Nothing much to report

Still haven't gotten past the block from the previous post, so there's not much to say here. I'm going to try a few writing prompts in a notebook my parents gave me for Christmas and a brainstorming technique from James Scott Bell in his book Conflict & Suspense. There are a couple of ideas here that I thought were valuable.

One was to listen to a soundtrack and think of character movements for every beat, instrument and measure.

Another was to imagine your book as a movie. What would the character say next if you were watching this on the screen?


Another, which was more for starting out a new book was to start describing your house. Just describe. Work out to the places around your house. The weird neighbors next door. The park. Etc. Now add a desperate character who's alone and need help and describe it from his/her point of view.

Or start a bunch of first lines. Experiment with dialogue, actions, setting, description, etc. and expand them into paragraphs. That one more applies to a new book as well.

Now, finally, this one's kind of nerdy. Open a dictionary, place your finger on a random word and write a few paragraphs about whatever comes to mind. 

So...yeah. Working on it. Hope I have more to report next week! 

Every time that you wake up breathing. Every night you close your eyes. Every day that your heart keeps beating. There's a purpose for your life. So don't give up. Don't lay down. Just hold on. Don't quit now. Every breath that you take has meaning. You are here for a reason.

--Here for a Reason by: Ashes Remain