A Random Writing Post

Hi guys! It's time for my first official blog post (the welcome one doesn't really count XD.) Today I'm going to talk about some things that have helped me in my writing and parts of my writing process!

So, I'll start with writing books. I'm rereading Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland right now, and it's been really helpful. I've always been a pantser, but I'm trying to write an outline for my WIP, and I think it's going to be really good for my writing, since I won't be worrying so much over whether I'm going in the right direction or not. I'm about 80% through (stuck on the ending, lol).

Anyway, writing books are great for learning about other people's processes and trying to figure out your own. Especially if you're struggling with a certain aspect of writing, looking up an article or borrowing a book about it can be super helpful.

K. M. Weiland's blog (helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com) and her books, too, are amazing. If you haven't already, you should definitely check them out!

I use personality types a lot for creating my characters. Not really the quizzes, I'll usually just read the description of each type and choose which one the character is. I know some people think that they might make the character too flat if you're just trying to fit the character into a cardboard cutout, which I totally agree with, but I think they're great for just helping you get to understand your character more. (The Enneagram especially is good for figuring out your character's flaw.)

Also, if you're struggling to figure out your character's motivations/personality or just want to flesh them out more, something that's really helped me is to just start a new paragraph and sort of rant onto the page. Anything that you know about them just goes on there. Ask yourself questions --Why did he do this? Wouldn't she be bitter about that? Why isn't she?

things like that. I was able to come up with backstories for most of the major/minor characters in my WIP by doing this.

Character questionnaires are kind of fun for that, too. The areas I mostly focus on for questionnaires are personality and motivation, but if you like filling out all the answers, then that's great too. There are tons of them on the internet that can help with fleshing out your character, so if you're having trouble with that, I definitely recommend checking them out.

I've also heard good things about character interviews--more of a looser conversation with your character instead of a chart about them--but I haven't tried it yet. Let me know in the comments--have you guys done this? Was it helpful?

And with that, I'll share some of my favorite quotes about writing that have really helped with inspiration. I'm not sure about the credits for them, but I'll do my best to find them XD.

"The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you didn't write." - Sol Saks.

The one I had written down was slightly different, but I don't know who changed it: "The worst writing you ever do is still better than the best writing you never do."

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles." - Shannon Hale.

"Stories can force us to see things we’ve always known in a completely new way." I'm not sure if I wrote this one down or took it from something else. Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you guys! I would love post ideas, so if you want to see me post about something, please leave a comment!