L.J. Diva

Sexy, Sassy, Kick-Ass Romances!

PUT YOURSELF IN THE POSITION OF…

by Filed Under: The English Language, Writing Leave a Comment


A lot of authors constantly talk about writer’s block and being unable to come up with storylines or characters. 

When writing, it can be hard to come up with something new. One of the things to do is use tv shows, movies etc as a base and then put yourself in the position of…a character or contestant, on the show, the astronaut, cop or paramedic in the movie, the role opposite your favourite actor… whatever the character is or does, pretend to be it and see what you come up with.

In other words…roleplay.

A Story is Like a Pot of Stew. Just one analogy on how an author’s story idea works.

by Filed Under: The English Language, Writing Leave a Comment

 
 

As an author, I’ve often thought about what it is I do, how I do it, and what sort of analogies comes along with it. And this is one analogy I’ve come up with. I’m sure many creatives will be nodding their heads as they read this, because at the end of the day, ideas for creatives are all the same, and come the same way, regardless of what it is we do.

A Story Is Like A Pot Of Stew

First off, start a fire, put a huge pot onto the fire, then fill it with water.

So far, it’s just plain old water. It’s the start of your story, your vague idea. You’ve got it in your head and you’ve written it down. It’s the pot of water on the fire.

Second, as the ideas come to you put them in, pretend they’re seasoning like salt and pepper then start adding your vegetables. Write them down/throw them in and soon the water in the pot is bubbling with all sorts of twists and turns in it.

Third, you add the meat which is your big crescendo or twist. You stir it around, you let it thicken and gain traction, and by the time you have a pot of thick hearty stew ready to enjoy, the story should be ready to go too. Ready to write down and turn into reality.

So there you have it, how a story is like a pot of stew.

 

For Authors, What Does ‘Not Well Written’ Actually Mean?

by Filed Under: Authors & Books, The English Language, Writing Leave a Comment

 
 
I recently had one of my tween stories given a review and that is what it said. It was not well written. But not well written compared to what? A literary masterpiece? It’s a tween story for god’s sake.
 
The review didn’t mention spelling, grammar, maturity, issues with the story etc, so not well written means what exactly? You could look at 100 books and none of them will be literary masterpieces. They will be written as well as the author can write it, but then that still may not be good enough for some people.
 
By what standards are they using? Their own? Not well written compared to their books? Their English skills? Clearly some people just expect everything to be a masterpiece. Except people don’t write like that. That’s right, NO ONE writes literary masterpieces without help. The very few books that become literary masterpieces are beaten to a bloody pulp by countless editors telling the authors what to write. So what do us mere mortal authors do? Do we write to the best of our ability and stick to that, or do we ask the reviewers to expand on their comments so we can get some idea of what they thought was wrong with it in case there actually was something wrong with it? Of course, it could just all be in their own head.
 
It’s a real pity there wasn’t more to the review than just, not well written.
 
At the end of the day what does not well written actually mean, coz I’m confused?
 

Author Versus Writer. What do either really equate to?

by Filed Under: Authors & Books, The English Language, Writing Leave a Comment

 
There have been a lot of blog posts and columns about this topic, so I’m going to weigh in myself.
 
Some people believe that authors are not writers and vice versa.
 
Some people believe that writers are not authors and vice versa.
 
Some people think you can be both.
 
I think that each word/title means something a little different.
 
To me, a writer is someone who writes different things across different areas, mainly non-fiction columns, blog posts, web stories, magazine articles etc. They are writing, so they can use the label writer.
 
To me, an author is someone who writes books, fiction or non-fiction. Yes, they are a writer, but since the primary object is books, to me, the title of author seems more fitting.
 
To me, a novelist is someone who writes novels. Hence the title, novelist.
 
To me, a blogger is someone who blogs. Hence the title blogger.
 
To me, a columnist is someone who writes magazine/newspaper columns. Hence the title, columnist.
 
Get the picture?
 
I think it all means something to everyone and I also think it depends on what you write. If you do a bit of everything, go ahead and call yourself a writer. But I don’t necessarily think an author needs to call themselves a writer even though they write.
 
To me, that would be like calling a reality show contestant a celebrity…
 
ah *shudders*
 
It’s all much of a muchness and what you want to call yourself is up to you, just make sure it has some authenticity to it.
 
 

Does pure, true talent really exist?

by Filed Under: Humans & Behaviour, The English Language 2 Comments

 
 
Talent has been made a big deal out of by many. People have told me I’m talented, and thank you very much, but let’s take a moment to study what it actually is all about.
 
To me, true, pure talent is so extremely rare. To me, it’s the ability to open your mouth and sing without ever having a lesson. It’s the ability to pick up an instrument and play it without ever seeing one before. It’s the ability to pick up a paint brush or pencil and paint or draw something that could only come from pure talent.
 
For the rest of us, it’s not talent, it’s practice and dedication to our craft.
 
How many actors go to acting lessons, how many musicians spend years perfecting their playing, how many singers spend years with vocal coaches, how many painters spend years honing their craft?
 
It is years of practice, rehearsals, educating ourselves on our profession, or hobby as the case may be for some. It’s only been the last few years that talentless hacks called reality show contestants are getting the jobs that many of us strive for years to get, learning our craft, polishing our act, all to be told that some little pissant is getting the gig because, well, they have more social media followers and will bring in the cash.
 
You don’t get to write a book overnight, unless it’s a very short one. You don’t get to write the way big authors do unless you’ve had years of practise and education on the ins and outs of writing and all that comes with it.
 
You don’t get to host the Tonys or Emmys unless you’re known, unless you have proven yourself on stage and screen, writing, producing, hosting, singing, dancing, doing everything because that’s what you spend years learning and honing and educating yourself on.
 
Talent is nothing but years of hard work and dedication to what we do. It has nothing to do with natural talent, as others may see it; it has to do with us being dedicated to what we love.
 
What about “child prodigies” who play the piano, violin or some other instrument? That’s purely practise from their mother’s sitting them down and making them rehearse. Asian cultures are more into that than we are. You don’t get to play the piano like that at three unless you’ve already been practising for two years.
 
And these “child prodigies” who paint? Take a look at the painting. If it’s just paint on a canvas then there’s no prodigy or reincarnation from some famous artist. Simply a kid who put paint to paper and the parents thought they could make a buck by calling it “abstract”. I’d love to see a five year old paint the Mona Lisa or Sistine Chapel.
 
No, very few people have true pure talent. The rest of us are just well practiced, rehearsed and educated on our craft after years of honing our skills.
Having said that, here’s pic of my books below. 
 
 
 
I would not have been able to write these if it wasn’t for years of practise in English class at school, and my teacher critiquing me on them. After I wrote my first, The Road To Vegas, where the original draft was shit, I signed up to writing clubs and read a tonne of books. I googled what I could not find and asked questions, all in the pursuit of knowledge which is far more than what some people bother doing these days. I learned what it took to be a published author. And while I may not be traditionally published, I am still published. And that knowledge led me to writing my own book about self-publishing (middle bottom).
 
I’m also considering an author name change, more a simplification of what I already use, and will be using the new name on my new series. I’m seeing if they sell more with an initialled name on the front and then I might change the rest.
 
But as for talent, I have none. What I have is over 30 years of practise behind me. Whether it be in jewellery making or writing.
 
What do you guys think? Think talent is real or just dedication to the education of our craft?
 
 

Last week’s phrases got me to thinking about making my bed and having no regrets.

by Filed Under: Humans & Behaviour, The English Language 4 Comments

After talking about potty mouths and toilet humour last week it got me to thinking about other phrases that we use, and actually, how wrong they are.

Take “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it”.

The way I see it, you don’t have to lie in it, you just have to deal with it, and in dealing with it you can fling back the covers and go and buy another bed. You don’t have to live your whole life in that bed, get rid of it, change the sheets and linen, and change who you share it with. You do not have to stick with a decision that has proven itself to be wrong.

CHANGE IT!

The other thing that people say is “don’t have regrets”.

How can we not have regrets? There is stupid shit I did in my teens that I still feel that twang over, my head hangs and shakes side to side at the stupidity of my choice, and I’m like, ugh, why did I do that?

I think it’s a good indicator of how things work. By regretting a choice you can learn to not make the same one. By feeling those feelings you remember how it felt so you won’t continue making the same stupid choice.

There is no possible way that there is a person on this planet that does not have regrets, even just one. Or is it just that at their age (it always seems to be older people who say this phrase) they don’t remember the feelings they had over the regret, so they no longer have it?

I don’t know, but it seems to me these days that phrases just don’t cut the mustard any more and don’t mean what they once did because I can debate and argue a phrase to death.

Have you guys come across a phrase that no longer seems to work in the current environment of being human?


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