Randy A Brown

Category: Writing Tips

  • Free for Kindle – 206 Tips for Writing Fiction

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    This weekend tips(4/25-4/27) my 206 Tips for Writing Fiction is free! Here’s more information about the book:

    This is a book of tips. It will look different than most books on writing. Rather than giving you long explanations and step-by-step instructions on writing fiction, this book list tips within categories. The categories cover many aspects of writing fiction and editing your work. The tips are in no particular order. The tips themselves are designed to be easy to use. They start with a quick statement, which is printed in bold, and then you’ll find a few sentences that talk about the benefits of the tip and/or an example of how the tip might be used. This book is not exhaustive. There are plenty more books of tips to be written on the subject of writing fiction.
    Topics include:
    • Choosing a genre
    • Developing characters
    • Plot
    • General writing
    • Getting ideas
    • Staying motivated
    • Managing your time
    • Editing

  • Writing Challenge – Middles and Endings

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    A common problem with writing fiction is getting started and then not knowing where to go after you start. I have a few tips that turn the process into a fun challenge.

    1. Write the ending first

    If you know where your characters have to go it will be easier to get them there. This gives you a direction to take them.

    2. Write a scene in the middle

    This helps in the same way as writing the ending first. In the middle it works as a milestone.

    Here’s the challenge: Write a dozen or so scenes at random. They can be about anything as long as it’s a situation you can imagine your characters in. Now, randomly place them in your story. This makes you have to write the connecting scenes to thread the plot throughout the story. If it works then keep it it. If it doesn’t, then rearrange the scenes, get rid of what you have to, change them, add to them, or just count it as practice. Maybe this exercise will help you warm up and get you ready to write. It might even spawn a few ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of any other way.

  • Free Kindle Books About Writing

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    Amazon’s Kindle platform is a great resource for books about writing. Here’s a short list of good writing books that are free:

    And here are a few good books that are worth buying:

     

  • Niche Site Duel 2.0 – Choosing a Niche

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    For me, the hardest part of writing a book or building a niche site is choosing the topic. There are many techniques out there to help. Here’s my method.

    First, I build a matrix in Excel. I will make headings across the top of categories that I want to compare. One example would be- “is the topic podcastable?”

    Next, I start listing my favorite topics, topics that I’ve been researching, things that I’ve been searching for online, problems I’ve been trying to solve, etc.

    Next, I give each topic a score from 1-5 in each category (1 is bad, 5 is good). At first I just give a score based on what I already know about the topic. As I do more research I change the scores as needed (for example, I might not be able to make as much money from a topic as I thought).

    Then, I total all the numbers for each topic. The larger the number the better the topic would be for a niche. Here’s an example:

    excel niche selection matrix

    I then take each topic that ranked high and do more research. Long Tail Pro is a great tool for this research.

    Click here for more info on Niche Site Duel 2.0

    That’s a simple method to get a few topics to write about. Do you have a different method?

  • Niche Site Duel 2.0 – Searching for Keywords with Long Tail Pro

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    I’ve been using the trial version of Long Tail Pro to find keywords that will help me find a niche for the niche site duel. I’ve found a keyword that I like. It’s in a field that I have experience in. I’ve wanted to write a book about it for a while now. This tool helped me to decide if I should write it or not. The market looks so good that I’m considering starting a niche site to go with it. I’m still in research mode, but I’ll give out the information when I make my decision.

    I can recommend Long Tail Pro for helping you find niches. Click here for more info: Long Tail Pro

    Click here for more info on Niche Site Duel 2.0

  • The Creative Penn

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    It can be difficult to get motivated to write. It can also be discouraging when you think about the odds of becoming a published author. To help me with these issues, I’ve been listening to the podcast at The Creative Penn (http://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/). The Creative Penn podcast is from Joanna Penn and available on her website TheCreativePenn.com. Joanna interviews authors, publishers, editors, and just about anybody else in the publishing industry. She also gives many tips on writing, publishing, and marketing. Her site and her podcast are great for a boost of positive thinking and I find her tips invaluable. Thank you Joanna!

    You can find her site here:

    Homepage – http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

    Blog – http://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/

    Podcasts – http://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/

  • Using Bing for Inspiration

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    Writing can become stale if authors use the same tired locations and descriptions too many times. Readers like to be taken to new places, but it can sometimes be difficult to dream up new landscapes, cityscapes, animals, settings, etc. Rather than just looking at specific pictures online, which tends to propagate ‘sameness’, sometimes a writer needs to be inspired by something a little more random. One trick I’ve used for a fresh shot of inspiration is Bing.com. Bing shows a new photo every day. Sometimes there’s nothing there to spark the imagination, but sometimes you might find a real gem in a landscape, or animal, or even a tree. One thought can then lead to another… and you never know what it might turn into.

    Check out today’s photo at Bing.com

  • Outlining your Book

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    Whether I’m writing fiction or non-fiction, I always write an outline for my book. There are many methods for outlining. Here’s a quick overview of my method.

    For nonfiction I write all the major points that I want to make. I arrange the points in the order I want to cover them. This is the sequence that I want my book to follow. Then, I write some information about each point. Each of these points becomes a chapter and the information becomes a summary. When I write the chapter I use the summary to make sure that I’ve covered all the points.

    For fiction I write all the major ideas and events that I want to happen. Then I arrange them in the order I want them to happen. Once I have the major outline I start writing more detail about the events. These become my synopsis of each chapter, which builds a synopsis of the book. When I’m writing the book I refer back to the outline and synopsis and this helps keep my thoughts straight and keeps me from having a character in two places at once (that can be embarrassing).

    Here are a few tips on outlining:

    The more detail the better.

    Use the outline to find plot holes, contradictions, repeat information, good flow, etc.

    Use the outline to pitch the book or story idea.

    Don’t be afraid to change it.

    Well that’s my very brief overview of my outlining practices. Do you outline? If so, what are your outlining methods?

  • Writing as a Hobby

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    I love writing. Many people like the idea of writing, but don’t pursue writing because they think they can never be published. Well, in today’s publishing world self-publishing is easier than ever because of ereaders like the Kindle and nook, and the ease of creating PDF’s, etc. Practically anyone can self-publish, but – publishing doesn’t have to be the only reason to write. Writing is a great creative outlet. I almost always have a story idea bugging that just won’t leave me alone. Writing is a worthy hobby because it’s fun, creative, and helps keep your mind sharp.

    One excuse I hear from would-be writers that are considering self-publishing is that they couldn’t make a living with it. That might be true, but even that’s OK. Selling even a single copy can be fun and make a difference for someone. It’s OK to not sell tons of copies if you enjoyed the writing process. Writing is the fun part. Even if there’s no icing on the cake with millions of sells, writing is still worth doing.

    Writing is free. Many hobbies cost lots of money. Some only have a cost of supplies. If you have a computer, then writing is basically free. Of course there’s the cost of electricity and wear and tear on the computer, but that’s really negligible.

    The main reason to write is because you enjoy it. Writing is a great hobby and I encourage everyone to give it a try.