Tag: novel writing

4 Tips For Keeping Motivation High During Editing

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Yay! You’ve finished your first draft – congratulations!  Now, are you ready for the editing process?  Don’t be scared. Yes, editing is a totally different beast and it can get long and lonely, but following the advice below will help you keep your spirits high and motivation even higher.

Make it FUN

Editing can be a long process with lots of moving parts.  I know my editing list includes things like: fix character voice, add more details and descriptions, and totally change the ending.  It’s a multiple pass system where I’ll be focusing on different issues on different days.  Editing is not always fun so you have to make it fun by using writing rituals that light you up. I like to light a candle, turn on my book’s playlist, and pull a tarot card before each editing session.  Figure out 1-3 things that will make you smile before opening your document or grabbing your notebook.

Another thing that helps me keep the editing fun is mini goals and rewards.  I like to set weekly goals and bigger mini goals of finishing either things on my list or a percentage of the book and then I reward myself.  For weekly goals, I’ll reward myself with a full day off and for bigger goals I’ll buy a new eBook, take time to read a whole magazine and drink a cup of coffee, or even just relax with a movie.  Whatever makes you happy will be a good reward.

Find your people 

Editing, and writing in general, can be a lonely process – where you spend hours, days, weeks, months (not at one time hopefully) sitting by yourself in a room with your notebook or computer working away so it’s good to have some people that understand what you’re going through.  Writer’s groups, people online, real life friends and family.  Make sure you’re taking breaks within your writing schedule to stay connected to the real humans in your life, even if they are online friends.  Cultivate those relationships, share in their wins and aggravations too so it’s not a one-way street.

You can also use social media and your online support group for accountability.  Post on your Instagram your weekly or daily goals, or post a picture before your writing session and again afterwards.  Not only does this keep you on track, but it’s fun – and shares your behind the scenes with potential readers of your book.

Get organized

Editing is messy even if cutting and pasting happens digitally (for the most part) it’s still messy so make sure you have one place for keeping all of your notes.  It can be somewhere on your laptop or phone or a battered old spiral notebook, but make sure you choose one for each project.  You can always change it up on the next book but if you have too many places to look for character name changes, ideas, and plot twists you’ll lose them.

Having one place always helps if you want to blog about your project. Blogging about your book really helps get those readers interested in the characters, the backstory, the why you decided to write this particular story, and about you as a writer so when you launch that book they are ready to jump and buy it on day one.  Even if you don’t want to share, keeping a journal of what you did each day gives you a boost of happiness and keeps you motivated.  Seeing progress helps on those days when motivation is nowhere to be found.

Use Tarot

When the blahs settle in and you’re feeling less than ready to sit down and work, grab your favorite Tarot deck and ask it for help.  Ask why you might be feeling stuck or what your main character wants you to know at this moment.  You can even ask it for advice on a sticky area or something that’s just not working.  

I also like to keep my character’s cards front and center when I’m working so if I do get stuck I can journal a conversation with them and ask them for help.  Our characters know more than they’re letting on so if they aren’t doing what we want, ask them why – they might unlock a whole lot of stuff that you can use in this draft.  

What do you do when you are feeling less than motivated during the long editing process?  I’d love to know below.

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First Draft Problems

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

7 problems that authors might face when writing a first draft

Writing a first draft can be exciting and fun, but there are also some pitfalls that might cause an author to rethink the whole thing.  I know that I start out with hope, optimism and lots of energy when writing my own first drafts, but  I also know how many pitfalls are out there.

Beginnings

Let’s start at the very top.  Sometimes, we just don’t know where to start, even if we have a solid outline.  Do we start mid-conversation? Do we start with action? Do we start with our character alone or with others? It can be very confusing.  My advice? Don’t try to make it perfect.  If you get hung up right at the beginning, you might never start.  You can always fix things in the editing stage, but you can only fix words on paper.

Middles

Okay, you didn’t have any issues with the beginning, but now you’re smack in the middle of your outline and the pacing feels slow and the newness of the project is long gone.  You’re getting bored and feeling less excitement over all.  You might need a break! Step away for a day or two – not too long that you get out of the habit of writing, but long enough that you get to fill up your creative well in other ways.  Watch your favorite movies, read a new book, or just do something completely unrelated to your project and get some rest.

Endings

You are moving and grooving and you are near the end of your outline, and just like the beginning you have no idea how to end this thing.  Do you use the circle method and mirror your beginning? Do you leave on a cliffhanger? Set up your second book? You are confused, frustrated and ready to just chuck the whole thing in a drawer.  Stop! Don’t do that, please.  Again – don’t worry about being perfect – you can fix a bad ending later.  It’s better to get over the finish line and start the next part of the process rather than totally abandoning your project.  

For extra help, if you have any of the above issues – I suggest pulling 1-3 Tarot cards. The cards can give you insight into your character’s motivations and the best way to move forward when you feel stuck. 

Characters

Speaking of characters, we all know they can cause havoc by doing their own thing and by not talking to us.  We also might run into having under developed characters, where we have to stop and fix things we’ve missed or work on deepening their backstory.  If this is you, may I suggest my free training – Novel Narrator – creating your book’s characters in 30 minutes using Tarot. It’s an easy, fun, and quick way to create compelling characters for your books!

Plot bunnies

Bunnies are cute and all, but not if they are leading us away from our outlines.  You know that feeling, you have written pages and pages only to realize that you are so far from your original plot that you can’t even tell where you are anymore.  First, decide if the new idea is worth exploring. If it is, take some time to redo your outline to make the new idea work.  If it’s not working, then start writing from where you want to be and work backwards to make things fit.  I’m not going to lie, these things can cause us to lose time and make a little more work, but in the long run it’s better to stop and fix now then have to comb through all that junk later.

Losing motivation

Writing a book isn’t easy – as we’ve seen from the issues above.  You can easily lose motivation, feel lonely, and start to hate sitting down at your computer.  I suggest scheduling breaks throughout your writing schedule so you can fill your well, connect with other writers online, and give your brain some space. In addition to breaks, I also suggest creating mini goals and having rewards for reaching milestones.  Did you finish half of your first draft? Great – celebrate by getting your nails done, calling an old friend, or having a fancy coffee at your favorite coffeehouse.  These will keep you motivated to keep going and keep writing fun!

Time Management

If you don’t schedule in breaks and mini celebrations, you might start feeling burnt out and stressed.  To keep from cramming too much into your day, try writing down your due date and work backwards so you can have breaks, space, and time to write.  Trying to do too much at once only leads to heartbreak, sickness, and crankiness – trust me, ask those you live with what it’s like when you’re on deadline and you still have way too much to do? It’s probably not going to be a nice answer.  To keep that from happening, plan for all contingencies and add in extra buffer time so you can have space for emergencies. If you don’t need them – great, more time to celebrate and rest.

Which of these problems have plagued you during writing your first drafts? Which one of my suggestions will you be trying first? I’d love to know below.

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What is an Intuitive Tarot Reader?

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

When I was starting my Tarot journey, the thought of learning meanings and descriptions for 78 cards seemed super daunting. In fact, I was overwhelmed to the point that I stalled my study for a few months before I gained traction.

The thing that helped during that time was learning some basics.  These included knowing the differences between the Major and Minor arcana, numerology, what each suit means, and the main points are for each court card.  These helped me quickly make assessments when I pulled cards, but I still felt like I was missing something.  It felt very textbook to me, very standard, nothing about it felt personal.  

I was missing my own spark!

What was missing was using my own intuition including how I feel about the card, what I’m picking up about the person I’m reading for and the situation I’m reading about.  Adding this into my repertoire helps me pick up almost any deck and read with it because I’m not worried about key phrases or definitions, I’m letting my brain tell me what I need to know.

What does Intuition mean to me?

Intuition means trusting myself that I will have an answer when I need it.  This did not happen overnight, it happened over months and years of honing this trust by practicing.  How did I do this?  By not using the little white book that came with my deck.  In fact, I forced myself to do personal readings without any book or cheatsheet’s help.  I would just read based on my own brain and what I thought was important from each card. 

If the thought of doing this stresses you out, promise yourself that you’ll do the reading without the book first by writing down your own thoughts that come up from your intuition and then going to the book.  Once you start realizing that you can do it without the book’s help, you will need the book less and less.

How does this work when reading for others?

For starters, I use the energy I get from either their body language if I’m doing a live or Zoom reading or what words they use if I’m doing a written reading. I can’t really explain this process, but I can feel things from the other person which helps me decide what information to bring forth in readings.  It also helps if I know what kind of reading we’re doing – I get different energies around writers looking for creative help than I do for friends who are needing help with a romantic relationship.

How does this work if I’m using the cards as a writer?

I actually drop the traditional meanings all together and just use the details in the cards.  I look at colors, backgrounds, foregrounds, tiny details, and anything about the people or animals in the card that might ping creative ideas for my characters, plot points, and anything else I need for my writing. 

Dropping the key phrases helps me find that freedom to trust myself fully, moving swiftly from idea to idea, knowing that whatever comes up is exactly what I need in that moment. It’s either the perfect answer or something that will help me create the perfect answer.  It’s all about making connections and brainstorming until I feel that certain something that tells me I’m on the right track.

When you hear the phrase Intuitive Tarot Reader what do you think? I’d love to know below. 

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Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be Ashamed If You Are Suffering From Writer’s Block

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Shouldn't be ashamed if you are suffering from writer's block

Feeling stuck or suffering from Writer’s Block is not fun, but it’s nothing to feel ashamed of. You know what I’m talking about. Someone asks how the book writing is going and you say things are good even though you haven’t technically sat down in days (or months) and actually written or edited anything.  You feel terrible, guilty, and some shame but you don’t have to.

What exactly is Writer’s Block anyways?  

Maybe you’re not writing at all and totally avoiding sitting down at your computer at all costs – your kitchen has never been more clean and organized though.

Maybe you are writing some, but you hate every minute of it and you’re starting to want to avoid that computer, the bathroom mold is calling your name. 

Maybe you’re feeling a bit icky about the words you are producing as nothing sounds right, nothing feels right, and you’d rather spend your precious writing time researching one tiny detail in your novel, make another mood board or playlist, and reading that new book that might help you write yours. Yes, all of those things are fun and very much needed (at least to me) but there’s a fine line between research and procrastination.

Creative Fatigue

We are all feeling wiped out – Pandemic, lockdowns, online school for our kids, Zoom meetings all day, no coffee shops to write at, no aimlessly wandering Target listening to other people’s conversations – it’s been hard and we are all feeling dry and burnt out so luckily, you are not alone.

Why do I say luckily? Because when we’re having writer’s block and we starting feel ashamed we think we alone are suffering, but the truth is we are all feeling degrees of this pandemic pickle (a phrase I coined because I hate pickles but love alliteration – and pickles are sour and that’s the feeling I sometimes get when blocks rear their ugly head) but we can do some things to help.

Change Your Routine

You probably can’t go to Starbucks or other coffee houses to write, but you can go to a different location in your house.  You can try hand writing a few pages if you’re used to typing (or vice versa) or go totally nuts and use the voice memo on your smartphone to speak aloud a passage, scene, or whole chapter.  Or use the voice memo feature to talk through issues you are having with your novel like a talk therapy session.

Journal

Like I mentioned a few blog posts back you can journal as if you are one of all of your characters which does help unlock some fun dialogue and patterns of speech for each of them, but you can also just journal about your book. What do you like about your story? What are you not liking right now? What do you love about your main character? What do you hate about them? What do you love about your antagonist? What makes them the perfect villain? Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day to day grind of writing that we forget why we started writing our current WIP in the first place. Why do you love your story? What was the inspiration? 

Talk It Out

Do you have another writing friend? Ask them how they’re feeling and let them know what you’re feeling and see if you can help each other out.  If none of your friends are writers, turn to Facebook or another group online (Discord has quite a few) to share what you’re feeling and let others offer advice.  Being honest and authentic with others allows them to be open and honest back and to let them see that they are not alone either.  

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

It’s hard right now. Writer’s Block is always hard (even without being in lockdown) but please don’t beat yourself up that won’t help anything and will only make you feel worse. Instead, give yourself some grace.  Talk to yourself the way you would your child or your best friend if they were having this issue.  Make your favorite hot beverage and tell that beautiful writer in the mirror that tomorrow will be better. 

Do Something

Write something…even if it’s one sentence.  Edit something…even if it’s one paragraph.  In fact, it’s better to restart slowly.  Make a plan to write for 1 minute and then stop. Do that for a few days and see if you’re itching to get back to it. If not, great – keep up with the one minute a day until you do feel better.  One minute a day is better than not writing at all for months on end. I know it seems silly, but trust me it will keep you connected to your novel, your story and your characters without driving yourself crazy.  It really is a win-win.

Celebrate

Look back at how far you’ve come.  Did you write one chapter before writer’s block? Great! Did you get through a whole draft but editing is causing you problems? Awesome!  Celebrate what you’ve done and see that you can and will write again.  Celebrate that you are aware of your problem and you are taking steps to fix them. Smile at that beautiful writer in the mirror and celebrate that you are a Writer – own it, claim it, call it, shout it out loud and proud. You are a beautiful writer and I never want you to forget it!

Which one of these tips and tricks are you going to try first? I would love to know.

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3 Things To Remember When You Are Feeling Stuck

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Things to Remember when you are stuck

You used my tips from my last blog post and your characters are talking to you again, the words are flowing, and you are feeling on top of the world…until you aren’t. You just can’t get into the groove, words sound stilted, your dialogue sounds like a kindergartener wrote them, you are just feeling stuck. 

Why? What’s happening?

You have the dreaded writer’s block, even though you can’t seem to admit that to anyone – not even yourself – you know you are avoiding your laptop, or that Scrivener file – and it’s starting to affect your mental health.  You are letting your past issues affect your present and it sucks.

You Are Awesome

First, don’t lose sight of how amazing you are.  Just because you are stuck right now and you’ve had some issues sitting down and getting quality words down on paper – and you’re probably starting to feel crappy – remember that you are awesome.  You have had days and months of writing amazing things, quickly and in total flow which means you can get back there again.  

You Are Magic

Secondly, remember that everything you need is inside of you – right now and always! You just might need some help.  Another person to talk things out with (like a Tarot Reader who specializes in helping writers perhaps?) or just a day or two where you don’t stress about the words.  Journal, interview your characters, try something else, build a playlist, dance, draw, do anything else to get out of your own way.

You Are Going To Be Okay

And finally, realize that things might look different.  You might have planned and made a detailed outline and then your main character did something to screw everything up, but after you looked at it – it’s actually pretty brilliant. Or maybe you don’t outline but you had some ideas and nothing is panning out the way you thought…but what you are writing is actually funny so go with that.  OR maybe you wanted to write fantasy but aliens keep popping up – okay, take a step back and see if you really, deep down want to write Science Fiction?  It’s all OKAY, trust me.  Go back to step two and remember that you are magic!

How are you feeling now? Can you take a deep breath, remember how magical and awesome you are, and try again?  Let me know how it goes below.

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4 Tips To Get Your Characters Talking To You Again

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson
Getting characters to talk to you

Has this ever happened to you? You are writing your draft, words are flowing and then one day your characters just stop talking to you?  You know what I’m talking about – words stop, dialogue sounds wrong, characters are doing things that are not in your outline.  What is going on?

We all know that characters have a mind of their own sometimes and that can mean they stop talking to us which can cause us to stop writing all together which is not great for getting that draft finished is it?  In fact, it’s downright frustrating!

I have a few things that might work…try a few and see what works best for you.

Visualize Your Characters

I like to grab my favorite Tarot deck and either grab the card I used to create my character in the first place or choose one that I think represents them now. OR if you’d rather have a real picture, head to Pinterest and find an image that looks like the character you have in your head.  Now you have something to look at, something to talk to, someone you can keep in your mind while you are writing.

Journal

Another helpful exercise I like to do when I’m feeling blah with my characters is journal as if I am them. Would your character type or handwrite their diary entry? Purple pen or blue ink? Flowery language and doodles or bullet journal style? This can get you back into the mind of your characters pretty fast.  If you are stuck on a particular scene, then use that to fuel what you journal about.  If you’re just kind of stuck in general, then start having your character talk about another character in the book and then flip flop and do the same thing with the other character. Very eye opening and will help unlock lots of stuff you might not have thought about originally.

Interview Them

Very similar to the journal exercise, think of some questions you could ask your characters and then interview them.  This is where I love to have to have an image to look up so I’m talking to someone or some representation of them.  You can do this via writing, you can record yourself on your phone using voice memo or video yourself and use different voices for your characters – this might just be the ex-actor in me – but it can be fun to “play” as if you are them for a while.

Role Play

Adding on to the interview – act out a scene from your book being all the characters.  Like a crazy one man play – run around your living room acting out a scene or chapter – either one you’ve already written or the one you are stuck on. Keep a notebook close so you can take notes or film yourself and watch it back later so you can write down what you said. It can be silly, fun, and get your creative juices flowing quickly.

Which one are you thinking of trying first?  Let me know how it goes.

And if you need some help creating characters, download my free training Novel Narrator: Easily Create Your Book’s Characters in 30 Minutes using Tarot here or by signing up below.

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How I Use Pinterest To Create Mood Boards For My Novels

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

As you know, my current work in progress has gone on quite a journey from short story to a novel about Leo dealing with his famous father to a novel about his sister, Etta, and NOW about two young High School juniors, Etta and Gina, dealing with their own ups and downs of family, school, and life. 

Along this very long, multiple year journey, I’ve lost my way and lost my passion a few times, but I feel like I’ve gotten back into a really good place and actually am excited to start this next round of edits and fixing things.  BUT I was also looking for a fun distraction between finishing up some new chapters and re-reading the novel so I turned to Pinterest.

Pinterest? Yup…I love creating mood boards for my novels and I realized that I had never changed the one for this book to reflect my new point of view character and her interests in the book.  Head here to see the full board if you’d like to see some elements of my book: St. Louis, High School, the violin, the musical Grease, and baseball – student athletes and the Cardinals!   

Basically, how I make a mood board is I start thinking about my novel as a whole and then think about each character and start putting in topics that relate to them and find images that I like.  

So, for example, baseball girls in high school and then softball because it’s hard to find girls playing baseball (which is a huge part of my novel).  For Gina – my new POV character, I started searching for theatre spaces, auditioning for theatre, and high school musicals but that didn’t yield too much so I went with the specific show she’s auditioning for in my book – Grease – and I found a ton of stuff!

I also like to describe my characters and find a few pictures for each of them.  I still have a few characters to add to my board but I have Etta and her family and Gina and her twin brother Carl added but still need their cousin Libby and all the parents for that side.  When I describe my characters I usually put in things like: short brown hair slightly nerdy teen boy and then scroll until I find one that I like, or that I think looks like what I have in my head when I write.

After creating my full mood board this past week, I decided to go one extra step and create an aesthetic over in Canva — what do you think? 

 

 

I think it captures the new novel perfectly and I can’t wait for you guys to read it!  I’m really hoping it will be ready by next Spring but we shall see what my editor thinks after I turn in the next round of edits in early September.

So…as a reader, do you like these sneak peeks into my author process? What else are you curious about? Do you want to see my outline? My editing notes or what I do digital vs by hand?  

Let me know and I’ll make sure I incorporate some of that into my blog posts moving forward.

 

 

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