Creative Kicks - Week 5 - Creating Characters with Clare Flynn

Creating Characters that Readers Care About 
By Clare Flynn
Photographs by JD Lewis

Whether you’re a daredevil seat-of-the-pants writer who sits down with a blank page and lets the story unfold, or a meticulous planner and plotter who knows in advance what will happen in every chapter, there are times when a character will surprise you. What? You might say, I’m the author, I’m in control! But that’s not always the case.

Why do characters have a nasty habit of running off on their own - sometimes in a different direction from the one we intended, leaving us lolloping along behind them? Well, it can be a sign that they are living, breathing people who have a clearer idea of their own destiny than the plot structure imposed on them - or it could mean they aren’t yet fully formed.

One way to find out, is to know your characters as well as, or, given that self-knowledge is rarely a strength, better than yourself.

A fundamental element of story, from Shakespeare to Star Trek, is the concept of a hero’s journey. One of my favourite expositions of this is shown in this short clip from Kurt Vonnegut. 

So, what are your characters’ journeys? The start point is getting clear on what each character’s role is in the story. The main character or protagonist (MC)? - the central focus of your story - the hero on his or her journey. The antagonist? - whether well-intentioned or plain evil, they are out to foil the MC’s mission. A minor character? - if so, what is their role in the story and relationship to the MC? For the purpose of this post I’m going to focus on the main character - as if you get that wrong you’ve lost your reader.

Exercise 1

Answer these questions about your MC (it’s a good idea to do them for the antagonist and supporting characters too).

· What’s their role in the story?

· What do they yearn for? This is fundamental! It’s what drives them and sends them on their journey

· What do they look like? Whether you include these details in the book or leave them to the reader’s imagination is irrelevant - YOU need to know this - and this goes for all of these questions!

· A brief pen portrait of their personality - just a few sentences

· What’s their occupation?

· Do they have any habits or mannerisms?

· What’s their background? (history, family, location, backstory)

· What are their internal conflicts? What causes their angst? Their dark nights of the soul?

· What are their external conflicts? Who or what are the source of these?

Exercise 2

Once you’ve done that, here’s another exercise. This time write freely in the voice of your character filling in the blanks. Don’t stop to think - just get it down on paper, preferably by hand.

Let me tell you who I am ------

As well as all that, what you really need to know about me is ------

OK confessional time here, what I really want is --------

I’d be able to have exactly what I want if only --------

Don’t tell anyone, but what I dislike most about myself is --------

My life changed forever the day ---------

The worst thing that ever happened to me was ---------

The best moment of my life was -----------


Exercise 3

To get right under the skin of your characters, give them the Spanish Inquisition.

You can use The Proust Questionaire http://hoelder1in.org/Proust/fill_questionnaire.html ,

or any online personality test

or do what I did when I was writing The Alien Corn and needed to reconnect with the characters in the previous book, The Chalky Sea, and use the excellent one JJ Marsh wrote about here, or make up your own.

I recently did an online course with a university on outlining (I was trying to move from being a seat-of-the-pantser to a plotter). One of the exercises was to fill out a very comprehensive questionnaire in the voice of your main character. Many of the participants found it difficult, if not impossible, to answer as their character rather than as themselves. That’s fine if you’re writing a memoir, a fictionalised account of your own life, or are transplanting yourself into your novel as the main character Hey, why not live vicariously? You too can swing through Amazon jungles or live as a Trappist monk. But in most cases your characters are NOT you and you need to get to know them better than you know yourself.

Most of the questions in a questionnaire may seem pointless - I’ll never use it in my book, you say. But you’ll be surprised at the gems you uncover that can add colour and shade to your characters. Think of characters as being like icebergs - the biggest part is hidden from view but it’s what gives strength, power and presence. A character who only consists of the words that make it onto the page is going to be thin and insubstantial. We are all what we lived in our pasts - a complex construct of past slights and injuries, compliments and excitements, moments of joy and sadness.

Some of the areas to think about (not an exhaustive list) in forming your characters are -

· What is their backstory?

· Voice and manner

· Tastes

· What do they dream about?

· Quirks and behaviours

· Skills and aptitudes

· Fears and desires

· Strengths and weaknesses

· Formative experiences

· Friends and enemies

My last top tip is, having done all the exercises, print them out and keep these together as a reference document to inform your writing. Or if you are paper averse, save them in a folder where you can easily refer to them as you’re writing. If you ever feel “stuck” a dip back into the folder can produce rich pickings.


Author of seven novels, Clare Flynn writes historical fiction with a strong sense of time and place and compelling characters.
After a career in international marketing, working on brands from nappies to tinned tuna and living in Paris, Milan, Brussels and Sydney, she ran her own consulting company for 15 years and now lives in Eastbourne where she writes full-time - and can look out of her window and see the sea.

Clare’s latest novel, The Gamekeeper’s Wife, is available in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon http://mybook.to/gamekeeper
Website www.clareflynn.co.uk
Facebook - www.facebook.com/authorclareflynn
Twitter - www.twitter.com/clarefly
Instagram - www.instagram.com/clarefly

Creative Kicks - Week 4 - Blurb with Louise Mangos

You’ve written 120,000 words of your book and pared them back to around 90,000. You’ve edited and re-edited and edited again. You feel like you’ve read those words eleventy bazillion times (yes, that IS a number). You can even quote big chunks of the narrative from memory. Now you need to write a blurb. And the very thought makes you want to abandon everything and pour yourself a pint of prosecco. 

The blurb is a handful of sentences that sets the scene for your novel. If you’ve written in genre, the blurb should show something at stake for your protagonist or main characters in the narrative, whether your story is a romance, a crime, or a historical novel. The blurb often, though not always, asks a question of the reader - what would they do in a precarious situation? It should state the premise - perhaps a sentence about the dramatic opening to your story - and a hint of at least one reason your protagonist is not getting what they want. Most importantly, it has to make the reader want to dive into your work.

The blurb will appear on the back cover of the book, so it’s the second thing a potential reader will read after the title and your name. It has to be more perfect than all the words in your novel. It is not a synopsis. You must not reveal any spoilers. At this point you are giving nothing away beyond the first chapter.

The blurb is also useful as an elevator pitch. When someone asks you ‘What’s your book about?’ you need to be able to tell them without hesitation, especially if it’s an agent or a publisher. You never know where you’re going to meet these people. They are the gatekeepers of the publishing industry, and you must be ready to present them with the golden key. Assume you only have the time it takes to journey in the lift between four floors to forge your key and unlock the magic.

*

Exercise:

The easiest way to write a blurb is to create a mind-map.

1. Take your main protagonist. Write their name in a bubble at the centre of your mind map.

2. In a bubble above your character, write a sentence about the rising tension to the first dramatic incident in your plot. You could also make this a question - ask the reader what they would do in your protagonist’s shoes.

3. The other bubbles around the centre should include early plot arcs or twists in the narrative.

4. Pick one, and write a sentence that hints at the jeopardy or conflict in that incident.

5. Expand on the consequence of the drama, without giving away any obvious clues.

6. What is at stake for your protagonist? State their most intrepid challenge. This should be the final line of your blurb.


As an example, here is the blurb for my debut psychological thriller Strangers on a Bridge:

To what lengths would you go to protect your family? 

When Alice Reed goes on her regular morning jog in the peaceful Swiss Alps, she doesn’t expect to save a man from suicide. But she does. And it is her first mistake.

Adamant they have an instant connection, Manfred’s charming exterior grows darker and his obsession with Alice grows stronger.

In a country far from home, where the police don’t believe her, the locals don’t trust her, and even her husband questions the truth about Manfred, Alice has nowhere to turn.

*

You’ve got your blurb, something you’ve decided you can also use as your elevator pitch. And you pitched it so perfectly in that lift, you now have an agent who’s interested in representing you. Alternatively, you might have gone down the indie route and decided to self-publish. Now you need a tag line - one short sentence that will appear on the front cover of your book to deliver an essence of the tension in your story to the potential reader. Your tag line could be the last hanging sentence of one of your most tense chapters.

The tag line for Strangers on a Bridge is: ‘She should never have saved him’

This might shock the potential reader. Most of us would do anything to prevent the suicide of someone - our instinct is to pull any fellow human back from the brink. So why shouldn’t Alice have saved Manfred? She does actually think this at some point in the narrative. Your tag line should make your potential reader want to find out why.

However, I should add that if you’re lucky enough to strike a deal with a large publishing company, it’s likely you won’t have any say in the tag line chosen for the cover. There may be three or four people working on the marketing and publicity for your book, and they will come up with a selection of possible tag lines. These will be passed around the team and a shortlist drawn up. Focus groups might then have the taglines tested on them before the final one-liner is chosen. Not by you. By the publisher.

A final note on writing the blurb: Most authors only write the blurb after the manuscript has been perfected. But it helps some writers to have a vague version of the blurb when they’re plotting the chapters. I use the mind map method to plot my novels, and have adapted my own system from the Snowflake method taught by Randy Ingermanson. You may not have a final title for your novel, but it helps to create a working title, even if it’s something like ‘Woman Stalked by Man’. Around the title, forming the start of your snow crystal, you have your main characters, and from there you have key moments in your plot. This method can be used as deeply as you wish. You might want to plot each of your chapters this way, each with its own individual snowflake. Here is a link to Randy’s site for writers who might be finding it difficult to plot their novels:

https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

I look forward to seeing all your wonderful novels on bookshop and library shelves!




Strangers on a Bridge was a finalist in the Exeter Novel Prize and long listed for the Bath Novel Award and is published by Harper Collins imprint HQDigital. Louise also writes short stories and flash fiction, which have won prizes, placed on shortlists and been read out on BBC Radio. You can visit her website www.louisemangos.com with links to more of her short fiction, or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter @LouiseMangos. Louise lives on a Swiss Alp with her Kiwi husband and two sons. When she’s not writing you can find her in her kayak on the lake in summer or on the cross-country ski loipe in winter, painting in her studio, or drinking prosecco in vast quantities when she’s trying to write blurbs for her novels.

Link to Harper Collins page: https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008287948/strangers-on-a-bridge/

Amazon.com link: https://www.amazon.com/Strangers-Bridge-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B079KL6VSB

Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strangers-Bridge-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B079KL6VSB

Creative Kicks - Week 3 - The S-word with Jean Gill

The S-word we all hate

That is, of course, s for structure. Before you rush off to read something that’s more fun, just answer one question. What if the story starts with Cinderella looking in the mirror at her middle-age spread and grey hair, as she remembers the moment when her bad-tempered husband, now King Charming, fell in love with her? How does that change the story? Hold those thoughts!

‘Structure’ sounds rigid, all rulers and straight lines, but we’re going to get messy, fool around with the sequence of scenes in a story, and consider the consequences.


The simplest structure for a story

Good storytelling is as old as sitting round a fire with friends and, although the terms used for the craft might change with fashion, the craft itself remains the same. My touchstone as to the simplest story structure, very useful for a play or short story, dates back to Aristotle. His theory of three unities suggests that you should limit your story to one location (place), one day (time) and one plot (action). Breaking one unity is fine but if you break more, you risk confusing your audience and losing the power in your storytelling.

In a novel, we can play with multiple places, times and subplots, but we should still be aware that this adds complexity.

Let’s return to the Cinderella story and consider some of the choices related to one of Aristotle’s unities, time.

Time structure is the order in which the content of the book (whether story, poems or facts) is revealed to the reader. This is where we have fun and get messy because there are so many options. There are no rules - just consequences!

The simplest time sequence for telling a story is chronological, by the time and date events happened. Imagine a four-year old telling you, ‘Then I went on the swings, then I went home.’

Even with a chronological structure, we can incorporate memories (the past) and hopes or fears (the future). We can change points of view (but not too quickly or the dreaded ‘head-hopping’ will annoy our readers). Versions of Cinderella’s story often begin with her being ill-treated as she does endless domestic chores, then she sees the invitation to the Prince’s ball. In between there are obstacles and resolutions. The ending is a Happy Ever After - classic romance structure.


What is the effect if you begin at the end?

In my Cinderella version, the beginning shows poor Cinders disillusioned and wondering what went wrong - the chronological ending of the story. This is now women’s fiction instead of romance, so there is a genre change. The hook is no longer ‘Will she meet her Prince, against all odds?’ (and because it’s romance, you can expect that she will) but ‘I know just how she feels. I want to spend time with this real woman and find out what went wrong.’

What if you begin in the middle?

Jane Davis’ superb novel ‘Smash All the Windows’ starts in the chronological middle of the story. The opening chapter shows us the trial and verdict regarding a lethal disaster in a London underground station. We know who was killed. The structure removes all suspense as to who dies, or what the trial verdict will be. This transforms what could have been an all-action disaster thriller into a contemporary novel focused on the survivors’ relationships and emotions.

You could start the Cinderella story with a middle scene. She is at the ball dancing with the Prince. This changes the mood of the beginning from misery to happiness and gives different ways of continuing the story, perhaps a) flashback to all the events leading to the dance, followed by losing the Prince again and a similar story arc until they are together at the end. Or b) a dual timeline, one chapter narrating Cinderella’s tough life with her stepfamily and the next continuing from the dance.

Why use a dual timeline?

Juxtaposing Cinderella’s time with the stepfamily before and after the dance with the Prince would allow psychological depth. She could know despair after happiness was snatched away, and realise that the cruellest emotion of all is hope. This would be a good structure for a novel raising questions about our existence.

A dual timeline is also useful for any story where two sequences of related events are separated by time, especially - but not only - Historical Fiction. J. T. Lawrence’s ‘Why You Were Taken’ creates sci-fi suspense by switching between two related women’s viewpoints, in 1980s and 2020s South Africa. When it works as well as this, readers are hooked as they puzzle over the connections.

A dual timeline can converge at any moment in the book, when the connection is revealed, but authors often leave the full revelation to the end, where a conclusion ties up all the main threads, apart from those left for the next book in a series.

Create suspense through the sequence of scenes

Readers love knowing something that the characters don’t, so show the reader something that’s going on, then let another character head for disaster, not necessarily straight away.

Let’s add a scene to Cinderella.

1) Cinderella finds Prince Charming in bed with her (ugly) sister.

From Cinderella’s point of view, this could come as a great shock or be no surprise but either way we know as much as Cinderella does.

However, if we see

1) Prince Charming in bed with a sister then

2) Cinderella talking to her friend about how happy she is with her dream husband

we feel the pain of Cinderella’s betrayal and we’ll read on quickly to find out what happens when she finds out! This is a classic example of dramatic irony and is one of the most effective weapons in the writer’s armoury.

Now it’s your turn to have fun with these techniques.

Exercise

1) On separate post-it notes or, if you’re hi-tech, in Scrivener or other software, arrange the scenes below

i) chronologically. What genre/s is the story?

ii) in alphabetical order. How does this change genre and mood? How would you write the link from one scene to the next?

iii) randomly. Shuffle the scenes, lay them in a row and add any scenes you like. Add a point of view for each scene (could be the same throughout)

iv) as a dual timeline. Add four scenes from the life and viewpoint of the stepmother twenty years before the ball. Put these in a row. Choose 4 scenes from Cinderella’s story and put these in a row above the stepmother’s. Read the story, zig-zagging from one row to the other, then add or write one scene to bring the two timelines together.

2) Play the same analysis game with any novel which struck you as having an interesting structure, especially if it’s in the genre you are writing.

3) Write each key scene in your story in the same way and have fun moving scenes around. Plotters can do this before writing and pantzers can do it at any stage. Both can do it at re-drafting stage. A key scene is whatever you want it to be - could be an event, could be a revelation (e.g. Luke Skywalker finds out that Darth Vader is his father).

J. Cinderella sees the invitation to all girls to go to the ball at the Palace so the Prince can find a wife

A. Cinderella’s ugly step-sisters are horrible to her and say she can’t go to the ball.

M. Her stepmother gives Cinderella lots of housework to do so she can’t go to the ball.

B. Stepmother and sisters get dressed up and go off to the ball.

O. Cinderella is crying and her fairy godmother appears.

R. Fairy godmother makes coaches out of pumpkin, footmen out of mice and creates beautiful gown. She instructs Cinderella to be home by midnight.

D. Cinderella is at the ball and dances with Prince Charming. Love at first sight.

P. Clock strikes midnight. Cinderella runs away. One shoe falls off.

V. Visit from the Prince and entourage to Cinderella’s house with shoe to see if the shoe fits. Ugly sisters try shoe.

L. Discovery of another girl in house. The shoe fits. The Prince has found Cinderella. Joy. Wedding.




Jean Gill is a Welsh writer and photographer now living in the south of France with two scruffy dogs, a beehive named Endeavour, a Nikon D750 and a man. For many years, she taught English in Wales and was the first woman to be a secondary headteacher in Wales. She is mother or stepmother to five children so life was hectic.

Her nineteen books are varied in genre, including the award-winning Troubadours Quartet, memoir, military history, dog books, poetry, and a cookery book on goat cheese. With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can support the winning team on most sporting occasions.


CONTACT

Contact [email protected]

Sign up for Jean’s Special Readers’ Group http://eepurl.com/AGvy5

Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvXZBW-VLBibveKhXA-QZQ

IPPY Award-winning ‘Best Author Website’ www.jeangill.com

Blog www.jeangill.blogspot.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/writerjeangill

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/writerjeangill

The Troubadours Page https://www.facebook.com/jeangilltroubadours

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4619468.Jean_Gill

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/writerjeangill/

Creative Kicks - Week 2 - Characters over a Series

By Triskele Books

Way back in 2015, we gave ourselves the objective of developing our writing skills over the summer. We'd spent four years building the Triskele brand, learning about marketing and publishing, so it was time to go back to basics.And that meant writing.

We tried a bunch of exercises just to flex our creative muscles. Many were directly applicable to our WIP, such a Character, Voice, Point of View, Story Structure and Descriptive Prose.

But that was four years ago, and since then some of us have developed a series.

Gillian Hamer, JJ Marsh and JD Smith have all followed the same key characters over several books with every intention of continuing.

So we spent some time looking at the best way to keep those characters fresh and how to ensure they change and grow, rather than stagnate.

Exercises

1. What legacy of experiences mark your character’s personality and preferences now? Not just past trauma, but why is s/he allergic to seafood, soppy about butterflies, nervous of men in hats? Define a least one actual experience which has marked her/him. Then decide on something which has affected your MC vicariously (ie not something experienced directly - seen on TV, overheard, urban legend).

2. What stages of development does his/her personality undergo? How does that affect relationships with other familiar characters? What are the key turning points in each book?

3. When is the reader surprised by his/her actions? When does the reader have an ‘of course s/he would do that’. Even better, when does the reader have a moment of ‘I should have known!’ regarding character development?

4. Think of one past action scene which demonstrates your character’s personality (for better or worse). Now picture your character two/three books later - how would that behaviour change in those circumstances?

5. How other characters see your MC doesn't always reflect their true personality. That's logical - none of us is consistent or 100% honest. Look at your character from the outside. On the left hand side of a piece of paper, write down five of your character’s key values. What are the things they hold dear? Think conceptually, eg, truth, loyalty, persistence, kindness, etc

Now on the right, write down how those characteristics could be perceived by someone who hates your character. Eg, truth can be seen as rudeness, loyalty as blind devotion, persistence as pig-headedness, kindness as being a sap, etc

Triskele Books

For more detail on how each author approaches characterisation over a series, see this article.

Creative Kicks - Introduction

For the last two years, we've run a FREE summer creative writing course via Triskele Books. Ten weeks of playtime. Forget the WIP and word count. Come have some irresponsible fun.

This year, we're relocating to Words with JAM. Each week we post an exercise from a well-respected writer who invites you to participate. Share if you like, or keep it to yourself. Either is fine with us.

The course starts next week and we'll be exploring Voice, Character, Blurb, Lyrical Language, Names, Pace, Plots and Going Wild amongst others. We're very excited about our guests who can bring genuine gravitas to the topics and offer useful advice as to improvement.

Here are a few examples of our most popular posts from the previous courses:

Story Fundamentals by Emma Darwin

Characters Inhabiting Their World by Sunny Singh via Catriona Troth

Flirting with Subtext by Jason Donald

Join us every Wednesday (or whenever suits you) for half an hour of muscle-flexing. Even if you don't write poetry, just give lyrical language a go. Try out an exercise on scientific world-building. Use creative moves you've not tried before. You might be surprised.



This summer, we hope you get all the kicks you want.


Next week, Nancy Freund on Voice.

Images by Julie Lewis

The Importance of Goal Setting

By S.BEE

We all need to value the importance of goal setting. This simple technique can help, encourage, motivate and support us to produce high quality regular results. Here, I outline ten steps to get you started on the goal setting path.

1 Why we need to set goals

Goals keep us motivated, it offers us structure, plus it forces us to be disciplined and organised. We can actually finish projects instead of having lots of ideas hanging about cluttering up our hard drives, our minds and our notebooks!

It doesn't matter if your first idea isn't very good - we can go back to it at a later date. The important thing is that you've stuck to your goal of seeing an idea through - eg carrying out research and starting a first draft of that article, story, play or novel.

2 Decide what your goal is

It should be something you really, really want to do. Last year (2014) I decided that I wanted to attempt a chick- lit novel. I gave myself a rough time limit of a year to start it, finish it, edit it and sub it. However, I still have small daily goals too eg: to start the first of a fresh batch of magazine stories, because my other goal is to see my fiction published in more magazines.

3 Goals prevent the 'blank screen' scenario

Every day, when I sit down at the computer, I have pretty good idea what my goals are and what I can realistically achieve in my time limit. If you find yourself facing a blank screen, ask yourself questions. Eg: How do I begin my journey of launching my own blog?

The first step on that journey is to make a list of new interesting blogs. Then read them and take notes.

Grab a pen and paper, write your goal down and place this note on your desk.

It doesn't matter if there's just one small item on the list.

The next day, you can crack on with that project straight away - no more time wasted staring at blank screens - in your mind or at the PC. If you adopt this method, you'll never get stuck, because your goal is already there facing you.

4 Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals

You can set goals for every day, every month or every year. If this sounds too much like hard work, that's because it is!

Professional writers, novelists and freelancers actively choose to work in their own specific areas of employment.

If they don't work, they don't eat and they can't pay their bills either.

My one big goal for this year (2015) is to finish my chick-lit novel. My goal after that is to edit it and adjust accordingly. Then - and only when I feel ready - I'll sub it to agents and publishers.

If it's 'no' from everyone, I won't hide myself away and sob in a dark room (Well, perhaps I will, but just for a few hours!)

I have other long- term projects I can work on. Starting and finishing at least one of these projects and submitting it, is one of my goals for 2016.

5 Have more than one goal

There's nothing wrong with having several goals. In fact, I would actively encourage it. I know of people who can only work on one project at a time - others, like me, relish the variety of different projects. However, I would say complete one project before you start work on another, because your mind set may change with each piece project.

6 How to Keep Motivated

You shouldn't have any problem keeping motivated if you have set your goals clearly. If you've run out of goals, simply set some more!

Reflect on your past success and think 'I did it then, so I can do it again now,' or tell yourself 'There's no reason at all why I can't produce my own high quality story and sell it to the highest paying magazine.'

You really need to push yourself. Grab any opportunity you can, because any kind of experience soon adds up!

7 Goals must be realistic and achievable

I feel that my goal of producing a commercial chick-lit novel is both because:

a) I've had several stories published in national UK magazines

b) I enjoy reading the chick-lit genre very much

c) I've had practical working experience of my MC's occupation and

d) Hopefully, my novel will fit nicely alongside certain author's work on the shelf in the book shop.

Remember, ideally, your goals should be realistic and achievable. If they're not, think about how you'd get from get from A to B.

For instance, if you wanted to write a political thriller (I realise that your goal may be something completely different, but please bear with me) and you've spent twenty years working on a farm, I'd research the details of your idea first.

Interview as many politicians as you can. Don't simply make it up and think it's going to be okay. It won't.

Talk to your friends about your project and listen to their suggestions.

8 Struggling? Set yourself a different goal

If you're struggling to start or complete your goal, it's perfectly okay to put it on the back burner for a while. Perhaps it's not the right time for it, or perhaps it's a big project and you don't feel ready. Maybe you need capital to launch your product, and there's a lack of spare funds.

It's a waste of time and energy to force yourself into something, so write down your idea and save it on a document on your computer (because you might want to return to it one day - that's another goal for the future) and switch your focus to a different goal instead.

9 Give yourself a reward

You need to know one very important aspect of goal setting. It involves treats. Lots of them, in fact!

Reached the project basics? Fix yourself a coffee - oh and have a biscuit too. Researched a pricing range? Treat yourself to a hot chocolate and a small cake!

Now I'm not suggesting that you stuff yourself silly with sugary sweet stuff all day, but there's nothing wrong with rewarding with yourself after you've worked hard.

If snacking ain't your thing, vow to get your nails/ hair done or buy that new book by your favourite author. You could ask your partner to prepare the evening meal or request a massage to ease your aching shoulders.

Little treats like this gives us something to look forward to when we're in the midst of despair.

10 Keep going with those goals!

Regard goal setting as standard for your working life. It's kept me on the straight and narrow.

When I was an amateur unemployed writer, my goal for the next day was to visit the local library, log onto a computer, type my work up from my longhand and save it to a floppy disc. The disc was stuffed full short stories.

The fact that I wasn't a published paid writer didn't deter me one little bit.

I didn't listen to others who put me off achieving my goal - and neither should you.

The reason why I felt my goal was a realistic and achievable one was because I'd had my work assessed by an agency who'd said my material was 'spot on' for the magazine market.

I had set my goal and I did everything within my power to achieve it.

And finally, I did it.

My fiction was published in a national magazine and I actually got paid! I was so proud. I've since gone on to repeat this success.

People with no goals simply drift along with no real purpose in life. Misery can breed very quickly if we have nothing to aim for.

So go on - set those goals today!

---

S.BEE is my writing name. My proper name is Sharon Boothroyd.

Since 2010, I've had a wide range of letters,opinion pieces, poems and stories published in national UK magazines. As well as running my own online writing group, I edit and co- own a small non- profit e-magazine. www.kishboo.co.uk

My own site is: www.sbee.orgfree.com

Writing Exercise - Character Interview

Writing exercises can be useful to give you greater knowledge and understanding of your story, as well as stimulating your creativity. It's the little kick some of us need to push ourselves or reboot our writery brain when our words have dried up.

At Triskele Books we spend a lot of time marketing, networking, discussing various publishing methods and retail avenues. A few weeks ago JJ Marsh suggested we go back to basics and as a team work our way through various exercises in order to focus on the writing as well as the marketing. 

This is the first of a series of exercises I found particularly useful. Developed by JJ Marsh and Sheila Bugler, with a few additions from myself, you're to answer the following questions as one of your characters ...

Enjoy!

JD Smith

1. Are you typically (insert nationality)?

2. What makes you easy/hard to get along with?

3. Describe your earliest memory.

4. Where do you get your information from? Be specific - TV? Which channel? Gossip? Whose word do you trust?

5. Who or what is the love of your life and why?

6. Who is your hero?

7. Can you be trusted?

9. In what ways are you like your parents?

10. If you were an animal, what would you be?

11. Give an example of one of your rituals.

12. What are you most afraid of and why?

13. What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

14. Are you normal?

15. Describe yourself in 5 words.

16. What would you change about your appearance?

17. When was the last time you indulged yourself? How?

18. What prejudices do you have, if any?

19. What makes you laugh?

20. Do you have any scars? Where did they come from?

21. What is your most precious possession?

22. What keeps you awake?

23. Why do you/don’t you have children?

24. Who is your best friend?

25. When did you last lose your temper? Why?

26. Which items do you always carry with you?

27. What is your idea of a perfect evening?

28. What is your greatest regret?

29. Which characteristics do you look for in a friend?

30. Describe your greatest achievement.

31. Where do you call home?

Developed by JJ Marsh and Sheila Bugler

Keep-Fit for Writers:

Work those muscles with Anne Stormont

I have been asked to contribute the first item in a new ‘Words with Jam’ feature, which will offer writers, at all stages of their writing careers, some writing exercises and prompts.

Writing exercises serve several purposes. They can be done as a warm-up session for writers wanting to ‘get in the zone’ for developing their work-in-progress. They can be done to provide variety to the writing experience, or to take a writer out of their comfort zone. Sometimes they serve as useful prompts when an author has got a bit stuck, or to kick start a sluggish imagination. Exercises can be set up to provide a training regime in a particular genre or in different ways to approach writing. They can also prove to be valuable sources of inspiration for longer, fully developed pieces of work.

But most of all, writing exercises ensure that a writer, who may be very busy with ‘real’ life demands, does at least some sort of training almost every day. They keep the writing muscle healthy - short jogs and sprints that prepare you for the marathon that is a short story collection, a book of poems or a novel.

And as with gym or jogging time, it’s a good idea to diary in a time when you do a burst of writing exercise - first thing in the morning, or in your lunch hour, on the train… It doesn’t matter as long as you make that appointment with your personal muse.

You may want to buy a new notebook and pen for your exercises or you may prefer a word processor. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you write.

I would recommend giving yourself a set time - ten minutes or twenty - again whatever suits you - and try to write continuously for that time. Also don’t edit or censor - really go with the flow.

I thought I’d start us all off with some short exercises which are suitable for beginners, but may well be useful to folks who are further along the writing career path.

‘I Remember’

Lots of little memories or one big one, or your earliest one. A chance for some sensory exploration here.

‘The Place I Love the Most in the World’

Honeymoon island, mountain top, your bed, childhood home…Be as detailed and vivid as you can.

‘My Biggest Challenge’ 

Explore your feelings of - fear, gratitude, grief, disbelief, anger, achievement…

‘Night Sky’

Recall an experience of a starry night, of how you felt in relation to the universe.

‘Steal a Sentence’ 

Open any book you have to hand. Pick a page number and write down the first complete sentence from that page. Now develop a story from that sentence. (Taking the first line of a poem works well too).

Good luck with your workouts. And remember be direct and write from the heart.

(I’d like to acknowledge Natalie Goldman’s book Writing down the Bones which has often come to my aid when I’ve needed an authorly workout. Some of the above ideas are adapted from her suggestions).