Writing Various Ages Ages change if we write about more than a year in a character’s life. And we can also find we are writing a clash of them, as parents and their offspring collide, or teachers and students collide. Infants and Toddlers The very young can change in rather rapid and surprising ways. Fortunately, […]
Ideas jar Do you have an ideas jar? Origin I first heard of this idea when I read Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing. However, I suspect this methodology may not have been his invention. However, either way, it is a fantastic concept and it can help you in two very separate ways when […]
Getting inspiration from pets Pets are our constant companions. For a lot of people, their animal friends are their sole contact on some days. And they can inspire. Do you speak Dog? Humans first domesticated dogs back when we still lived in caves. They probably saved our species and certainly love us unconditionally. Dogs are […]
Eavesdropping for fun and inspiration So, Eavesdropping? Eavesdropping really works, and it is probably a writer‘s best tool. Once you start listening in on conversations, you will open up a whole new world. Because real dialogue, interspersed with your created dialogue, adds realism. Subtlety First of all, you have got to be subtle. This means […]
Grab Some Inspiration from Friendship Friendship Friendship is as inspiring as the memory of old love affairs. Our friends can help us write. Sometimes it’s because of something we did together. And sometimes it’s because we want to honor them. Names For stories which need a lot of names, why not ask your friends whether […]
Grab Some Inspiration from Myths and Legends Myths and legends are perhaps the oldest stories we humans tell each other. They go back to before human beings were literate. They may go back to before agriculture, which would make them some six to ten thousand years old. Yeah, legends are that old. Myths We might, at […]
Getting inspiration from employment Working Stiffs Employment colors most people’s lives (or the lack of a job). And whether your job is a creative one, or has to do with business, athletics, science, the Internet, or anything else, it can help propel your creative spirit to new heights. Employment as Metaphor So let’s say your characters […]
Getting inspiration from childhood Childhood Ah, childhood. What is it about our younger years that gives us such feelings of nostalgia? Is it because things were so much newer then? Or were they simpler? We had fewer responsibilities. Yet plenty of people don’t have lives like that. For those who lost a parent, or were […]
Getting Inspiration from Education Education Education is of course something anyone in a wealthier country, who is over than the age of five, has in common with everyone else. But what does it have to do with writing? The Process Consider the process you go through, and even the rituals which accompanying schooling. You get […]
Complex Evil Characters For complex evil characters to work, you’ve got to give them some screen time, as it were. Because a paragraph or two simply will not cut it. Backstory Since evil characters are a certain type of character, it pays to give them a backstory as deep and rich and meaningful as the […]