N is for Nosey Nosey

 My 2 y/o goddaughter has an obsession with noses. She likes to press my nose and say "Beep beep." She also likes to kiss my nose.

This nose-session got me thinking about our favourite features in writing -- the crutch body parts.
Some use of body parts is good. They help us see the directions and form clear mental images. But there's a fine line between useful and overuse.

Ever had CP feedback saying "There are lots of 'eyes' in this chapter. Can you describe this another way?"

Most of us have crutch words, but what about crutch body parts?

Here are two places I like to go when I feel myself reaching for an 'eyes' or 'hand.'

The Bookshelf Muse

Eleven Senses - Who Knew Workshop

M is for Musical Muses

                (Image: blogs.voices.com)

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is   

    music."                                                                                                            Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), "Music at Night" 1931.

Whether we listen to it as we write, or just to inspire us, music is a great writing tool. For each WIP I create a playlist and listen to it on repeat. usually the music for certain scenes, characters, moods and emotions.

I have quite varied tastes in music. Two of my favourite bands always make the playlist: Muse and My Chemical Romance. Others include Death Cab for Cutie, Adele, Iron and Wine, 30 Seconds to Mars, Apocalyptica (Amparo suggested their music for my current project. I'm so glad she did!) and Within Temptation.

I also like to listen to classical music for certain scenes. And the instrumental scores from movie soundtracks are great if you don't want lyrics interrupting the flow.

What about you? Any favourite artists, tracks or types of music you like to inspire you?

L is for Laughs

Any excuse for a Lolcats picture. :)

K is for Kill your Darlings

"When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story." 
                                                                                                                                                                  Stephen King (On Writing)

There comes a time when we all have to commit novel carnage. Whether it be a minor character who does nothing for the plot, our favourite scene/line/chapter that goes nowhere. Yep, sooner or later we have to kill our darlings.

I'm a writer that has no trouble torturing my characters. I love to edit and I'll edit ruthlessly. I'll cut adverbs and redundant dialogue tags all day, but killing my darlings is hard sometimes.

We pour our heart and soul into those words. We want to hug those scenes that make us giggle because we remember writing them. We send the draft off to our CP's and wait. They'll love it as much as we do, right?

They probably will, but they'll also notice those little bits you are unsure of. They hone in on scenes that are great, but don't advance the plot. They suggest the line we love more than cookies could be cut and tighten the pace. They point out that character who is only in one scene and doesn't do anything.

We can cry. Stamp our feet, put our fingers in our ears and go "la la la la la," but it won't change what we know deep down -- sometimes we have to kill our darlings. So we ponder over it Delete it, paste it back. Delete it and read it again. And it's better without it. So we send them into the deleted scenes file, crossing our fingers we'll use them one day.

Sometimes those words have to take a sacrifice for the team. 

J is for Just Do It

So the conversation is the same. You mention you are writing, write, have written a novel to a friend, colleague etc., then the words come... "I could write a novel, but I don't have the time."

My reply: neither do most people who write. We work, go to school, have families and go to the gym. We do the million other things everyone else does, but we also write. The difference? We make the time.

We sacrifice the family meals, friend time, our evenings and weekends off to write. We record our favourite shows instead of watching them (I counted 5 episodes of True Blood, 6 Vampire Diaries, and 3 Glees episodes waiting for me to watch because I was writing/editing). We steal five or ten minutes in the day to get a few words down. We take notebooks everywhere just in case inspiration strikes.

We don't always have the time, but we make it.

So I say to anyone who tells me they want to write-- just do it. If you are waiting for the time to start, I promise, it won't come. Be bold. Be brave. Write now.

I is for Inspiration and Ideas

Inspiration and idea. We wait for that moment, for the idea to strike. And it can be frustrating when the inspiration refuses to cooperate.

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
                                                                                                                                         Frank Tibolt.

So we occupy our minds. We read, watch T.V, movies, go for walks and listen to music. We occupy our mind with a million different things. Take long showers, clean the bathroom, do the laundry, exercise and wait for the inspiration to strike.

And it will.

In the end, inspiration is a little like a flower. It blooms in the sun of activity. Trust in your inspiration and preoccupy your mind. Sooner or later the sun will shine and it will bloom.

H is for Hope

Each new WIP begins with hope. 

We write the first draft hoping the words flow. We send it off to our CP's and hope they'll enjoy it. We edit with the hope that this draft will be the query-ready one. 

Then comes when day when the book is written, the editing is complete and the query and synopsis revised. We send our book baby into the world. And we wait. 

And, as we wait, we hope.