Category Archives: Writing Skills

Finding Inspiration

By Terry C. Misfeldt

Writing requires finding inspiration. Whatever inspires you delivers words to enliven your manuscript. Giggles from your two-year-old grandson as you transport him across the swimming pool. Warm cuddles from your four-year-old granddaughter who seldom sees her grandpa. Rivulets of rain rolling down the gutter and flooding the street. Dark clouds swirling downward counterclockwise in a severe thunderstorm as you watch a tornado touch down.

Whatever captures your senses serves as inspiration to write. When it happens, try to capture it and bring it to life in the pages of your document. Add details or fabricate them. The grandson wearing floaties and fascinated by the water flowing into the pool filter. Your granddaughter wrapped in her favorite blanket and, of course, in her favorite color. Cars ripping through the pouring rain despite a blinding downfall. Your neighbor’s trees whipping in the tumult of strong winds ripping away limbs.

If it’s hard to remember people, events, or other activities that inspire you, carry a notepad and pen with you to jot down what you’ve experienced. I have found that our mental capacity is far greater than that of any computing device on the market.

I am inspired by memories from my childhood and find that some of those incidents remain vivid decades later. One that will never perish is of the first home I remember where one closet separated my parent’s bedroom from that of my brother and me. We could walk from our bedroom through the closet into my parent’s bedroom. Hey, I was less than five years old so it was more fun than dangerous.

Seek inspiration from your family, friends, work, leisure, vacations, travel, hobbies, home life, or doing whatever you’re doing wherever you are.

Keep a journal and use it to be inspired.

Writing Perspective – Day 21 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 21 – Culture

When you start with your idea, you put your characters in a setting and give him or her a personality, good or bad, along with all the problems that culture brings with it. You decide.

Today I conclude the science fiction world-building series with culture. Culture ties in everything discussed in world-building – environment, history, inhabitants, religion, and magic. Who you are is your culture. It is found in every genre, not only science fiction. Culture encompasses the food you eat, where you live, customs, religion, language, technology or lack thereof, government, money, occupations and the list expands. Everything revolves around culture.

As the author you have complete say over your characters, what they believe, where they live, this planet or another, how they live – rich or poor, who has authority over them – government, friends, parents. You make the rules and you must follow the rules you make. Your reader will accept your story if you stick to your rules.

Think about every book you’ve read, every movie you’ve seen. What did you like about it or not like? Did it stick to the rules the author laid out? Was the culture clearly seen in the way everyone related to each other?

Think about the earth. Where do you live, what is your culture? Could you easily move to another place on the planet and adapt to that culture or would there be culture shock as you got used to another society’s ways?

As the writer, how do the characters adapt if you relocate them to another city or country on your planet? Is the currency the same? There are a lot of variables to think about.

I recommend choosing a few basics so the reader doesn’t need to think about how everything works together because it does. Do you have anything to add to culture or any other aspect of world-building?

Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Self-Publishing

Writing Perspective – Day 20 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 20 – Magic

I hope some of you look forward to these tips and I’m glad I can help. I’m not an expert. This is what I’ve gleaned in my time as a writer and now author.

I’m still going through the world-building points. There are six of them. This one is the fifth—magic.

Magic is a broad field. It can come from any direction. Through science, through the supernatural, through technology.

Consider what you know today and where you are technologically. Now place this same knowledge in a different by-gone era and people would accuse you of witchcraft. We know the supernatural exists. All religions have some basis in the supernatural. It isn’t a far stretch of the imagination to tap into the supernatural.

You also don’t need to use the supernatural or magic in science fiction alone. Consider the best-selling book of all time, the Bible. God presents His people with signs and wonders throughout the Old Testament with the plagues of Egypt, and Elijah calling down fire from heaven and going to heaven in the whirlwind. In the New Testament, you have Jesus’ resurrection, and signs and wonders done by the apostles. These are factual representations of a mighty God.

As a Christian author, I showed God’s mighty power with the supernatural in two of my published books, Manifest Destiny and Freedom’s Cry. Magic can be presented in different ways. Consider JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Not everyone had magic and not all magic was good, some were bad.

How you present magic will bring your reader into your world or leave him or her standing at the door. It must be done in such a way that it’s natural to the story.

Is magic something your characters dabble in and learn, fearful that anything will happen and what happens when something does? Is magic a way of life for the people of your world and everyone has magic, some more than others? Is magic a magicians’ conjuring trick? Admit it, you enjoy a good magician’s trick. You’ve even tried it yourself.

When considering magic as the main topic of your story, you need to present it at the beginning. Even if your main character is unaware of his or her ability with magic, it must be shown at the onset of your story. Then your audience will be waiting for it to manifest in your character or will wonder how he or she will use their magic.

You can also use magic as a surprise element for your character. Again, it must be a natural outcome for the character, even if it is a surprising one. Once presented, your audience will wonder what’s going to happen next. Don’t disappoint them.

There’s also magic in the world around you. Watch nature and see how it fits together. It’s an amazing world we live in. Use it in your writing to help develop your characters. You never know where you’ll find a bit of magic.

Have you tried using magic in your writing?

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Culture

Writing Perspective – Day 19 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 19 – Religions

Thank you for your interest in writing tips for novels, short stories, and blogs. It doesn’t matter what you write, it helps to know how to write. I hope I have helped you.

I am still discussing science fiction and world-building. Today I will focus on religion. Every culture has a religion of some type.

When creating your world, you need to know what fuels the hearts and minds of the people in your story. What do they believe? Do they believe in one god or many? Do they believe in the true God or no god? How do people interact with their gods? Do they have religious leaders to tell them what their gods want from them? What kinds of gods are they? Are they benevolent, malevolent, or manipulative? Do they make demands of the people or do they take care of the people?

Religion plays as much a part of your story as any other part. Your reader will want to know, even if they don’t realize it, what the people believe in the story you create. They want to know how it all fits together. It’s your story. Tell it in such a way that your reader will want to be part of the world you create.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Magic

Writing Perspective – Day 18 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 18: World History

Welcome to today’s writing tips. I’m still on world-building as there is so much to it that can also apply to other genres, not only science fiction.

One of the things you need to concern yourself with in your world is the history of the world your characters live in. What took place to put them in the position they’re in? Is it the result of peace, or is there a war going on?

History is important to every genre. To learn the history of what you’re writing you need to do research. In science fiction, you’re making up the history of your planet or world. What will your characters face? Will they be accepted or not? Was there war? How was peace achieved? Is it an uneasy peace in which war could break out again with little provocation?

Aside from wars, how did the planet come to exist? Was it part of creative design? Was a god responsible for the planet or the solar system? What kind of technology does the world have or not have? What about different societies or classes of people?

No matter what genre you write, you need to consider all the factors that make up your story. In science fiction, you can set your creative imagination free to roam. What obstacles do you face in your writing? Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Religions

Writing Perspective – Day 17 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 17 – Inhabitants

Today in world-building, I will discuss the inhabitants of your world. Are your inhabitants a completely different alien race? Are they human or non-human? Are they mythological or magical? Are they monsters? Are they on earth or another planet?

There is a lot you can do with your story. You can base your mythological, magical, and monster stories on earth or create another planet for your story or don’t name the planet or place of origin as was done with Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. All you have is a map of Middle Earth, you don’t know where it’s located.

In the Star Wars universe, George Lucas introduced you to a myriad of creatures, supposedly human in nature, some looking half animal and half human. In the wizarding world of Harry Potter, you know you’re on earth, particularly the UK in an unseen magical world only seen by wizards. Any human, muggle, who came in contact with wizards either have their memories wiped of all knowledge or are sworn to secrecy about wizards, as Harry Potter’s muggle family was.

Where do you start with your story? First, determine where it is. Are you on earth or in another galaxy? Next, determine your inhabitants. Are they humanoid, or extraterrestrial? Then you need to determine how they are the same as or different from humans. Do you have a combination of humans and extraterrestrial species? What are their life spans?

Once you determine your characters, you need to consider where they live and how they live? What are the main biomes of the planet? Are the plants and animals friendly or dangerous? Will they kill you or can you live side by side with them? Even on earth, we have deadly plants and animals. We have deserts and rain forests, and every ecological system living together to make the earth a living breathing planet. You need to determine the amount of land to water. Do your inhabitants dwell on land or in the water? What makes your inhabitants unique to what we’ve already seen from other authors? What makes your inhabitants stand out? Remember, if you thought of it, someone else has too, so how different can you make them to what we’ve already seen in books and movies?

Tomorrow’s Perspective: World History

Writing Perspective – Day 16 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 16: Environments

Welcome to today’s writing tips. Today’s tips come from the recent UntitledTown event held in Green Bay April 25th to 28th. I attended ten sessions and have a wealth of notes and information handouts. One such is on World-Building.

If you’ve ever read anything in the science fiction or fantasy genre or watched such movies as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, you were immediately immersed in a world unlike and like our own. One thing I keep running into as I research one of my favorite genres is that your world must look real to the characters and it will be real to you the reader. Orcs were known to every character in Middle Earth. Hobbits were three foot plus tall but not four feet. And Harry Potter was a wizard. Everybody knew it but him, but only wizards knew cars could fly.

So, how do you create a world you can take for granted? It depends on how involved your story is. My interest in science fiction began when Star Trek came on the scene, but I didn’t know it was science fiction back then. I only knew it was a good show with aliens who had a different skin color, and some of them had green blood and pointed ears.

I began writing science fiction approximately ten years ago. I have a few starts, one finished, and one almost finished novel I’m hoping to finish soon.

When world building you need to consider six different areas: Environment, Inhabitants, History, Religion, Magic, and Culture. Let’s look at Environment and in the coming days, I’ll look at the other elements of world-building or this would be a very long post.

When considering the environment of your planet you need to know if you’re on a different planet in a different galaxy or are on earth. If you’re on a different planet are you dealing with only that planet or is there a whole galaxy of planets, what are their names? How big is the planet in relationship to the earth? Size matters. What about gravity or the lack thereof? Are there other inhabitants? Are they indigenous to the planet or transplanted there from earth or elsewhere in the universe?

When I started naming planets and people in my New Horizons series, I found a wonderful site called fantasynamegenerators.com. With it, I was able to give names to aliens, planets, and cities. I created a whole universe separate from Earth. I was able to let my imagination run freely, but not so freely there weren’t any rules and laws the inhabitants needed to abide by.

If you are creating another planet or universe, don’t forget to create a map of your planet and universe. It will give your reader a point of reference as he or she begins to read and immerse into the world of your imagination. The environment is the life of the planet. Creating life in science fiction and making it real to your reader is exhilarating. As a writer, don’t forget to research. You can’t forget the simple laws of physics that govern everything. Even in science fiction, you need to present the facts. Do you read or write science fiction or fantasy? Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Inhabitants

Writing Perspective – Day 15 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 15: Secondary Characters

Yesterday I wrote on character development. I’m going to continue with that thread as there is a lot more to write about than I focused on yesterday.

Another part of character development deals with the number of characters in your story. Too many and you overwhelm the reader, too few and your story could lack interest. Though I have heard of a two-person story.

Your secondary characters help your main character by supporting them in various ways. In Scarred, Jo-Ann has a moment of doubt and despair, despite her strong faith. Too much has gone against them, when Emalei reminds her that God is everywhere and encourages her. It’s not the only time she finds encouragement.

In order to have good character development in your secondary characters, you need to know them as well as you know your main characters. Don’t shortchange them. Balance your secondary characters with your main characters and you will have a strong story.

When it comes to the characters in your book, it isn’t good to give several characters names starting with the same letter. It can bring about much confusion when it comes to who’s speaking. You don’t want to confuse your reader. I hope these tips are helping you as a writer. Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Environments

Please…Take A Bow

By Dorothy Seehausen

I read an article this morning about how we writers trash talk our work, as if we can’t think of enough negative adjectives like dismal or crappy to evaluate our ideas.

The article was written by an English teacher with one rule for all his students: each time you hand me your work, tell me this is your very best.

It made me think of an ESL (English as a Second Language) class I taught a few years back to five enthusiastic and eager Japanese students, three young men and two women.

What I was most impressed with in the six weeks we had together was the manner in which they handed me their homework. With a slight bow, they would extend both upturned hands, the assignment proudly resting on top.

I found myself bowing slightly in return as they revently placed these pieces of themselves in my care. I learned the Japanese word for thank you…domo arigatou (doh-moh ah-ree-gah-toh). I became their hero, and they called me Dorothy instead of “teacher.”

They invited me to tea the day before they left. I received a lovely thank you card. “Dearest Dorothy…I will never forget you”… “It’s my pleasure that I learned with you” …”If I have a chance, I will visit St. You”…”Please don’t change and don’t forget me” … “I’ll miss you…”

The complexity of learning a second language is fraught with concepts that don’t translate literally. Trying to write them down is a nightmare.

My Japanese students knew this. They knew what they produced was not as important as honoring the manner in which it materialized.  

I’m happy to use their wisdom to hone an attitude of gratitude toward myself as a writer. It sure beats dismal or crappy.

Writing Perspective – Day 14 of 31

By Valerie Routhieaux

Day 14: Character Development

One of the essential elements of writing your story is character development. You can’t just put any name on a page and expect it to fit in your story.

Think about all the characters you know from your favorite books or classics. Would A Christmas Carol be the same if Ebenezer Scrooge had a different name? Maybe, but doubtful. And what about Atticus Finch? Would To Kill a Mockingbird be the same with a different name?

Speak those names or many others and you immediately have an idea about the character, who he or she is and what kind of personality they have.

Names are important. You need to consider what kind of book you’re writing. Is it contemporary, western, mystery, science fiction, romance?

Once you have your character, you need to dress him or her. Who are they? What is their catchphrase? If I said, fiddle-dee-dee, do you know who said it? An idea of war, scoundrels, and cads might come to mind. Love, family, regrets, determination, might also come to mind. Put that fiddle-dee-dee alongside “As God is my witness, I will never be hungry again,” and you know exactly which character it belongs to.

What kind of person will fill the hero and heroine roles in your stories? To find out what kind of person he or she is, you need to communicate with them.

One method of communication is to have your character write you a letter about what they want to do or not do. Let them tell you what they fear the most and what they love the most and have your character be angry at you for stifling who they want to become. Get to know your character.

Once you know your character, you will know how he or she will act in any given situation. You know if she will flee the hospital when the doctor asks her help to amputate a soldier, and you will know if she has the guts to kill a man whose intent was to steal whatever he could.

Getting to know your character takes time. You won’t know everything about your character when you finish your first draft. You’ll have an idea about him or her. As you edit and revise your story, you give your characters the personality you started to develop in the rough draft.

It’s time to find out exactly who they are and if your audience will like them or hate them. You need to give them a purpose. Survival is a common purpose. Turning people from hating a person because of the color of their skin to fighting for them, is common. Fighting for what you believe in is also a common purpose.

How you develop your characters to bring about the outcome you want will show how well you develop the characters in your stories. Who are your favorite characters? Tell me why they’re your favorite.

Tomorrow’s Perspective: Secondary Characters