Writing Writers: June 2023

You Don't Need Inspiration!

You don't need inspiration. Or do you?

Writers write. You shouldn't wait around for inspiration to come. But sometimes, there are days you can't get anything written down. Or you're at a loss for words. You can't think of anything to write. You don't have any idea what to write about.

And then you end up believing you're having writer's block.

You end up believing it too much, you stop writing altogether. You might even think of yourself as not a real writer.

And all because of what? You think your muse deserted you? You think you have writer's block?

Think again! You sure as heck don't need inspiration to write!

What you do need are prompts to help get your writer's mind working and your hands writing or typing.

These prompts are your beginnings; the glimmer; the little sparks that you can shape and fashion into stories, articles, essays and features.

You don't need inspiration. All you need is an idea; a spark.

And here are a dozen sparks you can try out for yourself:

1. The first typewriter was patented on July 23, 1829. Interview some of the writers in your group and find out how they write. You can develop this into a light-hearted article for/about writers.

2. Many fictional characters are not fictional at all. Write about one real person who has been fictionalized.

3. Electricity is a recent discovery. Think of 10 things to do when there's no power.

4. Pirates no longer just refer to the highwaymen of the seas. There are different breeds of pirates today. Write about today's pirates and what they're pirating.

5. Many words in the English language come from the names of people -- such as mesmerize (from Mesmer, a hypnotist). Find out more words from people's names and write the story behind the words. (Or invent stories for names that became words.)

6. The US Declaration of Independence begins with this line: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." Write your own Declaration of Independence by using the same line as your starting point.

7. How do you start a fan club? Write a how-to on organizing a fan club for a favorite author, singer, actor or sports figure.

8. How do planets die?

9. Expound or dispute this: "Where science ends, religion begins."

10. Take a look at your bookshelf. Pick one book and write a review of it.

11. How is privacy invaded on the Internet?

12. Write an article on how to choose a pet. Target your piece for kids aged 7-10.

About Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ:

Shery is the creator of WriteSparks!™- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers. Download WriteSparks!™ Lite for free at http://writesparks.com

Even more Quotes!

"Make 'em laugh; make 'em cry; make 'em wait," CHARLES READE

"Stay with what it is and it will give you everything that isn't. From this wooden table I am learning on, I can build a whole world of fiction," NATALIE GOLDBERG

"Get on with it. There are people who 'talk book', and there are people who 'write book': talking writers, and writing writers," ARTHUR HAILEY

"Asking a writer what he thinks abour critics, is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs," CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON

"The title of the novel is part of the text, the first part of it, in fact, that we encounter - and therefore has considerable power to attract and condition the reader's attention," DAVID LODGE

"I have never written for more than half an hour in my life. Writing to me only occupies a teeny wee bit of my life. And to be truthful, I hate writing. I wouldn't like the idea of writing all day at all," JAMES HERRIOT

"If a writer knows something, even if he doesn't write it, it is present in his work," HEMINGWAY

"If you have a skeleton in your cupboard, take it out and dance with it," CAROLYN MACKENZIE

"If a publisher declines your manuscript, remember it is merely the decision of one fallible human being, try another," STANLEY UNWIN

"If you really want to achieve greatness, you have to keep challenging yourself. You have to keep going back into yourself," JAMES ELROY

"What all of us must do is get an idea that excites US and then write the hell out of it. Write it as well as you know how. And if you hit a nerve, and it's true, then you have a chance," SIDNEY SHELDON

"As a writer, you're rejected so often that you have to develop a resilience. So when I'm down it rarely lasts...I search around until I find something to get excited about," ALEX HAILEY

"Do they keep throwing the book at Jeffrey Archer as an act of revenge for his lousy novels?" KEITH WATERHOUSE

"You wrote too fast. You're scared. Slow down. You shouldn't write a short story in less than two months," CECIL DAWKINS

"The beginning is the 'want', the middle the 'conflict' and the end is the 'resolution'," DANNY SIMON

Fish Publishing

Fish Publishing runs four annual International Writing Contests

Short Story Prize

Short Memoir Prize

Flash Fiction Prize

Poetry Prize

Haiku Prize

Go to website

Do You Know What A Plot Is?

What a plot is and what a story is can be sometimes confusing. If you think they are the same… They are not. A plot is the outline of your story. The story is everything included.

I will illustrate the difference by asking you to visualize two pictures…

1.Visualize a skeleton.

Then

2.Visualize a body.

The skeleton is your plot. It’s the outline of your story. It won’t be visible when we flesh it out but it will still be there, holding your story together.

The body is your story. It’s everything, which our story will contain, including the plot. The story is the plot fleshed out.

What does it mean to ‘flesh it out?’

Let me show you.

I’ll take a brief plot…

A man meets a woman and they fall in love. They encounter great difficulties because their family are against the relationship.

This is the outline of the story.

Now we are going to flesh it out and make it into a story. Fleshing it out means adding things to make this basic plot into a story. To do this we will add the rest of the ingredients such as…

Setting – Where will our story take place

Dialogue – What will be said and by whom

Characters – How many characters will our story contain? Who are they? What is their role?

Problems – What and how many problems will the couple encounter

Goal – What is the couple’s goal?

Conflict – What is the conflict?

Climax – How is the conflict going to come to its peak?

Ending – Will their love win in the end?

And anything else I’ll need in my story

Once we have written up all these ingredients, this will be our plot fleshed out into a story.