writing advice – Alexa Preece

Happy Halloween!

Also known as NaNoWriMo Eve!

I’ve not decided if I’m going to be doing NaNoWriMo this year – between work, family life and studying towards my degree, time to write is scarce at the moment.

That said, I’ve been reading my way through the fantastic Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, based on the books by Blake Snyder. Brilliant resource for every writer, no matter what your experience or choice of genre(s). I’m hoping it’ll help kick start my writing mojo as it seems to have disappeared under the pressure of everything else.

In release news, the whole of the Knights and Brides trilogy is now available to buy exclusively from Amazon, and 10th November brings the final novel in The Realm of Larnasia trilogy. War of the Realms concludes the series in a hopefully satisfactory way so fingers crossed its readers enjoy it.

That’s all from me for now… Happy writing to those of you taking part in NaNoWriMo – whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, I wish you every success in hitting your 50,000 words!

General Writing

Hello

I can’t quite believe we’re here in mid-March and this is only the second post I’ve made this year.

While I ended 2017 on a creative high, and have had a huge amount of ideas between then and now, I’m a little bit lost.

Lost.

That’s a word I’ve used a lot recently because it’s the only one I can think of to describe how I’m feeling.

I’ve read 9 books this year, some I’ve loved and some I haven’t, but I’ve written no more than 4000 words. I’m lost, I’m tired, I have the ideas but not the motivation to follow them through.

I can’t even blame the rejection from one of the publishers I sent the first LWL novel to, because this feeling started long before that email arrived and, to be honest, I was kind of relieved to receive it?

I’ve heard the term ‘writers winter’ bandied about on a couple of groups I lurk in: it’s apparently a known phenomenon that every so often, writers go through a sparse spell, where they struggle to get the words on a page, whether it be on screen or in a notepad. It’s a small comfort to know other writers go through this because mostly I’m just wanting it to be over.

It’s not like writers’ block. WIth writers’ block, I usually find switching it up a little – writing by hand, using a prompt generate, using write or die etc. – generally works to get over it.

This… This is something different.

To any writers out there reading this, how do you break your writers winters? Or do you simply just keep yourself busy in other areas and wait for them to pass?

Writing: NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Check In

How is everyone doing? Managing to get your words done?

If not, don’t worry – I always find hitting the daily word targets is always harder mid-week than it is at weekends, usually because mid-week we’ve all got work and other commitments demanding our attention.

Writing little and often works a charm sometimes – 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. They all add up in the long run, and a month of intense writing is certainly a long run!

For myself, I’m happy with what I’ve got so far – 6517 words at the moment. I had the 1st day of NaNoWriMo off work, or else I’d be way behind. I’m hoping to get a little further ahead with a few sprints tonight as I’ve got family visiting over the weekend so opportunities to sneak away and get some writing done will be few and far between.

I have to say, too, that Write or Die – both the online version for when I’m sneakily writing in lunch breaks at work and the paid for version I use when I’m at home – is a Godsend when it comes to NaNoWriMo and keeping track of the time during sprints.

Good luck, everyone, and remember to try and enjoy the experience – there’s no point doing it if you don’t!

Well, back to the writing I go… I don’t think these 200+ words count! 😉

General Writing

Taking inspiration where you find it

I’m away from home for a long weekend so brought not one but three notepads with me. I’m glad I did as the words are flowing (as is the gin!) when we’re not out adventuring and I’m now on notepad number 2.

The featured image on this post is a little bit of inspiration for a chapter in LWL3 I’m currently writing. It’s not where we are now but where we were a few weeks ago on our summer holiday.

It got me thinking about the old “write what you know” advice that always gets bandied about when you write. It’s good advice, and advice I’m certainly taking to heart at the moment, but it’s not advice any writer can strictly stick to.

The joy of writing is partly about being able to imagine situations outside of the boundaries of the ordinary lives lived by those who write and those who read. Readers don’t want to pick up a book and always find it full of the usual 9-to-5 experiences they themselves have every day, and writers don’t always want to write about the ordinary and mundane. Both want adventures and escapism, interesting tales and stories that grip you and won’t let go so you have to keep the pages turning to find out what happens next.

You can’t always write about you know – I’m sure crime writers who build their stories around murders don’t experience it themselves to really get a feel for the antagonist’s motivations! – but sometimes it can be fun to use experiences you’ve had and build on them in ways you only can in fiction.