Music for the Words

Hello again readers! What inspires you to write? What inspires your writing? What do you do when you have writer’s block?

A lot of things push my imagination into overdrive, thus my stories are invented. One of the big things that help me when I have writer’s block is music. The melodies also paint pictures in my mind. They evoke my own emotions, which in turn makes me want to write.

When I am ready to write or I am stuck, I plug in my ear buds, go onto Youtube , and listen to my favorites list. Soon, I am creating something.

Sometimes, the songs do not even fit the scene. Thy just get me in a pensive, writing mood. Right now, ‘Small Bump’ by Ed Sheeran is fueling my craft. You can listen to the Song by clicking on 'Song'. :) 

Writing help

Hello readers! I don’t know about you, but sometimes I procrastinate with my writing. I get distracted by housework, my pets, a video, or something on Facebook. Often music will help get me back into the swing of things, but it doesn’t always help.  When that happens, I look to Write or Die. It’s a tool that allows the writer to set a time limit and word goal. Once the write button is clicked, the writer just starts typing.  If you stop, the screen goes red and an annoying sound blames (a siren or ‘Mmmm-Bop’ for example). It gets louder and louder until the writer starts up again. There is a desktop and iPad version you have to pay for, but there is also a web version that’s free.  You can read more about this product and even try it out right here: http://writeordie.com/#Web+App .

Greetings and Salutations!

Hello,

My name is Kay and I am one of your contributing bloggers. Before I post any articles, I thought I’d tell you about myself and my writing. I’ll keep it brief.

 I am a 26-year-old college professor from the Midwest. The course I teach right now is English Composition II, but because of my MFA I can also teach remedial English (or whatever it’s called), English Composition I, and creative writing.

I love animals, photography, TV and movies, music, reading, video and photo editing, history, and doing rafts (I sew, knit, and the like). I also enjoyed wearing braces and getting homework. I’m also gluten free and Asperger’s autistic.

What do I write about? Just about anything would be a good answer. I’ve done some horror and some historical stories. I also blog about writing, business, and technology. My dream writing job is being a fantasy novelist (at the moment, I’m working on 2 fantasy series).

Well, that’s about it! At least for now it is. I shall be posting again soon.

Kay

Colourful Characterization

If you're looking for some interesting way to characterize the players in your story, think about giving them a signature colour.  When readers read our stories and create ideas and images of our character, often they are just as influenced by themes, motifs, and the actual actions of the character as they are by their physical description.  They are not just a physical entity, they possess layers of personality, spirit, whatever you'd like to call it.  So, if we attribute a signature colour to our characters, this colour's mood will add the reader's overall perception of our characters.  For example, in my current work in progress there are three powerful women, each of whom wears a signature gown.  The colours of these gowns were selected with certain moods and emotions in mind; the gowns act as representations of their character.  The repetitious mention of these gowns and their specific colours also helps readers create a unique identity for the women, instead of being confused and mistaking them for one another.  So, if you're looking for interesting and capturing ways to characterize the players in your story, add a splash of colour and I think you'll be surprised by how vivid they become :)

Oh, and a great example of how this was used--Gandalf!  Gandalf the grey, then became Gandalf the white, you know ;)