Chapter 10: When Author Is Nothing Like The Main Character

When you´re writing a story, you want to have main characters that are appealing in some way. The main characters are often very interesting, courageous, pretty, smart and I could keep going on like this forever.

It´s good to write about things you know the best... It is somehow easier. So it shouldn´t come as a surprise to you that authors often project themselves into main characters. They have the same opinions, same sense of humor, same values and oftentimes they even look a lot like their creator.

But... When I write I simply can´t use myself as an image for perfect and flawless main female character. Why?

For starters, I am not graceful and nonchalant. As a matter of fact, I´m the exact opposite. When I walk down the street I stumble and fall. A lot. If there is one single bump on a completely smooth road you can be damn sure that I´m going to find it and stumble because of it.

I´m not good with make up either. When I put on red lipstick and I flash a big smile at someone I like, there is a 98 % chance that I have red lipstick also on my teeth. Charming...

The main characters are witty and always know what to say and when to say it. I don´t. What I do, is often just keep silent with an awkward smile.

I´m not elegant either. When I get all dressed up it has become some sort of a rule that I have to spill something all over my clothes.

So there you have it. I´m awkward, clumsy and no elegant at all. If I´m not writing about the weird girl with extreme talent for finding herself in awkward situations, I simply have to use my imagination.

What about you? Do you project yourself into the characters in your stories? Let me know in a comment!

Chapter 9: Write and live like Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is THE legend – obviously. When I was teenager, I dreamed that I would have exciting life as he had. I mean, living in Paris, Cuba, writing all day long, meeting interesting people, drinking coffee and mojito, what´s not to like, right? And being Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner doesn´t suck either.

And what does MY life look like? I´m 27 years old, I live in the small town in the middle of nowhere, I´m struggling to make a living as a writer – I live from paycheck to paycheck and I don´t have money for literally anything and I´m as far from Nobel Prize for Literature as one can be. Great, I´m living the life of my dreams!

Well, not really. But I´m sloooowly getting there. And I wouldn´t have it any other way! As time went by, I realized that Hemingway´s life wasn´t as idyllic as I´ve aways imagined (Especially the ending was very sad). However we can´t deny that this man lived his life to the fullest. And that´s what I would like to achieve as well. I don´t want to have life like Hemingway. I want to LIVE life like Hemingway. Enjoy every second of it.

When you are trying to become a writer, it´s only natural that you look up to the greatest writers of all time. But everything you see are amazing careers and success stories. And it´s not what you can expect right away. Don´t write for money. Don´t write for fame. Write just for yourself. When you are writing just for yourself you can call it pure passion. And if it is meant to be, success will follow.

And when you want to write exactly like the great Hemingway himself? It can be done! Did you know that there is app that can make you write like Ernest Hemingway? Cool, right? :) How does it work? Throw couple of sentences in the app and in a minute you´ll see how Hemingway would have written it differently. If you don´t believe me, try it for yourself (and have fun!).

Chapter 7: Writer´s Block And How To Overcome It

When you´ve had some attempts to write something whatsoever, I bet you know the feeling. Staring at a blank sheet of paper or at a blinking cursor on a perfectly empty computer monitor. I once got myself to the point, when I started to google : „How to stop blinking cursor?“. Yeah, it was that bad... Seriously, what is this writer´s block and how to overcome it?

For many writers, this is the worst part. You have excellent idea for your new novel but somehow, right words don´t seem to come to you. You don´t know how to start, how to continue, how to express what you see so clearly in your mind. There are several types of writer´s block:

• You can't come up with an idea – this is the most common one and hey, I´ve got some good news for you – it´s also the easiest problem to solve. When you just keep typing and erasing all over again and at the end of the day you are staring at one single paragraph, there is an easy solution. Just try to write some fan-fiction. Or write about your life but try to think about how would your life look like if you´d started to date someone else instead of your current boyfriend/girlfriend (husband/wife). The ideas in your head will eventually become clearer and clearer and writing will become easier.
  

  
   
• You actually have a ton of ideas but none of them seems to be good enough
  Okay, this is slightly harder. You start to type and after while you simply lose interest in your idea. Oftentimes, the coolest ideas can turn to most boring and annoying stories and you can do nothing about it. When you have these issues at the beginning, just throw those ideas away. If they are not meant to be, they´re not meant to be. Or if you don´t want to get rid of them completely, just save them in special file and you can always return to them later. Maybe in a month, maybe in a year or even in 20 years.

• You're stuck in the middle and have no idea how to continue
  Well, probably you don´t have an outline, or you ditched it while ago. If you´re not big outline fan, that´s okay. Maybe you just need a couple days to recharge your creativity. Or try to rethink your original idea. Step aside and look for new perspective. Did you know that Mark Twain spent months stuck in the middle of Huckleberry Finn? And look how great it turned out!

• You have an outline but you can't get through one particular part of it
  Some writers make great friends with outlines and some don't. For some writers outline is way to start writing. Outline is like a map for a driver. When you are about to get on a trip and you NEED to know where you are going, then it´s usually good idea to have a map with you. But when you are up for some adventure, you can leave you map at home. (there is a chance you get lost somewhere along the way, though :)) When you can´t get through some parts of the story there might be some gaps in your outline. Try to rewrite it and see where story is getting now.

• You have a terrible feeling that your story took a wrong turn a hundred pages back, and you now hit a dead end
  I´m not going to lie to you. This is the worst. Every writer makes decisions about how will storyline progress. You made one as well and it felt right at that moment but somehow after hundred pages you feel like you´ve made horrible mistake. Yeah, it happens. First of all, don´t panic. Re-read what you´ve written so far. Is it really bad or are you just having second thoughts? When you are completely sure that you´ve made mistake, there´s only one way how to solve this. Go back to that place, where you took the wrong turn and start all over again. I know. It sucks! Big time. But it´s the only way how you can fix this.

• You're bored with some of your characters
  First of all – it´s your fault. Maybe it´s hard to hear but it´s true. You created them, remember? When your characters don´t do anything interesting, they´re not interesting. Period. If you want them to be active, bold, funny, you have to create adequate conditions for them. When you want them to run, you have to make someone else chasing them. Capish?

But most of all remember this: Writer´s block is your subconscious telling you, that something doesn´t feel right. If you´re experiencing writer´s block right now, don´t freak out. Take a break, go for a walk, read a book, watch a movie, or hang out with your friends. You´ll see that „visiting another world“ will help you come up with fresh ideas and new perspectives on your story.

Chapter 4: New Year - New Beginnings

Hey everybody! First of all, I want to wish you Happy New Year and may it be your best year yet! :)

When old year´s ending we simply can´t help it and we start to think about our life. Was that year good? Were our relationships with people good? Did we have fun throughout the year? Did we lose any weight? Did we make our dreams come true? New years is our way of starting fresh. It´s about forgetting (or learning from) old mistakes and trying again. I have couple of New Year´s resolutions as well. Let me share them with you.

Eat less, exercise more and therefore lose some weight. I know. That´s the obvious one. I bet there is only tiny group of people who are satisfied with their bodies. If you feel like you could/should lose ton or two, let´s do it together! 2014 will be year of sexy and healthy bodies! I know we can DO IT! 10^th time is a charm (at least for me:))!

Write everyday, so I get my first novel finished by the end of this year. Period!

Speaking of writing, I want to improve my signature because the one I use right now is just horrible!! Who knows, maybe I´ll become really famous someday and I don´t want to be unprepared. Truth is, I don´t want to be known as writer with worst signature ever.

Be more excited about little things in my life. Learning how to appreciate small miracles is part of enjoying life in general and being grateful.

Learn new things. Learn new language, master at least one great party trick... Learn how to make an evil laugh, because at this very moment, my evil laugh sounds like cute giggle of little girl and that´s not scary at all!

Do ballet everyday! Ever since I saw Black Swan I wanted to do ballet just for fun. But somehow I´ve always managed to find excuse why I shouldn´t try it. But not now. Not this year! I know that picture myself that I would look like this

but instead of that I will look like this

but I don´t care. I´m having fun doing ballet and that´s what matters, right? :)

How about you? Let me know what your New Year´s resolutions are!

Chapter 3: What Is a Typical Day Like For a Writer?

Every writer has his/her own routine. I don´t consider myself a writer just yet but I´m slowly getting there. So, what´s my typical routine?

First of all, I wake up. (I bet you didn´t see that one coming :)) Then I try to get coffee into my system as soon as possible. Otherwise I wouldn´t be able to move, speak or do anything. I don´t know how about you guys but I usually am very quiet when I wake up in the morning. At least one hour. I do it because I´m not morning person and also because I sound like a lead singer of death metal band. It takes some time until my normal speaking voice come back and I´m not that crabby. I try to avoid morning small talks as much as I can manage. Everybody who knows me a little, doesn´t even bother to ask me: „Good morning, Tina. Did you sleep well?“. Because my friends know, I´ll probably just give them one of my WTF looks. So when you meet me someday in the morning, just don´t ask me anything. I´ll come around eventually and I´ll start conversation myself.

After breakfast I turn on my laptop and I just start to write. As simple as that. I write everyday. It can be blog post (like this one), it can be review for my other website or it can be one sentence, or one paragraph, one page, or one whole chapter for my novel, I´m working on right now. I know, it´s quite surprising...writing is huge part of writer´s routine! If you want to be a writer, writing for you has to be something you simply can´t live without. For me writing is way more entertaining than getting drunk on parties for example. Of course I have my days when I´m not capable of writing one sentence that would make sense. On day like that I just read, watch movies, or youtube videos with adorable kittens.

What do I do, when I don´t write? Usually I sleep, eat or I´m just hanging out with my family or friends. How about you? What is your daily routine? :)

Chapter 2: How to Pick a Topic to Write About

Everytime you are trying to write something, you have to pick a topic first. That´s right. A topic you are going to write about. But how to pick a great and most of all interesting theme?

Well... picking a topic for your blog post, article or even novel can be sometimes really tricky. Blogging is the easiest one, I would say. You should blog about something you like, about your life, about your hobbies. Simply about something you know very well and you understand it. For example let´s say you LOVE fashion. You are falling asleep with Vogue in your hands every night, you know everything about new S/S collection by Marc Jacobs, so writing about fashion should be easy for you, right? Picking up a topic in this particular area will come naturally to you.

Writing article for magazine or newspaper can be slightly challenging. You are not writing just for yourself, you are looking for some audience here. You have to write about something that will instantly catch reader´s attention. You want to make some noise with your article. So you have a couple of options:

• Controversy – shocking people (in a good or in a bad way) has never failed, when you´re looking for attention (Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus are great example).
• Humor – people like to laugh and they like making other people laugh even more. When you write something funny, others will share your article like crazy.
• Emotions – do you know how to make people cry only using your words? Then do it! What are you waiting for? Profound articles make people think that they are reading something valuable and they´re not just wasting time reading some meaningless stories.
• Trends – you can comment with your article what´s going on in the world right now.

And finally, picking topic for your first or next novel. That´s the hard one. If you want to be a writer, I´m sure you have been struggling with this issue as well. Key to picking a great topic for your novel is to be original. Don´t be affraid to open door and let your „creative you“ in. Play around with different ideas. When something suddenly hits you, don´t wait, write that idea down ASAP. It may not be your best idea but you just never know.... In couple of years you can build wonderful story around it. Go with your instinct. It doesn´t have to be perfect. Just write and you´ll see where is story taking you. There is just one rule. Never ever try to copy something that is popular at the moment. Do you want to write about hot sparkling vampires? Sorry, that one is taken. How about young wizard with a scar on his forehead? Yap, that one too, I´m afraid. Don´t copy popular stories. Just be yourself and I´m sure, you´ll come up with something truly amazing! :)

Chapter 1: Don´t Quit Your Day Job a.k.a From Waiter to Writer

When you want to become actor, singer or writer there is no guarantee that you´ll eventually become one. That´s why it´s always good to keep so called back-up job. Back-up job pays your rent, your bills and it´s keeping your dream alive. Back up jobs are your safety net. Your back-up job can be pretty much anything... For example you can be a waiter. But I really doubt that somebody wants to be a waiter forever. So there is always slash behind „waiter“. You can be waiter/singer... waiter/actor... waiter/model... waiter/writer. But changing waiter to writer is a really long journey. Journey that will cost you lots of money and time. That´s why it´s always good idea to keep your current job so you don´t have to worry about your income.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I didn´t :) I quit my job and I have become full time blogger. Now I am blogger/writer. It wasn´t easy but blogging has become my back-up job. I don´t make lot of money but I´ m genuinely happy. As a matter of fact I´m the happiest I´ve ever been in my entire life. And that´s because I´m doing what I love. I love to write. Now I have time to write every single day. Because it´s my job. I write blogs and reviews during day and in my free time I´m working on my very first novel :) And let me tell you, it´s the best feeling ever!

If you want to become a writer just so you can make big bucks then don´t even bother. Everything you do in life you have to do because you love it, because you have passion for it. When you love something, people can see that and sooner or later someone will appreciate your hard work. Then you will start to make some money and when you make money out of something you absolutely love to do, it´s simply priceless :)