Category Archives: Writers helping writers

A blog about the topics of writing, Writers helping writers

Where do you get your ideas from for your writing?

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Do you get ideas for your stories or novels at the wrong time? And what do you do about it, if anything?

One of my favorite places to get ideas at the wrong time is at night when I am about to go to sleep, tossing and turning, and so on. Ideas will pop in, and I do the same thing each time because it works so well. I say to myself, I will remember this tomorrow, for I don’t need to write it down. Because that always works. Ugh. I am not sure why I can’t put a notepad near me. Well, I have, but did I put anything in? No. Instead, I tell myself that I will remember that.

Another place where ideas come to me is in the car. That reminds me. I need to put a notepad in the car. I rarely keep my cell phone out unless I am charging it. I don’t call or text when I am driving. It can wait.

Another place that is just peachy when I come up with ideas is the shower. Because nothing says story ideas like a shower, am I right? I won’t bring up the idea that came to me on how to remember the story idea. Just too stupid. But this is where I get a mega amount of story ideas.

The point is ideas will come at you from all directions, any time of the day, and at any eventful thing you are doing. It doesn’t care if the doctor is about to come into the examination room. It doesn’t care if it is finally your turn at the DMV or any place where you have time to wait. It is not a concern if you are doing anything else. Ideas will pop in at will and demand you pay attention to them.

I am getting better at writing these down or noting them for later. Still, for all I know, I may have had the idea for a NY best-selling book, but I didn’t, for whatever reason, write it down.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writers helping writers

It’s complicated: Is it really?

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How many times have you heard in a movie or TV the phrase, “It’s complicated,” or read it in a book? If you are like me, then too many to count. It has gotten old. It has been for a while now.

How about you write out the scene? It does not have to be a full-blown back story but just a bit to explain it. I often scream at the TV when I hear the phrase. Take some time, do a little work and explain why it is, in your view, complicated.

Your job as a writer for a show or a movie is to write. The cheap way out, and sadly it works for the most part, is frustrating. But another sad part is that people hear it, accept it and move on, not putting the writers against the wall and holding them accountable.

How about saying what is it? We are too lazy to get into it right now. We don’t want to bother you. We know you will accept the word even if we never explain it. Why does it even happen?

Our readers and viewers deserve better, don’t they? If you paid good money for a book or a movie, and let’s face those are getting pricier as the years go by, you should receive your bang for the money. We deserve better if we are writers producing such books and movies.

I don’t see this changing anytime soon, if ever, but I had to let this out. Why? I guess it’s not so complicated for me.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writers helping writers

Is it easy to write books for children?: Yes, according to some

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How easy is it to write books for children? From my experience early on, I have heard people tell me various opinions on this. In fact, at one writer’s meeting, a fellow author scoffed and said he could write a children’s book in one night. There was nothing to it. I was so stunned I did not have a comeback remark. Of course, as I was driving home, I came up with a lot. Unfortunately, this is not the only time other writers have told me this genre was easy peasy.

That ticks me off. According to reports, this genre is one of the hardest to write. You have to write it in a language that is not above their hands or beneath them. The dialogue has to be just right.

Ask a kid to read your book. If they don’t like it by page two, they drop it and look for another book. Most adults will at least carry on to the end of the chapter.

In my first children’s book, I had kids from a daycare look it over, and the reviews were hard to hear, but I welcomed them because they gave me what I needed to fix it. Have an adult write a children’s book, and you can critique it but not through the eyes of a child.

A children’s book is like any other book. You have to have plots, characters, and a timeline that works together and does not fall apart. You still need to revise, edit and revise again. You still need to have a cover that shines on your work. You still need to send it through your beta and critique groups.

But aft all this, it finally hit me on how to reply the next time I hear this.
If you think writing a book for children is easy, go for it. Seriously. Go for it. After that, we will talk. But only after.