Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts

Sunday, December 30, 2012

This weeks quick challenge - create a Character

I will be reviewing some of the submissions for last weeks writing challenge and I will add them as I get time. I promise to do my best. 

This weeks writing test is to create a character. 

Yes fun stuff right?

Well not for all of us. sometimes coming up with that unique character seems real hard work. So here is a great chance for you to get practising. 

Create your character using the following info. 


  • Give it a name
  • Age, Gender, location, race (breed even), nationality
  • what they look like, brown hair, eyes, skin color, slim, athletic, average, etc
  • create a brief background - job, where they grew up, nationality, culture, roots, religion, 
  • family - siblings, parents, grandparents, are they close to them?
  • Do they have pets? Are they modern, traditional, contemporary?
  • Create a drama, something that has brought them to where they are now
  • And possibly, google a picture, find something that may be similar to this character or draw your own
So get going, your character profile doesn't have to be in-depth  it can be very brief, enough to give us an idea of who she, he or it is. 

send in your submissions if you like or share it by blogging in your own blog and send us your links. 
or you can find and comment us on facebook or twitter. 



ok enjoy and get cracking.. 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Todays Tip : Speaking the writing

hmm yes, ok not great grammar, but reading out loud what you have written will help you fix those pesky little grammar corrections we all hate as writers and it will also make your tedious task of editing so much easier.

It will also show you whether the flow of your story is easy to follow or does it get interrupted with needless over intellectual words that appear in your immense vocabulary??

Reading it out loud will show you exactly where that comma and those quotes need to be. Because in the end you, want your writing to be followed and understood like your reader is watching a movie or living the story itself, you do not want your writing to have hiccups and hang ups due to poor word choice or grammar.

Tip when reading your work out loud: 

  • Read it over to yourself several times, and when you find a problem, fix it and go back to the beginning and re-read it out loud. 
  • Read to a friend - sometimes getting another persons opinion is better than just sitting on your own. You can see if they are confused about something, or if there is something not well explained. Don't forget as a writer we normally know the surrounding and back ground story, the reader doesn't.
  • Use a Thesaurus - If there is a word your really really really want in your story but it doesn't go with the flow of your story, then try a thesaurus. I obviously do not need to explain the potential goodness of a good thesaurus.
  • Ask friends to read your story, but more importantly ask them to tell you a brief summary of your story. See if they got the full picture of what your story is about or did only certain scenes stick in their minds. 
Well good luck and as always let me know if you wrote something. I'd love to read it and promote it. Feel free to share any of your pieces whether it be published or not. 

Stay sweet. 

dont forget you can find me on :