3 Common Reasons We May Not Feel Motivated to Write

Motivation and the Writing Life

by Bridget McNulty , @nownovel 

NowNovelNo matter how badly you want to write, you may find yourself feeling unmotivated. However, by figuring out why you are unmotivated, you can overcome that inertia and get back to putting words down on paper regularly.

One of the most common reasons you may be unmotivated is due to fear. Fear might be telling you that your writing will never be good enough. Fear might be suggesting that you compare your first drafts to the published output of longtime professional writers and wonder why you are not magically producing work that is just as good on the first try. There are a few ways to manage this fear. One way is simply to realize that most first drafts are not very good and that no one starts out as a brilliant writer. One psychological trick involves giving your worries and negative thoughts space and a time limit. Five minutes to vent about all your worst fears may be all that is needed. Finally, keep in mind that most writers are not fearless either, but they keep writing in the face of that fear.Continue reading

Twitterific Writing Links

Twitterific

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigBlog

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine(developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have a great week!

A free directory of cover designers, formatters, freelance editors, and more: http://bit.ly/nolbXq

How Morals and Basic Needs Influence a Character’s Positive Traits: http://dld.bz/dfFAQ @BeccaPuglisi

Tips for querying a self-pubbed novel: http://dld.bz/dftSX @Janet_Reid

99 clichés in epic fantasy: http://dld.bz/dftTx

3 Ways to Write Great Supporting Characters: http://dld.bz/dftTW

Do writers need a website? http://dld.bz/dfwKAContinue reading

Writing Books Faster—Without Compromising Quality

Uncategorized

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigfile2341250394382

These days, it seems as though everyone is talking about writing faster.  And there’s definitely a link between the number of books we have available for sale and sales rank…if our books are good.

But that’s the problem.  How do we ensure quality while turning out books as fast as we can?

I could write more or faster than I do now.  But I don’t want to risk compromising my writing.

Instead, I’ve worked on ways to streamline and fine-tune my process to make the most of the writing time I have.  And I’ve become more organized to provide more opportunities to write.Continue reading

How Morals and Basic Needs Influence a Character’s Positive Traits

Writing Tips

by Becca Puglisi, @BeccaPuglisiBecca Puglisi 2

 Since Angela Ackerman and I wrote our last book, The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes, I’ve been thinking a lot about personality traits and how they’re formed. Flaws are incredibly important for a character to have—and, let’s be honest: they’re really interesting to read about. But one of the main reasons we fall in love with characters is because we want them to succeed, to achieve their goals and overcome their flaws; this is where the positive attributes come in. The fact is, every character needs both positive and negative traits, and these traits need to be chosen thoughtfully.

When it’s time to create your character and figure out what his traits will be, you should take into account many factors that influence their development: genetics, upbringing and caregivers, past wounds, environment, peers—all of these things absolutely cause certain traits to organically emerge for a character. (For more information on how these factors influence trait development, please see this post on the topic.) Today, I’d like to zero in on what I believe are the two biggest influencers on trait formation: morality and basic needs.Continue reading

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