take time to ponder upon.

A Need for 'Excitement'

I have recently been discussing 'distractions' and how we no longer seem to live at a slow pace. We are bombarded with flashing images, and presenters finding it necessary to wave their hands about to make a point (it seems to be assumed that we will not 'get' the point unless they use extreme gesturing). Are these really necessary? 

I think it was Brian Sewell, in a recent article and, in his excellent autobiograpy, questioned something along the lines of, why it should be necessary for a documentary-maker to follow him driving along a road when he is going somewhere to be filmed talking about art.  Perhaps the viewers, would prefer to just hear the information as the piece of art is being discussed but of course the journey, or a presenter walking about being filmed, means a longer programme. We are not being given much opportunity to view at a leisurely pace. 
 

This leads me to ask whether the constant bombardment of unnecessary 'exciting' images from television programmes, including the news and factual programmes are leading to a problem where we will no longer know what it is to relax quietly, even to enjoy an educational programme in a more congenial fashion.  

My book was recently given its first one star review from a reader who found it 'boring' because she felt nothing 'exciting' happened.  Perhaps this is because it is not one of the popular genres of gangland crime, tragedy or childhood misery.  I deliberately decided to write, with gentle humour, a simple story told through the voice of a modern-day male and throughout the story we see his slow development and hear his philosophical thoughts via his witty observations. 

But it seems it is no longer enough.

Do we really need 'excitement' in every book to warrant a four or five star review?  I think not.  Some of the most enjoyable books I have read, and I include,  'The Catcher in the Rye', Brideshead Revisited, and 'The Remains of the Day', are simply stories of human life unravelling as you read.  These books allow you to use your own imagination and the reader is not waiting for something 'exciting' to happen.

I would like to see the television companies taking into account that some of their viewers do not always need to be distracted by exciting images - let us be given the time to listen and look at what is being discussed without the need for flashing imagery, hand-waving, or other distasteful distractions.

If you have a moment please take look at a free sample of my book here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MAZ-AND-ME-Sharon-Loveday-ebook/dp/B00CHNLR6E

Are Readers Becoming Distracted?

Since my novel 'Maz and Me' was published on Amazon, I have been trying to generate interest in it.  I was told that the price, at £2.83 was 'too high by today's standards'.  I lowered the price to £1.98 and still there were very little sales.  

I am beginning to wonder if many people, with all the distractions of technology and social networking, have very little time for reading even a short novel?  Others tell me that they download 'loads of books' when they are on 'free offers.'  This makes life very difficult for a writer like me who, after writing a novel for three years, cannot be rewarded for the effort of providing for the reading public, what is described by a critic as a 'quietly and cleverly amusing' story. 

As a happy user of technology myself, it is interesting that I remember a time when I would sit and read a print novel after work in the evenings for hours.  Now, when I am reading using any kind of technological device, there is a temptation to stop for a few minutes and skip to an 'app' to see what is happening in the outside world, therefore becoming easily distracted from the story.  It concerns me that our children may no longer have time for lengthy deep reading and contemplation, which is so important.

When I was a child, we would sit together as a family (sometimes in front of an open fire) and quietly read.  There were no other real interruptions, except to perhaps glance into the flames and imagine the images you could see there.

'The Catcher in the Rye' and childhood influences on writing

Since reading 'The Catcher in the Rye' as a teenager, then later as an adult and remembering reading it to my own teenage children, I have been fascinated by the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

A little of my own childhood was spent 'living-in' in a school for emotionally disturbed boys where my father taught and, where as a small girl I was schooled, by the boys, to swear in rhyme.

These childhood influences, I am sure, come to bear when you write your own novel.  Hence, my  protagonist 'Tony Goodbody' in the novel 'Maz and Me' was created, a complex character aged thirty, with affinities to Holden Caulfield.  He begins his journey battling his sarcastic impulses and lack of direction. His observations are humorous and graphic, but with the guidance of an older woman (to whom he is attracted), he reaches some maturation. 

Holden Caulfield wanted to be a 'catcher in the rye', to protect children from the less than good side of adults and, in the book, he explains this idea to his little sister Phoebe.  It intrigues me, and I wonder how Holden Caulfield would have matured and what kind of adult he would have become.........

Self-publishing: I have just published on Amazon using a publishing...

Self-publishing: I have just published on Amazon using a publishing...: I have just published on Amazon using a publishing programme.  It was a simple process, using the programme itself but advise anyone to chec...

I have just published on Amazon using a publishing programme.  It was a simple process, using the programme itself but advise anyone to check their doc.x document formatting before uploading it into the programme.  i.e. check that you have not used tabs, instead use indents. This simple piece of advice can save hours of working out how to reformat once your manuscript is in the programme itself.