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“Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” —Voltaire
For those of us who don’t do fancy French, this means:
“We must cultivate our garden,” says Pangloss at the end of Voltaire’s Candide.
No sentiment could be truer for women who write. Stop focusing on the whole wide world. Instead, maintain a space that is your own and encourages the fruits of your labors to blossom.
But the process of growing our garden requires the right tools. Reading this blog and learning how to revise your own stories could help you cultivate your garden, obtain peace of mind, and establish your writing legacy. Happy reading and writing!
Looking for a specific writing topic? Search the entire blog below.
Brainstorming to Story Building
Got words on a page? You do? Well, that qualifies you as a writer.
But I’ll admit, the writer’s game drives me kind of cuckoo. There’s so much advice out there about overcoming writer’s block and finding inspiration, but little on how to construct a solid story. Even reading the best advice of bestselling authors, you’ll find more on overcoming resistance than a blueprint for how an actual author—actually writes.
Show Me Your Process
Identifying your own process is a major undertaking.
Some writers act like theirs was etched into stone by the gods and is so sacred nobody gets to see it. Others pretend like it doesn’t exist at all. Like writing just happens in furious bursts of unexplainable creativity.
That’s crap! Process can be creative and practical. But it must be developed.
And if a writer isn’t talking about their process, it’s because it scares them.
Start with Your Senses
I know, it seems overly simplistic. But there’s a lot to explore through your five senses. Don’t just assume you know how you will experience something. Instead, leave yourself open to whatever feelings come up. Only record your actual physical sensations.
Start small. Consider a short story or a poem. Or even a vignette or literary sketch.
Forget the Writing Prompts
Oh, writing prompts! Those forces of nature you find on the internet. Built to infuse you with the power to write the next bestseller, or at least give you a little inspiration.
Yeah, I hate those things.
How NOT to Start Writing in the New Year
There are so many newer, better, quicker approaches to start your writing process, especially in the new year. It makes you wonder how people like Shakespeare ever produced any content at all. Read these articles or don’t. None of it really matters. These suggestions may help you get more words on a page, but they won’t help you become a better storyteller.