My computer decided to throw a fit yesterday and I am still in the midst of fixing it. My files (including the notes for what was going to be Friday’s post) are currently being restored. So I’m sorry to say we will all have to wait until next week (or the week after) for the article about what to include in the first pages.
I fully expect Inspiration Monday to continue as usual, though my replies to comments, etc. will likely not be until late Monday.
Thank you for your patience!
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Sorry, guys; the day job has been pushing late into the evening this week, and I’m out of town this weekend with spotty Internet access. So today’s post did not happen. But check back Monday for new InMon prompts!
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Good day to you all. I am Tragic Pete. I will be assisting bekind with this blog, posting various tips, as well as a few of my own pieces of writing on occasion. Below is my most recent random thing; a sample, an introduction.
All the bits and pieces of the earth collide, combine, tear apart and reconnect repeatedly and continuously forming new and different bits out of the same elements. New grows old and becomes new again, disintegrate, rearrange, and converge into a bit that was not there before and yet has always been. All that I am in contact with becomes me, and I a part of it. I walk on the floor, I sit in a chair, I wear clothes and yet am naked, for my skin touches the cloth, the cloth touches the chair, the chair touches the floor and the floor is the ground where the earth is kept neatly out of sight. Everything touches everything else, molecules brush up against others that are not the same, but opposites attract and hold on to communicate what could be accomplished if electrons make the effort to produce and reproduce in a consummation of elemental harmony. I am therefore out of my body and into the earth. I am the wood of my desk, I am the circuits in the screen that displays words that are the fruit of my labor, my life’s work, an accomplishment of my brain to my fingers to the keys to the light that beams from the screen to my eyes that tell my brain I have written this, for here it is. I am what I write,what I write is what you read, what you read becomes a part of you. I am you.
Dear Rewriters,
In the interest of time management – such as getting more than six hours of sleep and posting Inspiration Monday prompts before the clock turns around to Tuesday – I have decided to cut Tuesday posts until further notice. I hope to be able to start them up again in the future, but in the meantime it should give me more time to: 1. Sleep; 2. Work on my book; 3. Get the Super Secret Project going.
InMon and Friday posts will go on as usual, so there’s no need to –
Wait. Super Secret Project?!?!?
Yes, yes. I can’t unveil anything yet (and don’t know when I will), because I haven’t got all the kinks worked out yet, but here are a few teaser clues:
I’ve been planning this since the institution of InMon, almost three whole months ago!
I want all of you to be involved
It will be a week-long event
There will be graphics! And a doorprize! And you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home!
I’ve said too much already.
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.
