Month: April 2011

Inspiration Monday VI

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Monday again, yippee! I hope it was a good weekend for all. Last week produced some particularly powerful pieces from all the participants, as if the inadvertant theme was “how to change people’s minds using words.” Go ye and checketh them out!

Mike and Mike’s flash fiction

Indigo Spider

Find an Outlet

Char

I feel like I’m missing someone. Am I missing anyone? Shoot me a comment!

*EDIT*: I was! I believe Jinx was the first to post: Jinx

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The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

Whispers from the casket

The papercut that changed the world

The last man on earth

You can hear the stars speaking to each other

future-proof

 

If you want to share your Inspiration Monday piece, post it on your blog and link back to today’s post (it’s easier for me if you also comment below with a link); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at: stephanie (at) balcomagency (d0t) com.

Happy writing!

7 surefire writing tips for April

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I thought I’d kick off the month with a quick list of writing tips that are sure to create a bestseller.

1. Don’t write every day. Writing is like lifting weights. Your mental muscles need to rest every other day, or you might strain something and damage it permanently.

2. Don’t read other people’s work. When you create something, it needs to come from you alone. You can’t write something pure and honestly yours if you have other people’s words swimming around in your head.

3. The more words, the better. A short novel is the sign of an amateur writer. Anything less than 100,000 words is a disgrace.

4. The first chapter should be mostly backstory. Your readers need to get to know your characters before they can get into the real action. Flashbacks are really useful for this, and you can use as many as you want.

5. Don’t nitpick. 99% of the time, the first version you write will be the best version. Don’t second-guess yourself. Anyone who criticizes your grammar or sentence structure just obviously doesn’t understand art.

6. Use a cool font. Times New Roman is kind of boring. Comic Sans is much more fun looking, and it will add whimsy to your writing.

7. Take up smoking. That way your hands will have something to do when you’re not typing.

BONUS TIP: Once you get published, make sure that on the front cover, your name is bigger than the title of the book. Branding yourself as an author is way more important than promoting the story itself.