Do you begin the day journaling before you begin writing? Is there some other ritual you perform before writing?
By doing so is one way to get the gunk out of your head and clear your mind for the writing at hand.
In addition, just getting the words down, then editing later is one way to create your story.
While journaling, interview your characters to make them real in your mind and learn more about them. If they are real to you and you know them well, so will you reader, and the reader will develop empathy for them as well as their life and trials in your story.
Empathy for characters in literature is what matters most for the read to become involved and having an experience with the story rather than just reading something to kill time.
As an author, we write for ourselves first, than we hope others will read us and get something from what we write. If we don’t write for ourselves first, then we are little less the writing whores, and writing for nothing more than the few bucks we can make.
As authors, we should stand for the craft and something in which we value what we do. Writing should not just be about making some money, but we should writing something to engage the read for the period of time they spend with us in our book, article, or any copy we write.
Before writing for the day, or whenever you write, journaling is a great way to clear your mind of the stuff that is rolling around from life and prepare yourself for the writing job at hand.
You should also have your ducks lined up for the writing task at hand and a clear direction to advance the storyline. Can the writing change along the way? Possibly, but that is what editing is for, to check the finder points, and make the story stronger in the editing of the words on the page.
Robert Medak
Freelance Writer/Editor/Reviewer/Marketer
http://rjmedak.wordpress.com
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5 comments:
Great post Robert. We do write for ourself first, then we all create our own dreams about sharing our work.
Robert, great post. LOL - writing whores! I think writing has a number of paths. I know with my children's fiction I write for myself in that I think of what I want to share with my grandchildren. But, I've read that we writers should have our target market in mind when we write - who knows.
For my nonfiction business work, I write for my target market - this is at times the nature of freelancing. The nonfiction is however information that I found very interesting and helpful and figure other writers will also.
Although, when I buckle-down and write a motivational, semi-memoir nonfiction, nonchildren fiction book it'll obviously be writing for myself, tweaked to be engaging to the reader.
And, no I don't do journaling. I've gotten into the terrible habit of checking my email before starting work - I really have to get out of that.
Karen Cioffi Writing and Marketing
Good post, Robert. Journaling is a terrific way to get the gunk out of the head as you so deftly put it. Getting into the habit of not getting too caught up in quality but letting the ideas flow naturally is one that makes a big difference.
That IS a great idea, journaling about your characters and your WIP.
Interesting points Robert. Too many writers are churning out books and articles based on what they think they'll sell--and sadly, in many cases, do sell.
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