(It appears this thread was lost during the server crash yesterday, so I'm restarting it from my archives)
Now that it's almost NaNo time, the annual cycle is beginning again -
the cycle of "I want to write a novel, but I don't know where to
begin", or "I have an idea, but no clue how to turn it into a novel".
Tucson's a hotbed for writerly talent, so I've got a question for you
guys - What resources have helped you the most in your writing life?
Was it a random name generator that got you over the hump of giving
your character that perfect moniker, or a mind mapping exercise that
invigorated your stalled plot? Any resources you keep coming back to
every time you're working on a project?
My favorite crutch is Holly Lisle's web site. Every year there's some
aspect of a novel that gives me fits, and every year I've managed to
find an article on her site that helps me work through it. Right now,
my favorite is this pre-writing exercise
What are your favorite resources, and why?
----------
Municipal Liaison for Tucson, AZ - on call 24/7 during November
~~~~~ Winner 2002 * 2003 * 2004 * 2005 * 2006 * 2007~~~~~
42,022 / 50,000
Okt 3, 2008 - 09 35
Here's my post. Thanks for emailing it, Kristi. :)
----
This is my favorite random name generator. They're all real names,
so it doesn't give you output of some random combination of vowels and
consonants, plus you can choose the "3 middle names" option; I like it
just to see extra names at once.
last-names.net is helpful, if limited--it only really has
western/Anglo-Saxon last names, and the site really seems to just link
to money-making schemes, but you can still browse by letter.
Unfortunately I don't really have any coherent plotting or
----------writer's-block-fighting methods to share; I tend to scribble ideas into
notebooks that only I could go back and decipher. My favorite trick for
combating writer's block is to change the scene. If you're at a dead
end, turn around, so to speak.
2003 - The Long Road | 2004 - The Circle of Many Faces | 2006 - Searching for Sunset | 2007 - Souls in the City | 2008 - The Murmuring Mirrors
50,647 / 50,000
Okt 3, 2008 - 10 06
I currently have three favorite writing "resources."
First: a plan to spend 15 min. a day putting things away in my office. I have a tendency to move stacks instead of filing properly, and I feel really good and "professional" when I actually reshelve books or get papers into the files where they're supposed to live. (It is also grounding to see the actual surface of my desk now and again.)
Second: my new tattoo! It's my first, actually, and it's an open book with a pen hovering over the pages and magic rising from it. (The magic takes the form of dots and stars with a misty turquoise background.) I just got this tat on October 1st, but it's already inspiring me. :-)
Third: Okay, you know "Spider Solitaire"? Well, I allow myself two games between segments of work, but when the work's not going all that well, I sometimes play more than two games .... And one night whilst I was on my, oh, 10th or so game, I thought, there's got to be a way to make this productive. Sooooo ... I came up with a way to use Spider as a plot and character generator!
In fact, I came up with the plot I'll be noveling next month by using my "Spider Bite Solution," and I've outlined five or six short stories by playing Spider, too. It's fun, it's easy ... and now that playing Spider is actually work, it's not all that tempting anymore, either, so it turns out to be a bit of a time-saver.
Luck and ever-sharp pencils,
----------Ashleen
meet me at www.AshleenOGaea.com
42,022 / 50,000
Okt 3, 2008 - 10 13
In a similar vein, I agree that the best resource one can provide to oneself is that discipline to write. I think we all know what it feels like to want to write, and badly, but just not have the drive to sit down and do it.
In fact, I came up with the plot I'll be noveling next month by using my "Spider Bite Solution," and I've outlined five or six short stories by playing Spider, too. It's fun, it's easy ... and now that playing Spider is actually work, it's not all that tempting anymore, either, so it turns out to be a bit of a time-saver.
First of all, I'd love to hear how this technique works, plotting in Spider Solitaire. That's pretty amazing. :)
I have a similar method I allow myself when I'm having trouble getting into things. If I have a playlist on, I work by song, if not, I go in three-minute intervals. I'll play Solitaire, or maybe a console game, whatever I feel like playing. (My personal rule is no RPGs, they require sort of a different level of concentration, whereas I think about puzzle games or platformers in a different "way" than I do writing, an RPG generally involves some story engagement that might eat up what I reserve for writing) Then I go back and forth. One song or three minutes playing, one song or three minutes writing. Sometimes I finally get so into the writing that I'll abandon the game and focus on the writing full-time. Sometimes I don't, and keep the continuation back and forth. And every once in awhile, sure, I abandon the writing and go back to my gaming. Every day can't be a good day, but generally this technique has been really good when I just need to pound out a few pages. :)
2003 - The Long Road | 2004 - The Circle of Many Faces | 2006 - Searching for Sunset | 2007 - Souls in the City | 2008 - The Murmuring Mirrors
----------2003 - The Long Road | 2004 - The Circle of Many Faces | 2006 - Searching for Sunset | 2007 - Souls in the City | 2008 - The Murmuring Mirrors
40,812 / 50,000
Okt 8, 2008 - 13 18
I love the Holly Lisle's web site. I also opened my own writing community this year actually last week on wiki and hope to build a nice base for writer's and authors to hang I hang out on myspace alot and have over 470 published authors as friends and those also in the publishing business. I write almost full time now so don't get much chance to visit much else on the web. I will post my new writer's site soon so people can find their way there and hopefully join the online community I invision.
I am very busy also with building a new foundation and I also do tarot and other card readings for clients as well. So when I am not writing I still have plenty to do.
I like Holly Lisle's site and my author friends web sites as well because they keep me inspired and challenging myself daily to fill the blank pages. I believe in the whole energy principal and to get the right energy field around you. I have notice in my own life that when I hang with writer's and artists I am always inspiried and productive in my art as well so I try to hang around the energy I feel drawn to the most.