Questions

i’ve lost interest and the want to continue writing the novel i’ve started.

its very hard work.
and i WANT to start writing the novel again and actually finish it and publish it.

can people give me tips and your experiences so i can enjoyfully (if thats a word) continue my novel writing.

and just some general tips on novel writing.

thanks alot,
Levi.
- Levi L=]

And I’d appreciate any other advice or experiences you can offer up on the subject.
- numbnuts

I read a book called “Driving Over Lemons” and it was the best. Since I don’t have the time or money to do alot of travelling I was hoping to at least read about other people’s experiences. So if anyone has any suggestions I would truly appreciate it.
- caz

Is your writing a joy-filled creative process or a drudgery-filled chore? If you answered a chore, today is the day to change your perspective. Read this article and you’ll see writing your book easily is simply a matter of harvesting your information. You may discover you already possess the majority of the information needed to complete your book.

The real test is simply to organize what you know into a database of usable ideas. The beginning steps outlined below will help you identify and organize the information you need (and already have) into chunks of information to write your book. By analyzing your experiences and life observations into building block ideas and organizing them, you will be ready to write sooner.

Follow these simple steps, identify, organize your ideas, mine the gold called your knowledge; then easily write and complete your book. To get started do this:

1. Realize You Know More Than You Think.

You have gained a certain level of success in your field, career or even hobby. You may be an active consultant, business owner, speaker, or writer. In your field you have been constantly learning and observing. On your path to success through failures, successes and opportunities to learn, you have been accumulating the information you need to complete your book.

You have experienced and observed what works and does not work. Through the process of continually doing what you do, you have gained a wealth of knowledge and information.

The challenge is that your knowledge is unorganized. Once you create a structure for organizing your ideas, your ability to create your book and/or books will quickly take shape.

2. Divide and conquer; begin to break your knowledge into chunks of information. The beginning point is to begin separate your files, speeches, articles into general topics. For example, I have bodies of information for my inspirational writing and a whole other body or topic for business writing.

And of course there’s another topic for the how-tos of writing in my files. When I first started, I went through and separated these chunks of information into different folders and eventually as my chunks of information grew I had to house them in separate file units.

After creating topical groups, break your knowledge for your book into individual ideas or chunks of information so you can inventory what you already know on the subject.

You’ll notice as you organize and inventory the ideas you already possess; it will uncover some areas that your knowledge is bit weak. Once you identify the weak areas in your knowledge, it becomes easy to locate the information needed to fill in the gap or strengthen the weak area.

3. Create framework for organizing your ideas

For a short book, simply create a list of every idea related to your book’s topic. After you start your list and create a structure, it can be suprising how quickly your book takes shape.

Now take your list and number them in order of importance. After your ideas have been prioritized, you can easily spot patterns of what will lead to writing a book on what you are most passionate about.

4. Pursue your most passionate idea

Successful books are based on one central idea. The author concentrates on one main theme to drive their book to success. Textbooks can get away with a list of all kinds of facts. But non-fiction books, especially how-to books are based on one main idea.

The central idea provides the focus needed to make your writing compelling. For your book, you need a viewpoint, a position, and a conclusion that you develop fact by fact or step by step as you write your book.

Readers look for an easy read. They look for a book that will help them solve their problem step by step. They need interpretation, perspective and sequence.

The easiest way to come up with a main idea for your book is to follow your passion. To choose a subject that you will be still be passionate about in a year or so, ask yourself these questions:

What ideas are you really passionate about, What ideas do you consistently discuss no matter where you are? What ideas do you really want to share with the world? Where do you see others making the same mistakes you did? How can you help people with your knowledge? What key ideas helped you succeed or caused you to fail? What main idea can make a difference in the lives of others?

This is important because if you pinpoint your passion well, the easier it will be to write a book that expresses what you want to express. Readers enjoy and appreciate passion. Choose a topic you are excited by and let your enthusiasm and excitement spread faster than the common cold.

Your readers will connect to you and be excited by it. They will reward you by reading your book from cover to cover and then tell all their friends about your wonderful, insightful book. Remember, the more passionate you are about your topic the faster you will be able to write, complete and publish your book.


- Earma Brown

I would love a new book.
Spiritual I’ve likes Celestine Prophecy, Conversations with God, Mary MAgdalene…
Historical fiction - Alienist, Time after Tine or fiction about others’ experiences - Memoirs of a Geisha, She’s come undone…

What have you loved reading?
- irish eyes

We all have a gazillion stories that float through out our psyche. We have stories about our childhood. We have stories about relationships. We have stories about lots of different experiences. Then, there are the stories that we carry about friends, coworkers, our ancestry, our community, our culture, and other people’s cultures.

We also have “default” stories … these are the ones that we tend to fall back on when we are sharing about ourselves or when something happens that is upsetting … we just write it into the book which holds all the “stories which prove that life is hard!” or “stories which prove that I am lazy!” If a loved one does something that upsets us, that goes into the book labeled “Proof that my fella is rotten!”

If we are really creative in our story telling we might create varying categories with story titles like: “Ways I fail in life!” “Abundance is for others, not me!” or the best seller “Unlovable Me!” These categories tend to be sort of vague, which allows us to put anything into them depending on our mood!!!

If something lovely happens, we store that information in the book which holds all of the “stories which prove that I am fabulous!” or “stories that prove that I am funny” or whatever. Interesting to note, that for many folks these books have more blank pages, then pages with words on them!

There seems to be a tendency to gather certain stories lines that “prove” what we believe to be true about ourselves, about someone else, about our culture, about another’s culture … proof that we are “right” about our stories.

Now, what I think is interesting about all of this is that our ego wants to be right no matter what! Even if it is a story about how “lazy” we are, or how someone else doesn’t “appreciate” us, or that we are “unlovable!” The ego says, “This is my story and I am sticking to it!”

What’s your point? You might be asking this by now! My point is this: These are just stories. Stories are created by the imagination. Stories are created by our perceived experiences and are passed on down the line, which leaves lots of room for even more distortion.

Ever play that game as a kid? It seems like this was usually around a campfire with marshmallows … where one kid whispers a short story to the kid next to them … that kid shares what she heard to the next kid … on and on until the last kid to hear the story, tells the group the story. The story tended to be hilarious because it was nothing like the original story! This is what can happen in our own stories. It starts with a experience … we have a reaction … positive or negative. We replay what happened in our mind. We tell someone else the story. Time passes. The story changes with time and mood.

If you are prone to embellishing things, you can bet that the stories have a flair for the dramatic! In any case, the story becomes distorted in some way: the memory get more intense, less intense, sounds change, colors change, what was said changes, your placement in the story may change. What you tell yourself it means about you may intensify. What you tell yourself it means about the other people in the experience may intensify. All sorts of things happen.

This conversation leads me to ways to shift the story line. How can we release the charge from the stories we tell ourselves? I use lots of tools to do this, my favorite is EFT. What I love about doing EFT with folks (including myself), is that when we clear the negative charge about an event, a new story line emerges. When the person describes the story again, it has a different focus and sometimes even a different outcome. Now that is cool!!!!!

When the disruption is cleared, the person is able to see the story from a different perceptual focus. So, we literally carry our stories, not only in our minds, but in our bodies … in our cells.

We also carry stories from our ancestors the same way … though these stories may not be in the conscious mind; they are in our cellular memories.

Can we change our stories without using tapping or other energy psychology modalities? I am not sure. I can change my own stories as long as there is not an emotional charge behind the story. If there is a charge, I need to move the charge out of my body before the story can change … meaning: Once the charge has been released I believe the new story.

What do you think about this whole topic? How do your stories about yourself and others affect your daily life? What are some of your “default” stories?


- Lynne Morrell

And I’d appreciate any other advice or experiences you can offer up on the subject.
- numbnuts

I have read the books House to House by david bellavia and Shooter by Jack Coughlin which are books about their experiences in the iraq wars. What other books are out there that are written by the people who fight in the wars?

i like to read about modern day wars, with a lot of violence gore.
any suggestions?
- rhys_105

At some point or another every writer experiences writers block. It could be because of tiredness, life’s stresses and strains, or it could be for absolutely no reason at all. There is no one type or reason, but there are many ways in beating writer’s block that you can incorporate into your daily routine.

Write all the time

Writing every day in little bursts will help combat the serious bout of writers block. Where ever you go keep a notebook handy so if a great idea comes to mind you can write it down there and then. If you can’t get past it, the best way I find to help unlock your thoughts on to paper is to go for a short walk, to clear your head before returning to the computer screen.

Meditation

I find that meditation helps quite considerably. It helps you to relax and allows you to find a peaceful place in order to gather your thought. After meditating I find I am at my most creative and relaxed. Most meditation courses can be found by private teachers, but if you are lucky to have a Buddhist center near by, they offer regular classes which run at different times during the day to suit you.

Don’t try too hard- take a break

Sometimes it can feel like you have to squeeze the words out, and in the end you are just not happy with what you have created. Don’t push yourself, even if you have a deadline as this will only stress you out further. Give yourself a break even if it’s to recharge to return to it an hour later or the next day. The best way to beat writers block is to come back to your writing when you are refreshed and relaxed. I find first thing in the morning is when I am at my most creative and fluid.

Change your scenery

Changing your surroundings can be a great way to alleviate writers block. Take yourself to a quiet café, or if it’s a nice day go outside. New things could give you inspiration and I find this helps when I get the worst of writers block.

Refresh your skills

It is always a good to refresh your skills once and a while to beat writers block. There are many inexpensive short day workshops for creative writers of all levels that you can use to your advantage.

A few years ago I went on a creative writing holiday in Scotland. The scenery among other factors was a great inspiration and being able to write with others meant I could learn new skills and techniques. These courses don’t happen all the time so snap it up when you get the chance.

Listen to how you write

One of the best bits of advice when beating writers block is to write with your talking voice. It is always obvious when a writer is not expressing themselves naturally and in the end, is more frustrating to write and uncomfortable to read.

I find the best way to combat this is to read what you have written or your problem passage and record yourself. Play back the tape and what you have written will sound completely different. This will help you to find the right words and will help get rid of writers block.

No matter what method you use to rid yourself of the dreaded writers block, it is always important to remember that really, writers block does not exist. It is a name we have given to the inability to make decisions when writing. Look at where you are having problems in coming to making your choice, whether its wording that paragraph or chapter. Sit and then figure out what decision you are not making and make it.


- Patricia A. Jones

i’m in high school and am taking a creative writing class next semester.
any experiences?
what kinds fo things would we do except poetry?
thankss
- yahooanswers ☮