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Posts Tagged ‘writing tip’
Sunday, February 19th, 2012
© 2012 Rose Muenker
Writers can get so wrapped up in their creative flow that they neglect a critical element of the writing process: identifying their readership. Knowing who your intended readers are gives you clarity. When identify your ideal readers, you understand their values, preferences, motivators, concerns and more. This knowledge guides your decisions about style, word selection and other important choices.
How to Identify Your Ideal Readers
Your ideal readership is composed of the types of people you want to read your writing. Think about who would be enthralled by your novel, who would be helped by your how-to book or article, or who would be attracted to the products and services on your website. What are their hopes and fears? What are their problems, issues and concerns? What are they passionate about? What motivates them?
Although it is easier to see the relevance of these answers to educational and promotional writing, such as how-to books and website content, it also applies to fiction. For example, novelists choose the amount of explicit detail to include about crime scenes, romantic encounters and the like based on their ideal readership’s interests, preferences and sensitivities.
The Benefits of Identifying Your Ideal Readers
Identifying your ideal readers results in several big benefits. First of all, you capture the keen interest of the people you most want to read your writing. Because you know who they are, you are able to write as if you are telling your story or message directly to them. The result? Readers become engaged with your story or message because they can relate to it. They become eager to continue reading and to tell their friends about what they read. You gain a loyal reader and a promoter.
Another benefit is clarity. Your writing process becomes more fluid. You are able to make your choices about style, tone, degree of detail and similar key elements before you begin writing instead of in the midst of writing. And with that, your writing gains consistency.
Identifying your ideal readers also improves the quality of your writing. When you write for “any and all readers,” the writing tends to become bland, disjointed, disorganized, and inconsistent in tone and style. But when you write for your ideal reader, your writing flows smoothly and naturally, revealing your unique writer’s voice. That in itself is worth identifying your ideal readers.
Conclusion
When you identify your ideal readers – the people who you want to read your story or message – you gain several huge benefits, among them engaged readers, clarity, consistency and improved writing quality.
Tags: benefits of identifying ideal readership, writing process technique, writing tip
Posted in Writing Process, Writing Tip | Comments Off
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
© 2012 Rose Muenker
When you have everything in place for a session of writing yet you can’t get into the flow, take a look at where you are your writing. Check to see if the setting is conducive to writing. Specifically, check to see if your surroundings support or detract from your method for getting into and sustaining a focused writing session.
The environments we live and work in have a great impact on our feelings, energy level, and productivity. Some ambient qualities, such as the noise level and air quality on an airplane, are out of our control. But most environmental qualities can be modified and adjusted to create an inspiring writing setting. Among them are the location where you do your writing and the ways you customize the immediate surroundings of your writing location.
Choose Your Writing Location
Where do you write? Do you do all your writing at your home office desk? You may discover you need to choose different locations for different steps in your writing process. For example, when I am doing the creative step of writing the first draft of a feature article, I get out of my home office. Its distractions — the phone, neighborhood noise, and constant reminders of other tasks needing attention – interrupt free-flowing creativity.
For the creative step of writing a first draft, I go to a coffee shop. While the frenzied activity, conversations and noise of a coffee shop may totally distract other writers, for me, all that buzzing is white noise. I do my most creative and productive writing in coffee shops. Other writers might find that their best place for creative writing is a library, park or other setting.
In comparison, for the other steps of my writing process, including revising, editing, proofreading and formatting the final manuscript, the home office works well.
Compare how well you do different steps of your writing process in your current setting(s). If you find your energy lackluster during certain steps, test doing them in a variety of places until you find the locations most effective for you.
Customize Your Chosen Writing Location
Optimize your chosen location for focused writing. First, take a sensory inventory of it. What sounds, sights, or smells might aggravate you while you write? Some possibilities are clutter, certain smells and conversations. Then minimize their impact.
For example, if papers are strewn across your office, organize them to reduce the clutter. If coffee shop conversations and other background noise affect you, wear noise-cancelling headphones. Or if your chosen writing place is the park and the smell of fresh-mown grass irritates you, schedule your writing outings for non-mowing days.
After you eliminate or minimize aggravations, claim the space as yours. Spread out your writing tools the way you like. Enrich your setting with your personal writing fetishes, if you have any – using a favorite pen, putting a fresh-cut flower in a bud vase, wearing a lucky hat or neck scarf. And then settle into your inspiring setting for some focused, fulfilling writing time.
Conclusion
To make sure your surroundings enhance your writing time, choose locations that support the specific writing step you are engaged in. Then minimize any potential aggravations and claim your space by adding your personal touch.
When you take these measures, you will create an inspiring setting for creative and productive writing.
Tags: where you write, writing location, writing process technique, writing setting, writing space, writing tip
Posted in Writing Process, Writing Tip | Comments Off
Monday, January 30th, 2012
© 2012 Rose Muenker
Have you noticed how easy it is for other “priorities” to push your writing project to the bottom of your To Do list? Yes, you want to write the novel that has buzzed around in your head for the past year. Yes, you want to publish two blog posts a week and get your ezine out on schedule. But somehow you just don’t get around to them, or when you do, you’re under such pressure that your creative juices run dry.
If this happens to you, take a look at your schedule. Have you slotted time in it for your writing project? Writing projects require unhurried, focused time scheduled for the days and hours that fit best into your lifestyle. If those days and hours coincide with the times you feel most creative, all the better.
Set Writing Appointments
Take a look at your lifestyle and writing process. Then determine what writing schedule works best for you. Are you more creative and productive when you write at the same time and days every week? Or do you accomplish more when you set aside a day exclusively for writing?
For example, if your goal is to publish two blog posts weekly, the best option may be setting aside an hour every Tuesday and Thursday to write and publish a blog post. Or the best option may be to set aside a day every month to write eight posts and schedule them for publication.
Honor Your Writing Appointments
Once you have scheduled your writing time, honor it. Treat it with the same respect you give appointments with your client, CPA or doctor.
The unexpected, of course, does happen. Your boss or client may require your immediate attention. Your child may come down with the flu. When the unexpected pulls you away from your scheduled writing time, don’t cancel your writing appointment. Reschedule it, preferably for the same day. Hold to your commitment to fulfill your goal for that specific writing appointment.
Conclusion
To ensure that your writing projects do not get edged out by other professional or personal items on your To Do list, schedule writing appointments. Choose times when you are most productive and creative and that also fit your lifestyle. Once you have set your writing appointments, honor them.
When you schedule writing appointments and hold your commitment to them, you enable your writing projects to move smoothly and steadily to successful completion.
Tags: schedule writing appointments, writing process technique, writing tip
Posted in Writing Process, Writing Tip | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
Which word grabs your attention—car or Corvette? Each of these words is a noun. Each falls into the same category, in this case, vehicle. Yet you were drawn to one over the other.
Most likely, Corvette caught your attention. Unlike the word car, you could see an image of the Corvette in your mind’s eye. Possibly you ran your hands along its smooth finish, slid into the driver’s seat, turned the ignition key and heard the engine purr when you pressed the accelerator. You saw, felt and heard all of that just by reading one word—Corvette.
In comparison, the word car probably created a gray image with little definition. Emotional responses were few or none.
Why the difference? Car is a general noun. Corvette is a specific noun. While a general noun represents a broad category of persons, places or things, a specific noun represents one item within a category. The more details used to describe a noun, the easier it is to envision it—and to experience it.
Here are a few general nouns followed by specific nouns in the same category.
Nation: England, India, Namibia
Dog: poodle, Labrador, Chihuahua
Child: toddler, teenager, infant
Building: barn, skyscraper, chalet
Dinner: lasagna, ribs, trout
Each of these specific nouns creates a detailed image that the reader can see and possibly hear, smell, feel or taste. They also evoke memories, dreams and emotions. When you use them, you enrich your writing and the reader’s experience.
Here are some simple steps to help you improve your writing with specific nouns.
- Scan through your draft and circle each noun (person, place or thing).
- Read your draft out loud and when you come to a noun, envision the image you intended.
- Ask yourself, does this noun show what I, the writer, see in my mind’s eye?
- If it does, great. If not, ask yourself, what nouns could I use? Make a list.
- Say each of the nouns in your list out loud. Which one best describes what you see in your mind’s eye?
- When you have a selected a specific noun, read the sentence using it and ask yourself, is this the best noun I can choose?
- Continue this process until you feel comfortable with your choice.
Remember, the goal is to both provide the reader a rewarding experience and get your writing out into the world. Do this exercise purposefully, but avoid falling into the perfection trap. When you sense you have chosen the best specific noun at this time, stop doing the exercise.
The act of doing this simple exercise helps you clarify what you want the reader to experience and which specific nouns describe it effectively. As your writing becomes more descriptive, it becomes more engaging and informative. Both you and the reader benefit!
Tags: general noun, noun writing tip, specific noun, specific noun exercise, writing exercise, writing tip
Posted in Grammar | Comments Off
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Writers have bemoaned writer’s block for decades. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines writer’s block as “a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece.”
I say writer’s block is cop-out. It is simply an excuse for resisting the creative process at hand. Yes, we can stall out. Yes, our creative juices can run dry. Yes, fears and thoughts of “not being good enough” can stop us dead in our tracks. But we can choose whether we give into these obstacles or take action to move beyond them.
The key is to move! Go for a walk. Do a puzzle. Play some music. Dance. Motion shakes things up, stirs new thoughts, taps into other perspectives. It gives your creativity a chance to play.
Then sit back down and write! Write everything and anything that pops into your head. Eventually the words will lead back to the writing you were engaged in. And your creativity will flow once again.
You can wallow in the victim’s role of writer’s block. Or you can embrace writing fears and obstacles as messages to take a break, let your creativity play and then get back into writing.
Tags: writer's block, writing tip
Posted in Writing Coaching, Writing Exercise, Writing Tip | Comments Off
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