For Aspiring Writers

Quick Tips

Who better to learn from than a current Writer who is new to this field and is learning along the way! Kaylee shares in short paragraphs (Quick Tips) below of what has helped her with writers block, gaining motivation, staying consistent, disciplined and any helpful tips that have come through the journey of writing and hopes with what she has learned, can help you too!

📖Re-reading can be the best way to cure writers block!

You may not want to re-read your own book again and again and I don’t blame you it can be really annoying and tiring.

But it can spark new ideas as you read, find plot holes to fix, or find a spot where you want to incorporate an idea you forgot in your notes! As well as help with remembering what you have written and how you can continue the story.

Write down a short list of what has helped you in the past even if its only one or two things, when it comes to writers block and once you have that list, keep it near you for when it happens again to look back on, because we all know it will come back if we like it or not lol

These are Five Things that help me to get inspired when it has burned out or simply just don't feel motivated.

Here is what has helped me that could potentially help you!

I Listen to music that relates to my characters as if they have their own soundtrack. Ill listen to music with words or instrumental that sparks my imagination. I have a playlist on my Spotify that is designated to my book. (Ill either listen to it at home, go for a walk or go for a drive)
Talk about it. I will share what I plan to write, my ideas etc to my husband who gets to know all the secrets and golden info on my books. (Pick someone you trust with your book ideas and that they will keep it confidential) When I talk about it more ideas have come to me and have helped me see any plot holes (Or he would point them out) and pumps me up to go and write! Even at times he will suggest ideas because he can get really into it and if I think it fits with my books I'll put it in which I have in Thea Heffield and the World Beyond the spyglass. It can also help with keeping you accountable.
Pinterest! Yes Pinterest of course! Pinterest is my favorite place when it comes to searching up character design ideas, world building, items and more!
Read books that are the same genre as your own. It can really inspire you when reading another authors work and as a writer we can be amazed by other writers minds and how they write it, that can also help us learn from them and write better. It has inspired me to want to get back in to writing my own book.
Write out your goal(s) and have incentives that will push you to keep writing. For example: Say I wanted to write 10,000 words in five days, super achievable but also a push to write 2.000 words everyday and my incentive would be to buy something I really wanted for awhile, date night with my husband, or anything that would push me enough that once I achieved it I would get the thing I wanted but of course if I didn't achieve it I would not be able to get it and I can't let myself get it anyway because then it will ruin my motivation to want to write the next time.

Hope this will add value to you in your writing journey!

Change it up!

A way to get out of the Writers slump that has helped me and that could help you:

Change your workspace. It' simply just getting out of your traditional same old same old workspace. You got to change it up once in awhile. If you usually write in your office space at home, maybe go to a different spot in the house like at the dinner table or like for me I go downstairs sit in my comfy recliner, put the fireplace on and write. Some like to go to the coffee shop or sit outside on their front porch. This can help inspire more ideas or be in mood to write, or sometimes it can force you to write because moving all your writing equipment is a job in its self lol.

Write out of Order. Another effective way that has worked for me is writing a different chapter in the manuscript rather than going in order, I'll write a random chapter I know I want in the book and will put the number to the chapter later when it makes sense of where to place it. As well as writing your last chapter and knowing how it will end can help in a big way! Such as getting you out of writers block or even help you remember where the story is going.

Treat yourself. I have seen other authors and writers treat themselves to buying a new keyboard (If it makes sense to) that have inspired them to write and use their new and fresh keyboard and if you are able than buy yourself one and I bet you'll definitely want to start writing away with it! This can also work with getting a new notebook or a special pen.

How to Start Writing that Book you've always said you'd write.

This will be longer than a Quick few tips. I want to dive into this topic as I am very passionate about it and want to help you with how simple it can be to start writing your book and the growth mindset behind it.

I bet you have said "I want to write a book but can't figure out how to start" OR "I've always wanted to write but it seems so daunting and overwhelming" OR "I want to write but don't know how or have the skills."

Let me tell you right away that anyone can write a book as long as they are willing to learn along the way. Which should bring some relief since you don't have to know everything all at the same time. You should know that I didn't know what I was doing, I had no clue if I was even doing it right and it doesn't help when you have dyslexia but I had a book idea that wouldn't leave me alone and I just started to write whatever was coming to mind and it grew from there.

Since I have started with the mindset talk lets look over the 5 Points I have on having that growth mindset with starting to become a writer.

All Writers are Different. You must understand that every writer and author is different and that there really is no right way of writing or wrong way in how to start.
Relatable. All writers can relate in feeling that they can't measure up to peoples expectations or don't have the necessary skills to do it and honestly if you're willing to learn than you can write, just like anybody else can and remember there are fans out there waiting to read your book and will love it! Of course there are writing classes you can take or watch a YouTube video, etc.
Believe. Believe, Believe, that you CAN do it because as the saying goes, if you believe you can't than your right but if you believe you can than your right. If you can write an essay. a long text message, a paragraph or even a grocery list you can write a book.
Get Messy. Be okay with being messing because in all honestly success is messy and anyone that tells you that they got to their success on a clean and straight path without a hair out of place are lying. So with that I hope you feel a sense of relief as I did when I hear it from a friend of mine. That I don't need to worry about starting out my book super organized, perfect and tidy. You can be as organized as you want as I was but writing a book gets messy and things change that's okay. Think of it as you have the Freedom to have a mess. Besides the mess always gets cleaned up in the end, little by little, edit by edit or step by step.
Don't listen to Nay Sayers. This is so important. PLEASE and i mean Please don't let people get into your head and tell you that you can't be a writer or would never be able to publish a book. My English teacher told me I would never amount to becoming an author or ever be able to publish a book because she saw no hope in me with my writing skills. But I chose not to listen because I was new to it and how can someone be a skilled writer at fifteen with just getting into the interest of writing even though I didn't even know I wanted to be so really that English teacher did me a favor by showing me a desire I never knew I had. To me people who say such things and bring people down are threatened by your potential, they know you have it in you and people like that know they have potential too but don't want to pursue it and don't want to see you pursue yours because they would feel bad about themselves. This also implies to those people on social media and blogs that say "Five reasons why you shouldn't be a writer" OR "Your not a real writer if you do these Ten things" I call Bull**** on that. Sorry but what those people are posting are the same ones I mentioned before and I bet they haven't wrote a book before and if they have they have an entitlement issue. So please don't read or listen to those people. I 100% believe that if you set your mind to do something you can do it. It just takes time and some effort. It's not as hard as some authors make it out to be. Yes there are challenging moments but not so difficult that it becomes impossible to accomplish. Just visit a book store or library and you'll see all the success around you. If they can do it so can you. No one is better than anyone. No one is born a natural author, we all have to learn how to get good at something and thank goodness for that or I wouldn't have even come close to writing my first book.

Now on to what you came here for, my 6 points on how to start writing your book!

Brain Dump. When a book idea comes into my mind the first thing I do is dump out every idea that comes to my mind in a notebook or in my iPhone notes app. I don't worry about order, structure or if the idea makes sense. I already know half of the ideas that come to me may not even play a factor in the book because it just may not make sense. Most importantly know what genre is your book, the main character, villain and the plot.
Character Development. Then I'll focus on Character Development and start with my main character and write down everything I know about the character. (No you don't have to know all of it all at once. Sometimes ideas will change or come later, or your characters will tell you who they are themselves through writing.) I write it out on a character development sheet that I create on canva or you can purchase one off Esty.

3. Write the Plot. Then jot note down how you want it to start, what's the major conflict(s) in the middle of the book and how it will end.

4. Series or Single Novel? Ask yourself if this is to be a series or just a single novel. Because that's a whole other post for going into depth in how to start writing a series.

5. Set up Manuscript. What I like to do is set up my manuscript on the computer. (You can watch people on YouTube on how to properly set up your manuscript. For me I'm simple and use Office word.)

6. Outline or Begin. Some love to outline their book chapter by chapter before actually beginning to write it. Which is a great way to stay organized and less plot holes to deal with. Even for me as a pantser writer I still have jot notes of what I want to happen in each chapter and how it should play out to make sense in the end but I'm not as hard core as others. Or you can just begin writing like I do and go along and make sense of it along the way with the notes I have written, my character development and plot. Yes the first sentence is always tough, I advise you to not think about it too deeply and it's always best to start it out as if you were starting from the middle of your book or starting in mid scene to grab readers attention. For example: "The whale came crashing down on to our wooden ship that didn't stand a chance" Instead of: "Sarah awoke from a deep sleep and began her morning." Now there is nothing wrong starting out that way, I did with my book but since I have been writing other books I have started them out with a conflict right away and can see how my family and friends respond to it with more intrigue.

So all in all start writing with a brain dump of your ideas for your book and work your way from there! and it never hurts to join a writing class.

Hope this has helped you feel confidant in beginning to write your book! Now get writing fellow writers!