Awaken Your Creativity

Here's an activity that's fun and challenging at the same time. 

Works great right before you start to write. 

Creative Warm Up Activity

For Daydream Believers

http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/go-ahead-daydream-for-creativity.html

10 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer

http://chronicle.com/article/10-Easy-Steps-to-Becoming-a/131948/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en

A Day Late and a Comma Short

Yesterday was National Punctuation Day.

The official website is http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/ In addition to providing information on the day itself, the site gives usage information on each mark.

My favorite punctuation marks are the semicolon (joining two independent clauses) and the em dash (setting apart parenthetical expressions). I like them because they allow me to write in a way that matches the way I speak. I have a tendency to make associations, and my "asides" often come in the middle of my sentences. I'm struck by the fact that these two marks are opposites. Hmmm . . .

In the course of my day job—or when reading the work of aspiring writers—the most common punctuation mistakes I see are:

Commas: Not every pause in a sentence requires a comma.
Misplaced Apostrophe: Don't use an apostrophe when making something plural.

Maybe I'm the only literary weirdo with favorite punctuation marks; maybe I'm not. In any case, Happy Belated National Punctuation Day!

Let It Marinate

I've been working on a short story for about two weeks now. When I say "working on," I don't mean I've been producing pages of writing. I've been marinating an idea in my mind. I've written about 10 pages of notes and thoughts and feelings about the short story, but nothing concrete.

This is not my traditional process. Usually, when I come up with the idea for a story, it comes together quickly. I see the first scene immediately, have a good idea about who my main character is, and already have goals and obstacles falling out of my ears before I sit down to write.

With this story, I've gotten:

• premise: a thief and a mark
• story theme: we are our possessions
• first line: These things usually start with an introduction.
• story form: an IOU

So far, my main character is somewhat elusive. Most of the time, my main characters pop into my head fairly well developed. This character MIA is nerve racking. I'm also searching for my main character's greatest fear. I'll be ready to start when the answers to these issues give me goosebumps.

This is a stubborn story. Like a baby that goes way past the 9-month mark. The good thing is, the longer I mull it over, the better the ideas. Each day gives me new insight into the story. I just write all my insights down, until I've figured out where this story wants to go.

If anyone had asked me before today, I would have said that I'd been finished by now. I only want to write a 30 - 50 page short story. If I write my traditional 10 pages per day, I'd have that in less than a week.
Something tells me this story is going to be different in every way.

Keeping It Together

When I start a new a new novel, I go to Office Depot or Office Max (whichever is having the best sale at the time) and I buy three things:

• 2-inch, D-ring binder with pockets

• Paper portfolio that’s 3-hole punched

• Notebook (spiral or non) that’s 3-hole punched

When I start working on a story, I write all my ideas, bits of dialogue, plot points, and random character thoughts in my notebook. I keep the notebook with me at all times. Concerts, business meetings, crop parties. Yes, I’ve even taken it to the bathroom with me—hey, I get some of my best ideas in there!

Anyway, I don’t write anything on any extraneous pieces of paper. Those things: post-its, receipts, deposit slips, and the like can get easily lost, and then there goes my brilliant idea. So, I write everything in one place. Now, you can get notebooks with dividers. So if you want to separate you ideas by subject, such as backstory, plot, subplot, you could. I’m organized, but I’m not that organized. That kind of fine tuning is counter intuitive to my creative process—which is best described as . . . free flowing (read messy).

I use the portfolio to keep track of any loose papers. Photos from magazines of people that represent my characters. Pamphlets, booklets, from research I’ve done on the topic. News articles of events that I might talk about in my story. Things people send me. It’s amazing how when I tell people what my story’s about, sometimes I get things from friends and colleagues on that topic. And because I forget my notebook sometimes and I’m forced to write on the backs of napkins and weird slips of paper, the portfolio gives me a place to put them. If my portfolio gets too fat, I use the pockets in the binder as overflow.

Finally, I printout a copy of my manuscript when it’s ready to edit. (Yes, I do old school edits on paper.) I three-hole punch it and work on the edits. It’s also nice to have my manuscript printed out for those times when I’m writing about a character with ties to a previous book. I can quickly flip to whatever section I need to review from the previous novel and get the information I need to make the new story that I’m working on consistent.

So, that’s how I keep it together.

What’s your technique?