Writing to get published

I think outlining is important so you can really get to know your characters. You also need consistency throughout your story. You need to sit down with a character and decide hair and eye colour, height, likes and dislikes, the kind and colour of car he/she drives, etc. It is even recommended that you decide on stuff that doesn't even come up in the story (family background, blood type, views on abortion). There is an excellent book to help you with this. It is called "Building Believable Characters" by Mark McCutcheon. It is a Writer's Digest book. It also contains first names and last names and their ethnic backgrounds, list of different facial expressions, tones of voice, adjectives, different types of shoes, hats, houses, etc. This book is my bible for my writing. I suggest you get yourself a copy. You will find it facinating. I dream of being a published author and am not very disciplined right now. I have a book that is in its 6th editing stage, which can slow you down because it is really very boring. I will not start another novel until one is finished. However, I do write some short stories and poetry in between. I had one short story published (with no payment) earlier this year. The best discipline for me is having the friends in my writing group. If you don't belong to one, see if you can find one in your area. You will learn a lot, make great friends, and doors will open for you to meet other authors, attend seminars, etc. Good luck!

I love writing, also. Don't ever force yourself to write. I noticed that my writing is terrible when I make myself do it. I haven't written in a while due to the fact that nothing is coming out right because I don't want to do it. I know I will soon, though. Patience!

Helo friend. I am not a published writer, but I have written a novel in my mother tongue language. It took me three years to complete it because I didn't follow any strict plot. When I re-read the novel, there was always mistakes and loop-holes everywhere to be corrected or added. So my advice to you is, before starting to write a long manuscript, you must have it plotted down. Or else you will be miserable when the manuscript is done. I hope you will be published one day. It is my dream to get published too. Oh yes, if you really want to learn more about writing, I have a site which teach you how to write and get published. It is writersbureau.com Good luck, and have a nice day!

Personally I do very little outlining. I just sit down and let my mind take the story where it wants to go. Then I go back later and re-write the heck out of it in order to make the story completely readable. Part of the joy of writing is to let your characters lead you. If you want to do prep before you write I would say flesh out your characters, but avoid outlining. A well realized character shoudl tell you his/her story.

well, when I was in fifth grade we did this thing called writers workshop, we had an outline to follow before writing the story. It worked then for little short stories. But I find now that I just sit down to write. I often steer things in different directions too, but I think that as long as it flows, it is fine to do that. New ideas come and you can just write, there is time later to fix and edit the things that are confusing or do not flow. IT all depends on the type of person you are. I do not follow outlines very well, because it seems when I sit down to write them it puts too much pressure on me to have the whole thing figured out right away. I find it easier without an outline =)

Discpline involves just sitting down and writing. Some writers work from complete outlines, others don't. In the last writing class I took (I am working on an Associate degree in English)--Creative Writing--the teacher had us sit down and do twenty questions and answers with each one of our characters. It was interesting because I just had an one sentence idea for my final story, and a lot of the character conflict came out of the questions. In the end, I have to say (about the outline vs not) is try both and see what works for you. As for slef-disclipline as a writer, one of the things that I am trying is a blog. http://morgandrake.blogspot.com

I do write to get published, but I also write just for the Hell of it. I love to write. I love to write short stories and comic books.

I have a timer, one of those multi timers (since I use it for other things as well). I set it at how long I want to write, and even though I may get up for a bit to rest my eyes, I do not stop writing for that day unless the timer runs out. I find out that it is best to write in the morning after you first wake up. It takes longer to write the same thing, but you are concentrating more. I usually have a basic plot in mind, an idea plus the main character. I do not write an outline of the character. That comes later. I just have in my mind the basic idea of the character, his nationality, where he lived, and what he does. And if there is anything that is to be added or changed,the story decides it.