Friday, October 3, 2014

Day 68...The Best of Both Worlds...Plus a Great Tip for Writing Scenes Detailing a Character's House or Home Town




Welcome to Day 68...

So three days in and we're going strong on our writing challenge.

I was able to add another 1100 words today to my chalkboard.  All stream of consciousness writing. 

And no judgement.  Which means I don't stop to add quotation marks for dialogue, edit punctuation, or fix typos.  Because at that stage its all about getting the ideas on the computer screen.  When I'm in a good zone, sometimes I feel as though I can't type as fast as my brain is working so I don't want to break the momentum with any editing.  Besides now I have designated days for that.   

Which by the way, I really like this idea of switching between designated writing and editing days.  I'm realizing that my problem has been getting too stuck into a routine - editing for days on end, or writing lots of notes for a week straight but not really getting polished scenes pulled together.  

The set up of this Writing Challenge means I know what to do,where to start and trading off the tasks has really helped to not only keeps things moving, but getting scene done and on to my final draft.

Maybe I've finally found the best of both worlds.

So here's a helpful writing tip....

Need inspiration for writing descriptive scenes on a characters home towns, houses or favorite rooms?

I always go to the power sources...magazine and catalogs known for great style.

Places like Architectural Digest, Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn catalogs for are my inspiration on room design and decor.

I use them to research the use of colors, styles, types of furniture and materials.

And depending on the character and the decor, I'll even go a step further,  Like in my book One Step Closer I was describing a mob don's penthouse apartment - all white leather, chrome and Roman statues.  I had an idea to include a wall waterfall feature in the master bedroom.  I goggled just that and spent a good hour reading through different descriptions and information from manufacturers and on-line design blogs.

If you need to a capture a more local or regional flair about where a character lives - and say you wanted to write about the decor of a coffee house in Alabama, or a seaside dive bar that served great fried catfish, there's plenty of specialty magazines and publications for inspiration there too, like Southern Living, Coastal Living or even all things downtown Miami, like Miami Living Magazine.

You get the picture. That's all for now...

Except for Today's Takeaway Lesson...


"A Writer Never Has  Vacation. For a Writer, Life Consists of Either Writing or Thinking About Writing..." 

Here's to Being All In,

Maggie 

Follow me on Twitter @AuthorMaggie #busywriterslife
Visit my website @ www.maggiecollins.net
Like me on Facebook Maggie Collins




365 Days & Counting...

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