On National Poetry Month and Challenges and What Was I Thinking?

Remember back in November when my writing wasn’t going well and I decided to do NaNoWriMo? The idea being it would give my writing a much needed boost and get me back on track. And it worked ... for a while.

Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate events, over the Christmas holidays I kind of lost my momentum. And my motivation. So I thought, why not take part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge? This challenge has you doing a blog post every day for the month of April (except Sundays) following the letters of the alphabet. I’ve done it a few times in the past and it was a lot of fun - each day is a new letter.

But when I went to their site I discovered that they’ve changed the way they’re running it, which is their prerogative of course, but instead of a links list of participating blogs, you’re required to post a daily link either on their website, their Facebook page, or Twitter - or all three if you have the time and inclination. Which quite frankly, I don’t.

For my A to Z theme (it’s always easier if you have a theme) I was going to do poetry, seeing as April is National Poetry Month. More precisely I was going to do poetry forms, which I’ve explored with great enjoyment in the past, but writing an original example for each day’s form.

When I decided not to do the challenge I toyed with the idea of just posting my A to Z poems anyway, but a daily blog post seemed like a lot of work. I was all ready to just shelve the idea when I received an email from my best bud Jamie who was waffling over participating in a local poem-a-day seminar.

I goaded double dog dared encouraged her to participate and even suggested I’d be willing to match her poem for poem, never really believing she’d accept. ;-) But she did, and now we’re both writing a poem a day for the month of April. To keep each other honest, we’re going to email each other our poems on a daily basis and then post a week’s worth of poems on our respective blogs on Saturdays.

I don’t know who’s facing the bigger challenge: Jamie, who’s working from a specific prompt that’s sent to her daily; or me, who has to come up with an idea for a form. One year I participated in the Writer's Digest PAD Challenge where you write to a daily prompt, and it was indeed challenging. The only good part about it was you could post your poems any time, so if you fell behind it was easy to catch up. But that’s where I first discovered a poetry form called the Sestina, which I’d never heard of before and that sent me on my journey of discovery of poetry forms.

I started out writing poetry, and I’ve always felt that it gave my other writing a creative boost. I think Jamie will find that too. If nothing else, it’ll get us writing every day, right?

Don’t forget to check back Friday for the picture prompt for April, and then Saturday for the first week ‘o poems. :-D

Z is for Zoothapsis

Zoothapsis means premature burial. Like my word for the letter X, you may be wondering at my choice for Z. I propose that zoothapsis can stand for the premature burial of a book. (Yes, I know I’m really stretching it here but work with me people!) Haven’t we all, at one time or another, felt like giving up on our novels? To bury them deep in that desk drawer or trunk?

The sad fact is plenty of great novels go unfinished. The statistics are staggering: of those who start writing a novel, only about 3% will finish. And I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but it’s hard to sell a novel that isn’t complete, especially to a reader.

Writing a novel is hard, you already know that. It makes your fingers hurt. It makes your head hurt. Still, you persist until everything comes to a screeching halt, a halt that’s accompanied by thoughts such as:
My characters took the story in a new direction, and I don’t know what to do now.
I don’t feel like writing — the inspiration just isn’t there.
My writing feels stilted. I’m just no good at this.

Here are a few reasons why that screeching halt happens — and what to do about it.

1. You haven’t started writing.
Whether it’s lined or unlined paper, a notebook, or a computer screen, a blank page is intimidating. There are many reasons for this fear. Fear of failure, of rejection, of ridicule. We feel we’re not good enough to write. We’re mentally unprepared for it.

The answer is very simple: Just write. Sit down, pull out your pen and paper, open your lap top, and just write. Write anything at all, even if it’s not your story. Engage in the simple act of getting words out of your head and into visible, tangible form. There. Your page is no longer blank. Now keep going.

2. You don’t know where it’s going.
In the beginning you had an awesome idea for how this book would go. But first the main character wandered off, then that quirky secondary character stopped talking and then there was a plot hole the size of the Grand Canyon to fill so you changed direction somewhere around the middle and now you’re nearing the end and it doesn’t make any sense at all.

Figure out where you want to go before you start. This is going to take some work, but you need to know where you’re going before you can decide how to get there. Sit back, plot it out, outline it, and take a close look at your story arc. You’ll figure out where you went wrong. And who knows? You might discover some side paths you overlooked before, and they might just lead you to something exciting.

3. You’ve forgotten the whys.
If you don’t know why your characters do what they do, then eventually they’ll (a) do nothing the story needs them to do, or (b) do nothing at all. You must know their motivations, and you must know these motivations on an intimate level.

To fix this you’ll need solid back stories for your characters. These back stories will probably never make it into the actual novel, but they’ll help you keep track of who your characters are and why what they do is important.

4. You’re not getting any feedback.
Maybe you’re not writing this story for others to read, you’re only writing it for yourself, so you don’t think you need any feedback. Unfortunately you’re wrong. Writers tend to have a blind spot when it comes to their own writing. We have a hard time seeing our work objectively.

This is where the beta reader comes in. A good beta reader will give you much needed feedback on your writing. They will point out flaws you may have missed and point you in the right direction when you get lost.

5. You’re waiting.
Inspiration may occasionally strike, like lightning, but it’s pretty rare. You can’t count on it and there’s no point waiting for it. If you do you’ll be waiting the rest of your life.

It’s BIC time (butt in chair). You need to make yourself sit down and write. If you want your novel to go anywhere you have to give it a push.


Thus ends the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Well, all except the 300 or so blogs I still have to visit. ;-) I hope you've had as much fun reading these posts I've had writing them.

But just because the challenge is over doesn't mean I've run out of things to say. Come back any time. You never know what I might be up to ...

Y is for Yellowback

The yellowback was first published in Britain in the 1840s to compete with the ‘penny dreadful’. It was a cheap popular novel, usually of an inferior quality, and usually sensational in nature. The name derives from the fact that such books were published with yellow enamelled paper covers with an illustration in blue or green and black ink on the upper cover.

The standard yellowback cost two shillings, much cheaper than the half a guinea charged for the "three-deckers" (the typical three-volume Victorian novel) or the five shillings for the single volume editions. Typically, these were sold to travellers through W. H. Smith's Railway Bookstalls.

Routledges were one of the first publishers to begin marketing yellowbacks by starting their "Railway Library" in 1849. The series included 1,277 titles, published over 50 years. These consisted mainly of stereotyped reprints of fiction novels originally published as cloth editions. By the late 19th century, yellowbacks included sensational fiction, adventure stories, 'educational' manuals, handbooks, and cheap biographies.

Publishers were keen to tap the market for self-education and serious reading and as a result many of the yellowback titles were non-fiction. Hobby enthusiasts, devotees of parlour games, natural history amateurs and even debunkers of spiritualism, all found yellowbacks to their taste. Travel books, such as Innocents Abroad, and A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain were also popular.

Under the British Copyright Law, there was no requirement to pay royalties to American or continental authors. Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo, and even Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe became yellowbacks, as did many other popular titles.

The most typical yellowbacks were novels of romance and sensation. Their lurid covers promised enjoyable, escapist reading. As in every age there was a rich undergrowth of writers willing to provide material of this sort, often under a bewildering assortment of pseudonyms.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon, the "Queen of the circulating libraries", had fifty-seven of her works published as yellowbacks by 1899. Her name usually did not appear on the title-pages, rather the publishers used the epithet, "by the author of Lady Audley's Secret." This novel of adultery, published in 1862, was Mrs. Braddon's greatest success.

Although most of the titles were re-prints, many works, particularly the factual and the humorous items, were produced especially for this format. Apart from the textual and graphic interest in these books, they are a significant example of an important stage in publishing history. They marked a response by the publishers to the greater demand for cheap reading matter resulting from the increase in literacy during Queen Victoria's reign.

If you’d like see more about the yellowback, Emory University undertook a project to digitalize 1,200 yellowbacks which you are able to access HERE

X is for Xenolith

xen•o•lith n.
1. A rock fragment foreign to the igneous mass in which it occurs. Xenoliths usually become incorporated into a cooling magma body when pieces of the rock into which the magma was injected break off and fall into it.
2. A fragment of rock embedded in another kind of rock.

You may be wondering at my choice of subject for X, specifically, what do rocks have to do with writing? Well, the answer is nothing really. But look at the definition for the xenolith – it’s a fragment of rock embedded in another kind of rock. This can occur in writing as well. And can be used quite effectively.

When I serialized book 2 and book 3 of my Elemental series (on a different blog) I started each installment with a journal entry that was very different from the main story. In effect, I had a different style of writing embedded in another kind of writing.

In the Woodwife, by Terri Windling, we not only have excerpts from the title poem at the beginning of each chapter, we have letters to and from a dead man that not only convey information, but add to the air of mystery.

Anne McCaffrey starts each chapter of her novel Dragonsong, with a verse or two of poetry that represents the songs used in the story. Again, one style of writing embedded in another style. I’m sure you’ve seen other examples. Journal entries, excerpts from historical texts (both imaginary and real), poetry, musical scores, I’ve even known an author to start each chapter with a riddle.

These styles within a style are not just random occurrences. They have purpose. They convey information. They add to the tension when they give us clues about what may happen next. They convey a sense of time and place that carries the story forward. They add to the atmosphere the author is trying to create.

In my own case, I chose to open each chapter with a journal entry to include details important to the story. The actual beginning of the story takes place before my main characters are even born. Despite the fact that there’s a lot of important stuff that takes place during this time, it would have made for a bad beginning. So instead I chose to include the information pertinent to the plot in the form of a journal entry at the beginning of each chapter. This not only lets my readers know what happened in the past, but gets them wondering about what may happen in the future. At least I hope it does.

Then, of course you have novels such as Sheri S. Tepper’s the Family Tree or Charles de Lint’s the Little Country where the story within the story is so well done you don’t know which is the rock and which is the fragment. Now that’s a xenolith of the finest kind.

W is for Why Do Writers Write?

***mental note: when you write a post the night before and schedule it to appear the next day, make sure you set it for AM instead of PM. D'oh!***


When it comes the reasons why writers write, there as many as there are writers. Some write for money and others write for the love of the artistic expression. Some writers become famous and some labour away endlessly with their work never seeing the light of day. But though there are a myriad of reasons, they can all be distilled down to a few general categories.

Writing to inform
Someone who enjoys writing and is experienced in a particular area of knowledge might decide to share that knowledge through writing. They realize they can teach and inform a larger audience by writing a book or a series of articles. Many professionals, such as doctors and professors might take this route.

Writing for self-discovery
Memoirs, testimonies and reflection pieces are all vehicles for taking a journey of self-discovery through writing. Baring your soul is a hot commodity these days. A book recounting the events in your life that taught you a lesson and resulted in a positive outcome might be emotionally beneficial to you as the writer. It also has the potential to be monetarily beneficial if it appeals to the public sector.

Writing for money
Freelance writers use their skill to earn income. They might have one area of expertise or write on numerous subjects. There is a wide range of markets for their work, and the market keeps expanding. A capable freelancer can actually make a very good living if he has the skill and talent.

Writing for your ego
It takes a healthy ego to put yourself “out there.” You’re opening yourself up to critique and, often, outright criticism. When a writer feels he has something to say, he is often compelled by an inner drive to do so. Sometimes a reader becomes a writer when he decides that he can do better than some of the mediocre writing he has read. And some individuals simply want to leave a legacy and choose writing as their way of making a difference or leaving an imprint on future generations.

Most writers will admit to having a combination of all these reasons. They want to share what’s on their mind, potentially teaching others or learning something in the process, hopefully be rewarded with money or recognition and, inadvertently or not, stroke their own ego in the process.

And because I love quotes, I searched out a few on why writers write:

For the reason I did it as a child; I can't not do it. I've all this stuff in my head and if I don't write and get it out they will take me away in a straitjacket. It gives me a sense of satisfaction; I get a high when I know I've written a great scene.
~ Barbara Taylor Bradford

I write because I must or the thoughts will die the imagination will wither, and the brain will freeze just as my fingers do on a cold winter’s morning before I wrap my hands around my first cup of steaming coffee.
~ Anne Skalitza

My head is full of stories and I love to tell them. I have a story in my head now about a woman who thought she was being invited in by the boss to discuss promotion but in fact she as being fired. And I want to tell how she recovered from it all. I am dying to write it.
~ Maeve Binchy

I write because I was born with the compulsion to, like singers have to sing, actors have to act and painters have to paint. I write fiction because it exercises my creativity; nonfiction because it exercises the learner in me.
~ Tammy Ruggles

Writing gives me an escape from the realities of life into a private world of my own creation.
~ James Spade

Try as I might to ignore it, I find myself drawn to the keyboard most days, if only to sketch an outline or flirt with an idea. Writing is a hobby, a love and a compulsion. It won’t be denied.
~ Debra Johanyak

I write because the paper doesn’t talk back. I also think it’s really fun to confuse members of my family and make them say things like, “No, really, what do you do for work?”
~ Jennifer Reynolds

I think Deborah Wheeler says it best:
I’m a writer because it’s something I love to do.
I’m a writer because my stories somehow find their way onto paper.
I’m a writer because there’s so much I want to say, I have to put it into words or I’ll bust.
I’m a writer because story ideas are always popping into my head.
I’m a writer because when I encounter life’s little adventures, I think, “This would make a great scene.”
I’m a writer because when I talk to other writers, I get ideas for new stories.
I’m a writer because I’m miserable when a story isn’t going well.
I’m a writer because when an idea grabs me, I lose track of time.
I’m a writer because my characters talk back to me.
I’m a writer because my stories and characters come to me in dreams.
I’m a writer because I want to scream when I have writer’s block.
I’m a writer because the laundry is undone, the dishes unwashed, the newspaper unread because I have to finish this chapter!
 

V is for Villains

She had always found villains more exciting than heroes. They had ambition, passion. They made the stories happen. Villains didn't fear death. No, they wrapped themselves in death like suits of armor! As she inhaled the school's graveyard smell, Agatha felt her blood rush. For like all villains, death didn't scare her. It made her feel alive.
― Soman Chainani, The School for Good and Evil

A good villain must be credible, logical, and understandable. Your readers need to understand why the villain is doing what he does, and why he believes his actions are justified and rational, but you don’t want them to emphasize with the villain to the point where they’re cheering him on instead of the hero.

Your hero and your villain need to be fairly equal in strength. If your hero is intelligent, make sure your villain is close enough of a match so that conflicts will not be easily resolved. Show that your villain is quite capable of winning the battle and make sure that it seems as though the outcome of your plot is uncertain. That uncertainty doubles your suspense and gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase your hero's qualities as well, thus creating a stronger protagonist just by displaying the comparisons.

Villains don't always think of themselves as villains, but they definitely have an agenda that is in conflict with the hero's goals. Give your villain a back story to show what is motivating him or her to do the things that are in conflict with the hero.

The best villains are unconventional, unpredictable, and morally ambiguous. They are rebellious, individually motivated, intelligent, and capable. Evil characters who are evil for the sake of being a literary device are both predictable and flat - they lack a moral depth and present little challenge to the hero. All too often the villain ends up a one-dimensional, stereotype of evil.

Think about when you created your protagonist. You gave him thoughts and feelings and flaws, strengths and weaknesses and motivation. You took the time to get right inside his head to understand what made him tick. Your villain deserves the same consideration.

Remember that no one sees themselves as mean or evil or bitchy or insane or stupid. Your villain won't either. To him, his actions and his logic are perfectly justifiable. You need to show your readers this side of your villain's logic which will intensify your story's suspense factor. Show that your antagonist is quite capable of winning the battle and make sure that it seems as though the outcome of your plot is uncertain.

That uncertainty doubles your suspense again, and gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase your hero's qualities as well, thus creating a stronger protagonist just by displaying the comparisons. Your readers will be turning page after page to find out if your hero is actually good enough to overcome the monster you forced them to care about, in a twisted kind of way.

If you can actively portray your villain in his own point of view as being an intelligent, logical, complex creature with the capacity to be understanding and reasonable, who does what he does because his reasons are sound to him, then you are on your way to creating a pretty believable villain. But if you can also show your villain's complex, devious, misguided nature from your hero's point of view, you know you've created a truly memorable bad guy, and you will have strengthened your hero’s character and your plotline at the same time.

A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development. ― Agnes Repplier

U is for Using the Senses

Okay, maybe this is a bit of a stretch for the letter U, but it's all I've got. :-)

The senses are the most amazing tool available to a writer, yet they’re woefully underused. This is due mainly because of simple forgetfulness. We tend to overlook some of the senses when we describe scenes, but by including them, we can enrich our writing.

Sight

This sense is the one that provides most of the detail for our stories. What your character sees is what your reader sees, and if you don't do it justice, your reader won’t fully appreciate what it is you are trying to describe. What does the character see? What’s in the background? What’s in the foreground? What surrounds them?

When writing about something using sight, drop your adjectives and describe it fully. Don’t say there was a large stone fireplace. Say the fireplace was made of fieldstone and had room enough for a pig to roast on a spit and room to spare. If a character receives flowers, don’t just describe them as pretty. Instead of saying the bouquet was of colourful wild flowers, say the bouquet was a symphony of colour, each blossom striking a wild note of summer.

Sound

Background noise can be instrumental in creating atmosphere and setting. You’re writing a thriller and your character is alone in the woods. What kinds of things will he hear? There should be birds chirping, leaves rustling in the breeze, maybe the lapping of water against the shore or the musical tinkling of a stream. But there could also be the sound of something snuffling in the underbrush or the snapping of a twig as something approaches.

What your character hears is important. How many sounds can you hear within your scene? What sounds can you conjure? Is there a distant foghorn? Perhaps a sound of car horns representing a traffic jam. Does the character hear the call of a bird, a barking dog? All these limitless sounds bring a sense of realism into the scene.

Touch

Touch is another neglected sense. Try touching a variety of things. What do you feel? Is it soft or hard, smooth or rough? How does it feel in your hand? If a character is touching something, don’t be afraid to describe it. Let your reader in on the action too.

You can embellish descriptions of this sense by the use of physical reactions to certain items: recoiling from the touch of something slimy, goosebumps rising after touching something cold, reassurance when touching something soft and warm. All these reactions add to the reader’s imagination while adding to the picture your words are painting.

Smell

By allowing the sense of smell to creep into your writing, you create a subtle sense of atmosphere and you add another layer to the overall descriptive passages for the reader to enjoy. We often smell something that reminds us of a familiar place or time. The smell of fresh bread may remind you of your grandmother’s kitchen. For me the smell of tangerines makes me think of Christmas, just as fresh cut grass makes me think of summer.

If you have a character walking along the seashore, you need to make the scene come alive by mentioning the tang of salt in the air, perhaps the faint odour of seaweed from the tide line or the pungent aroma of a fish rotting in the sand, maybe there’s even a whiff of smoke from a fire further along the beach.

Taste

This is probably the least used of all the senses in writing. When your characters are eating, include your reader in the experience. How does that wine taste on the tongue? Is that steak as good as it looks? How does the dessert taste? Eating can be a shared, sensual pastime. Simple details count. Next time you have a scene with characters eating; hint at what they taste, and how it might affect them.

There are also certain elements in the air which can define taste. What about salt in the air, or perhaps the acidity of burning rubber on the tongue? What about a passionate kiss? What does your character’s lips taste like? Are they sweet, bitter...fruity? Never neglect this sense, especially in romantic scenes.


Using your senses in your writing helps enhance the overall story you're trying to convey. It adds to the story and makes it more interesting. By incorporating a sense of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste into your writing, you will add depth to your narrative and you draw your reader into an enjoyable, fully rounded read.

It isn’t necessary to overload your writing with all the senses, however, but every once in awhile, let the reader in and let them enjoy key senses in a scene. Remind yourself of the effectiveness of using your senses by keeping this where you can see it:

What can I see?
What can I hear?
What can I taste?
What can I touch?
What can I smell?

Home Stretch

So how's everyone doing? Still keeping up with the posting?

I'm just over the halfway point in the linky list. I'm still seeing a few blogs where the person apparently forgot they've signed up for the challenge, and there are a few of you who've fallen behind, but not as many as I would have expected.

I remember the first year I did this I started falling behind on the first week, then I caught up on the weekend, only to fall behind again. So I'm kinda proud of the fact that although I'm still behind on the blog visits, I'm up to date on the posting.

I've seen some really interesting blogs so far. Some have incredible photos, some have amazing stories, some have fascinating information. And let's not forget the foodie blogs with their delicious recipes. Of course there are also a few that were totally confusing and a couple that had nothing to do with A to Z.

But I have to say, overall I'm really impressed with the number of quality blogs out there. I've been trying to leave at least a token comment on other blogs, and the really good ones I've bookmarked to return to at my leisure. Wordpress is still giving me problems when it comes to commenting and I still have no idea why. It seems to only happen on the blogs I really, really want to leave a comment on, which is really frustrating.

My goal today is to visit the blogs of the wonderful people who've left comments here. You guys are awesome!

For those of you who visited yesterday, here are the answers to my little titles quiz:
1. First Impressions became:
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin
2. The Kingdom by the Sea became:
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
3. Tomorrow is Another Day became:
Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
4. Jaws of Death became:
Jaws, by Peter Benchley
5. Trimalchio on West Egg became:
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. Strangers from Within became:
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
7. At This Point In Time became:
All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
8. Cancer became:
Dreamcatcher, by Stephen King
9. Something That Happened became:
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
10. All’s Well That Ends Well became:
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

I wish everyone who's participating the best of luck - we've got some hard letters coming up. But just six more letters to go and then we can rest on our laurels. :-D

T is For Title

A title functions as the very first introduction the audience will have to your story or novel. And while everyone knows they shouldn't judge a book by its cover, they will judge it by its title.

Memorable, easily-recognized titles can often be accomplished through one - or sometimes two - words. Consider Dreamcatcher, Jaws, or Roots. All single word titles that immediately bring an image to mind.

Longer titles can also work sometimes, especially if they make an interesting statement, or ask a fascinating question about the contents of the story itself. How about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was made into the movie Blade Runner (also a great title). Or what about I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, or The Red Badge of Courage?

Try fitting your title to the genre you’re writing for. It isn’t surprising that so many mystery books often include the word “death” or “murder” in their titles. Romance novel titles often have “love” or “kiss” included. This kind of title lets the reader know right from the beginning what kind of book they’re looking at.

If your book doesn’t fit neatly in a single genre you can use something that reflects the tone or mood of the book. Try using descriptive words to create your title. “Dark Night of the Soul” will indicate a much different book than “Happiness in the First Degree.”

Titles are not copyrightable. I have two science fiction books, both titled Millennium; one is by John Varley and the other is by Ben Bova – both big names in the field. If you want to check to see if your title is unique, try checking it out on Google.

Here’s a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to titles:

Don’t settle for just one title for your novel, come up with several and then enlist the help of family or friends to narrow it down to the one they think sounds right.

Don’t be afraid to change your title. If you’ve settled on the perfect title when you start to write, it’s okay to change it if the story takes a different turn and that title is no longer quite as perfect. I always have a working title which may or may not end up being the actual title. An Elemental Wind started out being Space Opera and my fantasy, Magical Misfire, started out as Shades of Errol Flynn.

Don’t make your title so unique that no one understands what it means. Avoid cryptic phrases, quotes or excerpts from the story, etc. if they require an explanation to make sense of the genre, tone or mood for your book. Shades of Errol Flynn made sense to me at the time because the book's a bit of a swashbuckler, but how many people out there know who Errol Flynn is?

Do use a particularly memorable word or phrase from your text. Perhaps one of your main characters has a pet phrase that would be appropriate.

Try to grab your reader’s attention. If there is one place where the first impression counts, it’s the title of your story or novel. The title must immediately tell the reader why he or she should keep reading.

Do use a thesaurus to find a catchier synonym for a single word title. It needs to have punch and should resonate with your potential readers.

And just for fun:

Here’s a list of the original titles of a few famous books. See if you can guess what the books are. The answers will be posted on Sunday.

1. First Impressions
2. The Kingdom by the Sea
3. Tomorrow is Another Day
4. Jaws of Death
5. Trimalchio on West Egg
6. Strangers from Within
7. At This Point In Time
8. Cancer
9. Something That Happened
10. All’s Well That Ends Well

S is for Show, Don’t Tell

Show, don't tell is one, if not the most frequently given pieces of writing advice. But what do they mean by this?

The best definition I have for this is in the form of a quote:
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
~Anton Chekhov

Do you see the difference?

Showing is when you reveal things about your story and characters or your story world, as you advance your story. With telling, you stop the story in its tracks, kill whatever momentum you had going, and back up like a dump truck to unload a ton of information onto your reader.

Good writing should evoke sensation in the reader – don’t just say “it’s raining,” help the reader experience the storm. Do this by being descriptive and involving the senses. Have them feel the cool, wetness on their skin, smell the ozone in the air, be deafened by the thunder and blinded by a flash of lightning.

Telling: She was afraid of the approaching storm.
Showing: She froze in place as lightning lit up the sky. Her heart pounded in her chest. She choked back a whimper when the flash was followed by a sharp crack of thunder. The moisture laden breeze swept over her sweat dampened skin leaving goose flesh in its wake.

Fiction is all about forging an emotional link between the author and the reader. One of the best ways to do this is by creating vivid images that immerse readers in the world of the fiction — not merely telling readers what’s happening, but showing it to them.

Many writers resort to telling because they believe the reader won't get the point if they don't. Often writers tell, then show, to make sure they get their point across, in effect treating their readers like morons. But the truth is that when you take out the telling, the showing remains. And that's all the reader needs in most cases.

You want your reader invested in the character. You want the reader inside the action. That's the sign of good writing . . . to pull the reader out of his ordinary life and put him in the middle of someplace else. Showing them is an important way to do this. To help you show instead of tell, keep in mind the following:

- Avoid overusing adverbs. Instead, use strong, specific verbs.
- Use the five senses - not just sight but taste, touch, smell, and hearing.
- Don’t simply name feelings, let you characters experience them.
- Use expressive dialogue to show the characters’ emotions and outlook, but don't fall into the trap of overusing dialogue tags.
- Generate emotion through vivid writing and characters’ reactions.
- Use well-placed details to bring scenes to life.

Does this mean all telling is bad? Not at all, telling does have its place. Use it for:

- Slowing things down – a story that’s non-stop action can be exhausting for the reader. Telling, through narrative summary, can give the reader a breather after an extended, action-filled scene. It also varies the story’s rhythm.
- Condensing recurring action – once a scene has been shown and the reader knows what it consists of, it doesn’t need to be stretched out into further scenes. It can be summarized instead. You can also summarize minor scenes that are similar to a key scene that will take place later on.
- Minor characters – if a character doesn’t warrant a full scene, needed information can be delivered without straying unnecessarily from the plot line.
- Transition between scenes - a brief event can smooth the way between bits of action or character interaction, without leaving an illogical gap or a sudden, unintentional jump in time.

The mark of a good writer is the ability to use both showing and telling to their best advantage. A successful story is one that has a balance between the two, and only you, as the writer, can decide how much should be shown, and how much should be told.

I want to see thirst
In the syllables,
Tough fire
In the sound;
Feel through the dark
For the scream.
― Pablo Neruda

R is for Revision Checklist

Revisions. The bane of my existence, but a necessary evil. No matter how talented or famous the writer is, nobody gets it right the first time, so everybody has to revise. At least I'm in good company.

There's no secret formula for revising a piece, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

~ Does your story start too soon, too late, or in exactly the right place?

~ Do you overuse adverbs, metaphors, adjectives, facial expressions, certain dialogue tags, or interjections?

~ Have you double-checked your research to make sure your facts are correct? For non-fiction you should be using more than one source and you need to correctly cite your sources.

~ Are both the tense you’re using and the perspective consistent? Is the point of view consistent?

~ Is there more than one major plot? If so, are you able to trace them all in a logical manner?

~ Look at your sentences. You don't want them sounding all the same so make sure you avoid sections where they seem to all start with the same word. Also, varying the length of your sentences can add flavour and texture to your story.

~ Make sure the words you’re using are appropriate for the piece, subject matter, and targeted audience. Occasional repetition can be use effectively for emphasis, but you want to avoid overuse of favourite words or phrases.

~ Do you have enough description and detail that your reader feels grounded in the world you’ve created? Is there too much description?

~ Is it obvious what your characters want and what motivates them?

~ Are your characters well developed or do they seem flat? Are they people someone will want to keep reading about?

~ Do you show both the best and worst characteristics of your main characters? Do the relationships between your characters grow and develop and become more complicated as the story proceeds?

~ Does your dialogue sound natural, or forced? It needs to move the story forward and each of your characters should have a distinctive voice. As well, you want to make sure the dialogue, narrative, and description are well balanced so they flow naturally and seamlessly.

~ Have you shown what’s going on in your story using action and detail, or merely told what’s going on without engaging the reader? Your scenes need to make sense and move the story forward. They need to lead smoothly from one to another without jumps that the reader won't understand. Each mini-climax/resolution should lead to another problem.

~ Does your piece move at a proper pace, keeping the reader interested from start to finish? You may need to tighten up places where the story drags, or slow down where it seems rushed.

~ Are the crucial events of the story given the attention they deserve? Is there enough conflict? Not enough conflict?

~ Does your story have a satisfying climax? Is it too drawn out? Too rushed? Does it come at the right time?

Hope this helps with your revisions. :-D

Q is for Quotes About Writing

I suppose I could have used "Q" to talk about using quotation marks, but I want to do something a little different. My best bud and I exchange writing quotes on a daily basis to inspire/encourage each other, so I thought I'd take today to share some of my favourites.

Words — so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad.
~Lord Byron

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
~ Anne McCaffrey

Being an author is being in charge of your own personal insane asylum.
~Terri Guillemets

He was such a bad writer, they revoked his poetic license.
~ Milton Berle

It's hard for me to believe that people who read very little - or not at all in some cases - should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written. Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time - or the tools - to write. Simple as that.
~ Stephen King

Writing a book is a adventure. To begin with it is a toy and amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.
~ Winston Churchill

Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words – the words live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audiences to hear them. It is immortality by proxy. It is not really a bad deal, all things considered.
~J. Michael Straczynski

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
~ Douglas Adams

I’m in favour of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters.
~ Solomon Short

Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you – as if you haven't been told a million times already – that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.
~ Harlan Ellison

Sometimes when I mean to pickup my pen I pickup my beer, and I write with my drunk and the ink is an intoxicant always, more so than any brew or fermented grape, my mind ferments momentarily and words are the raw hops but poetry flows out the bottle.
~Terri Guillemets

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
~Thomas Mann

I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.
~ James Joyce

Ink surrounds me all the time
On my bed sheets, recorded in rhyme
Quills 'ever scribbling in my head
Sometimes damnit I forget what they said.
Ink has settled into my fingerprints
But to keep the words I fear to rinse...
~Terri Guillemets, Inkwells & Teapots

P is for Point of View

Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which the story is presented, the way you allow your readers to see and hear what's going on. It determines the amount and kind of information the reader will be given.

First Person POV

First person point of view is probably the most natural voice to use because you use it all the time in your everyday life. Whenever you tell somebody about something that happened to you, you use the "I" of the 1st person.

The advantage of this point of view is that the reader gets to hear the thoughts of the narrator and see the world of the story through his or her eyes. However, your readers will also share all the limitations of the narrator. They can only see and hear what the narrator experiences.

The narrator of a first-person story is a character within the story and therefore limited in understanding. He or she might be an observer who happens to see the events of the story, a minor character in the action, or even a protagonist.

Second Person POV

Second person POV is the most difficult POV to write from and is seldom used. In this POV the author speaks directly to the reader using “you”. In essence, the author invents a fictional character and then invites the reader to become that character.

Here’s an illustration: You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. ~ from Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney.

Second person POV is meant to draw the reader into the story, almost making the reader a participant in the action.

Third Person POV

Third-person point of view is that of an outsider looking through a window at the story. The author uses "he," "she," or "it” and is narrating the story. There are three basic types of third person POV: omniscient, limited omniscient, and dramatic.

In the omniscient POV the narrator can home-in on a scene and on the viewpoint character in particular, showing us the events through the character's eyes and letting us hear their thoughts. We are told everything about the story, including the thoughts and feelings of all the characters, and even information that none of the characters know.

In limited omniscient, we are told the thoughts and feelings of only one character (rarely more than two characters). We do not know what is in the minds of other characters.

With the dramatic POV, we are told only what happens and what is said; we do not know any thoughts or feelings of the characters. It is called "dramatic" because it includes the words and actions, just as though you were observing a play or film.

Epistolary POV

In epistolary novels, the entire story is told in the form of letters, written from one or more of the characters to other characters. Their greatest strength is the strong sense of realism that they create.

These days letters have unfortunately gone out of fashion - both in the real world and in fiction - but it is possible to put a modern twist on the concept by substituting e-mails, or even text messages for letters.

If you’re not sure what POV to use, try them all. If it works, it works. And if it doesn't, you can always reshape it into a more traditional form later. The great thing about writing a novel is you can always change your mind.

O is for Outlines

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I don’t use outlines.

I can hear the voices now. “If she doesn’t use them, why is she doing a post about them?” Just because I don’t use them now, that’s not to say I never have used them, I just don’t any more. I’ll go into the reasons why not a little later.

Basically, outlining is setting out the main events of your book and working out the plot from beginning to end. It can be a single page, shopping list of events, a series of post-it notes or index cards, or it can be a comprehensive, multi-page document that will keep you on track.

The point of outlining is to help you with the actual writing of your book. There are many, many ways of doing this:

Make lists. Start with a list of your characters. Then list the goals of these characters. Next, list the things that can help them reach their goals, followed by the things that will prevent them from reaching their goals. Make these lists as detailed as you like.

Use index cards or sticky notes. Have a card with each character’s name at the top and a few notes about them, including their goals. Then jot down your ideas, one per card, including goals, obstacles, and conflicts. Next, spread these cards out in front of you – stick them to a piece of Bristol board or pin them to a cork board. Now start listing the scenes suggested by these notes and again, one scene per card. Once you have this done you can shuffle the cards in whatever order you think suits your story best.

The Snowflake method is based on the theory that you start small and then expand. You begin with one line about your novel then expand it into a paragraph and continue to expand it from there. At one point you will be using a spreadsheet to help with the detailing, but this is not as intimidating as it sounds. Learn more about the Snowflake method HERE.

Mindmapping is essentially information generated around a subject using a diagram. The central topic goes in the middle of the page and then the spokes become the key points from that topic, and from those spokes, more detail emerges. You can find out a little more about the benefits of a Mindmap or download free software for creating one here: FreeMind.

Writer's Digest offers a plethora of PDF worksheets to help you get started: worksheets, idea maps, scene cards ... all you have to do is fill in the blanks. While it's geared to help you write your novel in 30 days, there's no reason why you can't take more (or less) time as needed. You can find the index HERE.

Now, when I say I don’t outline, I mean that I don’t write down my outline. I work everything out in my head, going over the basic story again and again until I get it “right.” In fact, if I don't know how a story ends I won't start it in the first place. Sometimes the ending is crystal clear in my mind, sometimes it's only a vague sense of resolution, but I have to know where my characters are going to end up.

One of the reasons I stopped writing my outlines down was, and I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, I get distracted easily. I’d start writing an outline, then I’d segue into character sketches (pages and pages of character sketches), then these little vignettes would start popping into my head regarding these characters and naturally I’d have to write them down so I didn’t forget them, whether they were pertinent to the story or not. Next thing you know I’d be drawing maps, and . . . well, you get the picture. It started to become a time sink.

The other reason I stopped writing down my outlines is that I could never seem to follow them and I’d think that I should and the whole thing would become frustrating. While I have to know how my story begins and ends (in my head) before I can start writing, I’ve found that I like the story to take its own course from point A to point B and I find using a carved in stone (or written on paper) outline too restrictive for this.

But that’s just me. Outlines, when used wisely, can be a great help to a writer. So don’t do as I do, do as I say. Give outlines a chance. You never know, now that I’ve become more disciplined (which means a little better at avoiding distractions) I just might give it another shot myself. :-)

M is for Managing Your Time

I was going to start by stating that there are 168 hours in a week, and we use X number for sleeping, X number for working, X number for entertainment, yada, yada, yada. But we know all that. And we know how hard it can be to carve writing time out of our day. And that’s not what this post is about, it’s about managing your time, not finding time.

I’m going to start with a confession. I’m terrible at time management. I have a lot of free time to write in but I get very little writing done sometimes. That’s because I allow myself to be distracted. A friend phones and I answer, knowing she just wants to chat. She goes on about work and the kids and bake sales and before you know it I’m thinking about home made chocolate chip cookies and when I get off the phone I go to the kitchen and start baking instead of going back to my writing.

So the first thing you need to do is take yourself seriously so that others will too. Get rid of the distractions. Turn off that television and unplug the phone. Put a sign on your door (or on the back of your chair if you don’t have a room of your own) that says you are not to be disturbed.

Set yourself goals and make yourself a writing schedule. You can use scheduling software or even just a day planner to do this in. If you record what you want to accomplish in your writing time you are much more likely to use that time constructively. Also, you’ll get to check off goals from your list which is motivating in its own right.

Deal with distractions by making notes of them. Keep a notepad nearby so you can keep track of who called, or other distracting thoughts and issues. This removes the distraction from your mind to be dealt with later.

Get organized. Whether you have an hour or eight hours you’ll get a lot more accomplished if you don’t have to go looking for notes or research.

Be realistic and don’t set yourself up to fail when managing your time to write. You know how much you’re capable of doing. Don’t tell yourself you’re going to write for four hours when you know your attention starts to flag after two. You’ll only become disappointed with yourself when you fail to reach your goal and that in turn will make you feel less motivated.

Don’t let e-mails and social networking suck up your writing time. Establish a time of day for checking e-mail and use social networking as a reward for getting your writing done.

Schedule yourself a break or two. When you schedule yourself a break you’re giving yourself permission to stop writing, so you won’t be filled with guilt over it. Just make sure to get back to work when your break is over.

If the schedule you set up for yourself in the beginning is not as productive as you thought it would be, remember that it’s not carved in stone. Perhaps you’ve scheduled your writing time for the afternoon but find the morning works better for you. If this is the case then by all means change it. You’re the boss, after all.

L is for Language and Dialect

If your story is set in a foreign land, or your characters visit another country, the inhabitants of that country will probably be speaking another language. To provide authenticity, authors often sprinkle dialogue with a foreign word or phrase, or attempt to use the local dialect. And when it comes to writing fantasy or science fiction, or sometimes paranormal or urban fantasy, you may even wish to invent your own language.

An invented language can be a good tool for exposing the traits of a culture. Different languages not only sound different, but they feel different. They shape ideas differently. They are also shaped by their environments. The way a language works can help illustrate the thought processes of the people who speak it.

Keep a list of invented words. It’s all too easy to forget how you spelled something you made up. If you keep this list in alphabetical order, you can use it as a glossary later. When you add a word to your list, don’t forget to add it to your word-processing program’s dictionary. This will ensure your spell check keeps you on track.

When using an invented language, a word or two here and there is far more effective than whole paragraphs. An entire sentence will need translating; a word or two can be put in context so that the reader can quickly figure out the meaning.

Dialects can also be effective, but you need to be careful, if dialect is used incorrectly it can ruin the story.

Here are a few tips when using dialects:

Try not to stereotype. Not everyone from the South uses “Y’all”, not every Canadian says “eh?”, and not every teenager uses slang.

Make sure when you use regional speech patterns and accents that you’re accurate and consistent. Don’t have your cowboy suddenly sound like he’s from England.

If possible, try to listen to people with the accents and speech patterns you wish to use so you can learn what sounds authentic and what doesn’t. It would be even better if you can actually have a conversation with them.

Try to make sure you’re using the right terminology for the dialect you’re using. There are many regions and subcultures, all with their own slang. To Americans, chips are a snack food that comes in bags and a boot is something to wear on your foot. But in England, chips are julienned, deep fried potatoes and a boot is the part of the car to put your luggage in.

Dialects for historical and foreign characters can be even trickier. A few writers will use a complete sentence in a foreign language followed by a translation, but that can seem a little unwieldy. Smaller words or phrases, such as “Ach!” “Mon ami,” “Cara mia,” etc. can be just as effective when scattered through the dialogue and don’t need translating.

If you're thinking of using a made up language of your own and don't know how to get started, I recommend checking out some of these made up languages:
Learn Klingon at the Klingon Language Institute
The language from the movie Avatar is Na'vi
If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you can learn to speak Elvish
Star Wars fans can learn to speak Ewokese
Game of Thrones fans can learn to speak Dothraki

K is for Kissing

Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
~ traditional nursery rhyme

When I first started writing fiction, I wrote pretty much exclusively fantasy and swords and sorcery. My characters fought and worked magic and found themselves trying to survive in all kinds of weird situations. But the one thing they did not do was kiss. Not even a peck on the cheek. In fact, my characters hardly ever even touched each other, unless it was a punch to the jaw or a sword through the midsection.

It took a long time before I felt comfortable allowing physical contact between my characters. After years of honing my craft, I finally allowed my characters to kiss. These days they not only kiss they . . . um . . . do a lot more than kiss. ;-)

The amount of heat in your novel is up to you, as the writer, and what your story calls for, but it all starts with that first kiss.

You can’t just have your characters going around willy nilly kissing other characters, there needs to be a reason for the kiss. Imagine if someone you’d never seen before, and to whom you were not attracted, came up and laid a big, fat kiss on you. Would it turn you on, or would it disgust you? My guess is the latter. There has to be some kind of pull between your characters. This can be a slow build up or love at first sight, but they must be attracted to each other on some level before their kiss will be believable.

There are many kinds of kisses; you need to choose the right one for both your characters and your scene. A kiss may be shy, or hesitant. It could be stolen, or confident, or demanding. Or it could very well be the height of passion. Keep this in mind and write the actions that go along with this kiss.

A kiss in a dark alleyway is completely different to a kiss on the top of a Ferris wheel or a kiss in front of a fireplace. Write the scene with as much detail as it takes for the reader to easily picture it. The setting and scene of the kiss can be as important as the kiss itself.

The age and experience of the two kissing need to be taken into consideration as well. The first kiss between two inexperienced teenagers will be much different than the first kiss between two experienced adults who hooked up at a bar. Or perhaps one character is experienced and the other not.

Engage all the senses when writing the scene. A reader is more involved when his or her senses are stimulated. Let them feel the heat of bodies pressed together, hear the quickening of the breath, smell the cologne he used or the perfume she did. If tongues are involved then taste will be involved as well - a hint of coffee or wine, the stronger taste of beer or garlic bread.

And don't forget to let the reader know what your characters are feeling. Maybe your characters were fighting and it's a hard, angry kiss. The kiss could take one character by surprise, or maybe both. Maybe it was much anticipated. It can turn the legs to jelly and be completely overwhelming. Or maybe, despite the anticipation, it could be a complete disappointment.

Remember that writing a kissing scene isn’t much different than writing any other scene. It’s full of dialogue and description, people moving around, making decisions, and carrying out actions. But above all, the kissing scene should move the story forward.

J is For Just A Dreamer

Some men see things as they are and ask, “Why?” I dream things that never were and ask, “Why not?”
~ George Bernard Shaw

A long time ago (and we’re talking a very long time ago), someone I was very close to told me I was nothing but a dreamer. At the time, the comment hurt. It was a careless comment made to a teenager, and yet it stuck with me for years.

But is being “just a dreamer” really such a bad thing?

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was inspired by a dream.

In the summer of 1816, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (who was 19 at the time) and her soon to be husband poet Percy Shelley visited the poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Stormy weather frequently forced them indoors, where they and Byron's other guests sometimes read from a volume of ghost stories. One evening, Byron challenged his guests to each write a ghost story. Mary's story, inspired by a dream, became Frankenstein.

When I placed my head upon my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think... I saw -- with shut eyes, but acute mental vision -- I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous Creator of the world. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, from her introduction to Frankenstein

The Robert Louis Stevenson described dreams as occurring in "that small theater of the brain which we keep brightly lighted all night long." He wrote extensively about how his passion for writing interacted with his dreams and said that, from an early age, his dreams were so vivid and moving that they were more entertaining to him personally than any literature. He learned early in his life that he could dream complete stories and that he could even go back to the same dreams on succeeding nights to give them a different ending. Later he trained himself to remember his dreams and to dream plots for his books.

His wife related how one night Louis cried out horror-stricken, but when she woke him up he protested saying, "Why did you waken me? I was dreaming a fine bogy-tale!" The next morning when he arose he exclaimed excitedly, "I have got my schilling-shocker -- I have got my schilling-shocker!"

He described his novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as having been "conceived, written, re-written, re-re-written, and printed inside ten weeks" in 1886. "For two days I went about racking my brains for a plot of any sort; and on the second night I dreamed the scene at the window, and a scene afterward split in two, in which Hyde, pursued for some crime, took the powder and underwent the change in the presence of his pursuers."

Stephen King had this to say about his novel Misery: "Like the ideas for some of my other novels, that came to me in a dream. In fact, it happened when I was on Concord, flying over here, to Brown's. I fell asleep on the plane, and dreamt about a woman who held a writer prisoner and killed him, skinned him, fed the remains to her pig and bound his novel in human skin. His skin, the writer's skin. I said to myself, 'I have to write this story.' Of course, the plot changed quite a bit in the telling. But I wrote the first forty or fifty pages right on the landing here, between the ground floor and the first floor of the hotel."

So there you have it. Yes, I confess. I am a dreamer. And proud of it!


 

I is For Ideas

I was talking to my aunt last night, who was writing her obituary (don't ask - but no, she's not dying), and in the course of our conversation she asked me where I got my ideas. Where indeed?

I used to believe that if you had to ask where to get ideas from, then you weren't cut out to be a writer. But then I did a series on different forms of poetry and when it came time to come up with examples for these forms I suddenly found myself sympathizing with anyone who’s ever wanted to write but didn’t know what to write about.

So where do you get an idea? While ideas in general are all around you, they can also be triggered by many different things:

Magazine Photographs:
Sometimes the most unique ideas can be triggered by a picture from a magazine. I have an extensive collection of pictures I’ve cut from magazines – people, places, gardens, dishes – anything that catches my eye.

Freewrite:
Write for 10 minutes without stopping. Don't worry about grammar or spelling, just write. If you're using a computer, darken the screen so you can't read what you're writing until you're done. This technique will help you access those creative ideas hiding in your subconscious.

Look at a Book:
Take a book you have nearby and write down the first 10 words you see. Choose words that you don't normally use. Then, freewrite a paragraph or two using the 10 words. It might take a couple of tries, but before you know it you'll feel the urge to keep going.

Newspaper Articles:
Real life is a great starting point for fiction. I once used an article from a newspaper as the basis for a poem, which led to a short story as well. Tabloids are especially good for generating ideas.

Contests:
Most contests have a specific subject or theme. This gets not only gets you started on an idea, it gives you a deadline to finish your story. Even if you don’t win the contest, you’ll still have a finished story you can try selling elsewhere.

People Watch:
Go to a busy mall or other public place and watch the people as they pass by. Pick out a person, imagine yourself in his shoes and start from there.

My personal favourite is playing "What if". Even a mundane task in your daily life can turn into a story with what if. Say you have to run to the store to pick up some bread – what if you arrive just in time to witness a robbery? What if that bone the dog came home with is from a corpse buried in the woods? What if that weird looking bug is the beginning of a plague of insects?

Ideas are all around you.

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it. ~ Neil Gaiman

H is For Horror

The three types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there …
— Stephen King

Although my longer fiction is usually science fiction or fantasy with a hint of romance, my flash fiction often dips into the darker side of life. It’s not something I plan, it just happens that way. Maybe one of these days I’ll try something longer in horror, but until then I'm happy to stay short and scary. For the letter H, I'd like to share a some of the helpful advice I've been given over the years.

While many horror writers like to start with bang, making their readers sweat immediately, I like to be a little more subtle. Personally, I like to lull my readers into a false sense of security. I start with something every day - a couple on vacation, some kids having a party on the beach, a reporter in search of a story - and then, before they realize what's happening, things take a dark turn.

Like all fiction, you need to start with a strong character, more than one if you're writing a novel. But make your character(s) likeable, flesh them out. Give them a goal and then start throwing obstacles at them. The more you can get your readers to care about these characters, the more shocking it will be when bad things start happening to them.

Limit your point of view. Write your story from the viewpoint of the main characters and remain faithful to those points of view. Let readers experience everything through those characters’ eyes, memories and feelings.

Atmosphere is equally important. Use all the senses to make the reader picture everything. Make your world come alive. If your character is fleeing from some flesh eating zombie, you must imagine the terrified thoughts racing through his or her mind – the sounds, muted by terror, even the way the air smells and tastes.

Once, at a prompt from a writing forum I'm on, I wrote a flash piece where my character only had one sense. In a nutshell, there had to be a preternatural evil involved and your character could only have one sense – sound, touch, taste, or smell. They were not allowed to have sight. It was a great exercise.

Let your characters do the doubting. Their disbelief, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence, makes us accept the whole premise you’ve come up with. Letting your characters disbelieve, question, doubt, every incredible thing that happens puts readers on the side of the supernatural – just where you want them.

If you're having trouble coming up with an idea, try to pick a subject that scares you personally. The more emotional power you pack into your story, the more readers will become terrified with you. They will feel your horror as they read each terrifying word, and become scared with you.

Sometimes writing horror can be a great escape from everyday life. If you're thinking about it, here are some sites to check out that have far more comprehensive advice than I have to offer:
25 Things You Should Know About Writing Horror
Five tips from H.P. Lovecraft
17 Ways to Write a Terrifyingly Good Horror Story

And if you are thinking about giving horror a try, then all I can say is, welcome to the dark side. ;-)