My first real writing teacher was Emily Hanlon.  She inspired me when I was just starting my writing journey and is still helping me along the way.  One of the things that Emily shared with her students is worthy of sharing with all and that is the TEN TIPS ON CREATIVITY.
1. Don't think. Our best ideas emerge as a spark or image. Like dreams, they make little sense.
2. Creativity is cyclical. You will not be creative all the time. Creativity has its own internal rhythms. Listen to yours.
3. Nothing kills creativity faster than criticism. Good critiquing leaves you inspired, not deflated.
4. Spend time listening to your Inner Critic. By becoming aware of its foul jabber, you can challenge its roadblocks.
5. Being a creator is risky business. Learn to push ahead even when you are afraid. Learn to love the risk.
6. Don't be afraid to fail. Every successful creator fails. Failure means you've uncovered a path that does not work.
7. Don't be afraid to write garbage. "Garbage" writing is the rich, fertile ground that allows your work to grow!
8. Nurture your creativity. It is as fragile as a budding flower.
9. Be passionate. Creativity is passionate. Passion is creative.
10. Learn your craft and write! The more you write, the better you get. Successful writers are disciplined writers.
I could not say it better. For more information about my mentor just Google Emily Hanlon.  She is inspiring.
Enjoy the journey.
BD

At the 2008 KWA Scene of the Crime conference one of the speakers, Nancy Pickard talked about a system she uses to decide if her chapter, story, and ultimately novel is really working.  She looks for 7 main things: conflict, meaningful action, surprise, turn/emotional shift, all 5 senses, a consistent point of view, and if there are no clichés.  

That’s a lot of stuff to keep in your head while your writing, but that’s why we edit once we get that first rough draft completed.  The one item that really stood out for me was Surprise.  I’d never thought of it in a conscious way before.  With some luck I found quite a few surprises in my novel that developed during the growth of the story.  The scenes or chapters without some element of surprise fell flat.  

It’s important that we tell our stories in a new and special way so the reader doesn’t get bored and quit reading. How do we do it? Think outside the normal flow of events.  Think about what ifs that are plausible but not normally expected.  

In a scene where a clumsy character reaches up to get a box of sanitary napkins off the top shelf in the discount store, don’t just have her knock the row of boxes to the floor, have the whole shelf tip and knock down the next one and the one below that.  Have her buried in pink and blue boxes in seconds.  Have her scream and someone yell for security or flip the fire alarm.  Take things a little further than expected in each scene and you’ll surprise yourself as well as the reader.   The goal is to keep them reading and the best way is to keep them guessing what will happen next.

Try it with your story.  If the situation is too over the top your critique group will help you tone it down.  I hope you enjoy the surprises you discover on the writing journey.

BD

They say that every story has been told, the difference is in the way that it is told.  If you think about it, romance is a couple of people falling in love, overcoming obstacles and trying to learn to live together happily.  Notice I didn't say "happily ever after"?  In the murder mystery someone gets killed and you and the protagonist have to figure out who and if possible why and maybe even how.  I find the most variations in mysteries because the scope of the imagination is incredible.  New technology adds some nice new twists on the themes, and face it, we humans are a violent bunch.  Personally, I like writing about families and relationships and the requisite disfunction that ultimately occurs when you put people in close proximity to one another.  People are just so interesting and resilient, oh and creative at problem solving.  It's fun to explore in the writing world one creates how best to solve problems. Sometimes you stumble onto a good solution and it's fun to share with your characters and the reading public.  It's generally not new, however, someone somewhere has had the same problem and figured out a way to deal with it.  So, I guess the statement that there are no new stories is really right.  Interesting, isn't it?

Enjoy the journey.

BD

I received the second round of edits from the publisher on my novel Feisty Family Values this week.  I was nervous for two days, afraid to open the file and see it hemorrhaging off the pages.  Once I finally opened it up and read through it page by page I realized a couple of things.  1. I really do have trouble with comma placement, 2. Just minor things were edited, and 3. You have to take risks sometimes.  Publishing is a big risk.  The book might not sell well enough for me to earn out (justify my advance, which wasn't much so I'm not too worried).  I might not sell my sequel.  I might never make any money writing.  etc. etc. etc.

I love to write.  I love to read.  Stories, whether fictional or non-fiction fascinate me.  If I never had published anything I think I'd still be writing.  I enjoy the process.  But, I have a very viral "inner critique" who just wants to protect me from pain and rejection.  I keep telling him "it's okay," I like learning about new people and characters, I love the path a story may take and am often surprised at how fun writing can be.  When I get stuck sometimes he says things to me like, "see, it's not always easy is it?"  or "why do you put yourself through this?"  Because the creative process is awesome.  It's life.  It's the flow of the divine touching me in a very intimate and interesting way and it's worth it.  And yes, sometimes it can be hard.

I attending a teleseminar this week given by one of my writing mentors, Emily Hanlon called Creative Success.  She teaches how to capture that creative spark and let it dance.  She gives us permission to "go with it" while the other side of our brain is talking about bills and chores and rational things like that.  We creative types have to be irrational sometimes, let the creative spark ignite and go with the flow of it.  To some it's scary.  To me, it's fascinating and exciting and tons of fun.  And yes, maybe a little scary, but worth the risk.  Every time.

Enjoy the writing journey my friends, you never know where the path will take you.  See you somewhere along the road.

BD