Gail Mitchell asked Lisa Marie Rice:

I have all these ideas in by head, but, don't know/not to sure how to put pen to paper. How would you deal with a situation like this?

Lisa Marie Rice Hi Gail!

If you are interesting in writing, in getting rid of those ideas in your head by putting them to paper (or screen), there are several steps to take. But step one, the basis of it all, is reading. If you want to write, you read. You read voraciously, as if your life depended on it. You read before going to sleep, you read in the bathroom, on the bus, waiting for the waitperson to bring you coffee. You read at stoplights and at work when no one is looking.

Before, you read for story. Now you start reading for technique. Go look at your bookshelves and take down books that have moved you, that have made you laugh and made you cry. You read them straight through, probably fast. Now go back and read with a critical eye. Where exactly were you moved? And what was it? The dialogue? The plot? The quality of the writing? All three?

Copy out the sections that you found thrilling and drill down. Then pull your focus back out and look at the pacing. Many good novels are divided into three acts, just like movies. Did you find that with the books that touched your heart? Was there a Black Moment when all seemed to be lost? Did the protagonists triumph in the end? How?

The characters--how do they grow? How do they shed their past and move into the future?

Did you know that books have beats, just like music? Moments of tension, moments when the tension is released. Major beats with the main protagonists, minor beats with the secondary characters.

Study the books that you have loved in your life and you will gain an appreciation for the art of the men and women who created them and you will begin to see that the ideas in your head are starting to take shape!

Good luck! Lisa Marie Rice

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