A diary can help develop your writing

Keeping a diary supports personal development.

I have kept a diary since I was twelve years old. During my already mentioned sabbatical in the year 2000, besides the many things I completed, I also found more time for diary writing.


My handwriting has deteriorated into such a scrawl over the years, with whole sections-written down during excited periods-too difficult to decipher, that I switched from writing in handwritten journals to typing on my laptop. I do use the diary to go back and reread certain passages, to see what my thinking was, and, most importantly, to discover things I feel need changing: When I have repeatedly described a circumstance or character trait of mine that I dislike, I eventually wind up doing something about it.

Source: Keeping a Diary Supports Personal Development

I came across Stefan Sagmeister's blog when reading through Gina Trapani article on LifeHacker and cannot agree more.

It is always good to keep a notebook around to record down the things that come to mind, Christopher Schanck said it well when he blogged, "Methods of Work: It Didn't Happen If You Didn't Write It Down."

Keeping a diary requires some effort but rewarding. It allows us to explore our own emotions and thoughts, helps us develop our voice and allow us to have a mirror into our view point of the world around us.

A diary may take the form of a notebook or written into a journaling software on your notebook or in the form of a blog. The main point is to use it as a tool to develop your writing. It also helps you keep track of your growth as a writer.

It is not uncommon for a writer to be surprised by their own writings. To exclaim, "Did I really write that?" and take pride in the fact, that you have grown.

Give it a try, start writing a diary. Who knows? That diary could be the next best seller.

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Plot driven or character driven?

Which is the proper way to write a story? Have it plot driven or character driven?

My answer to this is..the question is wrong.

Write a story properly and whether it is plot driven or character driven, falls on the wayside. But in my opinion, the genre of story would determine if you should be plot driven or character driven.

A good writer can write in any genre they so choose but they can only be masters in one genre at the time. Thus, they become focus to a particular approach to writing a story.

I am generally, character driven. And from my own experience, character driven stories take longer to formulate and draft. Partly because, as your character intereacts in your mind; he/she may choose to do things that shoot off from your initial ideas for your story. They may introduce unique problems that you may not have thought of and thus add more color to your story not to mention an endless supply of sub-plots.

Plot driven stories can be formulated even before you start writing the first chapter. You can draft out scenes and by joining these scenes together, your draft takes shape. Plot driven stories are slightly easier to draft out. The best tool for this is actually Microsoft Excel. And the method that works for me when I think of writing a plot driven story is Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method.

There is no right or wrong approach to writing a story. Whether plot driven or character driven, ultimately the most important thing is to have a good story told.

Happy writing!

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Creative writing doesn't have to be creative.

I once sat with an aspiring writer and listened as he talked about writing. I kept quiet and allowed him to put forward his view on how one should write a book. And from what I gather from him, I was of the opinion he had it all wrong.

A story has to be out of this world, he said. I rolled my eyes.

A story does not have to outlandish or spectacular. This is a common mistake, newbies make when they approach creative writing. They think that the plot has to be totally wild and ideas centered upon things no-one has thought of. So they spend their time trying to find ideas to out-do the one before.

Unfortunately, creative writing is about the art of writing, where one is able to tell a story in the most creative of ways. It's the style.

Imagine a campfire where you sit around with fellow writers, and each one is to tell a ghost story. The plot is the same. There is a ghost and the ghost wants to scare people, foolish enough to stumble around in a cemetary in the dead of night.

As you listen to the each writer spin their tale, you will notice that there are difference not in the story but rather in the way the story is told. Each writer has a voice, unique to their view point of the subject matter. This is the capstone to creative writing.

Creative writing doesn't have to be creative. It could be an old story, but the retelling of the story is creative.

The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet is well known to everyone, and through out the years; there have been countless retelling of this same tale. The characters may have changed, the places change, the period change yet it is the same story. What makes the retelling good? The creative way it was told.

That's what creative writing is all about. It is the way you tell a tale. It is the clever use of chapters, sentences, dialog, flashbacks, language, etc. The old saying, Master the rules then break them, holds true to creative writing.

As for the aspiring writer above, I read through his draft and honestly, he could not write. For all his ideas about creative writing, he could not write a proper sentence.

How then can you truly embark on creative writing when the basic foundation of it all (a sentence) has not been mastered?

There is a story waiting to be told, all around you. You just need to use your voice and tell it. Remember the campfire scene, when you put words to paper.

Happy writing!

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Jumbled tenses.

I have a big problem with tenses in my writing. It's really a major problem, especially in mid sentence and I put this down to the the fact that I tend to speak the story in my mind as I type. The ideas come and I struggle to type all the words that come to mind onto the digital canvas before me. I get the past, present and future tenses all jumbled up to the point, I myself would get confused.

I am amazed at writers who seem to know their place in time when they write their stories. Their power of presence must be super-fly in order to keep themselves perfectly poised in their position in time. Not that I am complaining but, I wish I was better at keeping my tenses. It has always been a gamble for me, deciding what tense to write in. What if I wrote in the present the whole way through? It's different and strange to read a book as the event happen, like a movie unfolding before your eyes. AS if you're taking the walk along with the writer. And where the writer himself is unsure of where he is heading or how what the outcome of the story will be like.

So I jumble up my tenses and come to think about it; I can always pass it on as my own personal style. My prose as I write. So the moment people read my jumbled tenses, they know that it was my handiwork.

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Are Writers Normally Reclusive Characters?

It's a strange thing but most writers seemed reclusive in nature. Shunning the limelight and almost nothing is known of their private lives unless an autobiography is written about. Which seems true, since almost everything we know about them is from what we gleem from published reports.

Is it a condition by nature or brought about due to success of a book?

Or are the writings of writers; windows into a secretive personality? A book is a means for a quiet soul to be heard. An avenue for him/her to scream out their protest against a world that is deaf in its loudness.

I think this reclusive nature is born about the fact that most of our writings are done in the privacy of our thoughts. When writing, our world concaves and pulls inwards. We create a sphere of solitude, where our minds can explore without the ding of everyday sounds. It is a world we feel sheltered and safe in. And if you live in this world long enough, we carry it over to the real world via our quiet, introverted nature.

A recluse to the outside world but a normal citizen in the world of our writings.

I can imagine it, sitting in a room with C.S Lewis, Tolkien, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Mitch Albom, Rowling, and we are all quiet. Not an awkward silence but rather a confident-silence. A sense of security that I am in the company of my own, and in this silence we speak volumes. We have come to a place of refuge where we can rest from the chatter of the world and rest in the knowledge we don't have to tell stories to one another.

In a company of silence, it is the quality of the companionship and the strength of presense that shines out.

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The first draft is total trash, EDIT it.

I'll let you in on a secret.

The first draft of any written work is TRASH. Totally destined for the waste basket. Any author is as good as his/her editor or copywriter.

Writers are good at churning out ideas and stitching words together, it's the editors who polish up the rough edges. So learning to edit your own writings is an essential skill in itself. But editing your own work can be a task as laborious as drawing blood from a vampire.

Ask Nicholas Sparks. He revised the draft for his first novel, The Notebook, fifteen (15) times before he was sure it was polish enough for publication.

Stephen King's first book Carrie was plucked out of the waste basket by his wife; who was of the opinion that it was good enough of a story for Stephen to continue writing. And the rest is history.

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Novel Writing Software

I don't write in Microsoft Office.

Instead, I invested in a novel writing software called Scrivener and it has been the best purchase I have made (in terms of software) if you look at the ROI value of it. Scrivener has a neat feature where you can type in full screen and its a god-sent.

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There's a story in every moment

You can sit on a plane or at a (boring) meeting and there may be a story lying in wait. All you have to do is turn, smile and talk to those around you. Every one has a story, has a phrase that sticks, has a tale to tell and places they've been. All you need to do is turn, smile and start talking. Do not be afraid to strike up a conversation with the ones near you. And above all, after asking, listen to what they have to tell and take note. You never know when that phrase would seem appropriate when you are writing conversation or laying down a plot.

There's a story in every moment.

Too many times we try too hard to fomulate a great story. We labour over ideas that HAVE to be spectacular, mind blowing and out of this world. We fashion large words and create outlandish worlds to plant our single dimensional characters.

But stop and talk to those you meet on the bus or a plane or sitting at a coffee shop and you'll gain a wealth of stories. Real stories with real people, living real lives with real problems and moving in real time. You then take on the role of scribe and thus, chronicle the lives of everyday people. It doesn't have to be outlandish or spectacular, just honest and true.

Try it. talk to someone and listen to the story, yet untold.

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How to choose the RIGHT language to write a novel.

Let's keep things simple. You want to write and you want to be published. So what language will you write in? It sounds like a dumb question and I can see some of you rolling your eyes and fidgeting in your seat; ready to flame my blog. But hear me out.

Language choice is a BIG decision, primarily because it can determine whether you would actually finish your novel/short story/article or love letter. Anyone can write, thats why we go to school. We learn to spell words and articulate our minds onto a medium called paper.

Yet, language will determine the feel of the story, the life of the story lies not in the writing itself (per say) but rather in the language used. Language determines the way the words are spoken by that invisible story teller, who sits in reading room of our mind and language moves us to think, to dream and to imagine.

Write in the language you think in.


If you think in Chinese, try writing in Chinese and so on so forth. Writing in the language you think creates flair in your stories. It just means, you have mastery over the language. By being a master of the language you can play with words and sentences and allow yourself to speak your mind. Remember, creative writing is about painting your mind onto a printed medium for people to read. Paint using the colors that you are sure of. Write in the language that you think in.

Now, there will come a time when you choose to write in a language you learnt..

Write in a foreign language if you want to reinvent yourself.


When I write in Bahasa Malaysia, my style changes. It becomes dead formal. My sentencing becomes rigid and it takes on an air of formality. Yet, when I do attempt to write in Bahasa Malaysia, I am not govern by the rules of the language because I don't know them. My writing takes on a flair akin to a mad-man ranting away nonsenses. So, if I ever want to write in Bahasa Malaysia, it'll probably be poetry or a compilation of short stories by inmates of the local asylum.

Write in the language you read in.


Writers are in part hugely influenced by what they read. We pick up a writer we love and in time our style matches them to a certain degree. We take on some of the way they sentence their words or speak their minds. My own style is (ironically) greatly influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes series, and lately by Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Nicholas Sparks. These are the writers I read and they all write in English.

Write in the language you vocalize your stories in.


Writers need to be good story tellers. For example, imagine sitting in a coffee shop with your friends and it's your turn to tell them your story. You need to grab their attention, keep them hooked, allow them to follow the story, allow them to experience the characters. This imagery is the one I keep in my mind when I write my short stories. I imagine I'm telling the story to a friend. This is what I deem the Voice of the Writer. Every writer has their own unique voice. It's their fingerprint in the literacy world. We recognize each other by the way we speak on paper. So make it a point to try to translate how you vocalize your stories to people onto paper. Try to mimic the phrasing and sentencing onto paper and you'll find that your writing has taken on a new dimension.

So why are you still reading this? Go write something.

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The 3 essential things never taught at writing workshops

I've been invited countless times to join writing workshops and as tempting as it seems, I've refrain from them for the very reason that I know I may not learn much from them. Partly due to the fact that almost everything you want to learn about writing can be gleamed from the internet or talking to fellow writers or merely hanging out with very opinionated people.

I believe there are several things that writing workshops fail to teach good meaning people who want to jump-start their writing career and I'll list them here as I think of them. Don't get me wrong, I am not a workshop basher, heck I run workshops to teach educators how to use technology in their teaching learning practices, but I just want you to think deeply on the need for you to spill out money on a writing workshop when at the end of the day, you gain nothing.

The Passion to write

Passion to write is not a skill. You either have it or don't. Passion cannot be bought neither can it be given to you in a manual or guidebook. It is birth from within a person's soul and springs forth in actions that pulsates with the energy from that passion. You look at your book as if it was a new born babe, learning to talk and walk. You want to see it to adulthood, to bring joy to the millions or the few that read it. Such enthusiasm cannot be taught, it exists. Passion can be passed on from another passionate person to another, provided that the other person shares the same passion.

The Art of the Lonely Walk


Writing is a lonely affair and as you embark on it, you will find that for long periods you are essentially on you own. Alone. Alone with your creation as it unfolds and the only person who truly sees the significance of what you write is you. No-one else sees or knows what that gem of a book will be like. The Lonely Walk of a writer is primarily that - lonely. Occasionally, you may meet other pilgrims on that lonely road and you may share a thought or two but then its back to being alone. They don't teach this at writing workshop 101.

Breaking the Rules


After spending a week at a workshop that taught you every trick in the book to make money writing, you'll realize that merely applying the rules or laws of writing would not generate that next best-seller. After telling you about the rules did they mention that you can break the rules? Or even better; make your own rules? As an author, the book you write is an extension of your personality. It's you speaking to the masses. Can rules be put in place to govern personality? Can you box your voice in a particular shape and still be true to yourself? They teach you so much yet at the end of the day, the ones that make it big actually break every rule written and invent their own rules.

So there you have it, the three (3) that I can think of when it comes to Writing Workshop that teach you nothing. Any model that you adopt is merely that- a model. It may help you shape your book but it can never birth the book into existence. The book still rest in the mind of the writer and only the writer holds the key to unlocking the dormant book.

Personally, I read a book by Robert McKee - Story ; given to me by best friend (thanks Sam) and read Nicholas Sparks comments on his website and just wing it from there when writing my first book. Mind you I was writing while learning the art of the craft. Once the draft was done, I sent query emails to 38 literary agents (some turned me down, others never got any reply). Eventually, I emailed a local publisher and sent my manuscript in for review and got accepted. Hard work, dumb luck and shooting in the dark kind of paid off for me. I hope you had better luck then me.

Cheers!

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The 2 factors that affect genre choice

Let's be honest with ourselves. When it comes to writing, we put the choice of genre quite low on our to-do list. It probably comes in after attending that Write a Novel in 30 days course you sign-up for. Ditch the course (they just do it to take your money) and choose you genre first.

Genre is key to your success as a writer. It determines where you are headed and generally keeps you focus on your writing. But how do you make the choice?

Let me propose two (2) factors you can take into consideration when making your choice for which genre you want to write in.

What Do You Read?


Look at your personal library of books (you should have one) and see what type of book stands out the most. You see, your style of writing would closely reflect your choice of reading. You tend to imitate the author you love most, you would actually phrase yourself base on the model you see in his/her novels. And in most cases that particular style is suited for the genre he/she writes in.

Check out what you read the most. The one that connects with you on an emotional level and try your hand in writing in that genre.

How You Say It?


Invite a friend over and tell them a story. Did it make them cry? Laugh? Or irritated? Did it make them think?

How you say it refers to your voice in writing. Writers are story tellers and each has a distinct voice, distinct way of phrasing their words and a distinct tone to the mood in the story. Angry tones are suited for a murder-mystery or horror. Soft gentle tones - romance, general fiction. Quiet reflective tones - self help manuals or general fiction. The tone of your writers voice should fit the genre.

A mismatch of voice to genre would only make it a comedy to read but then that in itself may be a good thing.

Another thing to consider when choosing genre. Don't choose it for the money. Yes, some genre sell more that others and it is tempting to want to fish in the pond where the fish is plenty but remember there are other anglers vying for the same fish. Instead, choose a genre that you are passionate about and see if you can create a niche for yourself. If that niche is already populated check out the other writers and see how you can create your own unique identity away from them.

There you have it. If you can think of any other factors that contribute to choosing a genre, just drop me a comment.

Cheers!

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Random Thoughts can lead to great stories..

I'm obsessed with my hand-phone. It is an integral part of my life and one of the most useful things it does for me, is to keep my thoughts. I get random ideas as I go about my business in the day and my hand-phone captures these thoughts. Some thoughts make it into my writings while others sit idle, bidding their time. But importantly, this frees my mind to constantly churn out ideas, thoughts or just pure nonsense.

Give it a try, turn your hand-phone into the scribe that captures your thoughts. You never know, that captured idea could be the next great story you will tell.

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The One skill writers must have besides writing itself

I am often asked how I come about knowing so much. I never confess to having photographic memory (though I wish I did) neither do I see myself as a genius (I love my hair too much) but what I do have is a wild imagination that seemingly latches on to whatever new information pumped into my cerebral.

Besides writing itself, the other important skill, if not the only important skill is The Mastery of One's Imagination.

Sherlock Holmes said, "You see but do not observe". Aptly spoken and it is a phrase that writers should constantly hum as mantra. As writers, the blank page is our canvas and words our paint. We draw imagery, which takes life in the minds of the readers. Such imagery needs to live first and foremost within our writer's minds. We need to see before it can be seen.

Yes, we all can imagine. As children we played with our imagination, we had dinosaurs running in our backyard, aliens living under our beds, the boogie-man in our closet and suspicious looking people as out imaginary friends. But somewhere along the line we lose this natural tendency to imagine our world. Replaced instead with in the face common-sense or logic thinking. Only a few have learnt to harness and tap the power of imagination. These are the Jedi master's of their imagination and they are our icons of fantasy and lore example Stephen Spielberg, Stephen King, Johnny Depp; to name a few.

For a writer to excel, he too needs to be a Jedi of his own imagination. He must allow his characters to run free in his minds, he must observe their interactions and listen to what they are saying. The writer is the loyal scribe to the happenings of a reality that lives in his mind, which only he can see and chronicle. Eventually, the happenings of this world would be reported to the world populated by readers; curious to know the whats and the ifs.

For my second book set in pre-war Malaya, I have to rely heavily on my imagination and from watching period movies. There is just not enough research material for the period before Malaysia received her independence. The little that I have come across, does not paint a big enough picture for me to describe. So much of that world, I had to build in my mind and I had to rely a lot on flashbacks by my main characters in order to tell their story. Initial readings by friends tell me that they are comfortable with the flashbacks and the fact I am telling two stories in one. The events of the pre-war story affects the present story. So there is a link between events in the lives of my pre-war characters on the lives of those in the present day. Interesting to read but a horror to write. So I have taken large liberties to fill in the blanks with Constructive Imagination.

Constructive Imagination is not wild imagination but rather inferring and constructing reality based on the little information you have. You may have a shred of information but through a process of deduction you can safely build a picture. Criminal Profilers do a lot of inference work based on evidence at the crime scene. They build a good enough picture for everyone to see, which leads to the capture of the suspect. The same can be said in writing. Build a good enough picture and your reader can see.

Be the master of your imagination and study it well and you will realize that it opens up your writing. Plots seemingly fall out of the sky and your characters take on lives of their own. Link your imagination to information you gleamed from reading and see your stories take on a credible tone.

Before I forget, reading is the fuel for imagination. So read a LOT. It doesn't have to be a novel, it could be the ingredients from your box of cereals, read, read, read. As you pump your imagination with information, create links between them and watch the stories come alive.

So there you have it; the other skill writers must have, besides writing, is a mastery of one's own imagination.

Cheers!

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3 essential factors that makes a writer great

What sets one writer apart from another writer? How can we ever measure ourselves up to the likes of Stephen King, Nicholas Sparks, Nicholas Evans, Cecilia Ahern or JK Rowling? What must a writer have in order to be the best of the best?

I've asked myself this question time and time again, all for the primary reason of improving my craft. Writing as a craft, is something anyone can do. Anyone can write a piece and couple that with a reading habit, most people have what it takes to be a writer, but are these things enough. What really sets a writer apart from his/her peers?

I think a writer must have these three (3) essential factors in order to be a great writer. Not just a writer that merely writes but one that sells also. One that is able to deliver his/her message to an audience dying to hear what they have to say.

1. Talent


If you got it, you got it. Anyone can string together a sentence. Anyone can put together words but it takes talent to arrange the words into sentences that appeal to the reader. You can teach the dummies guide to writing, get the wannabe writer to memorize each page and the result would be as exciting as an obituary if there is no talent. Talent is something that one is born with and chief among the talents is imagination. Imagination is key to a writers. It is his/her vision into another world. It is the canvas where they paint the pictures that appear in the minds of their readers. If imagination is non-existent then you better think of another area to work in, maybe cutting grass or accounting.

2. The art of the craft


Talent alone would not get you anywhere. You must develop the skills of good writing. This is a never-ending process and all writers learn as they go along. The key is to identify what works with you and stick to that winning formula. Most people don't read Stephen King. Most of my friends are horrified that I read Stephen King. Too much horror, they say. Evil influence, another tell me. Have they actually read Stephen King? I bet they haven't. Why then would I read Stephen King? I love the way he voice out his stories. His prose is something that I aspire towards. It is as if Stephen King himself is sitting in front of, over a cup of coffee, narrating the story from memory. It's natural, its great storytelling and his stories are entertaining. Stephen King has develop not just the writing but the art of the writing. He breaks the rules after understanding what the rules are. Study the craft and then break the norm, make it your art-form and I bet you would develop into a unique writer of your own.

3. Focus, focus, focus


Focus on your study of the craft, focus on developing your voice, focus on writing, focus, focus focus. We must become stubborn with our solitude, alone in our struggles, conversant with our inner muse; all for the goal of writing the story that sits in our minds. The story needs to be told and the audience is waiting, gearing up for the twist, waiting to hear the ending and hoping to identify themselves with the plights you identify in your writing. Focus and all other things will fall into place. I read somewhere that out of a hundred that start writing a book, 3 finish the book but only 1 get published. Pure tenacity, mindless stubbornness and perseverance would take you a long way in your writing.

There then is my 2 3 essential things in order to be a great writer. There are many more that I can think off but I rather stick to these three for the moment and once I've mastered them, maybe I look into other essentials.

Cheers!

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