Tara Maya's Tales

"I've caught nothing, but I've had fun fishing, and that's what counts." Most of us are familiar with the terms "pantser" and "outliner." Pansters write by the seat of their pants. Outliners make lists. Panstsers muddle through. Outliners plan ahead. Most of us combine the two approaches, and (little secret) a lot of us who start as pansters learn to be outliners. But here's another way of looking at it. Some writers define their goals in terms of input and some in terms of output . Output goals define what outcome you want to achieve. Here are some examples: 1. I will write one flash fiction story per day. 2. I will write one chapter a week. 3. I will finish a novel in six months. The benefit of output goals is obvious. When you check off your output goal on your TO DO list, you have a completed project or part of a project: a finished story, scene, chapter or novel. Yay! That's wonderful. If you were a fisherman, you...

--> KEEP THE BEST FOR LAST: BACKLOADING TECHNIQUE by Rayne Hall Angrypotato's Centaur Girl by Etoli Here is a nifty technique to give your writing style more impact: Structure your sentences so the most powerful word comes at the end. The last word touches the reader's psyche more than any other, so make it count. Short, evocative nouns, adjectives and verbs are best. Here's a list for your inspiration: death, dead, kiss, lust, treachery, blood, fear, die, kill, deep, cold, heat, dark, boil, pull, grave, grip, grasp, hope, sear, scream, thrill, scar, bone, flesh, skull, wound, pray, pain, soul, child, flee, trap, teeth, curse, escape, safe, love. These words, on the other hand, have no particular effect: it, then, them, across, through, there, somehow, around,   under, of, off, for, that, be, others, his, her. Often, restructuring the sentence is all it takes, or perhaps adding, deleting or replacing one word. Before She knew...

Trying to Find The Right Words by Lardacil When you hear that some writers can hit 10,000 words a day, not just once or twice, but regularly, there are two responses you could have. 1. Hate them. Throwing a pity party for yourself that you just weren't born with as much talent, luck, time or black magic as they were also goes here. Excuses, envy, disbelief. None of these responses will help you. What response will help you? 2. Learn from them. So I've gathered the best How To Write 10,000 words a day here to read and study and emulate. Top billing goes to Rachel Aaron. This woman is my hero. ( Her novels are great too .) If you haven't read her blog post How To Write 10,000 Words , you should. Here's the heart: Side 1: Knowledge, or Know What You're Writing Before You Write It ... If you want to write faster, the first step is to know what you're writing before you write it. I'm not even talking about macro plot stuff, I mean workin...

Writing daily can help you lose weight. No, I am totally serious. I know it seems counter-intuitive, because, after all, you are sitting around on your buhunkus, and, if you are like me, tempted to eat snacks while you write. But writing each day takes willpower. Learning to discipline yourself to write can have a positive impact on the rest of your life. Willpower is like a muscle . This has a downside and an upside. The downside is that it can become exhausted, which means that you can find yourself more susceptible to temptation. The upside is that by exercising your will every day--for instance, by writing daily, if you a writer--you can improve not just your ability to write, but also strengthen you willpower in other areas, like dieting. Heidi Halvorson, a researcher on willpower, writes: So if you want to build more willpower, start by picking an activity (or avoiding one) that fits with your life and your goals – anything that requires you to override an impulse or d...