So, I'm Not a Writer

Day Job Taking Over

I’m supposing that the main requisite for being classified as a writer is writing.

I’m not writing at the moment.

I feel as if the ideas are stuck in my head because I have all these ideas (usually when I’m falling asleep – typical) but they’re not making it onto paper.

After marking 150 books a day, the drive to continue writing a story isn’t really there. My hands need a rest! Especially from writing.
The problem is, not only am I not writing but I’m also struggling to find time to write blog posts or to tweet fantastically witty twitter tweets. My creative well feels as if it is drying up.

This is entirely due to my wonderfully rewarding yet draining day job, so how do I get over this road block?

Well, I’ve managed a blog post! Yay! Which will be shared over Twitter, so it’s a start at least.

Next, I need to spend time with my characters and get through the tricky part of my stories. I think I have to remember that writing is fun! And I can make anything happen to these characters.

I don’t have to be confined to anything. They live in a world of magic and wonder, or science and exploration, so they can do anything I like. Anything is possible. I don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen next because it’s a fluid and interesting world.

image by Skema9

It’s more than writers’ block that is stopping me from writing. It’s time and energy and, quite frankly, inclination.

I’m really hoping I get a flash of energy and inspiration soon. I know this story is good, this main WIP which replaced my previous WIP. Or maybe I should return to my previous WIP which I’m 15,000 words into.

Aaaaaannnnd, this is another reason why I am getting stuck! I can’t focus on which story needs to be my WIP!


I really need to focus and get on with it!

A Need to Focus

Three Novels at the Same Time

So I have started writing a third novel. It’s a middle grade fantasy novel and I really love it. I’ve got some ideas that I really like to make it unique and different but also familiar.

I also have another middle grade fantasy that was inspired by my son playing, and also partly inspired by the above story.

But what about my scifi novel?

Choosing Your Audience

For Whom to Write

I find choosing an audience so difficult. When I’m inspired, I tend to just start writing. But the thing is, different age groups, genres, targets require different writing styles.

I’m not going to talk about the biting cold, stinging his cheeks when I’m writing a little kids’ book and I’m not going to say ‘they walked and they walked and they walked until they got to the top of the hill’ for a young adult novel.

Similarly there are different topics and subject matters that should appear in some books and not others. It’s unlikely that a teen book would be about your ‘first ever day at school’.

So, how does one choose a target audience, and should one stick to that target audience?

My Favourite Authors

The Authors I Love
Please forgive me, I’ve used a stock image here. I will use images of my actual self at some point, I promise.

Writers really need to be readers too.

I don’t really have a particular genre I like to read. I seem to stumble upon books I really love and then end up reading everything the author has written.

Mainly because everything else they’ve written is pretty good too.

This happened to me when I discovered Sir Terry Pratchett. I found him in a train station.

A New Way to Think About Scene Structure

I Found This Amazing Article!

I am following Angela Ackerman on Twitter and she posted this amazing article about how to rethink scene structure.

It’s really helped me to rethink how I’ve written some scenes in my latest books.

You’ll have to read it to really appreciate it, but what she’s saying is that each scene has it’s own question and what happens in the scene is the answer to that question.

Is the baddie hiding something? Yes or no.

Is the prince going to climb into the castle? Yes or no.

I strongly suggest reading the article as it’s rather good and easy to follow.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about my writing too. Why am I writing this scene? What do I want this scene to do to the plot?

I’ll Be Back!

My apology for a lack of posts

Hopefully, I will be able to post as much as I would like to however, it is back to work after the school holidays. I may not have as much time as I would like.

There might be a lack of posts. Be assured that normal service will resume in half term.

I hope you enjoy the posts I have written in the mean time.

More on World Building

The Specifics

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. You have decided that your world needs a lot of detail, if not for the plot but for yourself, to give yourself an idea of how it all works and fits together.

You need the rules.

You have decided that your world will take place in a pre-technology magic land, or it will take place in the modern day. Maybe it’s hundreds or thousands of years into the future. But whatever it is, you’ve got it. Now you need the specifics.

Let’s get on with it.