Bloggers that Blog

Danny’s an awesome guy and deserves high praise.

Grow Your Audience – 8 Tricks Efficient Writers Use On Twitter

Very good advice and I would follow it closer if I didn’t have a preoccupation with playing around on Social Media…hehe.

Sacha Black

Time. That precious commodity no one has. Everything is about time. I bitch about time, ALL THE TIME! But it’s a misnomer. See, if I have time to shovel a chocolate bar… (fine two bars) in my gob, then I can find time to schedule tweets, finish that bloody book, and pin my posts to Pinterest.

I’ve already talked about choices, and the fact reaching goals is all about choice in my post a couple of weeks ago that talks about Setting Unrealistic Goals in Order to Achieve Unbelievable Outcomes.

Everyone knows Twitter is in the top 5 tools for boosting traffic, but scheduling tweets is another matter. I have tweets scheduled up to 6 months in advance. Yeah, really, and no, it’s not because I’m super organised. Once I write a post, I use a program to create template tweets and then schedule them for the next 6…

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Sometimes You just Gotta Say…

Here are a few wonderful expressions that I use when the BS gets to the Expulsion Point:

1) “Blow it out your ass.”

2) “Are you spreading awareness or just being a pain in the butt?”

3) “How did you get so good at being annoying? Did you take a class?”

4) “Pointing out a problem without a reasonable solution is simply bitching.”

5) “I’ll bet your keyboard really hates you most days.”

6) “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Hate me because I see through your crap and you don’t like it.”

Tongue in cheek, Guys, tongue in cheek. Well, and Monday. 😉

Character Development: Working for a Living

We are all shaped by our experiences and our fictional characters are no different. Unless you plan every character you ever write about to be independently wealthy, they’re going to need a way to pay the bills and put food on their tables. Yes, even the Fantasy guys.

Giving your characters occupations will open up a wide range of options in who they are and what kind of person they will be. For example:

1) Are they educated? If so, what level of education?

2) Do they like their job?

3) Does the job adequately meet their needs or do they have to struggle?

4) Is it just a job or is it their career?

5) How do they interact with their co-workers?

Obviously, the story will dictate what it needs, and these example questions are merely the tip of the iceberg, but it demonstrates the infinite directions you can go with this aspect of a character. I prefer to create characters that are independent in nature because I am independent by nature.

Giving your characters something to identify with is an important step in making them believable. Thanks for your time. 🙂

The Funnel Effect

A lot of information goes into every story that I write. Dates, places, people, all of it and every detail has to fit neatly into the tale that I am telling. I don’t find it very difficult, but if I had an observer behind me, it would look like total chaos.

Everyone knows what a funnel is and what it’s used for. This familiar object is the visual aid that I will be using in this particular discussion.

Pouring a liquid through a funnel is very much like what I do with my stories. Lots of volume into the big end, extraneous bits get compressed and squeezed out, and finally, we have a compact end result coming out of the skinny end.

I believe that we should always strive to put our best efforts into the material we create. After all, what we create is representative of who we are and the amount of love that we express. Yes, even sparkly vampires, shuffling zombies, and teenagers running around with magical sticks need the loving touch of a storyteller who cares about their subject matter.

You will always have more accumulated material than what ends up in the final manuscript. That’s a good thing because even if your eyes are the only ones who ever view the information; it is always better to have more than less.

Thanks for your time. 🙂

Running At Half Speed

Work on Lights and Shadows has slowed to a crawl since the new year started and while I will never stop until it is finished, I will admit that scheduling Books 2 and 3 of the Parallax Trilogy has been difficult.

I am loathe to say that I am burned out on Writing. Saying that would be like saying I’m burned out on breathing so we won’t go there. Unfortunately, the brilliant ideas that are dancing around in my head don’t seem to be making their way down to my fingertips and to The Page.

So, I’m plodding along at half-speed, dropping exposition and dialog the best I can to keep the story moving along in hopes to resuming the momentum while chomping on sinus medication washed down by my favorite caffeinated beverages. Hey, it’s not all bright lights and champagne.

The book won’t write itself. So, I let another cigarette burn itself out in the ashtray while I stare at the Scrivener Screen and fight for inspiration. If Muses exist, they’re not hanging around me and my laptop. Oh well, screw em…hehe.

I’m not depressed by any means. It’s more like a Blah type of malaise has set in. Of course, I could resort to the “Bombs and Boobs” Method of firing the boiler but when you already have your main characters in a precarious position, it’s best not to go down a path where you might have to kill them or destroy the setting around them. Not that I love them THAT much. 😉

Anyway, that’s my article for today. Thanks for your time. 🙂