Category: Creative writing

How to Avoid Becoming a Self-Indulgent Writer

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment


We all enjoy a little self-indulgence now and then—a long soaking bath, a couple of glasses of wine, dinner at an expensive restaurant, lots of chocolate, etc..

But when it comes to writing, self-indulgence can confuse your readers and, worse, kill your story.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines self-indulgence as “excessive or unrestrained gratification of one’s own appetites, desires or whims.” As it pertains to writing, self-indulgent writing is writing that fulfills an author’s desires rather than the audience.

“It’s writing that doesn’t serve the story,” writes author K.M. Weiland. “It’s made up of ‘darlings’ you’re always being told you’re supposed to kill. It’s stuff you might love as a writer, but if you were an objective reader of your own stuff, you probably would not.” 

In a recent post on her blog Helping Writers Become Authors, Weiland describes the different ways that you might see self-indulgent writing in the books you read. For example:

  • A story that seems to never end as if the author is reluctant to finish it. The story itself might be over by page 325, but it continues to page 389. Or the writing comes across as rushed and needs editing. This is particularly true for books that are the last in a series.
  • The author spends too much time world-building as if they’ve gotten lost in a world of their own creation.
  • Scenes or dialogue that stretch out too long because the author seemed reluctant to end it. Or scenes or details that seemed to repeat as if the author forgot their place in the story while writing it.
  • Characters that have no purpose in the story because the author seemed to love the character’s personality
  • Giving a character a platform and voice to spout your own opinions about a current issue. Often called grandstanding, and it can come across as preachy.

So how can you recognize self-indulgence in your own writing? Here are a few questions to ask yourself.

  1. Who is your audience? Are you writing for yourself or for readers? Weiland says you write the first draft for yourself; the second draft is for the reader. It’s in that second draft that you weed out the little self-indulgences that detract from your story.
  2. Why are you writing this story? Is it to slay your personal demons? Or is it to entertain readers and take them on a journey to a world you’ve created?  Always keep the reader in mind as you write. Ask: what do readers need to know to help them understand this story?
  3. Have you fallen in love with certain characters? Do those characters have a purpose in your story? If you love them but they don’t have a meaningful purpose, it’s time to “kill your darlings” or at least, save them for another story.
  4. How much of yourself is in the story? Did you inadvertently portray yourself as the protagonist or the victim? Naturally, there will always be aspects of ourselves in our characters, but when you have become that character, it’s time to rethink who you want that character to be.
  5. Is there a character who is grandstanding—spouting opinions that you hold dear? Unfocused and personal musings or pontificating about current issues can turn off readers.
  6. Have you fallen in love with a setting or have you provided too much backstory and detail about the world you’ve created? Too many setting details can slow down your story.
  7. Are there any poorly-devised plot twists? They can create unnecessary scenes and push the story into dead ends. I’ve seen this happen when a plot twist added 50 pages that didn’t need to be there, pushing the total page count to more than 500 for a women’s fiction.
  8. How much time do you spend inside a character’s head and provide self-talk. Especially if you’re writing in first person, it can be easy to get inside your protagonist’s head—and stay there. It’s important to provide just enough inside thoughts to provide important details and back story without grounding the story to a halt.

    Self-editing is a crucial skill to learn so you can assess your own work as objectively as possible. If you haven’t mastered the art of self-editing, recruit a friend or fellow writer to review your work. They may notice areas of self-indulgent writing.

Just as in real life, a little self-indulgence is fine. But when self-indulgent writing interferes with the story’s progress or confuses the reader, it’s time to make adjustments. You don’t want too much self-indulgence to kill your story.

For more insights about self-indulgent writing, check out this article at Flocksy.

Find your writing superpower

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On your writing journey, you’ll develop a full range of editorial skills from writing dialogue to creating an imaginary world for your characters. Conversely, those newly-developed skills may be more on the administrative side, such as managing tasks and making the best use of your time.

Some skills must be learned, while others seem to be born within us. I call those natural abilities superpowers. A writer’s superpower is that one aspect of writing that they are better at than any other skill.

If you’ve been writing consistently for a while, you may notice that you have a knack for doing certain things, almost by instinct. Those skills emerge organically from within. That superpower comes about with consistent practice.

And if you don’t think you have a writing superpower? Don’t worry. It’s there somewhere. You just haven’t discovered it yet.

Allison Tait, who writes children’s’ books, has this advice for developing writing superpowers in kids, but I think her advice works just as well for adults. She writes: “I encourage kids to identify one superpower and use it to give them confidence to keep writing. Because when you’re confident that you’ve got at least one thing going really well, then it’s much easier to take risks with writing and to try different things.”

Writing is a risk, but to be successful at writing, you have to experiment to see what works for you. Writing forces you to dig deep within yourself and release all the old, stagnant feelings you have buried there. It’s about exposing yourself to others, who may not like the person you reveal yourself to be. It takes courage to write, especially when you know how high the stakes may be and that readers may not like what you create. But still you continue to write—because you love to write.

How do you find your own superpower? By being consistent with your writing practice. Write as often as you can. That’s how you discover your special skills, your superpowers.  

There are other ways to find your superpower, such as: 

  • Being curious about the world and the people you encounter every day.  
  • Reading widely in all genres, even non-fiction.
  • Experimenting with different writing styles.
  • Immersing yourself in creative environments and in nature.
  • Learning about your craft by taking classes and attending webinars.

    There are numerous possible superpowers you could discover. Here are a few that I’ve recognized in myself and in other writers. You may discover different superpowers of your own.

Idea Generator. Some writers can come up with plot lines almost at will, while others knock their heads against a brick wall looking for inspiration. For these idea generators, writer’s block is a foreign concept.  They have notebooks with story ideas and notes for the next work-in-progress. No sooner have they completed one story that they’re ready to write the next one.  

Task Master. Most writers have numerous unfinished manuscripts sitting in a desk drawer collecting dust. Not the Task Finisher, who manages to finish every project they begin. They seem to have a clear idea how their story will end, and even if they don’t, they keep working at it until they do. This is one superpower I wish I had.

Time Manager. Some people love routine and schedules; others don’t. The Time Manager can set a schedule and follow it to a T. They just know how to make the best use of their time to meet deadlines and get the most work done within a certain time frame.

Writing Warrior. It takes courage to write. A writing warrior isn’t afraid to get words down on the page and doesn’t second-guess themselves about how the story will unfold. The warrior trusts that whatever comes out on the page is the story they are meant to tell.

World-building Visionary. With a vivid imagination, world-building visionaries can see an entire new world in their mind and then describe it in rich detail. This is what makes science fiction and fantasy writers so unique. If J.K. Rowling wasn’t a world-building visionary herself, would any of us be able to experience Hogwarts the way Harry Potter did?

Conversation Analyst. An ear for dialogue and the audacity to listen in on other people’s conversations without guilt can turn an average writer into a conversation analyst. They can detect the emotional undertones, the wording choices, vocal accents and mannerisms that make the conversation real, and then emulate those details in a carefully crafted dialogue.

Technical Translator. Some people have a knack for understanding technical lingo. They can read a technical manual then “translate” the instructions into plain English that others can understand. This superpower is especially helpful when writing non-fiction, but you might use it for describing scenes involving a scientific or technological method.

Sensory wizard. Though we are all born with five senses—taste, touch, smell, hearing, and seeing, only  a blessed few have the ability to write descriptive prose involving those senses so that readers feel and see and taste it too.

Emotional Caretaker. Few writers have ever been able to touch my heart and soul with their words. I’m not talking about descriptive writing, but emotional writing. The simplest words can be filled with so much emotion and drama that they make readers feel something within themselves, make them cry, or send chills down their spine.

Self-editing Guru. Writing the first rough draft is the easy part. Editing is where the hard work begins. The self-editing guru can edit their initial draft and rewrite scenes without second guessing themselves. By the end of the second or third draft, they have a publishable book, while other writers are still slaving away on a fourth or fifth round of edits because they question whether the story is good enough.

So which superpower do you have? Which one do you wish you could develop further? Or do you have a superpower that’s not on this list? Share with me in the comments.

The Burden of the Unfinished Story

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How many unfinished manuscripts do you have lying around the house? I have so many, I’ve lost count. That’s because I always get excited about a fresh, new story idea, and I take time to sketch out the plot and characters. Next thing I know, I’ve drafted the first four chapters – and left my current work in progress collecting dust.

But there are certain consequences to leaving a story unfinished, writes author Colleen Story at her blog Writing and Wellness (although the article appeared in her newsletter). Unfinished stories can be detrimental to your physical and mental well-being.

She cites research by a Lithuanian psychologist in the 1920s that found that people are more likely to remember the tasks that they had left undone than the tasks they had finished. The feeling of unfinished business stays with you—until you decide to do something about it. It can feel like a weight around your shoulders, dragging you down.

Unfinished stories can also affect your mood too, Story says. It can cause stress and anxiety, fatigue and creative exhaustion, and sleep issues. They take up valuable mental and creative space in your brain, so that you can’t think or work on anything else.

Conversely, when you do finish a task, whether it’s a writing assignment for a client or a novel you’d been slaving away over for the past two years, you feel lighter and freer. That burden of unfinished business has been lifted off your shoulders. You can live and breathe again. It energizes you, boosts your self-confidence, and gives you pride of accomplishment. That feeling of euphoria can be addictive too, carrying you into your next creative project.

If you have a mini-library worth of unfinished stories, it’s time to make an important decision. You have several options:

  • Continue to keep the story hidden in your desk drawer and make yourself sick over the unfinished story.
  • Pull it out, look it over with a fresh eye and decide if it’s worth working on again. If it is, then get back to work.
  • Look at it again, decide it isn’t worth your time and let it go—literally and figuratively. Letting go of it is a release too. Some stories are meant to be finished, let alone published. Call them practice stories.

If you still need more evidence to finish that unfinished story, consider the example of author Laura Dave, whose book The Last Thing He Told Me became a national bestseller and was turned into a mini-series (and a whale of a book too!). In a recent panel discussion, she admitted that it took her 12 years to finally finish the manuscript that had been sitting in her desk. She tried working on it several times because she was sure it held some worthwhile nugget there. Only after an astute agent looked at it and provided suggestions was Dave able to finish the book.

Moral of the story: don’t give up. If the story is worth telling, if there’s a nugget of truth you want to share, then keep working on it. If your heart is no longer in it though, don’t waste your time on it. If time is the problem that you can’t get back to writing it, then you need to figure out how to make the time in your schedule. Writing should be a joy, not a burden. If an unfinished story is still a burden for you, then it’s time to ether let it go or get back to work on it. Not finishing what you started can be detrimental to your health and peace of mind, while finishing your story will be a cause for celebration—and give you another reason to keep writing.

Strategies for Coping with Writing Anxiety

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Writing doesn’t come easy for a lot of people. The prospect of writing even one word paralyzes them. They’re so anxious about writing something that others will eventually read that that freeze, unable to write a single word. Even the most prolific published authors claim to feel anxious about the writing process some of the time.

Writing anxiety is a very real thing, affecting hundreds of thousands of people each day. It’s far more common that you think.

I’m not talking about writer’s block, which is the inability to come up with the topic or story you want to write. You draw a blank when you stare at the page. You are literally blocked from writing anything.

Writing anxiety is different. It’s defined as the tension, worry, nervousness or other negative feelings about a writing task. Think of it as stage fright for the written word. Just like a novice actor might freeze up under the spotlight, so do writers freeze up when they have to write about something.

It doesn’t matter if what you’re writing is a 300-page novel, a 1000-word essay, or a letter to someone you know and care about. Writing anxiety can strike at any time.

Whereas writer’s block occurs when you can’t think of anything to write about, writing anxiety is more about the feelings associated with your message and audience. You may know exactly what you want and need to say, but fear how it will be received.

Causes of writing anxiety

Experts say there are numerous causes of writing anxiety—from the pressure to perform to trying to please a specific audience. Fortunately, there are several strategies that can help you work through your writing anxiety.

Cause #1: Pressure to perform.

Writing anxiety may occur when you perceive the stakes to be high. For example, a grad student who is required to write a dissertation to complete their academic studies may feel anxious because the stakes are so high. The pressure to perform a writing task at a high level to receive the promised rewards can increase a person’s anxiety.

Cause #2: Lack of understanding of the writing task.

When a writing assignment for work or school seems complex or vague, that can cause some anxious moments too. No matter how many times you look over the assignment, nothing makes sense. It’s difficult to know where or how to start a writing project when you’re not sure what the finished product is supposed to look like. Lack of understanding of the writing task can result writers to feel anxious to the point that they produce a poor quality product.

Cause #3: Desire to please someone or a specific audience

Sometimes writing for a specific audience can cause some anxiety. For example, if you’re submitting an essay for a writing contest, you might feel anxious about being judged by a group of strangers. Or perhaps you’re trying to impress a new client after they’ve given you the first assignment. You want to do your best work, but with the stakes so high, you agonize over how they will view your work.  

Cause #4: You’re attempting to learn a new writing style

As writers, we’re often faced with learning a different style of writing. Perhaps as a novel writer, you’ve never written poetry before. Or as a longtime business writer, you’re trying your hand at writing grant proposals, which is not part of your portfolio. There can be some anxiety when you’re learning something new.

Cause #5: Desire to please someone close to you.

If you’ve ever had someone in your life who has had high or perfectionist expectations of you, you know how anxious you can feel to try to meet those expectations. Or conversely, they belittled your desire to be a writer. Even if that person is deceased now, their words of encouragement (or discouragement, as the case may be) can still ring in your ears many years later. This, too, can create feelings of anxiety whenever you sit down to write.

Any one (or two) of those causes can paralyze you into inaction, resulting in writer’s block.

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Strategies to counter writing anxiety

Fortunately, there are ways you can deal with writing anxiety. The nervous feelings may never go away completely, but these strategies can help you work through the issues preventing you from writing.  

Strategy 1:  Do some soul searching.

Pinpoint why you’re feeling anxious about writing. Is it the process that scares you? Is the assignment too complex or vague? Or are you trying to please someone with your writing?

Journaling can help you sort through your feelings and thoughts. Or talk to a close friend or relative who can lend an empathetic ear and perhaps provide valuable insights.

Strategy 2: Be clear about the writing task.

If the reason for the anxiety is a writing assignment that is vague or complex, talk to the person who assigned the task to get their perspective. The last thing you want to do it tough your way through the assignment, then turn in something that doesn’t meet their requirements. Get clear about what is expected before you begin.

Strategy 3: Break down the writing project into smaller pieces.

By tackling smaller chunks of the assignment, you won’t feel so overwhelmed. If you’re writing a dissertation, for example, tackle a section at a time, even one page at a time. With a little bit of effort each day, you’ll soon see steady progress as the number of completed pages grows.

Strategy 4: Don’t worry about first drafts.

First drafts are never perfect. Get your ideas down on paper first. You can always refine them later. Alternately, you can use an idea board for working out the overall project. I like to use the bullet point method where I jot down each individual idea that I want to include in my manuscript as bullet points. This approach helps me organize my thoughts and makes sure I’m including every detail.

Strategy 5: Do all your research up front.

If your writing project involves research, doing much of your research before writing can help you understand your subject well. You become a mini-expert and gain confidence in your ability to speak and write about the topic. The writing process goes much more smoothly when you feel confident about the subject matter.

Strategy 6: Read your finished work out loud.

It’s never easy to hear criticism about your written work. It might help to read your piece aloud to someone and get their feedback. This will help you get used to the feedback/critiquing process. Reading it aloud can also help you pinpoint problem areas in your writing so you can correct it before you submit it.

Have you ever suffered writing anxiety? What strategies did you use to get past those feelings so you could write with greater confidence?

Why Creative Ruts Happen, and What You Can Do About Them

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment
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I’m taking the week off from my blog to focus on other writing projects. Please enjoy the following article, which was originally published in May 2019. I’ll be back next week with fresh material.
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Falling into a creative rut can feel like the end of the world, like you’re stuck in a desert with no sign of water or food or life. When they happen, you can do one of two things: fight them to the death, or embrace them.

Ruts are not a bad thing, says author and freelance journalist Kristin Wong. They serve a useful purpose, prompting you to question your life goals and career aspirations. Ruts, she says, reminds you that you are human after all, not a machine.

Other creative types see ruts differently. Author Jane Porter suggests that it’s not a rut you are experiencing at all, but impatience. You want to see results right away. You want to see progress quickly and in the right direction, just as you sketched it out ahead of time. You want to see proof that your hard work is paying off. But, Porter says, efficiency is not the same as creativity.

Do a Google search and you’ll find hundreds of articles with suggestions for dealing with ruts. But most  of them don’t address why they happen in the first place. Wong says ruts usually happen for one of three reasons:

* Information overload. The Internet provides a lot of information, and it can be easy to get lost in it. Some of the information is legitimate; a good portion is not, and we have to discern between fact and fiction. It’s also easy to get distracted with non-essential ideas that don’t fit in with your own aspirations. When you feel lost, it’s easy to seek guidance from other people and forget that you even have a brain and a voice. You need to block out the distractions so you can hear your own voice and follow your own path. 

* Burnout. Creative professionals often work on the same project for months or even years. But after looking at the same pages all the time, you can become bored. You begin to feel stagnant, and run out of ideas of how to fix your writing or artwork. Burnout is natural when you stare at a project for too long, says Wong. To counter burnout, it’s important to take breaks – lots of them. Self-care is as much a part of the creative process as the work you do. During those breaks, learn to do nothing, even if it’s just staring out the window. Breaks give you stamina and energy so you can keep going toward your goals.

* Uncertainty about your path. Sometimes you can be so engulfed in the process of creating that you lose sight of your overall vision. It can translate as boredom on the job. When you continue to do a job out of routine, and you’re unclear what the overall vision is for that job, it can throw you into a rut.

So now that you have a better understanding why ruts happen, what can you do about them? Ask any creative person and they will tell you how they deal with them. But their ways of dealing with ruts are as different as they are. Check out this Huffington Post article about how 29 artists break out of ruts. It’s important to find what works best for you. Here are a few ideas:

1. Take a break. Most creative people will tell you that frequent breaks are necessary for clearing your head. Go for a walk, take a weekend getaway, play with your pet, or take a nap. When you return to your desk, you may notice a solution you hadn’t seen before.

2. Work with your hands. Find ways to work with your hands. Try gardening, playing in the sand, mold clay, juggle, or anything that requires you to use your hands rather than your head. Playing with something tangible like dirt, water or clay can be therapeutic.

3. Take a bath or shower. Ever have an eureka moment while showering? There’s something about immersing yourself in water that releases creative energy. In astrology, water is often associated with creativity and artistry, so any activity involving water may help “flush out” new innovative ideas.

4. Try something different. Do something you’ve never done before, says Christine Mason Miller, author of Desire to Inspire: Using Creative Passion to Transform the World in a recent Psyche Central article. Sign up for a cooking class, for example, visit a nearby town you’ve never been to before or go horseback riding if you’ve never done it. The key is to open your mind up to doing something different. If you experience something out of the usual order of things in your life, that new experience can spawn new creative ideas.

5. Make small changes. Sometimes making small changes to your environment can help you look at the world differently. Miller says whenever she falls into a creative rut, she will repaint a room, rearrange a room or buy a new piece of furniture. Bringing something new into your environment can spark creative ideas.

6. Show up and be present. Give your work all the attention it needs, even if the quality of work you produce isn’t quite what you want. At least you are still working at it.

7. Allow yourself to be bored. Author Jane Porter says our brains are too occupied with information, data, news and other stuff. Our brains are too busy, and all that busyness can kill creativity. It’s okay to be bored every so often, to do nothing, to think of nothing. Use the time to stare out the window or a picture on the wall. Become a blank slate. Think of it as part of the creative process.

8. Surround yourself with beautiful things. Visit a museum, listen to classical music or read poetry. Enjoy the sources of beauty and creativity that surround you. Seeing it in nature or seeing it in the works of other creatives can inspire you.

9. Embrace your creative rut. Realize that feeling stuck is part of the creative process. Once you understand this, you can embrace it for what it truly is – a reason to keep creating.

Creative ruts are inevitable, and a natural part of the creative process. They serve as red flags alerting you that something is out of sync. When you fall into one, don’t fret. Recognize it for what it is – a chance to recharge your creative spirit so you can produce your best work.

How Reading a Variety of Books Can Improve Your Writing

~ The Regal Writer ~ 1 Comment
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When I first began my writing journey nearly about five years ago, I was inspired by Stephen King’s book On Writing, in which he encouraged writers to read often and read a variety of book titles. Around that same time, I had started volunteering for a non-profit group that provided books to incarcerated women, and I became familiar with the books they often requested from our library (most of which were donations). So I was reading everything from true crime, prison life and re-entry to African-American and Hispanic fiction.  

Adding fuel to the fire was a blog post I came across about a reading challenge—reading books under certain categories, themes, genres or book titles—no matter how crazy those titles might be. The list included everything from reading a non-fiction book, a book about motherhood, a book turned into a movie or TV series, or a book with a color/number/person’s name in the title. You get the idea. The challenge wasn’t about how many books you could read, but the variety. It simply added another layer of fun to the activity of reading.

Put altogether, reading a variety of books became ingrained in me. So what that I rarely read the current bestseller? I learned as much by reading a classic John Steinbeck novel as anything else on the current bestseller list. I learned that every book you read can teach you something about writing.

More important, reading a variety exposed me to authors I probably would never have read (Toni Morrison, for example) and about different cultures and perspectives (Indian culture through the work of Jhumpa Lahiri, for example). It showed different uses of language and unique and interesting characters and settings (fantasy, for example).

Reading a variety has also shown me the things that don’t always work in storytelling and what does and does not appeal to readers. That knowledge is helping me craft better stories, stronger plots and more interesting characters. (At least I hope it does.}

Reading a variety can nudge you out of your comfort zone and challenge your brain to see things differently. If all you ever read is the same genre, boredom can settle in and you’ll likely see the same plot lines and the same types of characters over and over again. When that happens, it may be time to mix things up a bit. After reading a couple of historical fiction novels, switch it up by reading a memoir or a classic. You can always return to your favorite genre.

Here’s what you can learn about writing by reading outside your favorite genre:

  • Sci Fi/Fantasy – Learn about world building with its own unique population and language. This challenges you to think outside the box.
  • Mystery/thriller – Learn techniques for pacing and creating suspense.
  • Literary – Learn about character-driven plots, character motivation and story arcs.
  • Memoir – Learn about a person’s history, emotions and experiences. What makes them tick? How did they become the person they are now?
  • Non-fiction – Learn to explain technical or complex subjects. Get background information about a subject.
  • Commercial fiction or current bestseller – ask yourself why they are so popular with readers. What is their appeal? Why are people buying this book?
  • The classics – Learn about the use of language from years ago. Important if you’re writing historical fiction.
  • Plays/drama – Pay attention to dialogue. How do the characters speak and relate to one another?
  • Read Latino, African-American, Native-American, Middle Eastern, Asian-American authors – Notice how their culture influences their story telling.

The way I see it, reading is the flip side of writing. Without reading, we would never experience the fine art of storytelling. So read a lot, and read a variety. Your creative writing self will thank you for it.

Learning to Trust the Creative Process

~ The Regal Writer ~ 1 Comment
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For the past two years, I’ve been plugging away at a novel that is nowhere near finished. I started with a bang, writing the first draft in four months. Then the editing phase began, where the real writing begins, so the experts say. I’m still muddling through the novel after starting over several times to make sure those first few chapters are “just right.” It’s much like starting to put together a giant jigsaw puzzle, but all you have are the pieces.

Some of that is, admittedly, my perfectionist tendencies. The rest is learning to trust my creative instinct. I have found that the deeper I go into writing my novel, the more I need to realize that there is a process to all this muddling through. The more often I get stuck in my current WIP, the more I realize I need to trust the process. The process, so it seems, knows more about my story’s natural progress than I do.

From my experience, I’ve found that there are several moments in one’s writing practice when it’s necessary to trust the creative process:

  • When you begin to doubt yourself
  • When you get stuck in a writing rut
  • When you’re not sure where to go with the story next
  • Whenever you face a blank page

There might be other moments too that I have not listed. You’ve probably noticed them yourself. It’s at those times when trusting the process is a necessity, not a luxury. When you forget about trusting the process and push on, that’s when things tend to go off the rails.

Everybody’s creative process is different, of course. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to writing. The hardest part for most newbie writers is figuring out the best process for your work-in-progress. That may require some experimentation. (Hence my multiple attempts at writing that oh-so-critical opening chapter). But once you figure it all out, getting to The End is much easier. (At least, I hope it is.)

So what does trusting the creative process look like? For me, it was:

1. Starting a writing project with only a vague idea of what it will look like in the end. Or conversely, …

2. Having a clear vision of how the story will end so you begin writing, trusting that your story will end where it’s supposed to.

3. Writing a little bit every day, knowing it might be crap but also understanding that something truly beautiful and valuable could emerge.

4. Knowing you have a gift for writing and knowing it’s what you love to do and want to do. People may tell you that writing is a waste of time, but you write anyway.

5. Writing for the sheer pleasure of it, knowing it may never achieve recognition or publication

6. Understanding that every story idea goes through a gestation period. It has to simmer on the back burner until you are ready to put pen to paper.

7. Not waiting for inspiration to begin writing. You write regardless if you have a clear idea what you want to write about. You gotta start somewhere.

8. Understanding that story ruts happen. See them as signs that you need to adjust the plot or introduce a new character. You know if the story isn’t going anywhere, it’s time to make something happen to move the story forward.

9. Knowing that a solution to your plot or character problem will show up if you are present enough to recognize it. The solution may come in the form of a webinar you attend, a conversation with a fellow writer, or a podcast.

10. Recognizing that writing can be a messy process. Sometimes there are no neat paths to completing your project. There are times you simply have to muddle through.

11. Recognizing that writing is scary – and doing it anyway. It’s a part of yourself that you are putting out into the world in the hopes that people will like it.

12. Taking time to appreciate your accomplishments, no matter how small they may be. From small accomplishments come larger ambitions to create something new.

So the next time you feel stuck in your writing, or you stare at a blank page or someone doubts the wisdom of your career choice, that’s when you may need to trust the creative process.

Tips for Mastering Multiple Genres

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Stephen King has done it. So has Margaret Atwood and J.K. Rowling. Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, Jacqueline Woodson and Isabel Allende have also done it.

These famous authors might be best known for their work in fiction, but did you know they’ve also published works outside of their chosen genre? King might be known for his horror novels, but has also written mysteries and a fantasy novel. Allende has written memoir and Rowling has published non-fiction. You can find more examples at Bustle.

But writing in multiple genres isn’t easy. Experts suggest having some writing experience behind you before tackling a new style of writing.

Why would any writer want to publish in different genres? Naturally, it can help you scratch that creative itch. If all you write is magazine feature articles or press releases, sometimes you get that itch to try something new. Or maybe you get this brilliant idea for a mystery novel and you just have to try to write it.

Other times you don’t want to limit yourself to one style of writing. No one wants to be a one-trick pony. Your writing can get stale and boring that way. Experimenting with a different genre can help you break out of that creative rut.

But how do you begin? Here are a few tips to mastering multiple genres:

  • Read beyond your selected genre. Most writers I know read a variety of books, everything from mystery and science fiction to non-fiction and memoir. Reading different genres exposes you to different writing styles and different ways to tell stories. You have to understand your chosen genre well before you can begin to write it. How can you write a good mystery if you’ve never read one?
  • Focus on one genre at a time. Start by focusing your time and energy on mastering one particular genre before you tackle another one. Stephen King became a master in the horror genre before tackling different genres later in his career.
  • Practice, practice, practice. It can take time and lots of crumpled pieces of paper before you figure out the nuances of your newly selected genre. You might be a strong fiction writer, but writing memoir or a biography requires a different writing skillset.

One of the challenges of writing in multiple genres is managing your time and workload, especially if you’re working on different projects at the same time. Not everyone has the time or inclination to work on several projects at once.

Unless your name is Simon Van Booy, who has published several novels for adults and children, as well as a screenplay and non-fiction. He usually has several projects going at one time. He shares his tips for managing his time and workload with Writer’s Digest.

Booy starts by setting monthly goals for each project. He then breaks down his workload in chunks of time. For example, he writes adult fiction from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Mondays, then edits and adds material to it on Wednesday and Friday mornings. Booy also sets aside time on Tuesday afternoon for reading adult fiction and Thursday afternoon for reading children’s fiction.

With that structure, he says he’s able to meet his monthly writing goals on all three projects. By splitting his time between writing, research and reading, he has built in enough variation of work to avoid boredom.

However, there are some downsides to writing in multiple genres. According to The Author Wheel blog, it can be difficult to market your work because you have more reader groups to appeal to. It can also cause readers to be confused if you use your name for the different genres. Readers may see your name on the shelf and expect it to be one style of book, only to be disappointed that it’s something else entirely.

In these instances, you might consider using a pen name for at least one of the other genres, or a variation of your name or an abbreviation. For example, if you are known for writing non-fiction but want to publish science fiction, it might be beneficial to use a pseudonym to find the right audience for your project.

For every new pen name, however, you may have to create an entirely new author platform, including a separate website, mailing list and social media. That can be rather labor intensive to manage all those channels, and you may not have time for that. Only you can decide if a secondary platform is necessary for your work.  

That said, many famous authors stick with their own name when they publish in a different genre. Their name has the cache to attract readers.

Even with all these considerations, writing in multiple genres can be challenging and fun. It can broaden your writing experience and help you find new fans for your work.   

Eight Favorite Romantic Tropes to Make Readers Swoon

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February is the month for love, and if you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve been talking a lot about romance – the language of love. Romance novels are more popular than ever these days. Who doesn’t want to read about a happily ever after? Most people, I think, still believe in true love, or that love conquers all.

Sure, the romance genre has its critics who say these stories are predictable, they can’t be taken seriously, or that they don’t reflect real world relationships. It’s true that romance stories can be predictable. You sort of know what is going to happen from page one. But it’s that expectation of predictability that appeals to many readers. Readers expect a happy ending, and they expect the couple in question to struggle through their attraction.

What make romances even more interesting are the tropes that help set up the romantic plot. You may find everything from a fake engagement to enemies-to-lovers story lines, May-December romances and second chance relationships. There are dozens of tropes used in romance novels, and some are more intriguing than others.

Below are some of my favorite romantic tropes and why I think they work.

  1. Secret identity – My personal favorite is the secret identity in which one person hides some aspect of themselves. Perhaps they’re ashamed of who they really are, or they’re trying to gain a professional advantage or they feel that they won’t be taken seriously if the other person knows who they really are. For example, a wealthy person might pretend to be an average blue-collar worker to blend in with the community, or a member of royalty decides to live among the commoners. This trope is my favorite because it creates the most intrigue and mystery within the romance. When and how will the protagonist reveal their true self? How will the love interest react when they find out who the other person really is? Will they still love each other in the end? There’s usually of fear of being found out, or wanting to find the right moment to reveal themselves. Except while hiding out, they learn to care for the other person.
     
  2. Road trip – There’s nothing like a long-distance road trip that can force two people to come together—against their better judgement. They usually disagree about something or have opposing points of view that creates the tension in their relationship. At some point, something or someone has to give in. Either they come to an understanding and learn to respect, if not love, each other, or they are ready to tear the other person apart. This doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship either. Think of films such as Driving Miss Daisy or Green Book.

  3. Girl/Guy next door – I think this is one of the simplest and most overlooked tropes because I think it happens in real life more often than we think. Sometimes our best love connections live right across the hall in our apartment building or in the house next door. These characters already have something in common – they live in the same building or neighborhood. The closeness forces the neighbors to keep running into each other, so they’re bound to start up conversations, which can lead to coffee dates, movies, and so on.

  4. Fish out of water – This trope can be the most creative and humorous because you see a character who it totally out of their element. Think of the movie Enchanted when Amy Adams’ princess character complete with her pink gown is clearly out of place in downtown Manhattan. The humor comes from seeing the missteps and assumptions the character makes to try to fit into her new environment. Enter the unwitting partner who helps the out-of-place character become more acclimated and falls in love with them in the process.

  5. Stuck together/stranded together – Whether it’s an elevator, a raft a long way from shore or inside a locked bank vault, when two people are stuck together for a short period of time, it’s bound to create a sudden kinship that wasn’t there before. They have no choice but to work together to get themselves out of their enclosed quarters, but once they do and they are free, what happens after their brief encounter? Do they decide to see each other again, or do they move on as if they had never met?

  6. Ghost/angel – Who doesn’t like a little bit of divine intervention to help a romance blossom? In this scenario, when a character struggles to find true love, a ghost/angel intervenes on the character’s behalf, usually dispensing sage if cryptic advice, and it’s usually up to the character to figure out what that means. Perhaps the angel is someone from the character’s past, or it’s an angel who is working toward earning their wings. Sometimes it’s the angel/ghost character who wins the person’s love, while other times they simply act as a guide to help the two lovebirds find each other.
    Examples: City of Angels with Meg Ryan or Hallmark Channel’s Christmas in Angel Falls.

  7. Belated love epiphany – This is another underused trope, yet I think it’s more reflective of the real world. In this scenario, two people have known each other for years as mere acquaintances, colleagues or friends. They spend so much time together in a neutral setting yet neither sees the other as a potential love interest. But as soon as one person leaves or threatens to disappear from  everyday life or marry someone else, the other person suddenly realizes how much they love them and fights to win them back.

  8. Forced proximity – Two characters fall in love after being forced to live or work in close proximity to one another. Maybe they have to work together on a project but come with opposing viewpoints and agendas, like writing a book or training to compete in a sporting event. Or they’re stuck in the same country cottage on vacation because the company doubled booked the accommodations. Now they have to figure out how to live together or find other living arrangements. After a few hours stuck together, they manage to enjoy each other’s company.

There are many more tropes, and many overlap. You’ll likely find several tropes used within one story. While they may not be the most imaginative of scenarios, readers and audiences still crave them. They bring a sort of comfort because they’re familiar. To make them interesting, however, try mixing and matching the tropes or turning them upside down in some way.

When used well, tropes can help you create a romance that readers will swoon over.

Interview with a romance author

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Continuing my special focus on romance writing this month, I reached out to romance author Sylvie Kurtz for a Q&A about her writing career. Besides recently self-publishing two Christmas romances (I know — Christmas is long over, but there’s always later this year), Sylvie has also published numerous novels in the romance and romantic suspense genres. You can check them out on her website (https://sylviekurtz.com/books).

Sylvie was kind enough to answer some burning questions I had about her experience writing romance. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

1. Do you recall the exact moment when you realized you wanted to be a published author and/or romance writer?

I found myself at home with two young kids and no one to talk to and decided to see if I could write one of the Intrigues I read. That first book will never see the light of day, but finishing it showed me that I could possibly, eventually do this. Took me four books before I got how story structure worked.

2. You’ve written and published romance novels for Harlequin in the past. What did you learn from that experience?

I learned how to write to reader expectations and how to write on a deadline. It’s interesting how having to write inside a box actually makes the writing more freeing.

3. What authors inspired you to become a writer?

* I’ve always been an avid reader, but didn’t think I could write for a long time. I learned English reading Marguerite Henry horse books. As a horse-crazy teen, I read any library book with a horse on the cover, which led me to Dick Francis racing mysteries, then to Airs above the Ground by Mary Stewart, my introduction to romantic suspense. I loved it so much that I read her whole backlist and looked for more like it. After having kids, I discovered Harlequin Intrigues.

4. You recently self-published two Christmas romances, Christmas by Candlelight and Christmas in Brighton. What inspired you to write this series?

During the pandemic, I found I couldn’t watch or read suspense anymore. I needed something lighter and turned to watching Hallmark movies. They were such fun to watch that I wanted to create that kind of magical, feel-good place. Yet, I also wanted to address some of the issues that cropped up in my life, like agoraphobia and anxiety.

 5. What made you decide to self-publish?

Mostly because I didn’t want to wait so long between a sale and publication. I also wanted to have more control over the final product.

6. What is it about romance novels that you find so appealing to read and to write?

Love is the greatest power for transformation. It lights up darkness.

7. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep practicing. Never stop believing you can write.

8. What’s next for your writing? What are you working on currently?

I’m working on a third book in the Love in Brighton Village series–a summer festival this time.

To learn more about Sylvie Kurtz, visit her website at https://sylviekurtz.com. You can also follow her on Facebook (https://facebook.com/sylviekurtzauthor) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/sylviekurtzauthor)