Tag Archive - motivation

The Essential 3 M’s of Character Setup

This post originally ran on Jane Friedman’s blog. Understanding these “3 M’s” is crucial if you want to craft believable characters!

Fiction writers are told to get their readers to bond quickly with their characters—in particular the protagonist. In few pages, they must make the hero of their story empathetic, relatable, and understandable.

Wow, that’s a herculean task. How long does it take us to truly “get” a person we meet? Five minutes? An hour?

While some of us are intuitive and savvy and feel we can “size up” a stranger in record time, truth is people are complex, they show a persona that may mask who they are underneath, and they may not reveal all that much at first (or ever).

Yet … I recall a restauranteur friend of mine who declared confidently that, after serving dinners to thousands of patrons over the years, she could tell everything about a couple in the first five minutes of their ordering a meal. What kind of tension was simmering between them, how they felt about each other, status dynamics—those kinds of things.

After running a bed and breakfast for thirteen years and hosting more than twenty thousand guests (essentially living with us in our home), I can attest that my husband and I are pretty good at figuring people out within minutes. Continue Reading…

5 Methods to Help You Meet Your Writing Goals

Today’s guest post is by Lisa Rowan:

Whether you’re kicking off the new year by tackling a new writing project, or are hoping to revisit your work with fresh eyes, finding the motivation can be tough. After all, you are your own worst critic, and beating back any negative thoughts you have about the quality of your work or how productive you’ve been can feel impossible at times.

There are countless methods to help you write more, and you could read entire series of books on the topic. But which tips will work best for you?

The methods below are just a few that have worked well for me. Sure, I still have plenty of days when I don’t feel like writing, or I get frustrated when I can’t find the exact word I’m searching for. I still fall into the black hole of Facebook feed-scrolling or Wikipedia exploration. But I know I can always come back to one of these methods to clear my head and refocus my efforts. Continue Reading…

8 Great Writing Tools to Keep You Motivated to Write

Today’s guest post is from Robert Morris:

There isn’t a writer who has never experienced a motivational block. Sometimes your mood prevents you from writing brilliantly, no matter how much you want to complete the piece you are working on. Your motivation can be drained away by a difficult rejection, procrastination, or constant distractions you cannot get away from.

If you found yourself in such situation, then it’s the right time to start exploring some innovative tools that will keep you focused and enhance your motivation to write faster and better. Check these tools out, and you can come back to thank me later. Continue Reading…

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