Writing For Writing's Sake - Relax and Having Fun While Writing

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The academic profession requires writing on a continuous basis, as you should look into seeking to publish on a fairly regular basis. Writing for publication can be fun but requires adherence to specific rules, discipline, appropriate language and a subject-related topic to be covered.

That leaves little room for letting the words flow on the paper, and writing becomes an exercise at times rather than a relaxing and fun undertaking. Some of us would simply like to share their personal experiences, discuss their insights without the background, build up and justification academic pieces require, thus it might be a helpful to find another type of writing outlet for the fun of writing. Ezines, blogging, one's own website, but also writing a newspaper column commenting on specific issues offer such outlet. However, what is the benefit to the academic writer? (If you are worried that this may affect your academic reputation use a pen name)

Well, first of all, writing can be a relaxing and almost therapeutic exercise. A writer does not necessarily have to write about their personal problems but engaging with a topic of one's interest away from stress and our daily job tasks can have a very relaxing.

Secondly, any writing is good practice. We still have a structure the ideas we are presenting, and we still have to engage with the written word, which allows us to practice and be more skilled in wording and presenting a point of view.

Finally, for some it is as much fun as it is to read a good book, watch a film, meet friends or exercise. Finding that you have produced something in your free time can be very satisfying, and provide the peace of mind we need to continue on our academic research. So go on and have fun writing.

Writing for writing's sake - relax and have fun while writing

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The academic profession requires on a continuous basis, as we should seek to publish research on a regular basis. Writing for publication can be fun, but requires compliance with specific rules, discipline, correct language and vocational subjects to be covered.

The flow can be little room for the words to leave on paper, and writing is an exercise at a time instead of a company fun and relaxing. Some of us just want to shareexperiences, discuss their findings without requiring the background, structure and justification of academic pieces, and this could be useful to find a way to write a new outlet for fun writing. Ezines, blogging, his website, but also to write a piece of newspaper commenting on specific topics provide that outlet. But what is the benefit for the academic writer? (If you are concerned that this will affect your academic reputation you use a pseudonym)

Well, first,Writing can be a relaxing and therapeutic exercise almost. A writer does not need to write about their personal problems, but faced with a topic of interest away from the stress and the daily work tasks can be very relaxing.

Secondly, a good practice is to write. We still have a structure, the ideas that we present, and we still need the written word, to exercise ourselves, and smart drafting and presentation makes a point of commitmentView.

Finally, for some it is as much fun as it is to read a good book, watch a movie, meet friends or play sports. Seeing that you have produced something in your spare time can be very satisfying, and provide peace of mind we need to continue our academic research. So go ahead and have fun writing.

Using Character Sheets in Fiction Writing

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Writing fiction is a bit like baking a cake. You need the right ingredients in the right amounts, or it will turn out awful. For fiction, you need the right combination of plot, action, description and character development to bring your story to life for your reader.

Character development can be one of the most important things about writing fiction. You want to create a realistic group of characters to move your plot along and to do that you need to know them. But how much do you really have to know about them before you start writing?

Well, that depends on the kind of story you are writing. The length of your tale will dictate the amount of character information you will need to make them come to life. For simplicity's sake, I've broken my character sheet down into what I use for each type of writing. Your character sheets may vary.

Flash Fiction

Writing flash fiction is one of the hardest types of writing. You have to create a story with just the minimum of words and it has to make sense. For most flash fiction, you only need the most basic character information.

Name:

Age:

Height:

Weight:

Hair color and style:

Eye color:

Complexion and skin tone:

Character's body build:

These should be enough to create a flash fiction character.

Short Stories

Short stories have a higher word count, so the characters in those should be more developed. You have more leeway with your character's descriptions and can even give background information, which will make them more real for your readers. Use the above information and add the following:

Character back story:

Identifying marks:

Facial features:

Hand features:

Scent:

Mannerisms or gestures:

Novellas and Novels

Novellas and novels require the most detailed characters because they are as much character driven stories as plot driven. Character sheets with more detailed physical description, personality traits, and an extensive background will go a long way to making your story one that pulls a reader in and keeps them reader from beginning to end. Use all of the above plus the following:

Strongest personality traits:

Weakest personality traits:

Needs of the character:

Ambitions:

Father's name:

Age:

Physical appearance:

Mother's name:

Age:

Physical appearance:

Sibling's names and descriptions:

Favorite sayings:

Interests and hobbies:

Favorite foods:

Favorite colors:

Pets:

Education:

Religion:

Financial situation:

Future plans:

Possessions this character values most:

What drives your character:

How does your character handle conflict:

What is standing in your character's way:

What is their favorite room and why:

What vehicle do they drive:

Favorite sport(s):

What are your character's prejudices:

How does your character feel about love:

About crime:

What is their neighborhood like:

What is your character's philosophy on life:

What is your character's family life like:

You also should have a rough background and timeline for this character, from childhood through the start of the story. Break it down into 5 year spans, unless your character is fairly old, then go with 10 year spans. Finally, have a profile summary, taking everything you have for the character and write up a one or two paragraph summary. It is a good way to focus your character's information, and could be used in your story.

Book Series

When writing a series of books about the same characters, it is imperative to keep some kind of record of their traits. Do not rely on your memory when it comes to writing each book. As an avid reader of series books, it is amazing the number of times a character's eyes have been dark blue in one book and dark brown in another then gone back to blue. While most casual readers won't catch that kind of mistake, your dedicated readers will. It costs you nothing to keep a notebook with your character sheets and reference it when writing the next book in your series. It will go a long way to keep the continuity of your books intact.

A note on describing clothing. Unless clothing change is crucial to your story's plot limit your fashion descriptions. You do not need to tell every single piece of clothing your character is wearing. A basic idea of their attire is enough for most readers.

Your characters are as important to your story as your plot. Developing them will help bring your tale to life, but taking the time to plan them out prior to writing is a great way to make them real to you and your reader.

Writing Ebooks For Profit

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Perhaps the quickest way for someone new to Internet Marketing to turn a substantial profit is by writing and selling information in the form of an ebook. For example, you could write a 30 page guide on eradicating ants from your home and sell it for $20.00 a copy. Selling just 500 copies would earn you $10,000 minus the advertising cost and ebook creation software. Not a bad take for a product that could be created in less than a week, and a process that can be repeated over and over. Learning to write and sell ebooks is simply too profitable and too easy a moneymaker to pass on.

Everyday tens of millions of people all over the world surf the Internet looking for information. It may be information on how to do something, or information for the sake of satisfying curiosity. No matter the purpose, people are willing to pay for information they want to know.

You might logically ask, why would anyone pay for something that they could easily get for free? The answer is simple: finding the information you want on the Internet is much more difficult than it seems. There are billions and billions of pages out there and far too many of them are filled with useless and misleading information. The service that the ebook writer provides and deserves to get paid for is the gathering, distilling, and presentation of useful, desired information.

There are basically two approaches to creating an ebook. One is the do what you love and the money will follow philosophy, and the other is the find out what people want and give it to them. Both approaches have their merit and if you choose to explore the ebook rout you'll probably find yourself using both of them.

The best way to find out exactly what people want is to eavesdrop on their conversations. Target the perennial hot topics (making money, health, sex, gambling, self help, pets, debt, non-life threatening conditions, hobbies, sports, etc.) and go to the places on the Internet, like forums and groups, where these subjects are discussed and information is sought. There you'll find a wealth of profitable subject matter to write on.

An alternative to a full-blown ebook is the special report. Special reports are generally shorter and more limited in scope than ebooks. Their purpose is to provide short, quick doses of desired information. Special reports can be presented in many forms, such as articles, list, bullet points, and faq.

Another approach to profiting from ebooks is what's called going viral. This simply means giving away your ebook for free. The goal of this approach is to have an ever-increasing number of copies of your ebook in circulation. You profit from this approach, not through ebook sales, but through sales generated through your affiliate links which are embedded throughout the text.

Since ebooks are such a lucrative field it follows that it would attract a lot of shady characters. There are those unscrupulous marketers out there who have no qualms about throwing together absolutely worthless material, adorning it with a nice book cover image, giving it a catchy title, putting up a convincing sales page, and fleecing unsuspecting people out of their hard earned money. The funny thing is it's much more lucrative and almost as easy doing it he right way. Provide customers with useful, valuable information and your name becomes gold.