Writing Tip #9 - Brainstorming!

So, I really read a lot about this before I posted it but,

First things first.

What's a brainstorm?

Not that.

That's my today's Brainstorm!

So, I wrote a book (Yes, I do like saying it a lot.) and there was a hard part. My characters needed to find an enormous amount of money but the first idea I used was too obvious. First, I asked my friend for help because he's creative. I wrote down his ideas, my ideas and then I brainstormed it. and it ended up looking like that. Don't try to read it because It's in spanish haha. 

But yet, what is it?

Brainstorming is a creativity technique. It consists on writing several ideas or solutions related to a problem. This is mainly done in groups but you can do it individually and if you're a writer, you're not gonna have a problem with it. Here are some advices for you.

How to Brainstorm?

Well, there is really no tutorial for that, Brainstorms normally use mind maps. But you can gather ideas by Free Writing, Free Speaking, and Word Association.

Free writing: 

Free writing is another technique, it's mainly used by writers to overcome the famous Writer's Block and avoid self criticism But I find it useful.

Let's say you have too much in your mind and don't know how to put that in order. You have some ideas but somehow you can´t manage to list them. You don't need to! Allow yourself a bit of messiness. Just get a piece of paper and write all you can. Write nonstop until you run a out of ideas, and then keep writing. When you finish you will probably have a bunch of paragraphs, hopefully a ton of them. Re read them a couple times and list ideas.

Free Speaking:

If you're the talkative type like I am, you might get a lot of ideas by talking. I think talking is similar to Brainstorms because you improvise all the time. You don't plan when you're going to say.Except when you give speeches, obviously.

The problem is, you forget about them when you talk and don't write. So, get a recorder. If you can't, most phones have one. Set an alarm and don't stop talking until it rings. Then you can write them down.

Word association:

This one is my favorite. It's considered a creative technique, but also a psychiatric evaluation. If what you're looking for is a logo, a title or a name then grab a dictionary and look for synonyms, related words, similar words to what you're looking for. Be extravagant. Be ridiculous. Go for the most bizarre, abnormal words you can because you never know what you can discover.

Mind map

If you ever heard about Brainstorms before (and I know you did) This is the one you know about. A Mind Map is a type of diagram where you put the main word in the middle of a paper sheet and write ideas around it. The secondary ideas can be written around another idea, like a branches. Don't worry about order, don't worry to repeat ideas. Just let it go!

And now, I give you the Brainstorm Rules.

The more, the merrier:

Brainstorm's goal is having lots ideas. Focus on the quantity and not in the quality.

Stop Criticism: 

It's not the time to judge. Write down stupid ideas, strange ideas, useless ideas, and between all that trash you probably wrote down two or one that might be useful.

Improving Ideas:

What is described as a good idea? How do you find it? You might not find the answer to this question until you do a Brainstorm. You might find clichés, very common ideas and even childish ones. Don't be disappointed! You can always combine them or make another brainstorm.

Writing Tip #7 - Draw

Hey guys! You probably know I wrote a book, finished NaNoWriMo and so. Yeah, I know I talk a lot about his, haha.

So, this week I remembered that meanwhile my writing I had a really blurry idea if how my characters looked. I even forgot it and whenever I had to mention someone's semblance, I invented another one instead of going back because I had no time. It was a really messy first draft.

In order to put this problem down I tried this. I drew them. It doesn't matter If you can draw or your drawing looks like a 3 year old's. We're not trying to be Picasso here, we write. That's what we're good at. I have never read about this working for writers but you know, every writer is different, you have to keep trying new things that might work for you.

To me, this works because It makes them real. Now, my characters are not just a bunch of ideas in my head, they have a face, expressions, flaws and differences. So this is my advice.

Draw. You might discover new things about them.For example, these are my main characters:

Abril Becker:

Small, short red hair usually messy, freckled, gray eyes.

André Franco:

Tall, tan, brown hair, red cheeks and stunning eyes. (Still, haven't decided what color because in my first draft he has three different colors). I can't draw smiles, but he's always smiling.

Tito Ferrati:

Slim, tall, blond long hair, blue eyes and he never shaves properly His torso is filled with tattoos.

Writing Tip #6 - Character Crafting.

Hey there. Most of writers know about this, and It's very logical. You can't tell how people is if you don't know them. You can't write about a character without knowing who she/he is. If your character is a guy how is rude to everyone you don't want to find him comforting someone he doesn't care about, you don't want him to magically change his temper. You need to know who he is, the reason he's like that and why is it important in your story.

For this, I will post some pictures that were very useful to me. I do not owe them, I found them in Tumblr.

Here they are.

Writing Tip #5 - Noveling Music

Hey guys, meet my noveling playlist for the book I just wrote. 

Okay, so you probably have heard about this. Some writers have what they call "Noveling Music" this is a playlist, a genre of music or a band that inspires them to write. It doesn't work for everyone, some rather silence, some others rather a person as inspiration.

Personally, I rather a playlist. 

How does this work?

If you're really into music, you know a song has a personality. Music has a melody, lyrics and voice. It has a message.

Now, you happen to have a book, your book has a plot, characters and feelings. It has a message. By instance, your book also has a personality.

Find the type of music that matches the personality you want your book to have.

If you're writing a romance novel then go get the most cheesy album you know.

Know what I mean?

I hope you do, this is not very easy to explain.

Writing Tip #4 - Writing Events

Hey guys, I recently finished NaNoWriMo, for those who haven't read about it (which, might be difficult, because NaNoWriMo is practically all I write about) its a writing event. So, I decided to give you guys a tip.

Sign up for writing events.

I'm serious, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me as a writer. It's a nice experience, you get to know more writers, how they write and you also get emails of writers, but the most important thing is:

They really encourage you to finish it. That's all those events want, they want literature to expand. You  don't win a thing but hey. For a writer; what could be better to have a finished novel by the end of the month?

Here are some Writing events:

Script Frenzy

Camp NaNoWriMo

NaNoWrimo

Writing Tip #3 - Believe in Yourself.

Yeah, I know what you´re going to say. "Are you serious? Now, that's a dumb tip". 

Hey, I'm serious here!

Writing is not easy, it takes mental effort, concentration, inspiration, and hard work. Every writer deals with some issues, sometimes we are told that we're weird, or that we'll not make any money out of that, that we're crazy for doing this. Yeah, that's normal. People talk.

The dangerous part are your thoughts. For example, me. I was never able to finish a draft the past 5 years, because right in the middle of it I was like "This is dumb." "I'm wasting my time" "This story is not exiting". Then I developed a few steps to clear that away.


Step one: Tell yourself you're not doing something stupid. 
Either if you're writing about a talking bread or not. You created something, respect it.

Step two: Take your story seriously. 
Whenever you write a story, a world rises in your head. It has a plot, characters, good times, hard times, fun and love (Probably). It is something important, something big, because a month ago, it wasn't there.

Step Three: Tell yourself you are a writer. 
Have you ever written something? A fairytale, a short story, a novel? Even when writing two pages, you better start calling yourself a writer because you are. Say it, until you believe it.

Step four: Keep the writing going!
Yeah, you don't need an explanation for that.

Writing Tip #2 - Stay away from Social Networks!

I remember when I was in High School (Yeah, two months ago?) I loved Tumblr.  I used to scroll, read posts, repost some of them and write posts for four whole hours.Tumblr was I did until I had to go to bed. When I went, I was tired. My  eyes where heavy, but not as heavy as my head, I looked like a zombie, my back hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep.

So I went and laid down in my bed, my eyes were closing, the last thing I saw was my backpack.

Wait a minute, my backpack! I had homework!

Stay away from social networks. "Oh, I'm stuck. Let's go on Twitter for a minute or two while my mind develops this idea a little more...." No.

"Maybe I could post something about..." Just, no.


Writing is hard work. Don't get distracted by other stuff. I don't know about you, but social networks distract me. So make sure you are not logged into any.

Writing Tip #1 - Get Informed. Or get Experienced.

Hey everyone! I'm a NaNoWriMo Participant?

Yeahhh. Today's goal was 18,333 so i was planning on writing all day long. Because It's sunday guys. You don't leave your house on a sunday, It's not normal. But again, us writers are defined by many words: creative, distracted, loner, nuts... but normal? nope.

I went to a party yesterday, and got there late because I decided to stop at a Café and write until my laptop had no batery. I left my main character in a underground room, learning how to handle a gun, because she's a badass and that's what badasses do. She had to learn many names of guns and their parts.

Guess what? I don't know a thing about guns. 

So, the tip is: Get properly informed. 

If your character is in a car race, learn all about races. Learn the parts of the car and how do a race car looks. because, you can't say your character opened the door of the car. Race cars don't have any! Or, if you have a super smart character (Smarter than yourself) then hang out with a friend that says smart things of have him explain about certain topics.

Because if you don't, you'll find yourself watching YouTube tutorials at the middle of the night, just like me. But still, there are some things you can't make up. I need a real feeling in this part of my manuscript, it's kinda like an important moment.

So, tomorrow I will learn how to shoot. Me. I will shoot a real gun with real bullets.

Because writing is not just sitting and typing. Is an adventure. 

Live your manuscripts guys. At least, that's what I do.