1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

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1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

http://kobowritinglife.com/2012/11/01/t ... ng-advice/


Tips from a Pro: Kevin J. Anderson Shares Writing Advice
November 1, 2012 By Kobo Writer



Kevin J. Anderson is an American science-fiction author who’s had over
forty books on the New York Times Bestseller list. Needless to say, he
loves writing, and he wants to share that love with other writers, of all
skill levels.

To celebrate National Novel Writer’s Month (NaNoWriMo), Anderson is
reposting to his blog some of the tips and tricks he’s learned over the
years to help boost productivity and give waning enthusiasm the swift
kick it needs to get back on track.

Whether or not you’re a NaNoWriMo participant yourself, you still may
find the following tips helpful in your own writing endeavours:




Productivity Tip #1: Shut up and write!

“Writers are the only people in the world who would rather be cleaning
the bathroom than doing their job. When you do get a spare moment to
write, whether it be late at night, at lunch, or early in the morning, don’t
find excuses and waste time for ‘just one little thing.’”





Productivity Tip #2: Defy the empty page

“Struggling to get your first sentence down can be a silly, but serious,
hang-up. The first sentence has to be a hook, the all-important line that
captures our reader—BUT worrying overmuch about getting it Just Right
can cause creative paralysis to set in. You’ve GOT to start your fingers
typing, or your pen writing, or your tape-recorder recording.”





Productivity Tip #3: Work on different projects at the same time

“… if I have several novels or stories at different stages of completion,
I can switch from one process to another, while charging along at full
steam. The variety also makes the tedious parts more palatable. I can
research a new novel for an hour, then write a draft chapter of a different
story, then proofread galleys of another novel, answer questions in an
interview for yet another novel, then maybe go back to tweak an outline,
or do some more research.”





Productivity Tip #4: Dare to be bad (at first)… then fix it

“Your draft words or descriptions might be redundant. So what?
They can be fixed later. You might make grammatical mistakes. So what?
Promise yourself you’ll fix them later—after you’ve got the story written.”





Productivity Tip #5: Use every minute

“If you have only a few minutes here and there, then learn how to do
something productive in those brief bursts. You can plot a short story in
the shower, develop a character background while waiting in the dentist’s
office, map out a scene before drifting off to sleep at night.
Make progress—however small—on your novel during the five or ten
minutes of dimness in the theater before the movie starts, while cooking
dinner, or while doing tedious household tasks. While riding the bus or
vanpool, you can write down notes, scribble outlines, even mark up a
printout of an earlier chapter.”





Productivity Tip #6: Set goals for yourself—and stick to them

“If you find yourself making too many excuses to yourself, try a more
clear-cut goal to keep yourself accountable. A regular writer’s group may
provide you with incentive, if you need to finish a story before the next
meeting. Or you can form or join a support/competition group of your own.
Groups can set goals for their members (e.g., each member must submit a
piece of writing at each meeting for the other group members to critique).”





Productivity Tip #7: Know the difference between writing and editing

“Even though both activities involve a writer sitting at the keyboard
staring at the screen, Writing and Editing are two very different processes.
Each one requires a separate set of skills and talents; each uses a different
part of your brain—the creative part and the analytical part. Learn to
recognize the difference, and teach yourself to focus on only one process
at a time.”





Productivity Tip #8: Create the best writing environment for yourself

“Just because you’re used to writing in a certain place at a certain
time, doesn’t mean that’s the only way you can be productive. As an
experiment, try writing under different circumstances, at various times,
and in a variety of places, then determine the best environment for you.”





Productivity Tip #9: Think outside the keyboard

“If you can learn different ways to write, with different tools—like a
talented musician learning to play several instruments—you can take
advantage of nearly any situation in which you find yourself…and get
pages done, no matter where you are.”





Productivity Tip #10: Get inspired!

“Go outside your comfort zone. Stock up your mental pantry with
ingredients so that you’ll have a lot to cook with. You never know what
might spark a story idea or an interesting character, and being inspired
will add to the energy you can put into your writing.”





Productivity Tip #11: Know when to STOP

“Are you becoming obsessive about rewriting and polishing? Are you
making cosmetic changes and circular edits that no longer improve the
story? Is it possible you’re simply looking for excuses to put off finishing
it? It’s done! Send the manuscript to an editor and move on to the next
story.”






...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

The information above also included links to expanded 'tips' from 14evins blog.

I hope you enjoy this kj expansion pack as much as I did!
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

PRODUCTIVITY TIP #1: SHUT UP AND WRITE!

A writer’s Muse is supposed to be a delicate, ethereal woman with a gentle
voice who drops hints and ideas that might eventually find their way into
a story or a novel. Right? We all know the stereotype. Writers don’t do
much more than sit around, mulling over esoterica, occasionally jotting
down a phrase or two when the muse inspires them…

I, on the other hand, have been blessed (or cursed) with a muse who’s
more like a bristle-haired, gravel-voiced drill sergeant who says, “Quit
dinking around, Anderson! Sit down, shut up, and WRITE!” 

 No puttering,
no procrastinating. Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard, eyeballs on screen.

This means that if writing is a priority for you, then writing should take
priority over reading the morning paper, sharing joke emails, talking to a
friend on the phone, watching game shows on TV, going to a movie, making
scrapbooks of last year’s family vacation, playing with the cats (or dogs,
or fish, as your particular case may be), cleaning the kitchen, or going
shopping. 

 The other stuff can wait until you get your pages done, and if
you don’t believe that, then writing isn’t your priority.

Procrastination is the writer’s deadliest enemy. Learn how to spot when
you’re finding excuses when you should be writing. Or—to use a technical
term—dinking around.

Writers are the only people in the world who would rather be cleaning the
bathroom than doing their job. When you do get a spare moment to write,
whether it be late at night, at lunch, or early in the morning, don’t find
excuses and waste time for “just one little thing.” As the drill-sergeant
muse says, Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard, eyeballs on screen.

If this means keeping a regular writing schedule, do it—and make sure
that you *write* during those times (i.e., produce words that line up into
sentences that are stacked in paragraphs). Don’t stare out the window
like a kid on a rainy day—get to work. Everybody else has to go to a job
and put in their time. If you aim to be a professional writer, you have to
do the same.

Be tough on yourself and on the people around you. Make sure that your
chatty friends know that you are not to be disturbed during your writing
time. “Sorry, I can’t talk right now. This is my writing time.” Turn off
the ringer on the phone if you need to, or at the very least let the
voicemail do what it’s supposed to.

If you don’t take your own work seriously, you can’t expect others to.





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

WRITING PRODUCTIVITY TIP #2: DEFY THE EMPTY PAGE

In any project, the most difficult word to type is often the first one.
With a 500 page novel looming ahead of you, or even a 15-page short
story, getting started can be like trying to push a semi truck with two
fingers (your typing fingers). Staring at the empty page, or the blank
screen, is an intimidating experience. But if you figure out how to
facilitate getting the first word—and then the first sentence, and then
the first paragraph—typed, you’ll start the whole story rolling.

Defy the empty page. Don’t let the blank screen psych you out.

In the movie Throw Momma from the Train—a writer’s movie if there ever
was one!—the writer character played by Billy Crystal spends hours
producing mounds of torn and crumpled sheets of paper in his efforts to
complete his first sentence. “The night was…”

That’s as far as he gets, hour after hour. His agonizing struggle for
inspiration provides great laughs as he paces the floor and stares at his
typewriter. He thinks he’s got to get the first sentence absolutely perfect
before he moves on to the next one. After all, didn’t Mark Twain claim
that the difference between the right word and almost the right word was
the difference between lightning and a lightning bug? However, no one
will ever be struck by literary “lightning” if the author never finishes the
book! 

 And you can’t get finished until you get started.

Struggling to get your first sentence down can be a silly, but serious,
hang-up. The first sentence has to be a hook, the all-important line that
captures our reader—BUT worrying overmuch about getting it Just Right
can cause creative paralysis to set in. You’ve GOT to start your fingers
typing, or your pen writing, or your tape-recorder recording.

And the first step is to type something. Here’s an idea: If the “perfect
first sentence” eludes you, then write the second sentence or the next
paragraph—start going on the next step after the perfect first sentence
and start telling your story. Just get the words moving. As you really get
into your scene, you’ll be more in tune with what makes the best opening
line. Then come back and add it.

If starting your new project still seems intimidating, try writing a memo or
a short letter or two beforehand, just to get the fingers warmed up and
your brain in gear. Some writers start by retyping the page they left off
with the last time, or a random paragraph out of a nearby book, simply as
a mechanical exercise, so long as you start writing.

Once the page isn’t empty anymore, you’re over that psychological speed
bump, and before you know it, you’re off and running.





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Writing Productivity Tip #3—WORK ON DIFFERENT PROJECTS AT THE SAME TIM

This one works best for people with ADD, or low boredom thresholds!
(And it doesn’t work for everybody.)

Each writing project has many phases: research, plotting, writing the first
draft, doing the rough edit, polishing the final edit, copyediting,
proofreading, and the marketing and business. Since some of these tasks
are more onerous than others, I keep several different projects on the
creative burner at all times at different stages. Personally, I love the
creative explosion of plotting the story from scratch and writing the first
draft, but the first major edit or the last proofread both seem like a lot of
drudgery to me.

However, if I have several novels or stories at different stages of
completion, I can switch from one process to another, while charging
along at full-steam. The variety also makes the tedious parts more
palatable. 

 I can research a new novel for an hour, then write a draft
chapter of a different story, then proofread galleys of another novel,
answer questions in an interview for yet another novel, then maybe go
back to tweak an outline, or do some more research.

Okay, I admit I’m a restless Type-A person. Hopscotching among projects
is like a guy with a TV remote bouncing from channel to channel. But this
method keeps me fully productive at all times. If I chose only one book,
devoted my entire creative time to a lockstep start-to-finish march of
taking the kernel of an idea through research, writing, editing, and
proofreading, I would feel claustrophobic and stifled.

Since October 1, I’ve proofread the galleys of Hellhole Awakening (my
170,000-word novel with Brian Herbert); wrote, edited, and delivered a
6000-word short story for a Lovecraft tribute anthology, wrote the first
90,000 words in The Dark Between the Stars (first in a new trilogy set in
my Seven Suns universe), took a 3-day trip to Toronto for a speaking gig
and book signing at RushCon, and a 3-day trip to Fargo, ND, where I was
guest of honor at ValleyCon. And I did a 20-mile hike along the Colorado
Trail. All of these things get juggled into the daily writing schedule, and I
switch from one, to the next, to the next, always keeping the brain moving.

When I grow weary of one type of work (say, proofreading) I can switch
to another (outlining, or first-draft writing). I find that after working on
the same project for a while, it begins to lose its freshness and becomes
more tedious. And when I’m not enjoying myself, the process of writing
becomes a chore instead of a joy. I try not to let that happen, because
I love writing.

So far, I haven’t gotten any of my stories mixed up.





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Writing Productivity Tip #4—DARE TO BE BAD (AT FIRST)…THEN FIX IT

This tip comes from prolific and bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith, and
the more I’ve pondered it, I’ve come to believe it’s one of the most important
pieces of advice any struggling writer can hear.

Repeat after me:
It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be finished.

It’s easier to FIX existing prose than it is to write perfect prose in the first
place. The crucial step is to get it down on paper!

Your draft words or descriptions might be redundant. So what? They can
be fixed later. 

 You might make grammatical mistakes. So what? Promise
yourself you’ll fix them later—after you’ve got the story written.

A few years ago, I wrote my award-winning, #1 bestselling X-Files novel
Ground Zero in six weeks, start-to-finish: 300 published pages, 90,000
words. The publisher had already scheduled it for a breakneck production
pace, and everyone was counting on me to deliver the manuscript.
I could not be late. I absolutely positively had to turn in an acceptable
novel on time. The only way I could do this was just to tell my story, get
it down on the page, and trust my writing skills.

I managed to write 25–30 pages a day on that book, seven days a week,
until the draft was finished. Although this isn’t an exercise I recommend
for most writers, the sheer, intense concentration did increase my writing
speed and, I believe, my writing quality as well. By writing straight through,
one scene after another after another without wandering back to earlier
chapters to tweak the prose, I built up a “story momentum” that propelled
the book along at a breakneck pace.

As soon as the first draft was done, I had allocated as much time as
possible to polish the words, editing the manuscript again and again until
the last second. (Keep reading—I’ll devote an entire upcoming tip to this
subject.) Surprisingly, when I went back to the initial pages, fully
intending to spend weeks on major editing and rewriting, I found that the
constant, intense practice had taught me to produce crisp, fast-paced
writing as compelling as if I’d spent hours agonizing over each page. 

Giving yourself permission to be “bad, then fix it” frees your mind just to
create. For the first draft, don’t worry about how good it is or how you
can revise it. Just do the writing.

You may also be interested in our next Superstars Writing Seminar in
Colorado Springs, CO (May 14-16), an intensive three-day seminar for
serious aspiring and established writers. Real nuts-and-bolts information
on establishing and maintaining a career as a professional writer, taught
by international bestselling writers.





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Writing Productivity Tip #5: Use Every Minute

If you think you need large blocks of time to accomplish any writing, then
you’re kidding yourself. One sentence at a time, one paragraph at a time,
one page at a time.

Sure, we’d all love extended, uninterrupted hours to do nothing but sit and
think, to write page after page while immersed in the story and characters
without a distraction in the world … but that’s a luxury most of us don’t
have. In the real world, the majority of writers—even successful, published
writers—still have full-time jobs and need to fit in their writing around other
duties. Writers have families, obligations, even—surprise!—personal lives.

I didn’t actually quit my day job until I’d published eleven bestsellers. It
was a 40+ hour per week position with heavy responsibilities, involving
frequent travel, as well as constant pressures and distractions. Even so,
by taking full advantage of snippets of time in the evenings and on
weekends, and a spare lunch hour or two, I managed to write two or
three novels per year.

If you have only a few minutes here and there, then learn how to do
something productive in those brief bursts. You can plot a short story in
the shower, develop a character background while waiting in the dentist’s
office, map out a scene before drifting off to sleep at night.
Make progress—however small—on your novel during the five or ten minutes
of dimness in the theater before the movie starts, while cooking dinner, or
while doing tedious household tasks. While riding the bus or vanpool, you
can write down notes, scribble outlines, even mark up a printout of an
earlier chapter.

Too often I’ve heard the lame excuse, “I don’t have enough time to do a
serious amount of writing, so I’ll just [insert procrastinating activity] instead.”
Science fiction writer Roger Zelazny used to advise authors to “write two
sentences.” Not such an insurmountable obstacle. You may really only
have time to write two sentences; in other instances, though, those two
sentences will lead to two more, and then two paragraphs; ten minutes
later you’ll have a page done. A free ten minutes is ten minutes you could
be writing. Two sentences will take you two sentences closer to finishing
the manuscript.

If you find yourself in a place where you really can’t jot down notes (in
the gym, waiting in line at the grocery store, etc.) use every little snatch
of time to ponder what you’re going to write the next time you get a few
minutes at your keyboard. Do your mulling ahead of time, so that when
you have a few spare moments to sit with your butt in the chair and your
fingers on the keys, you can jump right in and get down to actual writing
(instead of pondering what you mean to say).

When you have a bit of time to write—a day off, part of an afternoon, an
hour, even ten minutes—use it to WRITE! Get as much written as you can.
This takes a lot of discipline, and it’s easy to get distracted, but set your
priorities. Do you want to be a writer, or would you rather complain about
not having enough time to write?





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Writing Productivity Tip #6: Set Goals for Yourself—and Stick to Them

I’m a goal-oriented person. Give me a target, or a list, and I’ll set out to
accomplish the task, milestone by milestone. When I moved to Colorado,
I got a book listing all 54 mountain peaks in the state higher than 14,000 ft,
along with hiking or climbing routes to each summit. I immediately made
up my mind to climb all of them—and I did.


<there was a picture here>
Approaching summit of La Plata Peak, 14,336 ft

Similarly, if you set yourself a writing objective, you have a target to
shoot for, and a greater chance of achieving it. Make up your mind to
set aside one hour per day of dedicated writing, or produce four pages a
day, or complete a new story each month.

A caution: Know yourself well enough to set realistic targets, rather than
ridiculous ones. If you repeatedly fail to meet your goals, day after day,
you’ll get discouraged. Once you learn how to meet your goal of 1000
words per day, for example, then up the stakes to 1500 words a day.
Push yourself.

If you find yourself making too many excuses to yourself, try a more
clear-cut goal to keep yourself accountable. A regular writer’s group may
provide you with incentive, if you need to finish a story before the next
meeting. Or you can form or join a support/competition group of your own.
Groups can set goals for their members (e.g., each member must submit a
piece of writing at each meeting for the other group members to critique).

Rather than viewing this as undue pressure, you can see the friendly
competition as mutual support among your fellow writers. The members of
a highly successful group in Oregon regularly engage in competitions among
themselves. In “the Race,” they compete with one another, keeping track
of who has the most submissions in the mail at any one time. The reward
is a dramatically increased writing output, as a group. The penalty? The
loser buys the others dinner. But no one is the loser, really, because even
the person with the lowest output is more productive than he or she would
have been without the inspiration of those fellow writers.

Each November is National Novel Writing Month, where entrants challenge
themselves to complete a novel manuscript in 30 days. In last year’s
NanoWriMo, participants produced 2.8 billion words in a single month. (Not
as part of NaNoWriMo, but because if my deadlines, I wrote the first draft
of each of the three books in my new Dan Shamble, Zombie PI series in less
than a month, and all three will be published in the space of a year.)


Try entering writing contests, such as those listed in Writers Digest or
Writers Market. All of these contests have deadlines which force you to
complete your entry by a certain date. In the science fiction and fantasy
field, one particularly successful contest is the Writers of the Future; it’s
been around for more than an quarter century, and my wife and I are both
judges, along with many of the most respected writers in the genre. We
highly recommend it.

There are plenty of contests you can track down on the web, and the
prospect of winning, as well as a set deadline for entries, may give you
the nudge you need. (Beware: Avoid contests that claim all publication
rights to submissions. You shouldn’t have to give up your story, no matter
how good the contest sounds.)





...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Productivity Tip #7—KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITING & EDITING

Write during the writing stage.
Edit during the editing stage.

Even though both activities involve a writer sitting at the keyboard staring
at the screen, Writing and Editing are two very different processes. Each
one requires a separate set of skills and talents; each uses a different part
of your brain—the creative part and the analytical part. Learn to recognize
the difference, and teach yourself to focus on only one process at a time.

Writing is the creative part of the process.
When you’re writing—creating—let yourself be caught up in your story.
(See Tip #4.) Get swept away by the characters, the situation, the events
taking place as the plot unfolds. Don’t worry about the commas. Write the
story first. Tell what happens, where it happens, and who it happens to,
without getting hung up on fiddling with the previous paragraph, polishing
one bit of dialogue, rearranging the sentences, researching subtle rules of
usage, looking up historical dates, or finding the proper punctuation. No
need to get every spelling or grammar guideline correct at this stage. 


You’ll have ample opportunity later.

Once the creative part is done, when your draft is written and the story
told, then activate the more analytical part of your brain. Change hats
and become an Editor instead of a Writer. Now is your opportunity to
look at the sentence structure, cull out the redundant phrases, correct
the grammar, add the appropriate punctuation if you didn’t get it right
the first time, run your spell check. As I’ll describe in Tip #9, I have two
totally separate methods for writing and editing. I do my initial drafts by
dictation while I hike (thus, it’s not possible for me to worry about, or
even see, cosmetic nuances of grammar or punctuation), and after I
dictate the first draft, I do my editing on the computer.

You can always go back and make changes—always.
If you allow self-doubt (or the lack of the “perfect” word or phrase) to
keep you from moving on to the next sentence, then you’ll never finish
that paragraph—which means you’ll never finish that chapter, which
means you’ll never finish that novel.

Too many times I’ve seen writers derail their creative process by stopping
the action to tweak a word or a sentence. If you write a few paragraphs,
then go back and polish them, you destroy all the forward momentum you
had. It’s like shifting gears again and again, forward, reverse, forward,
reverse, and you could burn out your mental transmission.

Save the criticism for the second draft. That way you’ll actually finish
writing and have something to polish. As far as I know, no one has ever
published a “perfect,” but only half-completed, novel.




...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
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D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Productivity Tip #8—CREATE THE BEST WRITING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOURSELF

So, you’ve developed a writing routine, set up an office or at least a place
where you use your laptop. It’s the way you’re accustomed to writing.
But habit doesn’t necessarily make your setup the best. Have you ever
stepped back with an objective eye to consider whether it works for you?

Is your “office” (whether it’s a spare bedroom, a corner of the kitchen table,
or an old desk in the hall) conducive to productivity? Don’t just accept
your environment as it is.

 Consider other possible rooms, desks, tables in
the house. Try to create a “haven” for yourself, a place you can call a
writing office, so that when you’re working there, you—and everyone else—
regard it as your real workplace.

Look at where you have your computer or laptop set up. Is it on a TV
tray in the middle of the living room with chaos and clutter all around?
Probably not the best spot. A corner of the kitchen table with any old
chair pulled up? A place where it’s easy for friends and family to chat
with you? Is the television on and distracting you?

Now, look at your writing surface and your chair. See that they’re
adjusted at the proper height: your bent arms should form a loose “L” to
reach the keyboard. Most regular chairs are much too low for a typical
table surface. If you hunch over or have to reach up for the keyboard
or mouse, you could end up with sore arms, wrists, shoulders, and that
can lead to serious repetitive-stress injuries such as pinched nerves,
tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, or cubital
tunnel syndrome, to name a few. (I know from experience—my wife has
had four arm surgeries to correct damage caused by an improper office
setup from when she worked a full-time office job.) Sit on a pillow if you
have to, or install a keyboard shelf.

Next, consider your personal habits and schedules. These will be different
for each writer. Some people write best at home in familiar surroundings,
while others find the home environment filled with distractions and numerous
little household tasks. Some find themselves stimulated to write in a coffee
shop with constant comings and goings and background chatter, while
others prefer to get away from distractions by renting a separate room to
be used specifically as an outside office. I happen to be most productive
when writing or editing with loud music playing; my wife works best in total
silence (which means we have our offices on opposite ends of the house).

(A side note: I use a set of noise-cancelling headphones while I travel.
They are remarkably effective at shutting out the background hubbub of
airports, train stations, and coffee shops—which lets me concentrate
completely, even amidst the chaos.)

What time of day is your peak imagination and energy? I’m a morning
person, and I get the most work done first thing in the day with fresh
coffee running through my bloodstream. Rebecca is a lot slower to get
moving and doesn’t do much creative work until later in the day, but then
she stays up well beyond the time when my sleepy brain is shutting down.


If you’re a night person, try to arrange your writing time for late at night;
if you’re a morning person, get up a little earlier to do your creative work.

Just because you’re used to writing in a certain place at a certain time,
doesn’t mean that’s the only way you can be productive. As an experiment,
try writing under different circumstances, at various times, and in a variety
of places, then determine the best environment for you. Which collection
of variables allows you to produce the most pages? You may be surprised.
Then, once you’ve figured out how and where you can be most productive,
arrange your schedule and your office environment to accommodate that.




...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Productivity Tip #9: Think Outside the Keyboard

After the previous tip, now that you’ve set up the perfect established
writing spot, keep in mind that this is not the only way you can write.
Your word processor isn’t the only tool you have.

This technique is one of the most obvious and effective, though least
often attempted, means of increasing writing productivity. Think outside
the keyboard. If you can learn different ways to write, with different tools
like a talented musician learning to play several instruments—you can take
advantage of nearly any situation in which you find yourself…and get pages
done, no matter where you are.

I have a desktop computer in my office, where I do most of my editing.
I am just as comfortable working on my laptop whenever I’m away from
home—in restaurants, at hotels, on airplanes. But it doesn’t stop there.

Remember the old pad and pencil? For those times you find yourself alone
in a coffee shop, or riding the bus, or sitting at a picnic table outdoors,
you can jot down notes, outline a story, write a rough draft. 

 By hand.

My wife and I once plotted and outlined an entire Star Wars “Junior Jedi
Knights” trilogy using crayons on the butcher-paper tablecloth in an Italian
restaurant. Before leaving, we tore off the wide chunk of the paper, folded
it, and took it with us as our “notes.”

For myself, I prefer to do my initial writing with a hand-held recorder. I love
to go out hiking on beautiful trails, take inspiration from the scenery around
me—and get away from all the interruptions at home. Writing by tape
recorder allows me to be productive during an already enjoyable outdoor
activity. Sometimes I just talk myself through plot snags, letting my
imagination roam as I develop imaginary biographies for characters or
histories for my fictional worlds. Most of the time, though, I dictate finished
prose. My record (so far) has been composing 45 pages (once they were
transcribed) of finished prose in a single, very long, hike.

<another great photo here>
At work in my “office”

Speaking finished prose out loud into a voice recorder may be difficult until
you get used to the idea. Some writers have tried and couldn’t quite get
the hang of it; several told me they felt self-conscious walking along and
talking to themselves—just pretend it’s a Bluetooth set or a cell phone.
Nobody else knows the difference. Face it, nobody learns to type 200 words
a minute the first time they touch a keyboard either; it seems unnatural,
the keys are in a very strange order, but you get used to it and then pick
up speed. Same with dictation.

At first, I used the recorder just to capture ideas when I went out for a
walk. Before I learned to bring the recorder along, I would come up with
snatches of brilliant prose, but by the time I hurried back to my keyboard,
I’d forgotten it. With practice, though, I now write finished text off the
top of my head (which I still polish).

Just today, I headed out for a week-long writing trip in the Utah desert,
an eight-hour drive from my home near Colorado Springs. Since it was
mostly interstate driving, with the cruise control on, I could get a lot of
thinking done…and a lot of dictating. On the drive, I dictated 4 chapters
in my new “Seven Suns” novel, THE DARK BETWEEN THE STARS—probably
about 6000 words. Now that I’m here in my hotel room, I’ll upload the files
to the typing service, while I get to work editing previously transcribed
chapters (see, I follow my own Tips).

<the pics just keep on coming>
The view outside of my hotel room at Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

The drawback with a recorder is that someone has to transcribe your
words, but if you don’t want to do it yourself, typing services are available
to do this for a reasonable fee, even voice-recognition software (although
a batch of science fiction terms makes the learning curve rather steep).
Because of my prolific writing output, I keep my typist busy almost full-time
just with transcribing duties. I use an Olympus DS7000 digital voice recorder,
with the attendant software to download my audio files and email them to
the typist.

For a full description of dictation as a writing technique, see my earlier blog,
“Dictating, Writing, Hiking.”

Other people have developed their own unique alternatives to
sitting-at-the-typewriter writing.
Find some for yourself, see what your natural method for storytelling is.




...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Productivity Tip #10: Get Inspired!

Every creative writing teacher repeats the classic axiom, “Write about
what you know.” Therefore, it stands to reason that the more you know,
the more things you’ll be able to write about.

Every experience, class, interesting acquaintance, or place you visit goes
into your pantry of “ingredients” for new material. Part of your job as a
writer is to collect these ingredients so that you can use them—by learning
new subjects, doing new things, meeting new people, seeing new places.
You’ll be surprised at how many doors will open for a writer doing research.

Strictly to broaden my knowledge-base of experiences over the years,
I’ve taken a hot-air balloon ride, gone white-water rafting and mountain
climbing, traveled to various cities and countries, been a guest backstage
at rock concerts, attended a world-class symphony, and taken extensive
tours of high-tech scientific research installations, visited a giant aircraft
carrier, been on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange, taken cruises,
gone zip-lining, and toured behind the scenes at FBI Headquarters.

Feeling less adventurous? Then do other things to get inspired. Read
extensively, research esoteric topics, take a class about a subject you
know nothing about. Watch documentaries at random.
Go to a museum—especially an oddball one. Sign up for a ballroom dancing
group, attend the meeting of a model-rocketry club, go outside at night
and learn the constellations.

In your daily life, open your eyes and observe what is around you. Every
experience is filled with details to absorb and use at some later time.
Watch people. See what they do, observe how they act, listen to how
they talk, try to understand who they are and make up biographies for
them.

In short, exercise your creative muscles. Go outside your comfort zone.
Stock up your mental pantry with ingredients so that you’ll have a lot to
cook with. You never know what might spark a story idea or an interesting
character, and being inspired will add to the energy you can put into your
writing.




.
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

Productivity Tip #11: Know When to STOP

Science fiction master Robert Heinlein proposed a set of rules for writers.
His first two are “You must write” and “You must finish what you write.”
Endless polishing and editing and revising and polishing again and then
rewriting and then editing does not make a story perfect—it just makes a
story endless.

Remember what I posted a few days ago: It doesn’t have to be perfect,
but it does have to be finished.

I’ve known writers who have a love affair with a particular story. They
set out with a promising draft, then they begin polishing . . . and polishing . . .
and the story vanishes into a black hole of neverending revisions. When I
first started publishing novels, I ran a monthly writers’ workshop with a
group of fellow novelists and short-story writers. One member brought in
a new story—a pretty good one—and we critiqued it, suggested some
improvements, and he took it home. At the next month’s meeting, he
brought in a revised version for critique, and we again made our comments.
And again for the next three months. Ironically, after a certain point,
there was no noticeable improvement. The story was stuck in an infinite
loop. As far as I know, he never sent it anywhere.

Don’t misunderstand: You can’t turn in a sloppy manuscript, and each
submission should be as good as you can make it, but there comes a
point of diminishing returns in editing your prose. Are you becoming
obsessive about rewriting and polishing? Are you making cosmetic changes
and circular edits that no longer improve the story? Is it possible you’re
simply looking for excuses to put off finishing it? It’s done! Send the
manuscript to an editor and move on to the next story.

If you spend all your writing time fiddling with one story, you’ll never move
on to the next one, and the next. On with it, already!




...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
D Pope
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by D Pope »

This blog series is part of a lecture I give at each Superstars Writing
Seminar on how to increase writing productivity. Next Superstars will be
held May 14–16 in Colorado Springs with international bestselling authors
as instructors—Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Eric Flint, Rebecca Moesta,
and Brandon Sanderson, with guest speakers Jim Minz (editor, Baen, Tor,
Del Rey), Mark Leslie Lefebvre (e-publishing expert, chief of author relations
at Kobo), and bestselling romance author Joan Johnston.



I hope you have enjoyed this series of eleven tips to increase your
writing productivity. Some of them many not work for you—they don’t
all work for me, all the time—but they are techniques to help you think
outside the box. Try something different and see if you find it effective.
The one absolute piece of writing advice is that authors are all different,
and there’s no right way to do it.



This entry was posted by Kevin J. Anderson on Saturday, October 27th, 2012
at 6:32 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this
entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback
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When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
lotek
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by lotek »

A massive failure of a tool wrote: Shut up and write!
I see, but what about the dictahike, how would that work out?
In short, the Jihad is over. It ended just as SandRider predicted it would, not with a bang or even a whimper, by simple attrition.
- D. Pope
lotek
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by lotek »

Image

I'm in!

Image
Last edited by lotek on Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
In short, the Jihad is over. It ended just as SandRider predicted it would, not with a bang or even a whimper, by simple attrition.
- D. Pope
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Hunchback Jack
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by Hunchback Jack »

Doesn't he trot this list out every NaNoWriMo?

This guy has recapping down to an art form.

HBJ
Serkanner
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by Serkanner »

Hunchback Jack wrote:Doesn't he trot this list out every NaNoWriMo?

This guy has recapping down to an art form.

HBJ
If I am not mistaken he even racapped his search for a chirping smoke alert thingy in his house.
lotek
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by lotek »

Serkanner wrote:
Hunchback Jack wrote:Doesn't he trot this list out every NaNoWriMo?

This guy has recapping down to an art form.

HBJ
If I am not mistaken he even racapped his search for a chirping smoke alert thingy in his house.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... awers.html
:lol:

And let's see if I can enlighten a few dimwits ;)

Image
In short, the Jihad is over. It ended just as SandRider predicted it would, not with a bang or even a whimper, by simple attrition.
- D. Pope
Serkanner
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Re: 1 Nov 12 kja Shares Writing Advice, by Kobo Writer

Post by Serkanner »

These things never get dull. :lol:
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