doug-lewars

[doug-lewars]

Time

Personally I prefer linear stories, those with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end; however, some reader like the timeline mixed up so you start just after your climax and then use a flashback to go back to the beginning and tell the story. You may want to experiment with various time sequences to see what works for you.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #timeline

[doug-lewars]

Toronto West End

Tumblr posts sometimes wind up in the strangest places and are read long after they're posted, so this one is directed towards writers, or those interested in writing, who happen to live in the west end of Toronto. This is a writers' group meeting at Richview Library, second floor, meeting room B, located at the south-east corner. All are welcome. Meetings are held every second week on a Monday at 4 P.M.

Upcoming dates are

April 22, 2024

May 6, 2024

May 20, 2024

June 3, 2024

If you like to write, and want to meet others with the same interest, and if you live in the area, you might want to give this a try.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #writers groups #writers community

[doug-lewars]

Memories

People say you should write what you know. If everyone restricted him or herself to that, there would be precious little fantasy written. Probably (hopefully?) there would be a dearth of murder mysteries as well. I definitely do not recommending writing only what you know; however, things which you have experienced may be useful. Certainly you can change or exaggerate them, particularly if you're writing humour, but they can be very useful. Run your mind over things from your past. You'll likely find some useful material buried there.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #memories

[doug-lewars]

Evaluation

If you ask one person to read your book and they say something in it is terrible, they may be right. On the other hand they may not. Every book will have some detractors. Frequently the most popular books receive a few '1's along with some 'DNF's. Consider what the person says but don't panic. In order to decide whether something needs to be deleted or rewritten, you need a larger sample size.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #evaluation

[doug-lewars]

Marketing Trick

Marketing is difficult. We all know that and I'm forever reminded of a gentleman I met who wrote a book, self published it, invested $100K in marketing for a return of $10K and a $90K loss. His lesson taught me the importance of proceeding VERY cautiously. Not surprisingly my sales aren't great, but from what I've seen, few people's are. Here's a very low-cost trick you might consider. Obtain a printed copy of your book and then pretend to read it in public places - on transit, while queuing for something, in a lunch room or cafeteria ... you get the ides. If someone asks you about it, describe it in glowing terms. It might not generate any interest but who knows? It can't hurt and it might help.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #marketing

[doug-lewars]

Self Publishing Genre

If your story crosses genre boundaries, your best bet is to start with the broadest one when self-publishing and then you'll have a good chance of finding the others as sub-genres you can add.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #book genres

[doug-lewars]

Complexity

I like books with characters each of whom have their own agenda which may, or may not match those of others, where alliances are formed and betrayals are frequent. In short, I enjoy book where you can't be certain of anyone or anything. That said, I acknowledge such books are difficult to write because the author needs to keep so many balls in the air. In addition it's easy for the reader to be confused. Therefore if you're writing such a book, I think it's a good idea to include a cast of characters.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #complexity

[doug-lewars]

Chapter Titles

In general I like using chapter titles. The provide a tiny bit of foreshadowing without giving away too much.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #chapters

[doug-lewars]

Testing Tool

Having read about AI art testing tools I decided to try one out. I did a search for them, found one, and gave it a cover I'd made myself. it told me there was a 70% probability it had been made by AI. I think these tools still need work.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #ai tools

[doug-lewars]

Life to Fiction

Trivial things in your own life can be tweaked and used in fiction. For example I expect just about everyone has just missed a bus at some time. Exaggerating and turning the dash into a full-fledged sprint only to have the buss pull slowly away while the driver waves good-bye could be part of a scene. You can add to it if you have the driver accidentally turn the wheel as he's waving and drive into a telephone pole. There are lots of minor misadventures which can be turned into something useful with a few changes.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #scene

[doug-lewars]

Creativity Boost

I'm currently reading a YA novel which seems like a cross between Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Alice in Wonderland. For YA it's okay although possibly not optimal for adults. It is, however, quite useful for writers because this author stretches the imagination to a considerable degree. When writing, it's far too easy to fall into a rut and reading something rather outlandish is like giving an adrenaline boost to one's creativity.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #creativity

[doug-lewars]

Negative Feedback

What do you do if you get a couple of people to read something you wrote and they hated it? The first thing to do is find out why. If they dislike the content you need to remember there will always be some people who don't like your material no matter what it is. Likewise, there will always be some who will love it. On the other hand, if what they don't like is your wordsmithing, you should give serious consideration to making some changes. Listen to the sound of your writing and make it flow.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #criticism

[doug-lewars]

Outtakes

In one of my books, my protagonist takes public transit from the west end of Toronto to a location in Mississauga, a neighboring municipality. On his way he observes three amusing things. A friend suggested this was too much. I should only have one. I decided she was write and cut two, but I didn't discard them. They may be quite useful in some future episode in the series. Saving these 'outtakes' seems like a good idea as it can simplify your life down the road.

#writing #writer #writing advice #doug lewars #editing #scene ideas

[doug-lewars]

Advice

There are any number of creative writing courses available, most in universities but I think there are some in high schools. In addition, you can go the libraries and find plenty of books on the subject. If you distill this information and incorporate the suggestions into your work, you will produce literature capable of winning awards; however, you need to be careful. If the kind of literature these criteria produce is not what you like to read, you may win awards, and may even make a considerable amount of money, but you won't be satisfied. Before starting, know what you like in a book and let it guide you in your own writing.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #writing style

[doug-lewars]

Happy Easter

For those who celebrate Easter, have a wonderful day.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #easter

[doug-lewars]

Annoyances

Think of things you find annoying. If they annoy you, they probably will annoy readers if you include them in your work.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #annoyance

[doug-lewars]

Political Framing

If you're writing a political story, or one involving politics and maneuvering among politicians, it's sometimes useful to create a couple of character entirely removed from the political field and now and then include a scene in which they discuss what's going on from and outsider's perspective.

#doug lewars #writing #writer #writing advice #politics