Writing a book. The ups and downs.

The writing process can be difficult. There is nothing worse than having a plot fall apart on you. The awesome characters you have worked on so long now without direction. Writers block is a real enemy in the writing process. There are a few things that i try to do every time i start writing anything. I am gonna relay these on to you in hopes it can help you bring your own story to life.

1. Write out your plot from start to finish.

2. Write a synopsis with your plot.

3. Walk away before you give up.

4. Find friends that will be honest with you and review your work.

Writing out your plot from start to finish. This seems like a daunting task to accomplish sometimes. You don't need every single detail your gonna put into your story. You need a theme, your main characters, and where the story is going to go. That's it. All you need is a ball park to play in people. Give yourself something to work with.

Write a synopsis with your plot. Most of my books involve several different characters. So its easy to lose direction without one of these. I'll usually dictate how many pages i want to for each character and what i want to happen with those pages. This helps with with staying with the flow and staying on track with page count and time. This won't keep you from stalling out because you still have to hammer out the details. I often won't even do my synopsis until half way. This had always worked best for me when it comes to getting to the end.

Walk away before you give up. Before you take this out of context. I'm not saying abandon your work. One of the things that comes with writers block is frustration. This usually only makes matters worse. So take a breather. Go running or read a book. Step back away from it for a few days. Give your brain the time to rest and recharge. Often times you will find this is just what you needed.

Find friends that will be honest with you and review your work. This is a big one with me. My biggest critic when it comes to the writing process is my wife. She will read what i write and be brutally honest, and that's what you need sometimes. You don't need people that will tell you its good all the time. No one is the perfect writer. We all leave questions that should have been answered. Find that person and get them to read your work as your going along. Have them read the first two chapters and ask them, "Did you want to keep reading?" If not they will tell you. Then you will know that its a good plot or it needs work. It's as simple as that.

I Hope these help you with your writing process. Remember a good plot always has a beginning and a end. It is not always easy to get from one to the other, but a good game plan starting out make the process smoother. Happy writing. JL