Catégorie : Writing Tips

How to Master the Writing Routine

The Muse is super fun to hang out with, but since she has many places to be…

For years, I would only write at night, after school. Then, I would only write in the early morning, before work.

After my baby finally started to sleep through the night, at 15 months (if you are curious, that’s sums up to 450 nights of 3-4 hours of sleep; yes, I know I was lucky.), I needed a new, well, everything. Including a writing routine.

The snowstorm of writing routines

As I am writing, well within March, dear Mother Nature unleashed yet another snowstorm. The snowflakes are big and fluffy. From my wanna-be office window, I cannot see the small frozen lake anymore; I can barely see the houses on the street parallel to us.

Lost within the snowstorm of tips, hacks, methods and what’s more, the keys for establishing a good writing routine.

I stumbled upon so many sh**** ideas, oh dear Calliope and sisters! I even found one fellow giver of tips&tricks with a what-number steps for a magic writing routine.

Heck yeah, I listened to what that person had to say, but, yeah no, I couldn’t go through with the meditation and « say hi to the sun » part.

Writing routine : the gathering

I ended gathering the most relevant, for me anyway, tips & tricks on how to establish a good writing routine.

That means I came up with a mix of Common Sense, guilt-free tips and effective tricks to master the writing routine.

  • Forget the Muse

Feeling inspired is great, but it is NOT going to help you write, yet finish, a novel.

Sit your butt down, put glue on the chair if you have to, and write (that’s from an francophone author who wrote more then a 100 kids novels; proven tip if there was ever one).

  • Set realistic writing goals.

Of course, you can write a book in 10 days, 30 days, 3 months… although the quality of the end result may vary.

Better be realistic when it comes to writing goals and set for ourselves easily attainable writing goals.

500 words a day, 5 days&nights a week is how I started. Once the routine was established, I soon revised increase the word count goal, but not up to a point where I would feel guilty to not have been able to reach the said goal one day.

100 words a day, 5 days a week could also be an excellent start to master the writing routine.

  • Reward yourself at the beginning of your new writing routine.

Many trustworthy authors and bloggers give that tip. It is a fun and effective way to make any new routine work.

After a while (I read it takes 17 to 21 days to form a new habit, but this is NOT a writing routine deadline of some sort) the new writing routine should start to feel like a part of yourself.

  • A writing routine should always go with your flow.

Translation: Writer, know thyself.

If you early riser, work with that. If you can’t muster the energy to write at night, don’t. The important thing is, while not being a total dictator toward yourself, to stick to your writing goal at the beginning, whether you’re feeling like writing or not.

  • Stick to your goals… and to happy writer face

Writing should be enjoyable, it should be fun. Writing should make you happy.

It is a lot of hard work, of course, but still, if you cannot enjoy it, why bother?

The ones who helped me master the writing routine

From a fun place I found thought the best place for writers, Pinterest: https://www.well-storied.com/blog/11-tips-for-creating-writing-routine

Super useful and to the point tips. No magic nor miracles there, just good old Common Sense: http://www.savannahgilbo.com/10-tips-creating-writing-routine/h

This one helped me de-stress about the whole writing routine game, which at first seemed like a bigger deal then having to plan a wedding (at this point, I swear, I am getting married in my pj’s and we’ll have bbq chicken with the fridging champagne): https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/4-writing-routine-myths-that-kill-creativity

I hope those tested writing routine tips will help you out. They certainly helped me!

How to write a novel ​: 3 tested tips to get things started

Here’s 3 tips that served me well over the years, and some bonus thoughts on this « how to write »!

Beside from sitting your bum on chair and, you know, write.

Not long ago, a friend asked me for some help. She wanted to write a novel but honestly didn’t know where to start.

She had not so much of an idea, but she knew what kind of book she wanted to write.

Even though I have been writing for more than twenty years, I had to think things through before answering. 

How do I start writing a novel again?

Please welcome the great, the marvellous, the incredible Ideas!

Well, the first thing you need when you want to write a novel is an idea. There’s really no way around it.

You need a character that goes on a quest to obtain something essential to her/his life or else.

Where to find ideas then?

Here are 5 tips on how to find ideas for a novel, that served me oh so very well over the years.

I got those tested tips from the creative writing class I use to take, as well as from authors interviews, channels or books.

Tip #1 : Read the newspapers

An actual paper newspapers. It is FULL of sparkling ideas, I promise.

Read the headlines for sure, but take the time to read all those little articles about the local news, or the local news in other countries. What I like the most is the political crisis in little countries or this old law that just got overruled (mostly laws about the proper use of horses).

That being said, I more than often much more weird, disturbing, sad news, perfect to start a thriller or a mystery novel for example.

In French, we have a say: la réalité dépasse la fiction. Meaning that reality is, very often, less believable than fiction.

The newspapers holds many proofs of that.

Tip #2: Take public transport

You will help decrease pollution worldwide AND you will be able to study other humans in their natural habitat. Plus, you can do some very inspiring ears dropping.

It’s crazy how a spectacular outfit, a burst of peculiar laughter, an incredible amount of egg shapes freckles covering the entire face of a beautiful person (true story, the impossible green of her eyes still haunts my writer dreams), can spark the creative flow.

Who’s behind that rainbow tailor suit; why is that person talking about quantum physics in Russian on his/her phone at 7 in the morning; geez, I really didn’t need to know about that young woman gynecologist appointement (true story).

Tip #3: Get out

I mean it.

Take a walk, a normal, no counting how steps you’ve taken or how many calories you’ve burned walk. And take that opportunity to leave stress behind.

Better yet, get out there. Travel. Meet new people, taste new things. No need to break the bank. A little imagination goes a long way

Still, the best way to travel for free is: read books.

When in doubt, go to the library

Novels can transport you through time and space. You can hear different voices, you get to be confronted by different realities.

To read novels is to travel far beyond our own prejudices, beyond the walls we built in our heads, beyond what we thought was true.

Ideas live in books. And in a library, they are many, many books.

I will now digress a little, if I may, and share opinions. Disclosure: I mean no disrespect to anyone. I do mean to bash or put to shame anyone either.

I am hopeful that your public library buys books from every author in the World, and does not censure anything, even the crap I know think is pollution both for the mind and the environment.
Because we all have the right to read whatever the frex we want, as long as it doesn’t make one a complete psychopath-racist-shallow jerk (ends all those crappy books I wish were not published).

Anyway.

It goes without saying. To write a novel, you need to read novels…. Or so I thought.

Depressingly enough, some people will argue that they can write a book, since they play video games and watch movies and tv series.

Oh my dearfrexing Gosh.

No no.

No no no.

To write a novel, you NEED to read novels. End of the discussion. See you at the library!

Sources

Here are some people whom might be able to help you too!

Very good one from Amina’s blog, of Numawork Creatives.

Writers Digest gets you started with basic stuff.

A Well Told Story is coming at you with her usual great tips to get writing.

So many tools you can use to help you along your writing journey. I like the ones from Writers helping writers, but there is many more.

One of my favorites author helping others, Paula, helps you with the dreaded first chapter.

Writing tip ​: how to tackle the Smurfette​ principle?

it is late in my short five years career as a bookshop girl that I was introduced to the Smurfette Principle.

I clicked « send » and, just then, somehow, after two whole fridging years working on the said send manuscript, it hit me.

Did I just sent to a publisher a kid’s novel guilty of the Smurfette Principle?

Disclaimer: I mean no offense to anyone, nor do I mean to condemn anybody’s stories or ideas. You are free to be the writer, or better yet, the human being you want to be. I simply want to share what I’ve learned from my mistakes, things I think are useful to be aware of. I’m sharing writing tips here, no judgemental life lessons of any kind.

Unless for very specific reasons, I never outline my stories. I start with a character, a general plot idea, and off I go to this new world, meeting these new people. I love writing.

In the said novel I send off to publishers recently, the main character, plagued by phobias, finds herself trying to make her utterly impossible dream come true.

I re-wrote it four times. It changed a lot. Still, it was not until I send it to the first publishers on my list (no literary agent in my very small francophone corner of North America!) that I realized what I might have done.

I wasn’t sure. Ends the research about the Smurfette Principle and how to tackle it! a

A twenty years old Principle

The Smurfette Principle has been around for twenty years now. It was first introduced by Katha Pollitt in an article published in the New York Times in 1991.

Personally, it is late in my short five years career as a bookshop girl that I was introduced to the Smurfette Principle. My friend and colleague, a lover of kid’s and YA literature, also happened to be an eager feminist, way before it got back in style.

After her lunch break, one of this day shaping up to be exactly like the day before, she burst into an outraged plea against the fact that most books were still contaminated by the Smurfette Principle, in YA novels especially.

It is quite simple. Based on the Smurfs universe, where there’s only one female among a hundred male, the Smurfette Principle highlights the fact that only one female character is present among many males in a given story, whether a novel or a Hollywood movie.

(Hollywood movies and some tv series are particularly plagued by this Principle. The same can be said for the representation of First Nations, African American, Latin American, LGBTQ+, people living with a handicap, so on and so forth. But I will stay away from that burning and so fundamental topic for now.)

Smurfettes and Smurfs of the world, be Aware !

How to tackle down the Smurfette principle? Well, it is not rocket science:

by being more aware !

If we take the time to take a look back at what we are writing, like I should have done with this kid’s novel of mine, and always bear in mind that all readers are different.

As a woman writer, you would think I would have thought of that. But no! I default to the mainstream cast of characters we see everywhere.

Once the Smurfette Principale highjacked my mind, I couldn’t do anything else but go through my characters.

My hero is a girl of Asian origins. Her sidekick is male. They get help from males. The bad guy is male. She pretty much stands alone, aside from 4 chapters where she is saved by a girl… and a guy.

Mother Smurfette

Sadly, my story screams Smurfette Principle.

Now, I will follow my own exemple.

Once I am thru with the current story I’m writing, I am determined to do some serious twicking on the manuscript, whether I get a positive answer from the publishers or not.

It does mean going over the whole for the fifth time. But I’ll be dang before I end up being with my pen name on a loaded Smurfette Principle book.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/11/smurfette-principle-why-cant-hollywood-accept-gender-equality

http://lesbrutes.telequebec.tv/capsule/2802

Talents Hauts et le sexisme en littérature de jeunesse

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/27/a-depressing-lack-of-diversity-in-childrens-books