Betty's Tips 1/12

Dear Fellow Writers,

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all recovered from your New Year's Eve festivities and are ready to start 2012 off with some exciting New Year's Resolutions. I know I am.

This year, in honor of it being 2012, I have picked twelve writing resolutions to help this be my best writing year yet. Who knows, by 2013 I might be able to send Dreams of the Salad Bar out to agents. Only time will tell.

I'm so excited about my twelve resolutions, that I couldn't wait to share them with you. Now that it's finally January, I can. So, drum roll please . . .

Betty Wryte-Goode's

12 Writing Resolutions countdown of 2012:

#12: Setting: One of the best things about reading is the ability to travel to other places, both real and imaginary, and feel as if you've really been there. This is only possible when a setting is described well. One of my goals for 2012 is to create authentic settings that really transport my readers to other places and times. If you want to join me in this, here's an article on the importance of good setting by Linda Lovely that might inspire you as it did me: Setting: A defining element in fiction

#11 Characters: The most detailed world is still only as good as the characters who fill it. This year I want to focus on creating real, authentic characters, the sort of people my readers will consider friends (or enemies) from their real lives. I've found this from Writers Digest on How to Craft Compelling Characters is a great place to start.

#10 Character Charts: In order to keep track of all the delightful ideosyncracies and realistic details of my newly-compelling characters, I have resolved to keep detailed character charts. I'm particularly interested in Rebecca Sinclair's Fiction Writer's Character Chart. This chart contains a myriad of character details, most of which may never make it into my fiction, but all of which will help me envision my characters as real people.

#9 Dialogue: Of course, part of every character is their distinctive dialogue. Writing realistic dialogue has always been a challenge for me, so in 2012, I'm going to focus on improving that aspect of my writing. I'm going to start by reading James Scott Bell's The 7 Tools of Dialogue and taking each of his tips to heart.

#8 Description: Good description can go a long way to making dialogue more realistic. After all, when we talk to each other, we are not voices in a void. Rather, when two people engage in a conversation, as much is said by how people act as is conveyed by what people say. In 2012, I plan on focusing on these opportunities for description as I strengthen my characters and their dialogue. One resource to help achieve this goal is The Editor Devil's blog post on Description vs Plot.

#7 Tight Prose: Now, as I add description, and character traits, and dialogue, and setting, it is still essential that I remember to keep my prose tight. In 2012, I am going to take Lois Winston's advice in her article Write Tight: 15-Steps to Avoid Overwriting.

#6 Make Every Word Count: As I work to tighten my prose, in 2012 I am going to try to make sure every word I write counts. Sure, this process will take a while, but hopefully by 2013 my writing will be much stronger than it was in 2011. I'm going to start by taking to heart the advice in Writers Digest's 4 Ways to Make Every Word Count.

#5 Back Up My Work: If you're like me, you've had that nightmare. You know the one. That dreadful dream where you try to turn on your computer and it's dead? Yes, that dream. I've been lucky thus far, but how many of you can say that, if your computer died, or was infected by a virus, or was lost or stolen, you would still have a copy of all of your work? In 2012, I plan to join the ranks of you whose work is safely backed up by signing up for 2 gigabytes of free cloud storage from Dropbox. In fact, I think I'll sign up right now...

...I'm back. Now that I've signed up for Dropbox, I can make sure to save a copy of any new work in my Dropbox folder so if the worst happens, my work will still be retrievable. That's one resolution accomplished, 11 still to go. Not bad for January.

#4 Set Goals: I suppose it's a bit silly to set the goal of setting goals, but there you have it. set goals. One cannot measure one's successes, after all, if one has no goals. I've done all right thus far in my writing life without setting goals, so I can only imagine how successful I'll feel when I achieve the goals I set. In order to set goals that will leave me feeling accomplished rather than defeated, I'm going to take My Name Is Not Bob's advice in 11 Tips for Writers to Find Success.

#3 Write Every Day: My first goal for 2012 is to write every single day. Even if I only write 100 words in the course of the day, a day in which I write must be better than a day in which I do not. In fact, according to the article 10 Reasons You Should Write Something Each Day by Joel Falconer, writing every day can be beneficial even for non writers.

#2 Go To a Conference: Writing, as you know, can be a very solitary experience. One way to combat the loneliness is to join a writers group, like the Bethlehem Writers Group, but another is to attend a writers workshop or conference. In 2012 I am resolved to attend at least one writers conference. If you too would like to attend a conference or a workshop, try checking out ShawGuides Guide to Writers Conferences & Workshops to start. And let me know where you decide to go, I might just decide to join you!

And finally, my #1 Writers Resolution for 2012 is:

Enter a writing contest!

If I could, I would enter the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award. Unfortunately, as a member of the Bethlehem Writers Group, I cannot enter, but you can! I'll just have to find another contest to enter.

Well, that's my list of writers resolutions for the coming year, but I'd love to hear all about your resolutions for this year. How will you be spending 2012?

Happy new year, everyone!

Betty Wryte-Goode