How to Hook Readers into Your Story

May 13, 2025 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

If you’ve ever gone fishing (I admit I have not), you usually need something to lure your catch, such as a worm. You need to do the same for readers (minus the worm). Author K.M. Weiland describes it best:

“Unless you hook readers into your story from the very first chapter, they won’t swim in deep enough to experience the rest of your rousing adventure, no matter how amazing it is.”

Hooks are used to get reactions from readers and entice them to ask questions about what’s happening on the page. There’s some suspense connected with hooks too because they hint at the action to come, prompting readers to keep reading.

A recent webinar by Contemporary Romance Writers outlined the most common types of hooks. I’ve described a few of them below.

1. Show some action – The easiest way to hook readers is by engaging characters in some type of action. That doesn’t mean it has to be violent or mysterious, like a car chase. But something should be happening on the page. Maybe someone is cleaning out the attic and finds an old diary. Or the character is baking a cake to prepare for a wedding. Or someone else is in the middle of a presentation to their work colleagues. Avoid cliches such as waking up from a dream or a description of the weather because frankly, they’re overused and boring, and do nothing to engage readers. And that’s the ultimate goal of a hook.

2. Introduce a unique character – Introduce a character with unique characteristics. It typically is the protagonist but not always. Show how that person is different. Do they have a unique job or hobby, or unique skills, like seeing dead people? Do they have an odd habit, like being perpetually late for appointments. Or maybe your character is like John Singer, the deaf-mute man featured in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, who befriends the lonely people in a small town while struggling with his own feelings of loneliness.

3. Form an emotional connection – Try reading the opening pages from several of your favorite books. Do they make you feel any specific emotion, such as sadness, anger or guilt? Does the action make you feel anxious for the character because they might be in danger? Establishing an emotional connection with readers will ensure that readers stay engaged and will follow along on the character’s journey.

4. Pose a question – Sometimes the hook may come in the form of a formally asked question: “Why did I think I could get away from this?” (That’s not a real opening hook; I just made that one up.) Readers will want to know who the narrator is and what they were trying to get away with. The most important question readers will have though is something they ask themselves: “What happens next?” As long as they keep asking that question, they’ll keep reading to get the answer.

5. Share a surprising or shocking dialogue – Opening scenes may feature a conversation between people, but the subject or tone may be shocking. For example, in Nutshell by Ian McEwan, a married pregnant woman and her lover discuss plans to murder her husband, and every word is overheard by the woman’s unborn child, who narrates the story. Who wouldn’t want to keep reading to know more about what happens next?

6. Include humor – Making readers laugh from your opening scene is another great way to hook them into your story. Humor can be found in the way a character behaves or in a witty exchange. In the opening scene of The Love of My Afterlife by Kristy Greenwood, the young protagonist chokes on a piece of bread and is convinced she is about to die. Her mind goes into overdrive with assorted worries and fears, some quite irrational, but Greenwood does it in such a way that makes you laugh out loud. When done well, adding humor can suffuse any tension.

7. Foreshadowing – The hook may hint at some sort of conflict or action that will take place later. For example, in the opening prologue in The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn, a mysterious stranger looks on from a distance as Eleanor Roosevelt welcomes a Russian sniper to the White House. The stranger is clearly angry, and readers sense that a confrontation will occur at some point between him and the sniper, which entices them to keep reading.

8. Describe a surprising situation – One thing all these hooks I’ve discussed have in common is the element of surprise. Something surprising or unexpected occurs in the opening scene from the overheard dialogue to someone choking on a cheap hamburger. Its impact is to jolt readers to attention, and ask the question, “What happens next?”

I’ll add one more hook to this list, courtesy of the experts at Master Class. The title of your story serves is the earliest opportunity to grab readers’ attention. It serves as a “mini-hook” using “emotionally loaded language or surprising combinations of words to hint at the story within its pages.” Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets offers a clear hook. You know right away from the title who the story is about and what they’ll be looking for.

Hooking readers doesn’t end with the opening scene. You need to keep hooking them throughout the novel. Thriller authors are adept at doing this. One technique often used is to introduce a new question every time the previous one is answered. Also try opening each chapter with a teaser – some action, dialogue, an intriguing new character – much like you do to start your story. That keeps readers engaged until the end.

Your story and its genre will dictate what kind of hook will work best. Experiment and see what works. As long as you keep the action moving, readers will ride along on the journey until they get to The End.

Alternative Pre-Writing Methods to Kickstart Your Novel

March 20, 2025 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Last week, I wrote about becoming a puzzler, which combines elements of plotting and discovery writing (pantser). It’s a happy medium for those who need some structure in the way they plan their novels, but still want the flexibility of organic story development.

One of the tools puzzlers may use is storyboarding, which helps them visualize key plot points. In fact, there are numerous other methods writers can use to help them structure and visualize their stories before they begin writing, such as mind mapping, collages, tarot cards and Enneagram personality types. I’ll describe each of these below (plus a couple others). Granted, they may not be for everyone, but they might be worth exploring to see how they might work for you.

Collages – Collages are a collection of photos that help writers “see” the details of their story. By cutting out images from magazines and pasting them on poster board, or using a digital platform like Canva or Pinterest, you can compile images representing the characters and settings. You can add other elements, such as a car that a character might drive, a restaurant where two characters meet, or a school where a particular event takes place. Add swatches of fabric to represent a dress a character wears, as well as sketches, drawings, symbols or anything else that might inspire a key plot point. Collages not only provide a visual cue, they can be fun to put together and provide inspiration for those times when you feel stuck.
Mind mapping – Also known as clustering, this method helps writers see the connections between unrelated ideas. It can also help them understand theme, conflict, and character development. Start with your main concept in the center captured with some central image such as a cloud. From that image are branches that represent the main themes of your story. Each branch comprises a key word that’s printed on its associated line. Topics of lesser importance are represented as twigs. Viewed together, the twigs and branches form a structure of interconnectedness. For more information about mind mapping, visit Mindmapping.com.
Storyboarding – Using index cards or post-it notes, or even sketches, jot down each scene as you think of them. One scene per card. Then rearrange them in the order that seems to make the most sense for your narrative. By looking at the cards, you can see whether the sequence of scenes makes logical sense and if there are any scenes that need to be added or changed. It provides a tool for planning your story before you begin writing it so you’re not wasting time on writing scenes that will only be cut later. Learn more about story boarding at Gilliam Writers Group.
Tarot Cards – Tarot cards provide a range of meanings whether they appear upright or reversed. Cards representing the king, queen, prince and page can represent individual characters while the four main elements each have their own meaning: Swords for intellect, Cups for love and emotion, Wands for work and physical activities, and Discs for wealth and resources. Some writers, like Quinn Diacon-Furtado, turn to tarot cards when they feel stuck in their story and seek clarity about their characters, settings or plot.

“As a writer, I’ve learned to use the tarot to explore my characters, intuit plot, and to reflect on my creative process,” she explains in a Writer’s Digest article. “Unlike conventional writing guides, I’ve found that tarot cards offer a dynamic landscape of symbols and archetypes that help me work through the nuances of character development, the intricacies of plot dynamics, and the richness of world-building.”
Enneagram – The Enneagram is a geometric diagram with nine points, each representing a personality type. It shows the interconnectedness of the personalities. Writers have used the Enneagram to understand characters’ personalities, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they might relate to characters of other Enneagram personalities. Some personalities will get along better with other types while other combinations may become rife with conflict. You can find out more about the Enneagram diagram here.
Timelining – This tool is especially helpful if you’re writing a story with multiple timelines. How do you keep those timelines straight so readers don’t get confused? Timelining can be as simple as a straight line across the page with each major plot point marked. Or it can be more complex as a spreadsheet with multiple timelines for multiple plots. Doing a timeline before writing helps writers organize their thoughts and ensure a logical progression of events as well as the character’s arc of development over time.
Zero drafting – Only recently did I learn about zero drafting, which falls somewhere between a basic outline and the first draft of a novel. It can sometimes be used as a brainstorming session. Writers use this method to work out key details of their story, using phrases, slap-dash prose, or bullet points without any consideration for word count, quality of writing or formatting. Zero drafting allows writers to get to the spine of the story without expending time and energy on a first draft. It’s ideal for writers who are still working out the basic framework until they feel ready to start writing.

Though I have never used this zero drafting myself, I can see how it can be useful, not just for creating your story framework, but also for drafting your synopsis.

No matter where you are in your project, these pre-writing methods can help you explore your stories before you begin to put pen to paper.

Neither a Plotter Nor a Pantser? Try Becoming a Puzzler

March 13, 2025 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Writers usually fall into one of two categories: the plotter or the pantser.

Plotters prefer to plan out every aspect of their stories ahead of time, from the setting, character, theme, structure. They will plot out every scene from the opening paragraph to the final resolution. They have to know every detail in advance before starting to write. Plotting allows writers to view their story from all detailed angles. They know exactly what they want to write before writing it.

I’ve tried this plotting approach once before early in my fiction writing. It was the first story I attempted to write. I quickly gave up on it because I found it limiting. My plotting didn’t allow for new characters to show up, and I struggled to find the right place in the story for new scenes as I thought of them.

Still there are plenty of authors who have plotted their way to success. Fantasy author K.M. Weiland is a big proponent of outlining and story structure, and goes into a deep dive on these subjects on her blog. She’s also written several books about plotting if you want to learn more.

One disadvantage I see is the extra time it takes to get the details “just right.” It can take the wind out of your creative sails too. By the time you’re done plotting, you could lose interest in your story because you feel you’ve already written it in plotting form.

But not every writer works that way.

Then there are the pantsers . . .
I always believed I was a pantser, also known as a discovery writer, because I enjoyed discovering my story as I wrote. With only a vague sense of main characters and a few scene ideas, pantsers tend to begin writing if only to see where the story takes them, or whether there’s a story at all.

The advantage of writing by the “seat of your pants” is that it gives the imagination free rein. The story, without the limits of plotting, can go in a multitude of directions, and it can be fun to discover new characters and settings that you didn’t think of initially. Writers feel free to explore their story world without the limitations of a set of rules or structure.

The downside, however, is that by the end of the drafting phase, what writers have is a ton of material with no cohesiveness between scenes, characters or plot. That only makes the editing phase much harder because there’s so much material to dig through, and much of it will land on the cutting room floor anyway. As I quickly learned, pantsers usually have to do several rewrites to get the story to where you want it to be, which can be a drain on time and energy, not to mention patience.

What if you’re neither a pantser nor a plotter – or you’re a little of both?
While I’ve experimented with both of these approaches, I realized that I don’t fit neatly in either one. While I love exploring plots and characters organically, I also recognize that I need to plot my story to some extent so I know where it’s going. Otherwise, I’m only spinning my wheels, editing and rewriting sections until they feel right.

Enter Puzzling.

The Novel Smithy Lewis Jorstad explains that puzzling works by bringing elements of plotting and pantsing together. For example, perhaps you have a brilliant story concept and can visualize several scenes in your mind, have a rough idea of characters and an inkling of how it will end. Using index cards or post-it notes, jot down each individual scene – one idea per card. You may not think of every scene right off the bat. You may only have three or four scenes to start. But that’s okay. What you are doing is creating a puzzle with various pieces that will eventually fit together. This is the discovery part.

Once you have a collection of scenes on index cards (or post-it notes), spread them all out on a table or tape to the wall so you can see them all at a glance. Then rearrange them in the order you think they should go. This is the plotting aspect.

Once the cards are in some story order, review them again. Note if there are any gaps in the sequence. Wherever there is a gap, insert a card indicating a scene to come.

The advantage to puzzling is that it allows you to generate scenes on the go. You don’t have to think of every scene before writing. You can write the scenes you do know, knowing the rest will come eventually. You don’t have to follow any structural rules.

Even while drafting, you may still come up with new scenes. When that happens, jot them down on a card and insert them where you think they might fit in the story. You can add or delete scenes and change the order of them as you go along. It gives you more control and flexibility than a straight plotting structure, which can be limiting to those who want to give their imagination free rein.

Another benefit is the ability to review your story at a glance scene-by-scene and make adjustments to the timeline. You can also identify which scenes are the key plot points of your novel. I suspect this approach results in fewer rewrites.

Are there any downsides? So far, I haven’t found any, though I just started working with it for my current work in progress. In the short time I’ve been using this puzzler approach, I’ve learned a few things:

It has helped me maintain my interest in the story. With previous approaches, I’ve invariably lost interest in my manuscript and given up on it, or got lost in the muddling middle.
It allows me to assess my scene sequence and rearrange them as I see fit, without having to rewrite anything.
It helps me stay focused on one scene at a time. With one scene per card, I know what I’m writing next and I’m not left staring at a blank screen. The cards give me a clue and keep me on track.

If you’ve tried plotting or pantsing, and they haven’t provided the results you want, give puzzling a try. You may find that being a puzzler makes you a more productive writer.

Dictate Your Way to Publishing Success

March 5, 2025 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Writers are always looking for ways to work smarter and get more done in less time.

Enter dictation.

When I think of dictation, I think of the old-school way of recording correspondence back in the 1980s. Managers would dictate letters and other correspondence in a recorder with a tiny cassette, then their secretaries would play it back to transcribe them.

Fortunately, as technology evolved, so did dictation and transcription tools, making it easier for writers to draft larger projects, like full-length novels. Several well-known authors routinely used dictation to help them draft their novel, including Dan Brown, Henry James, Barbara Cartland, and Agatha Christie. TV executive Sidney Sheldon reportedly dictated novels for several hours in the morning and then had his secretary transcribe them later.

I must confess I have never used dictation to draft any of my own stories, but I know that option is available. You can’t overlook its value to authors. While writing 1200 words can take a couple of hours, with dictation, it takes roughly 30 minutes.

Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer of FictionCourses.com who writes Native American historical fiction, also teaches courses about dictation. Of her 19 published books, at least 10 have been created by dictation.

Sawyer cites several benefits:

* Improved health – With dictions, there’s less strain on the eyes, back and shoulder.
* Better time management – You can dictate while waiting for appointments or walking the dog.
* Improved speaking skills – With practice, you speak more confidently which helps prepare you for author readings.
* Experiment with character voices – You can test out character voices with accents and dialects, and inject personality into their voices.

Users have noted several blocks to getting started with dictation. Some said the practice just didn’t work for them or they felt their brain didn’t operate that way. Others cited the cost of dictation software, although there are plenty of free options available, or the software was difficult to use. Still others said they drew a blank when they pressed the record button.

There are other downsides, such as messy punctuation. That only means you have to be prepared to review and edit the drafted material more carefully afterwards. The software may not recognize unusual spellings and pronunciations of character and location names, especially those you might find in science fiction and fantasy novels. Like any new skills, there’s a learning curve before you’re able to do it well.

Still if you have the patience and determination to try to produce creative work in less time, dictation might be worth a try. But which software and apps work best? Do you need any special equipment?

Jason Hamilton at Kindlepreneur shared the best dictation tools, giving the pros and cons of each.

Dragon – By far, Dragon software performed the best though the cost may put off many potential users. The Professional Individual version cost $500 while the Home version is $200.
Windows Speech Recognition – free option that comes with most Windows computers
Apple Dictation – a free option for Mac users
Google Docs Voice – a free option with the power of Google
Otter.ai – a free trial is available for new users. I’ve heard mixed reviews on whether this works for long form documents like novels. That said, I have used it for transcribing notes from interviews.

No matter where you are in your writing process or what kind of projects you work on, any tool that can help you produce more words in less time is worth checking out.

Story Starter Scenes Can Spark Creative Storytelling

February 20, 2025 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Ever have a scene idea strike you from out of the blue and get stuck in your head, but you’re not sure what to do with it? You’re sure that it’s a brilliant idea because you’ve never seen it in any book before. No matter how hard you try, the idea sits with you, often for days, weeks or even months. Yet you can’t seem to settle on a story around it. Nor does it fit any of your current works-in-progress.

What you’ve got is a story starter. Some say a story starter is a type of writing prompt, something to get your imagination “started.” In a recent post at Writer’s Digest, author Andrew Welsh-Huggins describes a story starter as a “lightning bolt of inspiration.”

“The fun thing about a story starter scene is the freshness it brings to the creative process; so much more invigorating than staring at a blank page yearning for inspiration. The challenge is following up on that novelty,” Welsh-Huggins says.

I know what he’s talking about. I’ve had a story starter scene stuck in my mind since at least 2018. The scene features a woman who wakes on the morning of her birthday and sees the face of her deceased mother in the bathroom mirror.

I know there’s a story behind this scene somewhere, but for months I couldn’t figure out what it was. Since that image began haunting me (pun somewhat intended), I’ve played with different plot lines. The first novel I tried to write with that scene changed so much after several revisions that the scene no longer seemed appropriate. I set the scene aside, but never dismissed it.

Lesson learned: Never, ever dismiss a story starter idea. When a new plot idea inspired me last fall, I knew I had found the right place for my story starter scene.

What Welsh-Huggins shared and what I’ve learned shows that these random scenes from out of the blue can serve as the impetus for creative story telling in ways you can’t imagine.

Here are a few of my tips for using these random story starter scenes especially when the right novel concept is nowhere in sight.

* Keep a notebook of writing ideas. You should be doing this anyway for all of your novel and short story concepts. When you get that image of a particular scene and you can’t get it out of your head, write it down in that notebook. Write out the scene as you see it in your mind, describing every detail and nuance and emotion. Even if you do nothing more with the written scene at that moment, getting it down on paper will help you remember the details later when you need them. You can always refer back to your written scene later when you begin a new project to see if there’s a place for it.

* Review current works of your own or any manuscripts that are tucked away in a desk drawer to see if the story starter scene might work in any of them.

* Draft a short story around that story starter scene. Starting with a smaller writing project might spark other scenes or evolve into a larger, full-length novel.

* Brainstorm possible scenarios and actions that could be happening in your story starter scene. For example, let’s say you keep imagining a man sitting down to play the piano in an auditorium, but realizes suddenly that he cannot play. Create a bullet point list for each of the following details:

Who is the man? A musician? A piano tuner? A building custodian with a hidden talent?
Why is the man on the stage? Is he supposed to perform? Is he fixing the piano? Is he pretending to be a prolific musician?
Why can’t he play? Maybe he doesn’t know how. Perhaps he has amnesia or some other illness or has a physical ailment, like arthritis. Let your imagination fly.

The next time a story starter scene strikes you from out of the blue, don’t dismiss it. It can be the start of something fresh and unique.

Conquering the Scariest Fears about Writing

October 30, 2024 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Happy Halloween! In honor of this occasion, I’m reposting this story from a few years ago. It’s my treat to you.

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably made a myriad of excuses for not getting any writing done – lack of time, fear of failure, too busy, no privacy, nothing to write about, etc.

Below are the seven most common excuses I’ve heard from people (and sometimes I’ve used them myself) for not writing. I call them the Seven Deadly Excuses because they can kill a person’s writing practice before it has a chance to blossom. Many of these excuses are influenced by negative messages and assumptions you’ve heard since childhood. By reframing these messages and taking positive action, those fears could diminish over time.

Excuse 1: “I don’t have time to write.”
A lack of time is the most common excuse people make about not writing. If this is your biggest fear, chances are your writing practice has never gotten off the ground, or you write in fits and starts. You always talk about wanting to write, but you never do anything about it.

The problem isn’t that you don’t have time to write, but the expectation of how much time is needed for writing. If you expect a writing practice to take up two, three or four hours every day, that is unrealistic. No one has that kind of time, unless you are a professional full-time writer. With outside jobs, clients to manage, families to care for, and other important responsibilities, there’s little time left over for writing.

The truth is, you don’t need hours at a time to write. When you’re just starting a writing practice, only ten or fifteen minutes a day will suffice. For example, while working as an attorney, A Time to Kill author John Grisham set a goal of writing one page per day, roughly 200 words. Grisham shows it is possible to fit writing into your schedule.

Excuse #2: “I’m too busy.”
When people say they’re too busy to write, what they might actually mean is that writing isn’t a top priority compared to other responsibilities. Work, school, taking care of family and a household take up more of your time. Why begin a writing practice when these other priorities compete for your attention?

Perhaps you learned in childhood that school work and household chores came first before you could entertain yourself by reading and writing stories. Naturally, that attitude and habit carried over into adulthood. It’s no wonder writing hasn’t become priority.

When you make writing a priority, you’ll find it’s easier to begin a regular writing practice. Remember, you only need 15 minutes! If you can make room for 15 minutes in your schedule for writing, that’s time well spent, no matter how busy you are.

Excuse 3: “My writing isn’t good enough.”
From the first moment you put pen to paper, your writing probably won’t be very good.
That’s normal for most beginning writers. But it’s true for experienced ones too. Kristin Hannah, author of The Nightingale, writes as many as 10 drafts of each novel because she knows the first draft isn’t her best or final work. It’s simply the starting point that she can build on.

If you continually tell yourself that your writing is not good enough, ask yourself why you feel that way. What is your writing not good enough for? Publication? For other people to see?

Instead of berating yourself for not writing well, make a plan to keep improving. Read authors whose work you admire, so you can learn from them. When you write something, ask for feedback. Constructive criticism can help you spot recurring errors. Most important, write, write, write. That’s really the best way to improve your craft.

Excuse 4: “I don’t know what to write about!”
Do you suffer from blank page syndrome – the act of staring at a blank page or computer screen with no idea what to write about? Or when you do come up with a story ideas, do you dismiss them as uninteresting?

When faced with a blank page, you may be overlooking the best source of story ideas: personal experience. You have plenty of life experience to draw from, so explore those events from your past and turn them into stories, either as narrative non-fiction or as fiction.

One way to access this reservoir of life experience is with writing prompts. You can find hundreds of prompts on sites such as Writer’s Digest.

Excuse 5: “I don’t have a private space to write.”
If you share a home with a spouse, three children, a dog and two cats, it may be difficult to find a quiet, private space to write. Others believe that without ideal circumstances, such as a desk and comfortable chair, their favorite coffee mug and favorite pen, they’re just not able to write.

You need to ask yourself if the problem is an actual lack of space, or the expectation that you need a lot of space to write. I’ve drafted blog posts on breaks at work, on buses and trains or while waiting for doctor appointments. If you wish you had ideal surroundings and your current environment is far from ideal, you may be waiting forever to start writing. The truth is, your environment does not need to be perfect to begin writing. Look around you. I bet you can find a space to call your own that is perfect for creating stories.

Excuse 6: “I might fail.”
Another common excuse writers make is “What if I fail?“ The answer depends on how you define failure. What does failure look like to you? Not getting published? Not finishing your current work-in-progress? Not having anyone read your work? Not having anyone take your writing as seriously as you do? Everybody has their own definition of failure, but in reality, there is only one true failure: not writing at all.

To remove that fear of failure, it might be helpful to start small and work your way toward bigger projects. Start with 100 words, then increase it to 200 words, and so on. Every week or so, add to your daily word count. When you reach these smaller goals, you gain confidence in yourself and you achieve small successes that you can build on.

Excuse 7: “What if I’m successful?”
While fear of failure is common among writers, others suffer from a different malaise: fear of success. “How can anyone be afraid to succeed?” you ask. You’d be surprised at how many people fear success, myself included.

Fear of success might manifest as an unfinished project – or two, or three or ten. You have several projects in various stages of completion but never seem to finish any of them. In your mind, finishing one of them means you’ve achieved success. Then you worry about what happens when you finish that project. Perhaps you edit your piece over and over again, never fully satisfied with what you’ve written – a useful delay tactic preventing you from finishing your work.

If you fear success, then you may need to rethink what success means to you. What does it look like? It may look and feel differently to you than to your spouse or your best friend. Are you defining success on your terms or someone else’s?

For some people, success means getting published, while for others, it simply means sitting down for a half hour every day to create stories with no thought of publication. There is no right or wrong answer. Write according to your definition of success, whatever that means to you.

When you manage your expectations to conquer your fears, the writing life won’t seem so scary.

Lost Your Creative Flow? Here’s How to Find It Again–and Keep It Going

September 11, 2024 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Photo credit: The Regal Writer

Be sure to visit my website for the latest writing prompt.

We’ve all been there before. Staring at a blank page in a freeze, unsure where or how to start writing. Or you’ve taken a break from your writing and lost momentum in your work-in-progress. Even just starting a routine writing session can feel like a sludge through mud.

In those moments, you realize you’ve lost your creative flow and you wonder if you can ever get it back.

Call it a creative mojo or being in the zone or having a zen moment, creative flow occurs when you enter a state of total immersion, when all outside stimuli fade into the background, and all that’s left is you and your creative work. It’s that moment when you feel most productive and innovative. It’s when you become most in tune with your essence and where you feel most alive.

Like all good things, creative flow can come to a crashing halt. When that happens, you can feel lost, unsure how to get it back.

When you lose your creative flow, think about why it’s happening. Maybe you’re feeling stressed about the project you’re working on, which can make you feel blocked and unproductive. Do you have too many distractions and interruptions in your daily routine? Then it’s time to do something about them to limit their impact on your creativity.

Whenever I lose that flowing feeling, I try one of the following techniques to find it again. While they may not work for everyone, they’re worth a try.

1. Turn off your electronic devices. Shut off the TV or radio. Close out any apps you use, and put your phone away. Just sit alone with your story idea and let your imagination work with it. Then when you’re ready, begin to write. I prefer writing longhand with a pen and paper because the ideas seem to flow more easily from my brain to my hand and onto the page.

2. Do a brief warm-up exercise. Just like singers warm up their vocal chords before a live performance or an athlete runs sprints or rides a stationary bicycle to loosen their muscles before a game, writers need to warm up their writing muscles too. Writing is a different kind of performance. The page or screen is our stage. Working with a prompt, freewriting one whole page, or writing in your journal are ways to warm up your creative muscles. Once you’re warmed up, you might find your creative energy flowing.

3. Seek a quiet, secluded place to write. To be at my best, I need a quiet place to work, to think and to create. I try to limit distractions as much as possible, though I will answer only the most urgent emails, phone calls or texts. Similarly, I remove any clutter from my desk because I believe a messy desk clutters my creative thinking. If you’re used to working in a busy coffee shop (good for you), but you’re not finding your flow, try writing in a quieter environment and limiting distractions.

4. Write in short bursts. Any people seem to believe that you need several hours to get into your creative flow. But sometimes less is more. When you know you’ve only got 20 free minutes, sometimes you can get more done in that short time than if you had an entire morning. With a longer session of two or three hours, there’s a tendency to stare at the page, take more breaks, answer messages or do research. Sometimes it can seem that you get less done in longer writing sessions because of the constant switching up of tasks. It’s easy to get restless and bored too. Start with a 20-minute session, then if you’re flowing well you can always extend your writing time.

5. Seek support from fellow writers. Every creative person loses their flow at some point. Just ask any writer, artist or musician. They’ve all figured out how to get it back too. So ask friends and fellow writers how to get back into the creative flow. We can all learn from each other.

6. Read what you’ve written before. The writing could be from your previous session to get you caught up to date, or it could be something you published previously. Reading your work can put you in a success mindset and inspire you to keep writing. Sure, you might be tempted to make some edits in your work-in-progress, but that’s a sign that your brain is kicking into high gear. It’s revving the creative engine. When that happens, you’ll be ready to start writing.

7. Use pen and paper. I’ve mentioned this technique in Tip #1. I find writing longhand with pen and paper to be the fastest, easiest route to connecting with your creative self. When I write on a screen, I’m more tempted to stop to read what I’ve written, to make corrections or to look up some important detail on the internet—all deterrents to creative flow.

Here are a few tips from other writers:

8. From Copy Posse, identify your most creative time of day. When do you feel most productive? Is it early morning? Late afternoon? Before bedtime? We all sense when we feel our best, physically and mentally. If it’s possible for your schedule, block out that creative time of day and put it in your calendar. Then make time during those periods to take advantage of your natural creative flow.

9. From The Young Writer blog, practice self-care. That means getting enough exercise, eating right and getting proper sleep. When you feel well physically, you’re able to tap into your creative flow more quickly because it flows more naturally. You won’t have to work as hard to get it back, and you’re less likely to lose it at all.

10. Also from The Young Writer and perhaps most important of all, have fun. Avoid overthinking your writing. Simply relax and enjoy the process of creating. When it stops being fun, then you need to consider whether it’s time to stop writing (but hopefully, you won’t).

Remember creative flow is an ideal experience that we’d all like to achieve the moment we sit down to write. But truthfully, it’s not realistic to expect it to happen at a moment’s notice. Sometimes you have to work at it, and hopefully, these tips will help you.

Creative flow occurs in fits and starts; that’s the nature of it. When it comes, savor the feeling it gives you and use its energy to your advantage.

Writing the Hidden Identity Trope

July 24, 2024 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

Last week, I posted this story about writing fish-out-of-water stories—stories about people who find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings and circumstances and struggle to fit in. Another trope I enjoy reading is the hidden identity, in which the protagonist hides some aspect of themselves to achieve a certain goal. I’ve always liked the suspense that builds as the character strives to keep their secret self hidden from others.

These characters lead double lives, with one foot in one setting and the other foot in another. They choose to conceal their true identities to protect themselves or the ones they love.

You probably recognize the secret identity trope from popular culture.

In adventure and superhero stories, our hero often poses as a regular guy or gal on the street. Think of Superman’s Clark Kent who works for the local newspaper and meets his love interest, Lois Lane.
In mystery novels and spy thrillers, the hero goes undercover to investigate a crime. This might be especially true for amateur sleuths who often disguise themselves to get close to their target.
In fantasy and science fiction, the hero must often hide an aspect of themselves to protect themselves from a terrible, untimely demise. Harry Potter, for instance, must hide his magic powers when he returns home to his muggle parents, though they make it difficult for him to do so.
In romance, the protagonist hides some aspect of themselves that they perceive interferes with their ability to find true love. For example, a prince or princess lives among commoners to escape their royal duties, or an heiress who hides her wealthy upbringing to seem more normal and attract someone who will love her for who she is not for her money.
In literary fiction, a character may adopt a new persona to hide from danger. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah comes to mind. Protagonist Isabelle becomes an underground messenger known by her code name The Nightingale to support the Allies during World War II.

According to First Draft Pro blog, the hidden identity trope explores themes of privacy, nature of self, duality and the consequences of leading a double life. There is often the conflict between the public face presented to others versus the personal self that those closest to you know best.

Like fish-out-of-water stories, hidden identity tropes resonate with the human experience. After all, who hasn’t presented a different persona in public settings while keeping their personal identity hidden? Why else would Halloween be such a popular holiday? Because it allows people to disguise their true selves and adopt a new persona that may be truly different from who they really are.

So how should you write these hidden identity stories? There are different approaches you can take that can build suspense while making your character relatable.

Approach 1: The Surprise Reveal
In this scenario, when the character’s true identity is revealed toward the end of the story, it usually surprises other characters and readers. It makes for a great plot twist. Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time has one of the best and most surprising plot twists when readers discover the true identity of one of the main characters. It moves the story in an entirely new direction.

Approach 2: Going Along for the Ride
Readers know the true identity of the protagonist early on, even though other characters haven’t learned about it yet. Readers are taken along for the ride as the protagonist fights to keep his identity hidden. Superhero stories are constructed this way. In Superman, we know who Clark Kent is long before Lois Lane does.

Approach 3: Everybody’s in the Act
In this scenario, each of the main characters is hiding some aspect of themselves or guarding a secret. One by one, each of their secret identities is revealed. In Hallmark Channel’s The Christmas Train, for example, during a long cross country train ride, we learn about the cast of characters which include several actors hired by a scheming director to push the two romantic leads together. Other characters not involved in the plot have their own secret identities, including one woman who is actually a private investigator trying to uncover a string of thefts on the train.

When done well, the hidden identity trope can create suspense and keep your readers guessing about what secret the character is hiding and who your character really is.

To learn more about the hidden identity trope in romance stories, check out this post by Seacrow Books.

Finding Your Creative Writing Niche

June 26, 2024June 25, 2024 ~ The Regal Writer ~ 3 Comments

Editor’s note: I’m tied up with assignments this week, so please enjoy this reposted article from 2021.

When I first embarked on my writing journey, it was a challenge to shift from writing magazine features and website content to creative writing. It was a far cry from the business world, where the criteria was set by employers and clients. I had to shift from writing for business to creating whole new worlds in fiction.

Part of the challenge of being a creative writer is finding a niche. It’s deciding what kind of creative writing I wanted to do and what I was best suited for. Did I want to focus only on novels, or were short stories more my thing? Maybe I was drawn to the soul-baring essence of creative non-fiction, or the challenge of tackling a 100,000-word novel. Or would I be better suited for flash fiction where stories rarely exceed 1000 words? When I first dove into the creative writing pool, I thought I knew what I was doing. After all, I’d already had magazine features published and had received positive feedback about my writing from teachers and editors.

But I quickly realized there was a lot I didn’t understand. It was necessary for me to start from the beginning – to take classes, read up on story telling technique, and most important, to practice, practice, practice. I experimented with different writing styles. I attempted several novels as well as short stories and, more recently, novellas. I’ve submitted essays to competitions and sought feedback from writer’s groups. It’s all been part of a learning, growing process.

I’m still working toward finishing my current novel in the hopes it will one day be published. But I also understand that it takes more than talent to get there. It takes grit and determination and perseverance. It takes a consistent writing practice.

Here’s how you can find your own creative writing niche.

1. It’s important to read a lot, and to read a variety. In his book, On Writing, Stephen King says the best way to learn about writing is to read and to read widely. That’s how you learn how to craft stories, develop plot and character, create suspense and satisfy readers. By reading, you naturally absorb authors’ writing styles and adapt to your own. By reading, you also notice what works well in storytelling, and what doesn’t. Reading other authors’ works is a must to advance your own writing aspirations.

2. Know who you are as a writer and what you stand for. Julie Anne England of the Self-Publishing School says it’s important to assess yourself – your interests, your strengths and weaknesses, and your writing goals. That means understanding what you can tolerate in the world at large and what you can’t. Maybe writing critique groups aren’t your thing. Not everyone is cut out for them. Maybe you feel more inspired by writing in a semi-public place where there are other people nearby so you don’t feel so alone while you write. Or maybe you prefer to write at home alone. England advises writers to “be true to who you are. Trying to be someone you’re not will only impede your progress.”

3. Pay attention to the feedback you receive. Whether you get feedback from a writing buddy, a coach, a boss, or your website audience, pay attention to what they tell you. Do they like the way you describe a scene or the way you draw your characters? Conversely, are they confused by your plot structure or is your protagonist flat, lacking in emotion and personality? Then use their feedback to improve your work.

4. Learn as much as you can about the writing craft. Whether you’re just beginning your writing journey or you’ve traveled this road for some time, it’s important to keep learning. Readers’ tastes and publishers’ needs constantly change, so what was popular a year ago may be obsolete in another year or two. You need to stay on top of the publishing trends. Further, by keeping up with your professional development, you keep your skills fresh and learn new story telling techniques. You show agents and editors that you are willing to do whatever it takes to produce the best story possible.

5. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different genres and writing styles. Maybe you’ve been writing narrative non-fiction, but you’d like to experiment with writing short stories. Don’t be shy about taking a workshop about short story writing. You may decide after completing one or two stories that it just isn’t right for you. That’s okay. At least you tried, and there may be some things you learned about the writing process that can be carried over to your essays. Don’t be afraid to experiment to see what works best for you.

6. Be flexible and open-minded. Don’t get locked into your niche or specialty because it will likely change over time, writes Shaunta Grimes at The Write Brain blog. For example, when I started my blog in 2016, I wrote about a variety of writing and communications topics because that was my professional background. As time went on and I gravitated toward more personal writing and less business communications, my blog reflected that shift. Now I focus almost exclusively on essays about the writing life with some posts about fiction writing thrown in. Allow your personal interests to dictate your path.

If you want to know more about what kind of writer archetype you are, check out this quiz at The Write Brain blog. (Note: You will need to create an account to read the article on Medium.) Find out if you are a Hesitater, a Skipper, a Spiller, a Teacher or an Artist. It will help you learn what you write and why. (Btw, I’m a teacher, which should be obvious from my blog.)

The beauty of creative writing is that there are multiple paths to choose from, and it’s not uncommon for writers to specialize in more than one genre or writing style. Finding that niche, however, depends on knowing who you are and what you have to offer readers.

Career Planning Tips for Aspiring Authors

May 22, 2024July 24, 2024 ~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment

I jumped into my fiction writing journey with hope in my heart and my fingers crossed. I didn’t have a clear idea where I wanted to go once I started writing though. But even if I did know, I didn’t have a map or a compass that told me how to get there. I simply jumped into the deep end of the pool and hoped something would come of it.

When I started writing in earnest, I didn’t know whether it was a new career path or a hobby to keep me entertained while I looked for work. It’s one thing to say “I’ve always wanted to be a writer.” It’s quite another to actually formulate a plan for getting there.

Some writers do plan their writing careers. Others, like me, slip into it gradually, more as an experiment rather than a conscious career choice.

Most professional writers will tell you that it’s a good idea to have a plan, something concrete to guide you along your writing journey. A plan helps you visualize your writing goals so you have a picture in your mind of what you want to accomplish. Without it, you might as well spin your wheels.

So that begs the question. Should aspiring authors have a career plan? If so, what does that plan include? How do you know what you want to accomplish, and how long you expect it to take? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before embarking on your writing journey.

Do you have a plan for your writing career? Have you mapped out what you want to accomplish and how to get there? Would you do anything differently?

If you think a career plan is right for you, here’s what you might include.

A vision of success. Take a few moments to visualize what you want your writing career to look like. What do you want to accomplish? What does success look like to you? What does it mean to be a successful author? Try to be as detailed as possible. You have to know what the end game looks like in order to get there.

Your goals. If your vision is the end game, your goals are the wheels to help you get there. Be specific. For example, don’t just say you’ll write every day. Instead, say that you’ll write 1000 words a day six days a week, which is more specific and more achievable. Focus on things you can control, such as your output and time spent on writing activities.

Your timeline. Some career experts suggest having a five-year plan, no matter what career you choose. Then working backward from your end goal (or vision) at the five-year mark, set goals at intermediate points, such as annual or every six months. Put goals in the order of how you want to achieve them. For example, completing a fiction writing course might occur earlier in your timeline than publishing a short story.Having a timeline can help you determine if you’re on track to meet those goals, or if you have to reset the timeline.

The road map. How do you plan to achieve your goals? What steps do you need to take to move forward? For example, do you need to brush up on your writing skills? Do you need to build a network of fellow writers? Do you need to find out how to craft a work of fiction?

Fantasy author Holly Lisle suggests finding a model author to follow. Read every one of their books, and study them for how their writing progressed over time. Learn all about their work methods. See if any of them will work for you.

Find a support network. Writers might work alone, but they need the support of family, friends and colleagues too. Make sure that your spouse, kids, roommates are on board with your new career plan. Make sure they give you the space and time you need to do your writing.

Starting a writing practice isn’t always easy, especially over the long haul. Here are some additional tips for planning your writing career. .

* Pace yourself. Burnout is very real, writes Heather Webb at Writer Unboxed blog. Meeting deadlines, especially those enforced from outside yourself, like an agent, editor or client, can zap you of your energy. “When writing begins to feel like a chore, it’s time for a time out to regroup. Writing will come back. Your love of storytelling won’t go anywhere,” says Webb.

* Be flexible. Real life can get in the way of your writing. Webb advises writers to be flexible in all aspects of the writing business—your schedule, with story ideas and with your career path. Don’t be afraid to pivot when you need to. If one genre doesn’t seem to be working for you, switch to another.

* Define what success means to you. If you were a successful author today, what would it feel like? How would you behave? Dress? Treat others? Treat your work? Success won’t look or feel the same way to everyone. Define success on your terms.

* Don’t let your negative inner voice or ego become the loudest voice. Drown it out with your own positive energy. Similarly, avoid author envy. It’s tempting to compare yourself with other writers, especially those whose work you admire, but that serves no useful purpose. Focus on becoming the writer you are meant to be.

* Most important, be sure to write as often as possible. You learn most about the craft by actually sitting down and writing. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.

Having a career plan isn’t mandatory for success. But it can help you clarify your goals and map out a path for achieving what you want. It’s one more tool to add to your writer’s toolkit.

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