Writing Support Online

                                                                    by Trina Boice
                                                             http://www.trinaboice.com/

In writing news this week:

Writing can be a lonely task. It can be tricky to motivate yourself, and without proper feedback, it’s hard to know how to improve. Several websites already exist to encourage writers, through classes, workshops, online forums and more. Tomorrow, a new site called LitReactor adds its name to the list.

Created by the team who built Chuck Palahniuk‘s website, which itself has hosted writing classes and more, LitReactor uses a combination of engaging content and smart gaming mechanics to encourage writers to gain both new skills and new trusted friends.  Check it out!

27 Traffic Tips for Bloggers

By TRINA BOICE
http://www.boicebox.com/

There are a gazillion blogs out there on the Internet these days.  How do you draw traffic to yours?  Try experimenting with some of these simple tips.  Why 27 and not an even 30?  Because 30 would have been too predictable!  Keep your blogs interesting and don't be afraid to mix it up.  The most important tip is to provide valuable content....with that many blogs out there, you need to give your readers such rich content that they keep coming back to you for more!

1.  Post often and on the right days: People are more likely to read blogs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
2.  Turn on Google Sitemaps.  Claim your Internet real estate.
3.  Invite people to comment.  People don't like to be lectured.  Have a conversation.  Reply to comments.
4.  Build your following.   Follow others.
5.  Share posts to Twitter and Facebook
6.  Optimize your post titles and tags
7.   Draw in traffic with a capture or "squeeze" page
8.  Add email alerts
9.  Include plug-ins
10.  Reach your followers' followers with Reblog and TypePad Micro
11. Add videos
12. Run contests with prizes
13.  Participate in a blog tour with other bloggers
14.  Advertise it on swag at booksignings and other events
15.  Invite guests to share their posts
16.  Interview other people your readers are interested in
17.  Ask readers what they want to learn about.  Include fun surveys.
18.  Build trust.  Before people engage, they need to know you, like you and trust you.
19.  Provide links to your blog on your web site
20.  Make it a fun place to visit!  Lighten up!
21.  Provide RSS
22.  Keep your blog posts short and sweet.  Write like you talk.
23.  Include eye-catching graphics.  Use a theme to show who you are visually.
24.  Mix it up.  Don't be so predictable.  Keep it interesting.
25.  Write grabbing titles. 
26.  Provide your readers with solutions to their problems.  Be a helpful resource.
27.  Provide valuable content

A Comment Misconstrued

By Christine Thackeray

Sometimes life is funnier than fiction. The other night our family had one of those laugh-so-hard-you-pee-in-your-pants moments. Here's what happened.

My daughter Anna went to a group job interview at Old Navy. About eight girls, mostly college students, were sitting in a row and asked a number of questions by the hiring manager. My daughter was feeling guilty for being the first to answer most of them so she vowed on the next question she wouldn't answer.
The hiring manager said, "I'd like you to sell me the clothes you're wearing, as if they are on a mannequin."
No one answered right away and then one stylish girl stood with her hand raised. "I'll do it."
The manager nodded and so the girl struck a pose with a hand on her hip, her chin in the air and the other hand in front of her with the palm raised and froze. Everyone waited.
After a few seconds, the manager said, "Okay, now sell me."
So the girl struck another dramatic pose and froze again.
Trying not to embarrass her, the manager prodded, "Can you do something else?"
Breaking from her stance, she asked, "Would you like me to walk, too?"
I remember reading The Comic Toolbox that proposed much of our humor comes from a feeling of relief that it's not me. It's the reason we laugh when we see someone slip and fall in Funniest Home Videos. The humor for me lies in the fact that it was such an understandable mistake. The only difference is that I doubt I wouldn't have questioned why anyone would want me to act like a mannequin in retail sales. Apparently, this girl never paused- just went at it full boar.

So my challenge is to use this concept somewhere in your WIP. I'm going to try. I suppose when you dumb it down, it's just stupid humor like Amelia Bedelia or Patrick on SpongeBob Square Pants where they either don't listen or take something over-the-top literally.

But a comment misconstrued could be used much more cleverly. A misplaced or dangling modifier could lead to a wide variety of plot points other a simple laugh. It could detour your character into danger, help him find unexpected love or have him be blamed for a crime he didn't commit. I'm facing a new scene where my MC has to be blamed for something he didn't do. I'll write in the comments how a comment misconstrued plays into it.

Fun and funny! Wow.

How to Write

I'm thinking about starting another fiction writing project, and I'm wondering to myself, how did I actually write a whole book before? If the truth were known, as it should be because I consider myself to be an honest person, each time I have written fiction, it has come out differently, and I've decided that each of these ways have their own benefits. They are as follows:

1. The I've-never-written-a-novel-before-so-I-really-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing method. My first ever novel started with a wisp of a story line. I had written the whole story, everything in my mind from start to finish, and it was only 74 pages long. Well, I knew that novels were longer than that, and if there was any hope to getting it published, I needed to make it longer. Then a subplot idea came to mind, and I worked that in through the pages. By the time I was done, it was around 70,000 words, and it took roughly six months to complete it. (However, it never did get published.)
~Pros: I was able to crank this work out because I first focused on the base plot, then subplots.
~Cons: I feel less creative when I write this way because so much of what I write just comes as I'm typing.

2. The I-can't-type-the-words-in-my-head-out-fast-enough method. My second novel just came to me one day, and I had all these scenes rolling through my mind. I jotted them down on paper, then started typing at the beginning of the story and worked my way up to those scenes. It took about a year to finish it. I say finish, because I thought at the time that I was. In reality, it was just a rough draft I had completed, and it took a great chunk of time to learn about editing and other tools to turn my draft into something publishable.
~Pros: This worked well for me because there was a great deal of passion to help me get the story out.
~Cons: I fear that I was almost obsessed with this story while writing it, and probably bored many a people in my family with talking about it all the time.

3. The This-is-a-really-cool-story-but-I-have-no-idea-how-to-develop-it method. When my third story came to mind, I had a rough idea of some scenes and where I wanted the story to go, and I began typing, again, jotting down specific scenes so they wouldn't be forgotten. But this one was really different for me because so much of the story, subplots, character quirks and other things, just fell from my fingers as I typed. Often times I would sit at my computer at the designated writing time, with absolutely no clue what to write, and the words just came. I still don't know how.
~Pros: Allows for a great deal of random creativity. I was guessing how it was going to turn out. It was almost like I was reading it, only I was more actively involved.
~Cons: I still don't know how to end it just right.

4. The My-brain-is-aching-from-thinking-about-how-to-work-plots-so-I'm-going-to-write-with-two-other-brains method. My fourth fiction work was different than them all, because I wrote it with my two sisters. It was pure fun (something that's an absolute must for me in writing.) While writing it, we would each take a turn creating and typing a chapter, then we rotated through like this until it was complete. It was so interesting to see a plot and subplots unfold as we wrote and added onto what the others had written.
~Pros: There is no brain wracking, trying to think of a way to finish things off or tie them in.
~Cons: If you are stubborn about how you want the story to go, then this method won't work. But if you can create, type, and let go until it's your turn again, it's wonderful.

Now with this new work I would like to start, I'm thinking of typing up certain main scenes, kind of like a skeleton, then adding muscle and flesh with subplots. It's very similar to the first method I used, when I didn't realize that writing that way was actually a method.

So, what works for you?