Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! For the ENTIRE month of December, we'll be seeing content like this from both myself, and from the Featured Authors (going all the way back to the beginning!). Along with each of us sharing first chapters from our novels (all on, or soon to be on, Wattpad!), we'll also be getting an inside look into everyone's writing process, book reviews, and even better - getting to know the contestants trying for Featured Author of The Year 2019! Stick around for the fun!
Now over to Ana:
Hi every body! Thanks for taking the time to look at my post. I was featured in the month of June 2018 and I feel so privileged to be here! On top of that, my book, Winter Has Come has reached 3k reads!
If you’d like to give me your thoughts on it, I’d be delighted! Just hit my PM.
Okay, so today I’ll be writing about inspiration and how to build a story out of it.
Inspiration can come in all shapes and sizes: they can arrive in quick bursts that you have to scribble down as soon as you think of them, or they can come with time, a little development here and there—it doesn’t matter. The main thing is what to do with it once you get it.
Here are my main tips for how to grab inspiration by its horns. They’re very brief and only outline a few things, but I hope it helps:
Tip #1 - GET JOTTING
As soon as you get inspiration for an idea for a story WRITE IT DOWN! Personally, I have a notebook where I jot down the most random things that come to mind. It’s become such a habit now that sometimes I’m in the middle of doing something perfectly ordinary (e.g. doing my hair) and there will be this spark and BAM! out comes the notebook and pen, and the idea gets put down.
Tip #2 – START TO UNPICK
The reason why I think having a notebook is such a good idea is because you forget the things you’ve thought of otherwise. Looking back over your notes is crucial; it helps you unpick what idea was good and what was bad. Start by trying to develop the idea: is a whole load of wish-washy tosh or can you actually get a good, juicy story out of it? Start by trying to visualise a scene or two. If you can’t, ditch it and start afresh.
Tip #3 – BRAINSTORM
Now you have an idea that you think could possibly become the next best-seller, it’s time to expand. Brainstorm. Set out a list of characters: the protag, the antag, the love interest (if you have one) and their relationships with one another: does person A like person B? If not, why? Give a complex reason: a break-up, a tense scene, anything that’ll make your readers gobble it up like goldfish. Start to plan out your plot: what happens? Make sure you have enough twists and turns though, because no one likes a static story.
TIP #4 - SYNOPSIS
Once you have a set of characters and a skeleton of the whole novel, it’s time to write a synopsis. I find this really helps when I’m about halfway through the planning process, and it means that you have some of the work done for sending your novel off to publishers! Write down everything that happens; summarise the entire story and aim to fit in into a page. This will help you highlight any plot holes you may have or anything that doesn’t quite add up. Once you’ve laid it out in this way, it’s so much easier to see everything in a bird’s eye view instead of from tiny sections in your notebook.
TIP #5 – WRITE!!!!!
I cannot stress this enough. I’ve seen it: writer gets inspiration, writer wants to make story perfect, writer spends whole life planning book, writer dies. The end.No. Hopefully by the time you’ve come through the planning process your fingers will be itching so much to write that you’ll have to tie them down to the chair to stop yourself. The only way of ensuring a story is worth writing is by writing it. That way, you’ll begin to dwell into your character’s lives and you’ll see vital changes that need to be made. This is okay – go back and change your synopsis and plans – you’re making your story stronger and more stable.
That’s it. Hope you liked. If you have any questions about this topic or any comments on this article in general, don’t hesitate to contact me on PM. My username is xanabanana66x and I’m free most days when I’m not eating olives (best food ever invented, by the way).
Let's give a round of applause to Ana! We'll be seeing more from her throughout the month of December!
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