Questions

Hasan Yahya, Ph.D

If you did not travel actually, and you are a  wise traveler like me who travels only in imagination. You are lucky to travel safely, without facing airplane hijacking, or boat pirating in your voyage!  You travel in you dreams, awake or sleeping. In both cases you enjoy traveling, seeing people you know, and people you never saw before, strange people, with ugly heads or huge shapes. If you face danger, like someone is running behind you to kill you, you immediately find  your way to escape. You simply, just  open your eyes.

My friend Jimmy, was one of these wise travelers. He used to travel every day and night. In the street, or in the classroom. Swimming, or eating. Jogging or play poling, He was a wise traveler all the time. His ugly face made him a wise traveler.

One day, his travel was real, he took the greyhound to California,  in the way, he knew a girl, she was in his age, she’s leaving her parents to find her way away from sisters, brothers, and away from Mom, and Dad.

He was leaving his town, people began to call him names, Mr. imagination. Dummy traveler, honey dreamer. And the last name made him decide to leave the town forever, Mr. fantasy! He hated to hear that name!

They both discovered that wanted freedom, and to begin a new life. She found that he was funny, and sincere in his talks. He found her a good listener to his jokes. In short, they found each other.

The trip was too long, and they have to stay the night at the hotel. To save some money, she suggested to have one room and divide the rate in between. He accepted the idea. At the room, there was a program show on TV. She was watching. Channel 55 broadcasting a film about James dean. The good looking guy of the 1960’s, at the end of the film, he dies in his way to meet his girl friend.  She waited for him forever, after she new the news. The girl was crying, he noticed, and gave her a handkerchief. Waited for her to come back to reality. 

He began to tell her about his visit to Tokyo, Japan in his dreams. He read once about the Geisha girls, and ever since, he dreamed as traveling to Tokyo and have a good time with these fairy tales about the Geisha girls.  She smiled, and listened to his story with dreams. Then she began to laugh on his jokes, when he discovered that the geisha girl has a boy-friend, came suddenly while he was trying to make out with the geisha girl. 

-          “poor Jimmy!, wherever you travel, you find yourself in trouble.”

-           “Yes! You are right, but not all times I was running, in fact sometimes I was hiding, for my safety.” They laughed together.

-          “Time to sleep” she said, “he suggested to sleep on the couch. She did not mind, but she said, that he may sleep on the bed beside her. If he can control himself. But he insisted to sleep away from her on the couch. In the morning he found her laying beside him and her arm over his chest.

Hasan Yahya, is an American Arab scholar, a professor of Sociology, a columnist at wfol.tv, Malaysia, and TINA International News Agency, Chicago, USA. www.hasanyahya.com


- hasan yahya

By now, you have a solid grasp of the importance of having a theme for your story, of keeping it personal and hidden (to avoid writing the dreaded Message Book), and of hanging on to the courage of your convictions in writing it the way you need to, knowing that you cannot ever please everyone, nor should you try.

That’s a good, solid foundation for writing a book that people will read, and then re-read, and then recommend to friends, and finally buy as presents for people they really like. Which is, after all, the writer’s ultimate goal—to write a story readers love so much they’ll share it with other people who will love it, too.

But you can still go deeper, and make the work richer and more compelling, by layering in subthemes.

[Brakes screech, and someone mutters, "Wait a minute. You finally sold me on themes. But SUBthemes? C'mon, already."]

Subthemes are one of the best friends novelists have. (They’re far less useful for folks who write short stories, simply because subthemes add to the length and complexity of the story.)

Subthemes do three massively useful things for the writer crafting a novel—things a single theme alone cannot do.

1) They force the world of the story into three dimensions. If the book is focused on one theme—no matter how fascinating and wonderful that theme—and all the characters are focused on that one issue, and all the action revolves around that one issue, then, no matter how skilled the writer may be, the book will feel thin. Step beyond the borders of the main action, and no character has anything to do, or say, or think, or any reason to exist. Their lives are bordered by the main theme. By adding subthemes, you fill out your characters’ lives with needs and events that are important to them outside of and separate from the main story’s focus.

2) Subthemes add length and complexity. (I mentioned this above in the negative sense, but that which is the bane of the short story writer is in this case the boon of the novelist.) I receive the following question at least once a week from beginning and intermediate writers—”How do I make my story longer without padding it (and without trying to figure out more plot, because I’m out of ideas)?”

Subthemes by their very nature give you something extra to work into your plot—the unexpected pregnancy of the heroine adding complications while she is running for her life; the villain who in the midst of working mayhem discovers the mother he truly loves is dying; the harassment of the main character by the practical joker at work whose stupid jokes later become mixed up in the life or death issues already besieging the hero.

3) Subthemes allow you an extra opportunity to…um, for lack of a better word…vent. And get something good out of the bad things that have happened in your life. This is admittedly a strange side benefit, but just about every writer I know has SOME issue that repeatedly makes its way into his (or her) novels. The trick, always, is to keep YOUR issue out of the book, and make the issue really and truly related to the character, with different events and a different resolution.

So where do you find your subthemes?

1) Pick a subtheme that is distantly related to the issue driving your novel. If your theme is “Why do bad things happen to good people?”, and your story is about a father who comes to terms with the lingering death of his oldest kid after the boy contracts some terrible disease, a related theme would be how the father finds ways to bring happiness to the kid’s life (and his own) for whatever time they have left. Or how the kid makes a friend in the middle of his personal tragedy, or learns to do something he’s always wanted to do. Or how the father makes one thing his son has always wanted come true for him.(Man, this would be a grim book.)

2) Pick an unrelated issue, and give it, in disguised form, to primary or secondary characters. Using the example above, an unrelated issue that could become a theme would be how the father hangs on to a job when he’s both the sole provider (say the kid’s mother died, or just left) and his kid’s sole source of care and support; or how the kid sets out to win the science fair before he dies, and wins the respect of a teacher he previously hated.

3) Pick some train wreck in your personal life, THOROUGHLY disguise it, give it to people totally unlike the people who were involved in YOUR train wreck, change names, locales, and events… And then work though it the way you should have, or wish you could have, the first time. Using this method, the father could be going through your horrible divorce, but HE could find the good ending you didn’t get. Or he could give up his fantastic career as a professional poker player to be with his son, and could find something good from that loss, rather than the constant regret you have from a similar situation.

In every case, your priorities in using subthemes are to:

* give yourself more story than what you’d get if you only focused on your theme,

* give your reader something extra, and different, to take away from the book.

You and your story will benefit in more ways than you can imagine.

In BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE, Part VI, Interweaving Your Novel’s Themes And Subthemes, you’ll learn three of my favorite techniques for balancing themes and subthemes while writing your novel.


- Holly Lisle

The pleasure of article writing is immense, especially if you do so with exceptional competence and poise. After due time in front of the word processor, the words tend to come with greater ease than the previous days. Extraordinary ability comes with practice and a willingness to learn new things.

For all it’s benefits, there is a little imp that makes his way onto your work table when you least expect it. His name is writers block. Everyone has heard about even the best writers experiencing writers block from time to time. It is unavoidable, but you can remedy this problem if you arm yourself with some of the techniques that professional writers use when the little imp jumps between our ears!

Here are 10 of the best ways.

1. Take a stretch! Shake your head. Relax for a minute. Take a deep breath. Sometimes all it takes is to loosen yourself up a bit before moving forward.

2. Completely divert your attention. Stop. Get up and walk the dog. Brush your teeth. Cook yourself a meal. Wash the dishes. Whatever it takes to shake your mind loose from the pressure at hand.

3. Write a paragraph full of nonsense. I’m only halfway ashamed to admit it, but when I can’t pull another syllable out of my tired brain, I start writing dirty jokes and other nonsense to put a little smile on my face. After this, I’m usually ready to begin again.

4. Re-read the last two paragraphs. Sometimes going over what you just wrote can provide you with a fresh look at the concept you’re trying to communicate.

5. Break out the thesaurus. This is especially good when that doggone word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t seem to pluck it out. A thesaurus is an essential tool in the writers arsenal.

6. Get something to eat. Sometimes writers block is a result of brain fog. Brain fog can be the result of low energy levels. Grab something small to munch on and get those A’s connecting with those B’s in no time.

7. Call a friend to ask for help. Anyone, really, you get the idea. Enlist the help of someone who can provide a clear and fresh eye for what you are doing. Two heads are really better than one!

8. Brainstorm about three to five related concepts down before you go any further. Sometimes this small thing is all it takes to jar an idea loose from your foggy mind.

9. Write your last few sentences down on pencil and paper. Believe it or not, this is a very effective technique. Pecking away at your laptop becomes tedious and annoying at times. Writing on actual paper for a minute can help train you back into coherence.

10. If you’re a guy, kiss your wife. Women are a fantastic, if not overutilized diversion for us. Don’t go too far, cowboy, you’ve got writing to do! If you’re a gal, kiss your husband. Men are a fantastic, if not underutilized diversion for you. Don’t go too far, cowgirl, you’ve got writing to do!

These are some of the best known tactics for knocking your noggin back to life. Your writing is worth the extra effort and depends on someone who is coherent enough to carry your idea the last five yards. Mimicking what other professionals do is not only intelligent, but it’s also what THEY do to keep themselves sharp when they have to be. Before you know it, your competence as a writer will be so strong that bouts with writers block will become fewer and further between.


- Ali Baraka

It goes without saying that you can learn a great deal about writing by reading the classics. Advice on writing novels is like carbon dioxide – it is free and everyone is exhaling it. Still, few will tell you that there is value in reading bad books. Well, there is and you should definitely do so.

Great books are often perfect examples of how to develop characters, plot lines and so on. I strongly believe, however, that to really grasp these concepts you have to experience it done poorly. If you don’t know bad writing, how will you know good writing? For every W. Somerset Maugham classic like Razor’s Edge, you should read something that gets poor ratings from readers on Amazon or whatever rating site you prefer.

Why would you want to suffer through a bad book? Well, the answer is found in figuring out why you don’t like it. This requires you to both take notes and suffer through the tome. The key is to uncover the details that make it painful to pursue and write them down. Is the plot to slow? Is there no apparent plot? Is it a novel with far too many storylines going on? Are the characters so undeveloped that you can find no attachment to any of them? The reasons can be numerous and often are!

Once you’ve deduced the nature of the problem or problems, the next step is not to mock that writing but to focus on yours. Do any of the problems in the book in question apply to your writing? Be honest! If not, what would you do to solve the problems in that novel? Would those steps in any way benefit your writing? You might find that they would.

Once completed, it is time to do a comparison between a quality classic novel and the bad book you’ve read. Write down your thoughts on the good and bad manner in which character development is handled in each book. Do the same for the plot and so on. By contrasting each of these elements, the difference between the good and bad aspects of writing should become clearer to you.

There is one final lesson to take from the bad book. That lesson is to recognize that it was actually published. The idea of publishing a novel is one that is often touted as being this side of discovering the cure for cancer. Well, it can’t be that hard or the bad book in your hand would never have been published!


- Thomas Ajava

Writing short stories or poetry is where most writers begin their long journey towards publication. It provides a perfect creative outlet for those who have the feint stirrings of a story to tell and wish to transfer those creative thoughts to paper. Crafting a unique and well-rounded story is not easy and there are many pitfalls but with a little help, success is only a few steps away. When writing short stories, always consider what you are trying to achieve. It is very easy for the writer to become lost in the depths of their own imagination and a 1000 word story can easily be trebled. Writing short stories is an art form and it deserves a great deal of recognition as the writer must be focussed and dedicated to the task at hand.

There are many different story lengths available, writers can choose to write flash fiction which can be anything from approximately 50 words up to 1000, although many fiction magazines seek out stories which also have had the chance to develop and grow and these can be around the 2000 word mark. Identifying a market for the story is the first step and then once this has been determined, it is time to plan the story in its entirety. Writing short stories that will sell readily requires additional planning, so extend the market research around the intended publication. For example, what do you know about the readership? A story about a teenage pregnancy is not going to be of interest to publications aimed at those in their senior years unless the writer can make it relate to them significantly.

Many writers fail at the first post by writing solely for themselves. There is of course, nothing wrong with writing for the sheer joy of creativity alone, but as many writers would like nothing more than to see their story and name in print, it is vital that those writers change their mind set from that of an amateur to a professional and this will then afford them much more opportunities and in fact, fuel that creative fire even further.

When writing a story with a minimal word count, many writers neglect to develop their characters fully but it is important that the reader begins to connect with the characters and start to care as to the outcome, otherwise the story will lack interest for them. Allow the reader to identify with a strong human interest angle and this will help keep them interested and following through to the end.

Stories are around us all the time but it is our own unique interpretation that makes the story come alive. As writers, it is important that any witnessed mannerisms, characteristics and events are all stored away for future use,  as aspects of events can be used in short stories, for example  an old creepy building that you may have observed in passing could be used when trying to picture a haunted house for a ghost story. Life produces unlimited opportunities for story tellers everywhere but when writing short stories with a serious intent, we have to make good use of this free material and then we can go from amateur to professional quickly and easily.

 

 


- annette young

Fictional histories are products of the imagination yet still based on real past events. The most famous are Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

Fictional history is a section of a novel based on real facts but the storyline being an imagination of the author only. It confuses some readers but it is a good strategy to incite interest and gain a following.

It may be based on real past events yet the story itself was revised such that it is still classified as fictional. Fictional history has been made timeless and endearing to all the people. It greatly influences the beliefs formed in the minds of the readers or viewers.

It can be squeezed into a novel or any short story as a way also to inform readers of what happened before. They may be reading something fictional, yet factual at the same time. Some might not be fond of history when reading it straight from an academic book, but will enjoy it more if these facts are inserted in his favorite book.

Fictional history recounts the real events that happened in history while changing some settings or deviating from the real phenomenon to suit his writing. These stories are real but the characters of the said stories are all fictional.

One famous example is that of William Tell, a Swiss patriot. William Tell is a fictional character but his story is based on real life. There is one man who really existed at one point in time who did the things that were recounted in the tale. The author was probably inspired by William Tell that he based his story writing on the Swiss patriot.

Some of these books are turned into movies. The most popular are The Lord of the Rings and The Harry Potter Chronicles. These books are in series of stories and are bestseller books worldwide. Many people have read them and have enjoyed watching the movie versions also.

The Lord of the Rings is one long fictional history whose story has been imbibed in almost everyone’s mind. The Harry Potter may be fictional but it tries to impart real life values that children and adults like will learn from. This book simply is showing that kids can do a lot of things with their mind and power if only they use both in a wiser way.

Merlin is another fictional history which is about famous magicians. Another bestseller book that was subjected to debates is The Da Vinci Code. It was then followed by another best seller book entitled The Angels and Demons. The author Dan Brown tried to weave his own story while inciting passages from the bible. A lot of readers were confused if he was telling a factual or fictional story that he received the ire of the Catholic Church.

As stated earlier, there are many other fictional history books available in the market these days. There are actually millions of them. They have been a part of out lives for many years now. It gives reading a new flavor, and we learn more about the world around us.

Just like the two controversial books of Dan Brown, the controversy somehow did something positive if only because it stirred the people’s curiosity and made them research on their own what is true and what is not.

There are other famous fictional history authors that are famous in the world today. Some of these are Christopher Hart, Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. Christopher Hart used the pseudonym William Napier and he was famous of his story entitled The Scourge of God aka Attila. Conn Iggulden was known for his emperor series while Bernard Cornwell was famous of the 12 books of European Campaigns of Sharpe.


- David H. Urmann

Writer’s block is a minor problem that can strike an author at anytime, and become a significant obstacle to a person’s career. For an author, overcoming this block can be the difference between meeting a deadline or not. Thus, gaining any strategies to overcome it is beneficial for the writer, and today I will describe such a strategy for you.

This strategy is similiar to the strategy of inspiration, but works in reverse. Whereas with literary inspiration, you partake in art if only to inspire you upon ideas that will help with your writing. Or maybe this inspiration will have no direct effect on you, but simply get you thinking in such a way as you will be able to develope your writing more effectively.

I believe, however, that looking at bad art, or listening to bad music, or even reading a bad book is actually very gainful for a writer. It will have the same effect as reading a good book in that it introduces you to new concepts or puts you in a different state of mind. But in addition, works that you judge, or that your target market has overwhelmingly judged as ‘bad’ will give you an idea of things you shouldn’t do in your writing, as well as should inspire you to think up ways that the ‘bad’ writing could be improved. This process itself will help you break your own block, and continue writing.

I hope this small, very precise theory will help you develope your own ways of combating writing obstacles, and help you “BEAT THE BLOCK!”


- Emperor

Writing a novel or our biography is dream that many of us hold in our hearts, your book does not have to be your dream. All you need is to dedicate some time to learn how to bring out that story inside you. A new e-guide, Bring out the Novel Inside You, has been written to help you make your dream come true. Here is some great advice from this e-guide.

Writing is one of the most fulfilling careers known. Any author will tell you that you can’t find a more interesting, challenging and successful business than creating one’s own biographies, novels, technical information or advertising.

And, now you can do all this while sitting at home. Yes, YOU can create something that can provide you with entry to one of the most highly paid, in-demand businesses in the world.

Writing is, by no means, only for the highly educated. In fact, some of the most highly paid authors didn’t finish high school. If you’ve survived this far in your lifetime you have the qualifications.

Writing is a matter of thinking, developing ideas in your mind and putting those ideas down on paper.

Nor do you have to risk your work in the slush-piles of the so-called publishing companies and their editors. There are many ways to get your books published. Don’t make your study of this information seem more difficult than it really is.

Today’s world, seemingly, is ready for almost any idea and you just might have one of the best. Until recently, the large publishing companies were very particular, shall we say, as to who was good enough as an author to bother editing and publishing.

First of all, the writer had to be already known and the publishing company published his book as if it were intended for the vaults of historical artifacts.

In reality, everyone has a life, a method of thought, a sense of story telling that is as different as our DNA.

? If we aren’t born to the same parents

? If we are raised with different cultural aspects

? If we have different educations

? If we have different interests and hobbies

? If we see humor differently, or

? If we’re as uptight as a bottle of pop that could blow in a second if shaken

…. Then, how could we possibly be so alike that only one writer, writing one book, could cover all the ideas and interests to satisfy all the people in the world?

Now, that’s boring!

The publishing companies of old made small (or, sometimes, large) fortunes by declaring that publishing your book would cost a fortune.

Since no one seemed to challenge that, or figured out a better way to do things like they are done today, it may have been expensive.

But, today, anyone can write his own book, his own unique way, and publish it himself and see it on the shelves of the largest book selling companies in the world.

That’s absolutely true!

I’m going to tell you all about that in Bring Out the Novel inside you, because I know there are those who want to see their actual book sitting on the shelf in their living room.

There is nothing like seeing that hardcover book standing erect between two book ends and your name, as author, emblazoned on the spine. Wow!

However, if your intent for writing great tales of interest is to sell them, I’ve got your method in this book also.

Both methods are good, so read all about them, use them and make your living doing so.

My extended experience as a college professor of the fine arts was mainly with the high hope that some big, famous company which published books, would find my little manuscript and clamor to become the publisher.

Believe me, it wasn’t easy to be a writer in those days.

But, those days, as they are called, were much easier and slower days of living – nothing like today.

Things happened slowly. News traveled much slower and the East knew before the West by months.

Today, you have to be up and at ‘em.

Individuals are outspoken about their own ideas and what they want and like. No-one tells today’s writers or anyone else, what NEEDS to be done to be done right.

I think that, by 2008, the whole world has caught on to that concept.

So, the field is wide open for writing what and how you desire.

Along with that, the field is becoming wide open for what you want

your book to look like and how you want to express yourself.

In fact, if you want to do it all, including designing the cover, etc., then I’m going to lead you to the right place for that.

You could see your hardback book on your shelf in a matter of weeks and you’ll see your paperbacks and ebooks in just days.

More of that in the ebook.

Right now, we have to know the right way and the wrong way to compose any kind of book.

It matters not what your style is, but it does matter whether or not you are correct in the writing.

You must avoid misinformation, misspellings and awful grammar.

Don’t get scared now. You’re not going to have to parse sentences and conjugate verbs.

For more expert advice on all these points and much more detailed information, that could have your novel published in just a matter of weeks, you can order your copy of Bring out the novel inside you today.


- Elizabeth St Denny Mfa

Writing a novel or our biography is dream that many of us hold in our hearts, your book does not have to be your dream. All you need is to dedicate some time to learn how to bring out that story inside you. A new e-guide, Bring out the Novel Inside You, has been written to help you make your dream come true. Here is some great advice from this e-guide.

Writing is one of the most fulfilling careers known. Any author will tell you that you can’t find a more interesting, challenging and successful business than creating one’s own biographies, novels, technical information or advertising.

And, now you can do all this while sitting at home. Yes, YOU can create something that can provide you with entry to one of the most highly paid, in-demand businesses in the world.

Writing is, by no means, only for the highly educated. In fact, some of the most highly paid authors didn’t finish high school. If you’ve survived this far in your lifetime you have the qualifications.

Writing is a matter of thinking, developing ideas in your mind and putting those ideas down on paper.

Nor do you have to risk your work in the slush-piles of the so-called publishing companies and their editors. There are many ways to get your books published. Don’t make your study of this information seem more difficult than it really is.

Today’s world, seemingly, is ready for almost any idea and you just might have one of the best. Until recently, the large publishing companies were very particular, shall we say, as to who was good enough as an author to bother editing and publishing.

First of all, the writer had to be already known and the publishing company published his book as if it were intended for the vaults of historical artifacts.

In reality, everyone has a life, a method of thought, a sense of story telling that is as different as our DNA.

? If we aren’t born to the same parents

? If we are raised with different cultural aspects

? If we have different educations

? If we have different interests and hobbies

? If we see humor differently, or

? If we’re as uptight as a bottle of pop that could blow in a second if shaken

…. Then, how could we possibly be so alike that only one writer, writing one book, could cover all the ideas and interests to satisfy all the people in the world?

Now, that’s boring!

The publishing companies of old made small (or, sometimes, large) fortunes by declaring that publishing your book would cost a fortune.

Since no one seemed to challenge that, or figured out a better way to do things like they are done today, it may have been expensive.

But, today, anyone can write his own book, his own unique way, and publish it himself and see it on the shelves of the largest book selling companies in the world.

That’s absolutely true!

I’m going to tell you all about that in Bring Out the Novel inside you, because I know there are those who want to see their actual book sitting on the shelf in their living room.

There is nothing like seeing that hardcover book standing erect between two book ends and your name, as author, emblazoned on the spine. Wow!

However, if your intent for writing great tales of interest is to sell them, I’ve got your method in this book also.

Both methods are good, so read all about them, use them and make your living doing so.

My extended experience as a college professor of the fine arts was mainly with the high hope that some big, famous company which published books, would find my little manuscript and clamor to become the publisher.

Believe me, it wasn’t easy to be a writer in those days.

But, those days, as they are called, were much easier and slower days of living – nothing like today.

Things happened slowly. News traveled much slower and the East knew before the West by months.

Today, you have to be up and at ‘em.

Individuals are outspoken about their own ideas and what they want and like. No-one tells today’s writers or anyone else, what NEEDS to be done to be done right.

I think that, by 2008, the whole world has caught on to that concept.

So, the field is wide open for writing what and how you desire.

Along with that, the field is becoming wide open for what you want

your book to look like and how you want to express yourself.

In fact, if you want to do it all, including designing the cover, etc., then I’m going to lead you to the right place for that.

You could see your hardback book on your shelf in a matter of weeks and you’ll see your paperbacks and ebooks in just days.

More of that in the ebook.

Right now, we have to know the right way and the wrong way to compose any kind of book.

It matters not what your style is, but it does matter whether or not you are correct in the writing.

You must avoid misinformation, misspellings and awful grammar.

Don’t get scared now. You’re not going to have to parse sentences and conjugate verbs.

For more expert advice on all these points and much more detailed information, that could have your novel published in just a matter of weeks, you can order your copy of Bring out the novel inside you today.


- Elizabeth St Denny Mfa

You’ve always wanted to be the next big novelist, but you have no idea where to start. Very few people can just sit down in one sitting and write a full-length novel. We all have hectic lives and many things that pull us away from our writing. We have families, jobs, chores, school involvement - the list can go on forever. Yet, a writer must write. This is just a fact of life.

Writers are creative personalities with the desire to write. A writer of fiction might speak of a specific character speaking to them. While people that aren’t in the profession might not understand, fellow writers feel their pain. Characters often urge a writer on, occasionally to the point of tormenting the writer as well as inspire. Ignoring or procrastinating a writer’s need can lead to emotional fallout. What writers and other artists refer to as “the Muse” is relentless in its inability to let one sleep at night, and keeps one from paying full attention to important demands with the thoughtfulness we would otherwise give them.

But how does a writer find the time to write the next incredible novel in between their day-to-day stresses? First of all, set priorities! We can’t ignore our families or our jobs, but we can prioritize. Write when children are asleep or at school. Set a daily schedule to allow yourself a few hours to write. Plan play dates for your children or get a neighbor to babysit for a few hours and take that time to write. If you think you can manage without vacuuming for a day, take a little of your housekeeping time to write. It’s amazing how much a person can get done in just a few hours a day of peace and quiet.

Get a notebook and try to flesh out your chapters. That way you’ve got notes to follow on those days that you’re staring at a blank screen trying to figure out what comes next. As you consult your notes, more ideas will come. Being organized is a must. A five-subject notebook works best. You can dedicated a subject to your characters. Give them personalities and make notes on what place they have in your story.

Why not write your synopsis first? That way you have your entire work more or less plotted - beginning, middle, and end. This will help to keep you focused, and keep you from going off on tangents that waste time.

Keep a small notebook with you at all times. Everywhere you go, you’re introduced to people, conversations, and various other things that will spark ideas in your mind. Use this notebook to jot down ideas as they come.

Do your research for the novel on a specific day each week. Your writing time is valuable. Don’t waste time researching when you are supposed to be writing.

Having your own space to write and concentrate is the most important. Quiet is necessary as the Muse influences and inspires. Any outside noise and confusion will chase off your muse quickly. Establish your own space where no one will bother you. Instill boundaraies so that your family knows that this is your space and you’re not to be bothered. If you can’t establish your own space at home, try going to the local library.

Do you know what fosters your muse? Some writers must have absolute solitude without a single background noise. Others need music or television on in the background, but this is purely an individual choice and varies from writer to writer. There is no right or wrong. Whatever makes you more productive is definitely the way to go.

Last, but definitely not least - never give up. Life is always going to threaten to get in the way of your novel. Having confidence in yourself and your abilities is necessary for a novel to be completed. Keep the Muse alive and the Muse will help to guide you to your goal. First novels are published in spite of all the naysayers out there who say it’s almost impossible. The next first novelist could very well be you!


- Amanda Baker