Writing Tips and Old Dogs

I’ve read quite a few articles about how people write, and most say they go by an outline or by their notes. I wish I could say I have a strategy for writing, but I don’t. I just sit down and start writing, letting my mind go where it wants. Sometimes it goes way out into left field and I have to pull it back and rethink the situation. But that works for me.

When I start a new book I have an idea of a storyline, but that’s about it. To me, the most important thing is to come up with a story and a title that suits the story. Once I get an idea and a title, the rest just seems to fall into place. A lot of times, the book ends up differently than what I had planned, but that also works for me.

The one thing I do to keep myself on track and not forget to mention the outcome of a scenario is to make a very brief notation at the end of the book. Using MS Word, it’s not hard to do. For example, if I have a character who is involved in a situation, at the bottom of the page I’ll type: tell about (insert name) and what happened to her/him. Or, if I add a new character, I’ll skip down and say something like: Shark—tall, muscular, shaved head, black guy, war scars, snap a neck in a second. When I go back to where I left off writing and continue, the notation moves down the page.

That’s pretty much it for me. Writing should be fun, not bothersome.

If you have any writing tips, I’d like to hear them. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I say you can.

Now, this old dog is going back to working on Be Very Afraid. See you on the flip side.