Pep Talk: You Can Write

 Many people speak of writing a novel but few sit down and do it. Writing a novel isn’t easy. Though you don’t have to bleed like Hemingway said but at times, writing does feel that way. 

But we all hit the point when we hit a bump in the road and need the motivation to keep writing until the end. So, how does one keep motivated? 

Here is a list of possible motivations:

1. Set a deadline

This one can work because you have to finish by that date. Tell your friends and family. Circle the deadline on your calendar. Write it on sticky notes and set them everywhere you can see them. Set an alarm on your phone. 

  For me, this one doesn’t work unless I’m on deadline with my publisher. If I’m not signed with a publisher,  I tell myself that I can push it back. Bad I know. After all, who is going to yell at me? But for some, this method can work.

2. Set a goal to reach a word or page count: 

If you are in a writers’ group, you might have BIAW (Book In A Week). This can work well because you are sharing your goal and seeing others accomplish theirs, which can be an incentive to get your butt in the chair. 

3. Just write: 

Don’t think. Just write. Don’t edit any words. And if you find yourself thinking your writing sucks, remember it’s just a draft.

4. Make a playlist:

Make a playlist of songs to capture the tone and feel of your novel. Listen to it on repeat. This works for me because when I hear a song from the playlist, my mind already starts working on the novel, constructing sentences, dialogue and scenes, and all other else. 

5. Don’t compare your WIP (Work-in-Progress) with a published novel: 

Don’t even do that. You will only think your writing sucks, your characters suck, your plot sucks…you get the idea. Remember a published novel has been through two drafts then edited and then edited then edited. 

Remember, you will have good days writing when the words flow like Niagara Falls and then days when you can barely get a word set on paper. That’s okay. Just sit down and write a sentence. Maybe more words will come or maybe not. Just do it again tomorrow.   

Motivation. Why? Why? Why?

Many reasons exist in life for why we do what we do. In novels, our characters need one too. That’s where the M in GMC comes in. In her book, GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict, Debra Dixon writes, “Motivation is what drives  your character to obtain or achieve his goal.” 

Debra Dixon sets out a formula that authors can use when concocting the GMC. The character wants a goal because he is motivated. 

In last month’s post on Goal, I used the basic example of having to go to the store to get milk. Let’s suppose that our character has to get milk because her child needs it so he can have a bowl of cereal because that is the only meal she can afford to feed him. So to put the example into the formula: The mother wants to get to the store to buy milk because that is her child’s only meal. 

That motivation pulls at your heartstrings, which is another tool motivation plays in writing. Motivation helps the reader empathize with our characters as they strive to reach their goal.

Strong motivation can be used to create any tale. That isn’t the only task that strong motivation can accomplish. Strong motivation creates the emotion of the story and our characters. In our above example, we feel for the mother who has to get to the store to get that milk. She wants to feed her child his only meal of the day. We can empathize with the mother who wants to feed her child. The mother who is most likely struggling to provide for her child, a mother who most likely feels like she is a failure. 

As a reader, we are rooting for her. We feel her heartache. That makes a good story. Even if this example doesn’t make for a novel-length story. 

Motivation is the substance that glues the story’s character’s goals and conflict. Next month, the focus will settle on the C of our GMC—Conflict.  

THE YEAR IS A QUARTER OVER!

Can you believe it? The year is a quarter over! Yikes!

With April comes spring. Yay. Winter in most places is fading and warm weather is invigorating, at least for me. Energizes me. I’m working vigorously to finish the third book in a series so I can move to the next one that is begging to be written.

I’ve set goals for the year as to how many releases or at least the number I want under-contract for 2012. I’m going under the assumption that the Mayans were wrong about their calendar and push forward. Not really, but it is a great motivator.

So what inspires or motivates you to get down to writing to meet your personal deadlines? Self-inflicted pressure or outside influences, like an editor/publisher?

Last year was my first year to have anything published, starting with January. I had a total of six releases, which for the first year wasn’t bad, I guess. This year, I’ve had two so far and three more due to release over the next couple of months. I recently had an anthology of shorts which the first will release in December 2012 followed by the remaining stories in 2013 for a total of five short. This matches 2011, but I want to exceed that, so I’m working on a couple more so I can exceed my goal. With three-quarters of the year remaining, I think I can. That’s my motivation. Then, on to 2013.

I’m beginning to feel like a fashion designer, working on next year’s collection. Strange way to function. I lose track of what time of year it is if I didn’t look out the window and check the weather.

I’m keeping this short today, but I will close with a tiny snippet of my next release which is the sequel to the co-authored book with my husband, Mike. The new title is Love and Death in the Big Easy and is a paranormal/shape-shifter of a different kind. Unfortunately, don’t have a cover yet, but will have one soon.

LAST MINUTE RECEIVED THE NEW COVER AND HAD TO SHARE!!!

Blurb:

A Dog

Drake Martin, the Yorkie shifter, and Sufi of the North American Shape-shifters, returns and this time he has a new shifter to play tag with.

A Cat

Kady Martin, Drake’s wife, has a new alter-ego as Tabitha, the Russian Blue Maltese.

A New Game of Tag

Twenty-six years later, the dog and cat play more than tag when, with their son and mixed array of shape-shifting friends, battle a new monster in town.

Death follows the happily married couple as carnage and mayhem run rampant in the streets of the Big Easy. With help from family, the shifter clan, and white magic the loving pair maneuvers through rebellious children, while battling the terminal illness of a dear friend, and the menace bent on bringing the city to her knees.

Oh boy!

EXCERPT:

Kady’s voice jolted me awake. “Drake, get up. I hear something in the hallway.”

“What are you…?”

I fell silent as she crossed my lips with two fingers and listened. The scramble of small, rapidly moving feet clicked toward the staircase.

“A rat?” Kady asked in a noiseless mouthing.

I nodded yes. She pointed at me and made a quick circling motion, our signal to morph. We’d never had problems with rodents in the house. This one was in for a nasty shock. Kady transformed while I delayed long enough to open the bedroom door. A second later, Tabitha and Precious bore down on the heat signature of the rodent scurrying along the hall baseboard. A glowing green smudge moved across our line of sight as we closed in.

I arrived first, lunging for the throat with the intention of snapping a rat neck in shifter reinforced vise like jaws. To my surprise he evaded the strike. I latched on a bit further aft, on the animal’s hind quarters, still fully expecting to crush any bone caught in the bite. Another shock came when nothing of the sort happened. The rank little beast shrilled in pain, with only flesh wounds in the unyielding hide. A long flexible body wrenched around to address the source. The elongated blunt snout with gleaming white chisel teeth at the end zeroed in on the nearer eye, mine. I wondered, somewhat in confusion, how I missed the neck, when Kady, a gray blur of puffed out fur, snarl, and spitting weighed in. She seemed twice her normal Tabitha size. A paw with five small scimitar claws struck at the incoming rodent face. Despite the supersonic sweep of the feline claw, she caught only air as the head moved out of the way in a flash. However, forcing the mysterious enemy to avoid Kady’s blow saved me at least an eye.

The kill we assumed would be routine was turning out to be anything but.

The rat’s jaws snapped furiously at both of us. The slick furry hide and a speed no rat should have prevented Kady from getting a grip either by claw or fang. To save an eye from another pass by the rat’s teeth, I released my grip. Tabitha lunged in vain at the furiously pumping backside. The animal bolted for the front door. The heat signature intensified and expanded as it morphed to a fair skinned male of medium height. The naked human form paused for a second in the foyer before opening the door and plunged into the night. The guard had scarcely time to alert and shout before the shifter got by.

Kady and I stood in the buff at the top of the staircase. She turned away in modesty whereas I had other matters in mind. To the appalled guard, I said, “Search the grounds. We’ll check on the guest.”

He acknowledged the order without delay, apparently eager to put distance between him and a naked Sufi. I turned and headed to our room for a robe.

Happy motivation!

Cynthia Arsuaga

http://cynthiaarsuaga.weebly.com

http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com

www.store.secretcravingspublishing.com