We are so lucky to have a lovely lady guest blogging on Terraverum today. I am happy to announce my first guest blog – welcome Tammi! Without further ado I hand the reins over to her.
Hello. I’m honored to be guest at Terraverum today. Thank you,Nicua, for the opportunity to write for your readers.I hope you enjoy my blog piece about my recipe for writing.
My Writing Recipe
by TC Booth
I sure hope there isn’t a set blueprint for writing that must be followed. If there is, I’m sure I’ve blown it by now.
I had the privilege of listening to a live video chat with the great Judy Blume yesterday. One thing she said in her chat was that she doesn’t know how writing works and she’s afraid if she figures it out that it’ll all over for her. I felt a sense of relief when I read that. If the one of the greatest authors of all time hasn’t figured it all out, then there’s hope for me.
A consistent phrase among all authors is to “just keep writing”. When I feel discouraged with the progress I’m making on a piece, I always go back to that phrase.
I don’t know that there is a right or wrong way to write. It’s all relative to the creator of the master piece. I prefer to compare writing to cooking. Cooks follow a basic recipe with a few main ingredients. They add, subtract, and tweak as needed according to their own style or taste for cooking. The dish improves each time the chef makes it. I believe writers are like that also. Here is my recipe.
1. Have a main plot in mind. I always try to keep a big picture in mind of where I want the story to go. This is just a basic it outline though, because once the characters are involved, they sometimes lead me in a new direction.
2. Get to know my main character-My characters range in age from 8-18, depending on who I’m writing for. Again, it’s important for me to have a basic idea of this person. Likes, dislikes, family, friends, goals, etc.
3. Just get started-With the basics in mind, I get the story down. If not, it runs through my head no matter where I’m at or what I’m doing. So I write it out without much concern for craft at this point.
4. Add the details– I read through the story and add details to make the character’s personality come to life. I check his/her voice, actions, thoughts etc. I also add any details needed to paint a picture of the setting. Of course I’m editing along the way.
5. Polish- At this point I read to make the story shine….I check for too many adverbs and not enough strong verbs, story flow, repeats, inconsistencies, etc.
So there you have it. My recipe for writing. What is your recipe for writing?
Happy Cooking Writing!
TC Booth
http://www.awritersdevotion.blogspot.com
