Artistry With Words

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people.”
Roald Dahl
TIP OF THE DAY

Read that quote again.  When writing fiction, we are always faced with developing characters.  I know when I wrote my first fiction novel, I had to outline who my characters were. I wrote down their appearance, their beliefs and their personality.  That was the easy part.

Next I had to become the characters.  I have said before that the hardest part of writing my first novel was switching back and forth between my characters.  One would talk a certain way, and feel certain feelings, and then I would be another character with different speech patterns and different feelings and beliefs.  That is hard to do, and like the quote says, it is draining.

If you want your characters to come alive, you must step inside of their skin and walk around in their shoes.  It is the only way to properly introduce your characters to the readers and allow the readers to identify with those characters.

SITE OF THE DAY

Is anyone interested in finding jobs as a freelance writer?  I have used this site in the past and found it a treasure chest of jobs to pick from.

I am not big on bidding for a freelance job.  I think the price is driven down by doing that, and my time is valuable. I refuse to work for a couple bucks per piece.  I pick and choose which freelance jobs interest me and also which ones pay what I am willing to write for.  Sure I miss out on a lot because of that attitude, but again, my time is valuable and so is yours.

WHY DO YOU WRITE?

I know, it sounds like a silly question, but I assure you that it is not.  Why do you write? Do you just write to earn some money, or do you write because it is your passion?

I can only tell you my truth regarding writing.  I believe writers are artists.  I believe we have been given a gift, one that allows us to alter reality and elicit emotions.  We can soothe the savage beast and we can rouse the rabble into action.  We can comfort and we can excite. We can suspend reality with our words and we can give focus to reality.

I hope that each of you feels the same, that you are an artist with words.  It is a marvelous feeling.

CONTEST SITE OF THE DAY

NewPages.com is another site that gives you a list of contests happening.  Again, be sure you read the submission guidelines carefully.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

What do you see in this picture?  Can you write a poem about it? Can you write a short story about it, or an opinion essay? Give it a try and see what you come up with.

AND THAT IS ALL…UNTIL MONDAY

Parting is such sweet sorrow, but never fear, I will return soon with some more thoughts and suggestions.  If there is something you would like to see on this blog, please feel free to give suggestions. I’m more than willing to add things if I can.

I’m going to give you a break and take the weekend off. I’ll see you all again on Monday.

Thank you for the visit.  You are always appreciated here.

Bill

Tags: how to become a writer, how to write, writing suggestions, writing tips