Welcome to the month of love
February is finally here and with it, we say goodbye to those pesky January blues and hello to the month of love. I, for one, have had a rollercoaster of a January. Wednesday marked my last day at work and next week I officially move myself and all my belongings out of London, ready for my next adventure (whatever that may be).
Needless to say, I hate packing and decided to take a much needed break; thus here I am, writing my next blog post whilst eating a KitKat (chunky, in case you were wondering).
So what is on the agenda this week?
BOOK PLANNING!
A lot happens between thinking up a new idea and taking pen to paper, so to speak and although I'm sure this process differs for every individual, I'm going to talk you through some of the Do's and Do Not's of book planning from my personal experiences. I have been writing for two years now and while some may consider that no time at all, I've still learned a great deal from my many mistakes and hope that by sharing them with you, we can all have a jolly good laugh!
Alright, DO #1:
Get your hands on some sexy, new stationary!
Admit it, you're a sucker for fancy notebooks and jazzy pens! WE ALL ARE and believe me when I say getting excited over your writing tools helps. I have a different notebook for each of my books and all are full of random quotes, facts about particular themes and even sometimes drawings (bad ones, but still). This piece of stationary will soon become your best friend and will likely travel everywhere with you. If, like me, an idea strikes at any time, it's good to jot things down instantly because again, if like me, your memory is poor, you may very well forget what it was...I can't tell you the amount of times I've thought of a brilliant idea and forgot all about it by the time I got home.
DO NOT #1:
Resist the urge to write chapter one!
Alright, alright; put your pitchforks down! I know telling a writer not to write sounds totally ridiculous but hear me out. Having a new idea can easily lead to excitement and excitement can turn into an unrelenting need to write the whole book in one night (believe me, I've been there) but take a step back and think things through for a second. Diving in without any real thought or research into the world you are creating can be the downfall of any book. It is important that you, the author, fully understands the surroundings and plot of the story otherwise how can you expect your readers to? DO YOUR RESEARCH!
DO #2:
Talk your ideas through with someone else!
This can be anyone from your best friend to your Mum (beware, talking sex scenes with your Mum can cause major embarrassment). It is integral for us writers to share our ideas and it more often than not helps us out in more ways than one. It can help pick out any plot holes/ areas for improvement. You may understand the story in which you want to tell but that doesn't always translate to others and knowing which bits lack strength can really help you focus on getting it right. Chatting to someone else can also inspire new, never thought of before ideas which may well prove far better than the original one you had.
*Please note that if you do decide to talk your ideas through with someone else, make sure you can trust this person. You don't want people stealing your wonderful ideas and making millions off of it.
DO NOT #2:
Do not mollycoddle your story!
Our books are out babies and we'll do everything in our power to protect them. GREAT! so you should but that does not mean you can shut yourself off from new ideas. Our books are constantly growing and changing the entire direction of the plot is not necessarily a bad thing. Keep an open mind and you may well find that in doing so, you create the next best seller. For those of you who have read my book, 'My Not So One Night Stand', you might find it interesting that in my first draft, gangs were never brought up. It wasn't until chatting my ideas through with my boyfriend one night that I came up with an entire back story to introduce drug addiction and Dan’s involvement with it. Looking back, I have no idea what the story would be without that particular plot point but I'm happy with the direction I took, even if it was miles off my intended idea. BE BRAVE! If you don't like it, you can always go back to your original idea.
Alright guys, that concludes this week's post. Feel free to comment any questions below. I'd love to hear what process works for you!
Until next time...
Rebecca-Jade xx
KITKAT DESTROYED!!
BOOK PLANNING!
A lot happens between thinking up a new idea and taking pen to paper, so to speak and although I'm sure this process differs for every individual, I'm going to talk you through some of the Do's and Do Not's of book planning from my personal experiences. I have been writing for two years now and while some may consider that no time at all, I've still learned a great deal from my many mistakes and hope that by sharing them with you, we can all have a jolly good laugh!
Alright, DO #1:
Get your hands on some sexy, new stationary!
Admit it, you're a sucker for fancy notebooks and jazzy pens! WE ALL ARE and believe me when I say getting excited over your writing tools helps. I have a different notebook for each of my books and all are full of random quotes, facts about particular themes and even sometimes drawings (bad ones, but still). This piece of stationary will soon become your best friend and will likely travel everywhere with you. If, like me, an idea strikes at any time, it's good to jot things down instantly because again, if like me, your memory is poor, you may very well forget what it was...I can't tell you the amount of times I've thought of a brilliant idea and forgot all about it by the time I got home.
DO NOT #1:
Resist the urge to write chapter one!
Alright, alright; put your pitchforks down! I know telling a writer not to write sounds totally ridiculous but hear me out. Having a new idea can easily lead to excitement and excitement can turn into an unrelenting need to write the whole book in one night (believe me, I've been there) but take a step back and think things through for a second. Diving in without any real thought or research into the world you are creating can be the downfall of any book. It is important that you, the author, fully understands the surroundings and plot of the story otherwise how can you expect your readers to? DO YOUR RESEARCH!
DO #2:
Talk your ideas through with someone else!
This can be anyone from your best friend to your Mum (beware, talking sex scenes with your Mum can cause major embarrassment). It is integral for us writers to share our ideas and it more often than not helps us out in more ways than one. It can help pick out any plot holes/ areas for improvement. You may understand the story in which you want to tell but that doesn't always translate to others and knowing which bits lack strength can really help you focus on getting it right. Chatting to someone else can also inspire new, never thought of before ideas which may well prove far better than the original one you had.
*Please note that if you do decide to talk your ideas through with someone else, make sure you can trust this person. You don't want people stealing your wonderful ideas and making millions off of it.
DO NOT #2:
Do not mollycoddle your story!
Our books are out babies and we'll do everything in our power to protect them. GREAT! so you should but that does not mean you can shut yourself off from new ideas. Our books are constantly growing and changing the entire direction of the plot is not necessarily a bad thing. Keep an open mind and you may well find that in doing so, you create the next best seller. For those of you who have read my book, 'My Not So One Night Stand', you might find it interesting that in my first draft, gangs were never brought up. It wasn't until chatting my ideas through with my boyfriend one night that I came up with an entire back story to introduce drug addiction and Dan’s involvement with it. Looking back, I have no idea what the story would be without that particular plot point but I'm happy with the direction I took, even if it was miles off my intended idea. BE BRAVE! If you don't like it, you can always go back to your original idea.
Alright guys, that concludes this week's post. Feel free to comment any questions below. I'd love to hear what process works for you!
Until next time...
Rebecca-Jade xx
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