“Write while the heat is in you.… The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.” —Henry David Thoreau

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

Perfectionism kills creativity…procrastination kills the writer…
When you encounter the enemy – the blank paper – these will be your biggest obstacles.

• Perfectionism – prideful thinking that you have the best idea, can write the greatest book or you care the most.

• Procrastination – putting of writing a story because of self-doubt or a plethora of other reason. It becomes an idea that only exists in your head. Let it out.

So, when you and that blank paper or screen face each other, do not let pride or despair take the lead. Instead, let fun and play take the lead. Yes, when you enjoy writing for what it is and not for some grandiose idea you will be surprised at the outcome. There’s always time revisions later, but first write with no restraints.

So you have a great idea for a story, now what?

The Idea

• Ideas are great but it’s developing that idea that puts you over the top.

• Now that you have the idea—you can do like the great innovators do: Bend it. Amp it. Drive it. Strip it.

What are the key elements to writing fiction?

• Plot – A story’s plot is what happens in the story and the order it happens in. It is basically a road map. The story is more important than the individual characters

• Character – focuses on the inner conflict of the characters that you’ve created. The reader will spend time thinking about the characters attitudes and decisions

• Setting, theme, tone – affects mood and event possibilities and character temperament

   

The flow of a basic story:

• Character Introduced
• Conflict/Problem Introduced
• Rising Action
• Climax/highest point of the problem
• Resolution