We’re winding down to the last two Ways I get Myself to Write. You may be asking: what’s the 10th method? Well, as the title of this article already spells out in all caps, one of the ways I get myself to write is by reading. I know that may sound counterproductive to some of you. If I’m trying to get myself to write, then why am I stopping to read? Well, immersing myself in a good story not only helps my mind recuperate and relax, I find myself learning a lot about technique, characterization, character development, rising action, conflict, and theme as I read. I’m not saying that you should start reading a book and copy down everything, word-for-word from that book, change a few names and pass it off as your own; that would be plagiarizing.

No, I’m saying that you should take your reading seriously. Don’t just think about how much you love the characters or the story, ask yourself: why? What about the way the author describes the characters or reveals parts of their personality effectively contributes to the story. How does the author create suspense? How does the author evoke emotion from you? Is it through the dialogue? What specifically about the dialogue? Enjoy reading the story, but try to pinpoint how the technical aspect of the book effects the story in its ability to engage you. One way you can keep track of your observations is by jotting them down in a notebook. Don’t go all note crazy and stop after each page to write down ten thousand notes (I may or may not have done that at one time…). Maybe stop every couple of chapters or halfway through the book and think about what stuck out to you. Writing, “The part with the dragon was cray”; again, ask yourself why? “The author focused a lot on describing the fight with the dragon as well as what the dragon looked like, which gave me a clear word picture and kept me interested in the rising action.” Or, shorthand it to something like, Dragon scene = descriptive details formed word picture; kept me focused.

I recently got Reading Journal: for Book Lovers by Potter Style that not only has space to write notes, but includes room to write the name of the book I’m reading, the author, the genre, the things I want to learn more about after reading the book, and my star rating. It’s a great way to keep all your thoughts in one place. My only wish is that there was more room for notes. 😛 But there are other great features in the journal like start and finish dates, a recommended list of book titles, room to record your favorite authors, and so much more. (This journal and two others I HIGHLY recommend are in our online store.) In fact, I use my notes from my reading journal as the basis for my book reviews. And the book reviews are basically things that I’ve learned and want to incorporate into my writing or at least try. Therefore, the knowledge gained from reading gives me motivation to write. BAM! Full circle. 😉

So, go ahead; take a load off, shut down your computer, and get to reading. In the words of one of my favorite Christian Romance writers, Irene Hannon, “Read exhaustively in the genres that interest you.”

Oh, writing prompts. How I love thee. Now, writing prompts are helpful for many reasons, the obvious one being: THEY MOTIVATE YOU AND ME TO WRITE! They are a tonic against writer’s block *gagging noise* and a fun way to exercise your imagination. What’s great about prompts is that they give you enough direction to actually have something to write about while also giving you the freedom to take what you’ve been given and go a million different routes.

Some other advantages are that writing prompts can help inspire a scene for a preexisting story, help you finish a scene you might be stuck on, or help you come up with a brand new story idea. This has certainly been the case for me as well as KelseyDragon17. In fact, we often do prompts together when we hang out and then swap what we’ve written when we are done. Other times, if I feel like writing but don’t want to work on anything specific or just want to create something, I’ll pick a random prompt and time myself for let’s say, fifteen minutes. That’s a great way to warm-up your brain and/or keep it in shape so that you’re still writing something on a day to day basis.

Do I write everyday? Heck, no. I wish. 😛 But, I’m trying. And in case you want to give prompt writing a try as well, I’ve included five specific kinds of prompts you can use to gain inspiration. (They also happen to be my favorites, but that’s not as important.)

• PINTEREST PROMPTS – If you simply go on Pinterest and type in “writing prompts” you will get a whole lot of pins with a lot of different prompts on them. Some have one sentence scene descriptions that give you various situations to go off of, while others give you a snippet of dialogue. Still others give you a character or setting description to use. I love these. I love these so much I have a whole board dedicated to writing prompts on my account. In addition to the word-poster prompts you might see, if you search “writing inspiration pictures” you can find a lot of really interesting pictures to use as prompts. Again, I have a board dedicated to these bad boys. A little disclaimer: KD17 and I had this discussion, and apparently, a prompt is not a Pinterest prompt unless it was inspired by a picture or prompt from there. What I mean is, you can’t write a scene and then find a picture the next day and say that that scene is a Pinterest prompt. I know, I tried.
• PROMPT GENERATORS – There are a TON of random generators online that you can use for writing inspo. I’ve found plot, dialogue, backstory, setting, character description, character profile, and even character costume generators just by searching “writing prompt generator” on Google. I always laugh when I use these; they can be so random but that helps sometimes. And for on the go, search for the same thing on your smartphone’s app store. They have just as many for mobile devices as they do online.
• PROMPT BOOKS – Oh geez. Now, I’m getting hyped. Writing prompt books are the bomb.com. They just are. Especially the 642 Things to Write About book by 826 Valencia. They have a whole line of prompt books to either write or draw something and they come in regular and travel size. They also have a “Young Writer’s” edition, which HELLO WE ARE ALL YOUNG WRITERS so I thought that was pretty lit. What’s nice about the YW edition is that the prompts are totally kid-friendly and I’d even say slightly more whimsical. The layout varies from page to page, so some prompts have more space for writing than others while others have blank space for drawing if you wanted to. I’d suggest if a prompt really inspires you, keep a notebook handy in case you need more room. The other book I have is “Complete the Story” by Piccadilly. I actually just got this one for my birthday. 😉 The book gives you a prompt that literally cuts off and it’s up to you to finish it. I personally like to change the POVs and names of the characters if they are included in a prompt, but that’s just me.

• FOUND OBJECTS – When I’m out, I sometimes get inspiration by looking at things (especially when shopping). I see pictures, pieces of jewelry, books, even something as random as a candlestick and I automatically have a scene idea swirling around in my head. Going to thrift stores like Goodwill or garage sales are great ways to find inspo because everything has a history, a significance and though you may not know the real story, you can make up one, and thus, create a story. Paper documents (old or new) like postcards can be sources of inspiration too. Ask yourself: What’s happening in the photo on the postcard? Who is the person writing the postcard? Who is the person receiving the postcard? Where are they? The questions are endless.
• FRIENDS & FAMILY – You heard me! Ask your friends/family for something to write about. It can be anything. Have them read a piece of your work and ask them what else should happen in that scene. Tell them to shout the first word or phrase that comes to their mind and use that. Or, simply use the interactions you have with them as dialogue in your story. Nothing makes dialogue more believable than using things that people actually said. Of course, you might want to tell them that you are using your conversation with them as inspiration before you type it up. 😛

And there you have it. Five types of prompts that will hopefully motivate you to write. Let us know which kinds you try out and how they work for you! (Btw: both prompt books mentioned can be found on our Amazon Store site.)

This is a very simple method I like to use when I’m on the go. I’m one of those writers who is constantly hearing her characters talking to each other. I live for dialogue, I hear it everywhere I go. Sometimes, a random phrase will pop into my head that inspires an entire scene. For me, out of all the pieces that make up a story, dialogue pieces are the easiest to place. More often that not, I get inspiration for dialogue when I’m out running errands, visiting a new place (like I am this week! #vacay), or hanging with friends. In those situations I like to be able to just write out the dialogue without having to worry about being descriptive, using dialogue tags, or talking about the physical actions of my characters. I’d started jotting down some dialogue in my notebook a couple weeks ago while waiting for my mom as she ran an errand but became slightly confused when going back to read over what I had written. It’s hard to distinguish between which of my characters is talking, especially when another character comes into the scene halfway through. For this reason, I assigned a colored pen (but you can use pencils, markers, crayons, etc.) to each of my characters so that every time they spoke, their dialogue was in a specific color. This actually helped me out a lot. It’s not a very ground-breaking or super motivational method, just something quick and fun to make writing easier (and therefore more frequent) for you as you go about your summer. 😉

Here’s a tiny snippet of the scene I was talking about above between two of my main characters: Rowena (“Ro” for short) and Demetry (but here at YWD, we like to call him “Demy” 😛 )…

This entry is technically for August, but I haven’t written anything for July so I’m doing a “wombo-combo” sort of thing instead. 😛 Let’s see…what did I do? Ummm…sporadically wrote down bits of dialogue, wrote some articles, went to a magical, super cute bookstore while on vacation and purchased 38 books… No joke, I was hyperventilating when I got to the Christian fiction section. 😛 I started reading a new book on human temperaments that has inspired me to work on further developing my characters (more on that later), got major INSPO for one of my CCR sequels, wrote down some scene ideas, actually wrote about 1,000 words worth of book material, and got to spend a whole week at the beach Bible Journaling which was a much needed blessing. 🙂 Oh! Had my first “Writing Lock-In” with KelseyDragon17 (thoughts on that in later article), typed up some scenes from a few notebooks, started a few scenes, worked on my story outline, and put all my excerpts for my FF series into one document. That was cray, and surprisingly, that whole series isn’t even as long as my one CCR story is by itself. #whateven

–YW

Hey, young writers! Just wanted to share a little bit of what I’ve been doing with my story cubes. I usually start by opening up a Word Document and writing down what I rolled at the top so I can look back on it and remember what inspired my scene. Then, I set my timer on my phone to 25 minutes and start writing. I’ve included a pic of what my header looks like and a little piece of a scene that I wrote using my cubes. 🙂

Three quick things: 1) I only used 3 categories/cubes for this scene, this isn’t ALL of the scene (or the final version 😛 ), and the colors at the top correspond to the category rolled (voyage dice are green, action dice are blue, and enchanted dice come in pink). I’ve also included a picture of what I rolled below…

In one of my previous writing updates, I promised to write about the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING creative writing tools I’ve found and how they inspire me to write. That was in June. It’s now the end of July. Oops! 😛 With that being said, let me introduce you to some new and very inspirational friends. They are called story cubes. Now, there are many, many, many different brands of story cubes and different packs containing specific story categories within those packs within each of the brands. Taking into account how long you actually want to spend reading this article and the time I actually want to spend time typing it/how badly I want to keep all sense of feeling in my fingertips, I’ve decided to only talk about my top 3 favorite brands of story cubes.

#1: Rory’s Story Cubes by Gamewright

Okay, these boys are my homies. But seriously, I love these story cubes. They have adorable, thought-provoking pictures on each of their 6-sides and while you can clearly understand some of the images on the die, others are less obvious and therefore, completely open to your creative interpretation, depending on what story you are using the cube(s) for. What’s even cooler is that the creators at Gamewright purposely refrained from posting specific meanings for their die on their website (I know, I checked) in order to allow people to better use their imaginations. How cool is that? This particular brand has 3 packs of 9 dice each (categories include: original, actions, and voyages) and about 9 packs of 3 dice each (categories are: enchanted, clues, prehistoric, medic, score, intergalactic, mythic, animalia, and fright). Each box contains instructions on how to actually use the dice, but I personally like to pick a dice from each category (I have 6 categories so far), then roll them and see what I get. As I look at the images, I try to think how they could apply to my story or help my story along if I’m stuck in a certain spot. I’m always amazed at how a seemingly random group of pictures can sometimes inspire a full-fledged scene in my head and if it doesn’t, well hey, at least I can enjoy laughing over the crazy mix-up I got. 😛

#2 Story Time Dice by Imagination Generation

These dice are pretty cool in their own right. There are 3 packs of 7 dice each in 3 different versions: original Story Time, Fairy Tales, and Scary Tales. Not only that, but these dice come in different shapes, with a different amount of sides for every one. And each dice is filled with images that pertain to a specific story element. For example, one dice is just for the setting aspect of the story, another is for tools, another for characters, another for challenges, etc. What’s more, the packages each come with their own picture guide to explain the images on the cubes. It does take out the element of using your imagination to bend the pictures to whatever you think they look like, but I think it’s nice to be able to see what the images actually are in case you really have no clue. 😉 In addition to the guide, there are suggestions for games to play but again, I just roll each die and go from there. I only have the original set, but I’m hoping to get the fairy tale pack soon!

#3 Magic & Fairy Tale Dice by Norman and Jules

This brand also comes in Pirate Adventure and Space Travel packs. These are wooden dice that have very beautiful, slightly more detailed pictures on them compared to that of Gamewright’s Story Cubes. This game actually has a special red die, and when rolling all the other cubes, if you happen to roll a red swirl on one of them, you get to roll the special red die and add that image to your story mixture. I really like the vintage look of these cubes and the idea of the special die. It’s fun looking at all your “normal” cubes and being like, “Alright, I think I know what scene I’m going to write using what I got.” but then you realize you also rolled a red swirl and therefore have to roll the red cube. THEN, you get a really random picture that completely messes with your original scene idea and you’re like, “#PLOTTWIST!”. (That might just be me…)

Whichever brand, pack, or number of cubes you like, I highly suggest that you get them! (If you go to our Amazon Store, you can even buy some of the story cubes I’ve talked about on here.)

Using story cubes is a fun way to get yourself to write without the hassle of having to come up with your own topic and individual story elements. Try it, on your own or with a friend. Either way, you’ll laugh so much, you might just die. #punsarelife

Hello, young writers! So, the last time I posted an article, it was about a book I had read that had been written in 3rd person omniscient. (If you need a refresher on what exactly I said or what book I talked about *cough cough* it was The Princess check out this link.) Anyway, as I was saying, after talking endlessly about the advantages of writing a story in 3rd PO and encouraging you all to try to at least writing something in that POV, a thought occurred to me: I haven’t written anything in 3rd PO! 3rd Person Limited? All the time. 1st Person? It’s how I started writing. I’ve even occasionally written in 2nd Person, but NEVER 3rd PO. Then I thought, well, if I’m encouraging other writers to try this POV, shouldn’t I do the same? I can’t very well recommend something without having tried it. That’s why I’ve decided to post a little snip-it of a scene I wrote for my FF story. Now, when I originally wrote it, it was in 1st Person from one of my heroine’s POV. I’ve included that original perspective below along with the 3rd PO version so you can compare and contrast the differences between the different POVs (and also so I can say I actually tried 😛 ). When reading in different perspectives/POVs I always like to ask myself: which viewpoint makes me feel more connected to the characters? Which viewpoint gives me a clearer picture of what’s going on with each of the characters and the action within the story? Just food for thought. Hope you enjoy seeing the different perspectives!

Rowena’s POV:

“Well, it’s not really about what you want, is it?” he said quietly, although his voice was full of menace.

“Excuse me?”

“You may be okay with dying, but I’m not.”

“I know, that’s why I…”

“No, you don’t get it.” he said, his voice hard, his dark eyes even harder. A chill ran down my spine. “I’m not okay with you dying, so excuse me if I don’t sympathize with what you’re going through.”

That was a slap to the face.

“Demy, I’m sorry you feel that way, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

He snorted then glared at me.

“That’s the problem!” Demetry yelled across the courtyard, frustration and anger fueling his words. He threw up his hands and balls of fire shot out of them haphazardly. He’d scorched a nearby tree and set fire to a small shrub, but he didn’t care. His eyes shooting daggers, he slowly stalked toward me. I had to fight the urge to back up. I had never seen him so furious, and I’d known him before he’d “mellowed” out. “You didn’t give us a chance to do anything about it! You just decided on your own! How could you have been so selfish?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I just stared up at him incredulously.

“How could I have been so selfish? Seriously? I did this to save all of you!”

“And did we ask you to throw your life away in the process? If you had just waited, we could have figured out another way!” he said, nostrils flaring as he loomed over me.

3rd Person Omniscient:

“Well, it’s not really about what you want, is it?” he said quietly, although his voice was full of menace. She’d had no idea what she’d done. What she was doing to him.

“Excuse me?” Rowena asked, completely lost as to why Demetry had suddenly become so cold. He just stood there, his gaze so intense she felt as though he was burning a whole through her.

“You may be okay with dying, but I’m not.”

“I know, that’s why I…”

“No, you don’t get it.” he said, his voice hard, his dark eyes even harder. A chill ran down Rowena’s spine. “I’m not okay with you dying, so excuse me if I don’t sympathize with what you’re going through.”

That was a slap to the face.

“Demy, I’m sorry you feel that way, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Demetry snorted then glared at her. He couldn’t believe her. She was acting as if choosing to sacrifice herself without consulting anyone was nothing. It was not nothing.

“That’s the problem!” Demetry yelled across the courtyard, frustration and anger fueling his words. He threw up his hands and balls of fire shot out of them haphazardly. He’d scorched a nearby tree and set fire to a small shrub, but he didn’t care. His eyes shooting daggers, he slowly stalked toward Rowena. She had to fight the urge to back up. She had never seen him so furious, and she’d known him before he’d “mellowed” out. “You didn’t give us a chance to do anything about it! You just decided on your own! How could you have been so selfish?”

Ro couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She just stared up at him incredulously.

“How could I have been so selfish? Seriously? I did this to save all of you!”

“And did we ask you to throw your life away in the process? If you had just waited, we could have figured out another way!” he said, nostrils flaring as he loomed over her. How blind could he be? If Rowena had known how ungrateful he was going to be about her dying to save him and the rest of her family and friends, she might have reconsidered her choice.

A little reflection…

Writing in 3rd PO IS SO HARD!!! It’s a little overwhelming having to recount every character’s thoughts, feelings, motives, emotions, and actions. To make it easier on myself, I started thinking about writing in 3rd PO as if I’m combining the 3rd Person Limited viewpoints I usually write for each character into one scene. Basically, the scene I would have written following the one above would have talked about how Demetry is feeling about Rowena’s impending death. Instead of having to write that scene in addition to the one above (even though it’s originally in 1st Person), I now only have one scene that encompasses both characters’ viewpoints. Am I a 3rd PO convert? Hard to say, but hey, at least I tried. 😛 How about you?