Month: January 2020

Writers Bloooooock | Writing Advice

Writers Bloooooock | Writing Advice

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

Having writer’s block is one of the most effective ways to make me close Word and resume wasting time on Instagram.

I don’t know if it’s just me but when I have writer’s block, I can’t focus on anything just what the next scene will be. I’ve heard a helpful tip on how to combat writer’s block, which is something along the lines of deleting the last ten or so lines because that just may be the problem.

Did I listen? Not in the least.

No, instead, I spent hours just thinking about what the next scene will be and how it can play out. I tried to conger up solutions and problems and words and flipped through the dictionary.

Did I solve the problem? Yeah. It just took a lot of brainpower.

Do I recommend this? I mean, if it works, it works, right?

There are better solutions on how to overcome writer’s block, such as just stepping back from your book and giving yourself a breath of fresh air.

Under no circumstance does that mean abandon your work for months on ends. Even if you have nothing to write…free write. As long as you write, ideas are bound to emerge from the dark corners of your brain and use them to your advantage.

You’re a creative writer after all and no one will have faith in you if you don’t have it in yourself.

How do you overcome writer’s block?

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Guilt| Motivation?

Guilt| Motivation?

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever made?

Do you think when a person murders someone, they feel intense guilt? Assuming they’re not a psychopath of course.

Yes, I think they do feel guilt. Why doesn’t that stop them from murdering again?

Over time, the guilt over our mistake lessens the often we do it until we no longer feel guilty. It just becomes apart of us. Do we feel guilty for letting ourselves get that far?

For example, lying.

We start as horrible liars with shifting eyes and mumbled words. Some of us try our best to tell the truth as we get older because honesty is the best policy (Unless your 6ix9ine…once he’s out of jail, the gangs are after him). Some of us continue to lie and over time, we perfect it, while no longer feeling guilty and being able to carefully manoeuvre our way around the consequences.

Point is, it’s okay to lie now and again.

For real though, try to right your wrong and cross that threshold where you no longer care.

KILL IT! | Writing Advice

KILL IT! | Writing Advice

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

My sincere apology. I hadn’t meant to be so violent.

In reference to ‘kill your darling,’ i bring good news.

You mustn’t kill them but rather, copy and paste into a file with the rest of a bunch of deleted scenes that you can use in another book.

By the way, ‘kill your darling’ does not mean kill a character. It means delete unnecessary words and scenes and actions that have nothing to do with the plot or current problem at hand. It’s hard, trust me I know, but it’s worth it.

That’s a lie. I don’t personally know if it’s worth it but I’ve heard it’s true. It’s like I’m physically unable to bring myself to delete my work of art. Don’t worry. I’ll get around to it after my beta reader forces me to.

Update On Being Motivated

Update On Being Motivated

by RefinedMind ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Alright, turns out that 600 dollar class I paid for is by far the most boring thing this semester, and that’s saying something (I’m also taking Stats). We also have to buy two books for that class, one of which he published. Can you imagine the money he makes every semester from students being forced to buy his book in addition to their ridiculous school tuition? That’s a subject I’m going to get into really soon…

On the bright side, I got myself out of bed and went to volunteer this morning and forgot just how rewarding it is. On the downside, I missed out on the first hour. When I woke up, I was already about a half-hour late and thought, ‘well, not it’s too late. I can’t go.” The other part of me reasoned that 3 hours is better than zero and I think that’s how we should all reason with ourselves, no matter what the case may be.

Don’t feel like…

Don’t feel like doing your class reading? Five minutes is better than zero.

Don’t feel like going to the gym? A jog around the house or block is better than eating chips in your bed.

Don’t feel like going to work? Too bad – you need the income.

Point is, you don’t have to feel like doing it, you just have to do it because it’s beneficial in one way or another. Even if the end result sucks, at least you know you put the effort in and that makes life suck a little less.

On the downside…

At this point, you can stop reading. The motivational part is over.

While I did manage to rise early and go volunteer, I ended up wasting the day away and wasn’t even going to post this, but I did. I was supposed to go to the gym but… I’m writing this instead after eating chips. Yes, some of those examples hit a little close to home.

Write What You Want, Then What You Need

Write What You Want, Then What You Need

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

I don’t know about you but my fingers have a mind of their own. I’ll get halfway through a sentence and think ‘brilliant!’ mostly because I didn’t realize I’d write that.

The same things go for my plot. I’ll be minding my own business, typing words and hoping they form coherent sentences and then eventually, I’ll be 30 pages in and realize where the story is heading. Granted, this is usually when I just want to stretch my fingers and write with no general direction but with the novel, I’m currently working on, I made sure I had an outline.

Does and outline work?

It’d different for every person. Personally, outlines are great to get the general plot down and get a sense of your character’s personality. I also noted down what would happen in each chapter, allowing me to also know how many chapters the book will have and a general idea of how long it will be.

Granted, I strayed from the chapter-to-chapter run down because i had additional ideas that just flowed better with what I previously wrote. I also ended up having three outlines, which I will get into in a bit.

I know another person who was writing a play or screenwriting (something along those lines. I’m sorry if you’re reading this), she said she became a slave to the outline, writing everything to perfection.

I can see how that can be helpful and for some, that may work perfectly! I think you should give both options a try: loosely outlining your story vs being a slave to your outline.

Of course, you can also find the middle ground.

Outline One!

I wrote outline one a while ago (as in years ago) and when I finally decided to work on the book, I looked back on the outline and realized I didn’t like it very much, so I wrote outline two.

Outline Two! 

For outline two, I took a few ideas out of outline one and rewrote it fit my up-to-date idea of what I wanted my story to be. Then I worked endlessly on the novel.

Outline Three! 

I never planned on outline three. Two was more than enough but it turns out, it wasn’t. After my third draft, I realize I needed to add a subplot because it would help engage the reader and keep them flipping so I wrote down exactly what happened in each chapter, and then what I planned to additionally add about the subplot. It was a few words jot notes, but it was enough for me since I already had ideas flowing through my mind (this is dangerous if you plan on writing a month later after you write the outline because you may forget what you planned. Proceed with caution.) Then, I got to work on draft 4.

Moral of my story: Allow your mind to run wild and your fingers to aimlessly fly across the keyboard. Write anything and everything and maybe even nothing, as long as you go back and edit mercilessly (I have yet to reach that stage.)

Can’t be Motivated

Can’t be Motivated

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

This semester, I’m taking a motivation class that is mandatory for my degree. It’s either that or Sensation and Perception, which is harder that it looks (get it? because sensation and perception is mainly learning about the eyes. I think…i dropped the class after a month).

Anyways, word around town (or between my friend and I) is that the prof for motivation isn’t great but i’m taking the risk and i’ll keep you updated.

Motivation Posts

You can find them all over Twitter, Pintrest, Instagram, Reddit…WordPress. There motivation post about eating right, getting fit, doing your homework, achieving your dreams but how often does that actually motivate us?

For me, it’s usually for a few minutes and them i’m back to watching YouTube videos.

The only ones that really stick with me is hearing personal stories, such as J.K Rowling, or Oprah, you know? They really hit you. These women were motivated to get out of the terrible spot they were in and they worked hard for a better life for themselves.

Me

I am boring. I can hardly motivate myself, what makes me think i can motivate you?

The class I’m taking will help with that and maybe i’ll take you along the journey of watching me struggle the whole semester and maybe, just maybe, get a good enough mark to continue in honors.

Stick around?

What is blogging?

What is blogging?

by RefinedMind ♥ 2 Comments

Alright, i understand the tone i set with my first post does not give this page a good look but hey, look at it from a funny standpoint and you might smile a little.

A famous author once said:

Smile.

Me. I am that author that said that. No, i have not published a book.

Truth be told, i’ve been sitting on this blog for about half a year with no direction in which this should head. I know i want to talk about writing and share my struggle but every time i write something, it almost feels like a joke so i’m laying off it for now and just posting…jokes.

WordPress is a lot harder than it looks. It’s one thing to just read what toher post and another to actaully navigate the sight and figure out how to make the post only slightly visiable so it makes my feed like nicer rather than just a dump of the whole post.

Anyways, stick around to see where this heads because i don’t know either.