Wattpad brings you a guest post from Melissa Mayer-Blue, author of Forget Me Not on Wattpad:
3 Stages/Tricks to get that amazing story out of your head and onto paper.
Recently I talked with a friend of mine from college who is an avid reader and has more story ideas than any author would know what to do with. She frequently dabbles in writing but has difficulty moving forward in her stories. She’s told me that she will rewrite the same paragraph over and over again, and it occurred to me… she’s stuck in her own head!
Here are some tricks I use to get into the writing groove!
Setting the mood…
- Set the writing mood. What relaxes you or makes you feel like writing? Music… a glass of wine… a hot bath… coffee… tea…
- Schedule a block of time to write. It could be 2 hours or even 30 minutes.
- Eliminate distractors. If possible find a quiet place away from kids, dogs, and significant others… even those pesky kitties that like to walk across your busily typing fingers. If you are home a lot with kids try to schedule your writing time during a time they are watching a movie or after they’ve gone to bed for the evening or in the morning before they get up.
- Resist the urge to check your email and twitter accounts.
Once you’re writing…
- Don’t worry about every word being perfect. Just write. Revisions and perfection will come later.
- Know your characters. Have an idea of what their personality is like before you start writing. Does your heroine have a tempter? Is she shy? How does she feel about chocolate?
- If you get stuck in your story add a twist to your plot. Throwing your characters a curve ball may spark your muse and take your tale in a new and exciting direction.
- Listen to your characters. If the story begins taking a direction other than the original plot, let it. Story plots change many times, enjoy the ride.
- If you find yourself stuck on a particular sequence or paragraph move past it—even mid-sentence, you can always go back later. Often times moving forward will help to shape the section you’re struggling with in your mind and on paper.
Finally… when your book draft is finished and you reach the revision stage…
- Don’t be married to every word you’ve written. Just because you’re in love with a particular section of writing, doesn’t mean everyone else will be.
- Don’t be afraid to remove sentences and paragraphs (even entire pages) to enhance the flow of the book.
- Listen to constructive criticism. If a critique partner or editor tells you a particular portion (as big as a chapter or as small as a sentence) doesn’t work, try not to get frustrated. Instead, listen and consider how to incorporate their feedback to improve your work.
All writers stumble across rough patches, the trick is not to be hindered by them. Here is the blurb and an excerpt from my latest release FORGET ME NOT. It is a section in particular that I struggled with, but in the end it turned out beautifully!
Blurb:
Sold for a title by her social climbing father, Lydia has one chance to run away with love.
Lydia Covington has adored Irishman Brian Donnelly for years, but he is a retired soldier with no connections—hardly a suitable choice for the daughter of Britain’s next Prime Minister. To make matters worse, she is engaged to the slovenly Viscount Northbridge, a man she can barely tolerate let alone love.
Brian vowed long ago to be satisfied in a life without love. Orphaned at the age of two, he knows well how fragile life can be. However, four years ago he took one glance at the beautiful Lydia, and the one thing he swore would never happen did—he fell hopelessly in love.
After witnessing a brutal murder, Lydia and Brian are kidnapped and whisked to the north of England by crime lord Felix Keith. Narrowly escaping certain death, the two race through the countryside, evading ruthless pursuers and untangling a web of lies and deception.
Despite Brian’s attraction, his goal is focused—to see Lydia safely home to her father and betrothed. She, however, is only too content to stay lost, tripping through the countryside with her handsome Irish protector. As their bond grows, can Lydia convince this wounded soul to take the ultimate chance on love before it’s too late? Or will Brian retreat and close his heart to the one woman who could change his life forever?
Excerpt:
“Quiet, girl, I don’t have any apples now, but I’ll get one later. I promise.” Hands shaking, Lydia saddled her mount, and surreptitiously led Lady Jane into the aisle.
The low hum of voices drifted down from the loft. Heart in her throat, Lydia jumped straight up in the air, yanked on the horse’s bridle and half-dragged the mare from the barn. She could not be caught now.
In the yard Lydia kept her back to the wedding pavilion, her father would be devastated on the morrow, but for once she was making a decision on her own… for herself. How often had Sir William lectured on the importance of “creating opportunities for oneself”?
She palmed the reins, turned the stirrup out and lifted her leg to mount.
A dark shadow grazed her peripheral vision a split second before the solid weight of a man plunged headlong into her, bearing her brutally to the unforgiving ground. “Ouff!” The wind rushed from her lungs. Her head swam and for a moment separating the stars spattered across the heavens from the stars floating before her eyes was impossible.
“Just what is this all about, boy?” The man pinned her hands above her head. “Lookin’ to steal Sir William’s horse are ye?”
Lydia blinked, once, twice, trying to halt the world spinning around her. For a moment she lay stunned, staring up at her attacker. The breath froze in her throat. Lying on top of her was the vision of her dark knight. The very soldier she’d danced with and dreamt of for four years thereafter. Brian Donnelly. He may well have stepped from a page in her sketchbook. His wildly curling hair shone black in the dim light of the night, his dark brow furrowed over glistening pale eyes, and—
“What the hell?” Brian’s gaze raked critically over her face. He reached up to snatch the tweed cap from her head. Disbelief washed over his features. “Miss Covington?”
Not even a flicker of the man she’d known four years ago touched his eyes. Her heart, the whole of her soul, ached. “Yes,” she spat, at last regaining her voice. “Now kindly get off of me. It’s rather difficult to breath.” Lydia couldn’t be sure if the difficulty stemmed from his bulk or the overpowering thrill of his presence.
Feel free to visit my website to check out other stories, and sign up for my mailing list to get updates on book giveaways. I love hearing from readers, and right now I’d love to hear about some other tricks to getting past those problem areas and getting a manuscript on paper.
Read Forget Me Not for free on Wattpad!