Tag: tips

The 10 Types of Writers’ Block (and How to Overcome Them)

Stefanie Snider

“Writer’s Block. It sounds like a fearsome condition, a creative blockage. The end of invention. But what is it, really?

Part of why Writer’s Block sounds so dreadful and insurmountable is the fact that nobody ever takes it apart. People lump several different types of creative problems into one broad category. In fact, there’s no such thing as “Writer’s Block,” and treating a broad range of creative slowdowns as a single ailment just creates something monolithic and huge. Each type of creative slowdown has a different cause — and thus, a different solution.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the terrifying mystique of Writer’s Block, it’s better to take it apart and understand it — and then conquer it.”

Find out how at i09.com

CDC: No Such Thing As Zombies

Stefanie Snider

Given the recent cannibal attacks, the Center for Disease Control has issued a response to those worried about the impending Zombie Apocalypse:

“CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),” said agency spokesman David Daigle, to The Huffington Post.

Just in case, the CDC has published a Zombie Preparedness plan, available here.

(And make sure to reread your favourite zombie stories; you can never be too ready for Zombie Doom.)

Writing Game: Get in Their Heads

Stefanie Snider

Pick someone you loathe.

Come on, everyone has one. Yours could be someone famous, I suppose, whose morals or actions you disagree with. But that’s no fun. I want you to think of someone in your real life that drives you batshit. It could be a family member. A neighbour. That one woman at work whose voice makes you want to pull your own ears off so you can more easily stuff something, anything inside the holes and finally have some blessed silence.

I mean, if you know someone like that, you could use them for this game*.

Okay, so you’ve got your loathee picked out. Your job is to get into his or her head. What do they do at night? What’s their guilty pleasure? What’s in their bank account? How do they view themselves? What’s their secret? Set up shop and poke around a little.

Now experience an obstacle, as your loathee. The plumbing has burst, and there’s a jet of water shooting across the room. The car broke down, and the next paycheque isn’t due til next week. And by the way, that promotion went to someone else.
What does your loathee do? What are they thinking? What’s their mood like? Do they lay blame, and if so, on who?

You can play this game in two ways:
1. For the greater good.
Maybe by imagining what’s going on in this person’s life and thoughts will help you to understand them a little better. Maybe you’ll learn to let old grudges go, to be more accommodating to the quirks and nuances of someone you never much cared for. You’ll better communicate with someone you understand.

OR

2.Sweet, sweet evil.
That weird smell your loathee gives off? That’s because he sacrifices cats by the light of the full mooon: what you’re smelling is singed fur. And the reason she doesn’t listen is because she’s stuffed cork in her ears to compensate for a tragic deformity wherein her brains leak out if she tilts her head (which also explains why she’s so dumb). Run with it, ascribe any horrible fictional trait you like, but base it loosely in fact. Flex your imagination.

But why someone you don’t like?
Picking someone you don’t like gets you outside your comfort zone. It’s easy to imagine someone just like yourself; simply plug in your own ideals and reactions and it’s done. But often the people we don’t like are the people we don’t get. There’s the challenge: you have to get out of your own head before you can get into anyone else’s. (Like, oh, I don’t know…a character? They can’t all act/think/speak just like their authors, if the story is any good.)

(This is the part where writing books would tell you to write this shit down. Why? So you can relive it later? Nuh-uh, this is a GAME, and it won’t be FUN anymore if you make it too much like WORK. Besides, if you play only in your head, you can play in public…this broadens your target candidate base exponentially. Mwuahahaha.)

Give it a shot, and let me know what you think.

*Why “game”, when most people call it a writing “exercise”? Because one of these things sounds like way more fun than the other, that’s why.

How Long Should Your Story Be?

Stefanie Snider

“One common question asked by many writers is: “How long should my story be?”

The simplest answer is: As long as it takes to tell the whole story.

However, there are certain word lengths that editors prefer to see when submitting work.”

Continue reading at FictionFactor.com. Even if you’re an indie writer, it’s a great idea to know how to classify your work.

How to Talk About Your Story Without Giving Details

Stefanie Snider

As you know, I’m working on a new project.
As you also know, I don’t talk about stories I’m working on.

Sometimes I want to talk about the work, especially when I’m happy with the way it’s falling together, but I loathe giving away details before the story’s basically finished. Instead, I have this bad habit of making really awkward metaphors, which probably don’t tell anyone why I’m so excited in the first place.

I was trying just now to tell my husband about the new book/stories/thingy that I’m working on, and I didn’t want to jinx myself by telling him what exactly it’s all about.

This is what happened:
“Okay, so there’s a really obvious…thing…that connects the stories. Like BAM! right in your face. Say it’s a bunch of stories about dogs. ‘Kay? Now, there’s also a more subtle theme; like, say the dogs are like metaphors for the soul or something. Whatever, just listen. Okay, so I just figured out how two of the stories connect, specifically…like, Lassie is the dog in the first story, and she has puppies, then in the second story WHAM! one of puppies is there! There’s like…layers.”

So to those of you who have been asking…there. That’s what the current project is about. Glad I could clear that up for you.

Fuck Yeah.

Stefanie Snider

“This picture I’m gonna do right now is gonna suck, but I’m gonna do it anyways, just to see how bad it’s gonna look.
Fuck yeah.

I may do something REALLY good maybe once a month, but then I completely screw it up once I color it.
Fuck yeah.

I love art.
Fuck yeah.”

by forums user kool-ka-lang on Conceptart.org. Read the rest here, get pumped, and get creating.

It’s Spring! Writers, Get Organized

Stefanie Snider

Spring always makes me feel fantastic. It’s not the frigid Canadian winter anymore (though I hate that less since I learned how to knit), and it’s not yet the scorching, disgusting summer when I turn into a walking freckle. Spring is when it feels like everything’s waking up again. It’s a great time to start new things, and with that in mind…

I started organizing. (If you know me well, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you to swallow your beverage before you read that.)

I’ve never been a consistent enough writer to need to keep track of things. I’d spit out a piece here and there, and there’d be huge gaps of nothingness in between. I don’t know how I lived for any real length of time without writing, but there you have it.

But now, see, I have plans. I have goals. I’m producing more and more all the time, and I started to realize a few things I need to keep track of. So I treated myself to an office-supplies fix shopping trip and set up shop, properly.

Now I have lists of character names, which stories they were in, dates of publication, sales information, outlines for future stories, a calendar…I actually feel like for once I know exactly where I’m headed with this writing thing, and how and when I want to get there.

I’m still feeling my way through this whole actually-staying-on-top-of-things thing, but it’s coming together.

What tips can you share on keeping your creative life organized?