Speaking of Titles...

Have you thought of a title for your NaNoWriMo novel yet?

True, it's still months away from this year's big novel writing escapade. And true, you shouldn't base your work around a title - much less belabor yourself with a title if you have no plot yet. But you can also think of titles as an exercise: thinking of a title can actually make you excited to write because you need to have a title that encapsulates your characters, plot, and setting.

Your title can make or break your book: you can wake up one day, stare at your title, and find yourself encouraged to move on and keep writing; or wanting to vomit.

Your NaNoWriMo exercise is simple: think of single words that could be titles for books, and then construct plots around them. The catch is that you can use only 50 words, at the most, to construct a plot. For instance, you can use the word "PEN" and your plot could read "Marigold has never used a pen to write, but she weaves stories like a pro. When a mysterious man hands her a pen, she is unprepared to write with it, especially when the pen has a mind of its own."

Use as many words and construct as many plots as you want. You might also want to use a single word and construct multiple plots around that word. Think of this as a creative exercise - and you might end up with a plot that you could actually use!

Good luck and happy plotting!

Random Blog Writings

What's in a blog title? Plenty, apparently, if you know what to do with them. Here's an exercise to get you thinking.

1. Go to your favorite search engine.
2. In the Search window, type in "blog" and then your first name.
3. Click on the first result. If you keep a blog and the first result is your blog, go to the next one. If the result is in a language other than the one that you know best, then go to the next one.
4. Look at the name of the blog. If the blog has no name, use the title of the latest entry. If the blog has no entries, use the URL name of the blog.
5. Use that title as the first few words of your short story. You have 500 words at your disposal. The plot and characters are all yours.

This exercise should help you think on your toes. Not all blogs have sensible titles, but it would be a great and deep mark of your creativity if you can turn a nonsensical title into the first few, intelligible, and engaging lines of your short story.

When you are done, post your 500 word story in the Comments section, or provide a link to your story. Good luck and happy writing!

Pick Your Own Christmas Photo

It's time to go back to your old Christmas albums and get a Christmas photo out. The younger you are, the better. Make sure you pick a photograph that shows you clearly - you can be with other people, but you need to be seen clearly and not blocked by anybody else in the shot.

Relive that moment. Why was that picture taken? What was going on? What did you feel? Tell your readers about it in less than 500 words. Writers can recreate memories that they never had: this exercise should help you recreate your own memories and prepare you to create scenes later on.

When you are done, share your writing and picture in the comments section, or provide a link to your work.

Good luck, happy reminiscing, and happy writing!

Happy New Year!

It's 2010, and it's a new year - a new year for writing, for great ideas, and for great exercises.

It's time to really think this year through: what are you going to do in January so that you can get your novel up and running by December? How are you going to do NaNoWriMo this year? Are you going to write your novel yet?

Start preparing for 2010 - a year of novels and writing.

Happy New Year!

And Now, for the Peer Review...

No, you're not reviewing a published book. You're reviewing a friend's book - and a friend is reviewing yours.

Welcome to peer review.

Scientists and researchers do it all the time: they hand their raw research articles to publishers and editors, and the publishers and editors hand the articles to the scientists' peers. These peers edit the work, sniff out possible frauds, and send in reviews to make the paper better (or send an order for it to be tossed out altogether).

In this review session, you and your friend will help each other achieve literary greatness. Your job is to pretend to be a mere reader to a writer friend's work. Review that person's work as though it were already out in the bookstore. You don't need to do any editing. Your job is to look through the work, review it, and suggest (VERY GENTLY) how it might be made better - in other words, this is just like any other review that you do, except that you know the author personally and the work isn't out on the bookshelves yet.

In the same vein, be ready to accept suggestions and criticism about your work. Be open to these suggestions because they may actually make your work logical, readable, and - who knows? - publishable!

What a way to end the year!

Good luck, happy reading, and happy reviewing!

Reviewing Christmas Movies

Christmas movies are probably either syrupy enough to give ants diabetes, or sad enough to dehydrate the Pacific ocean. Now, it's time to review them, and you may either need to exercise your smile muscles to keep them from breaking, or keep a big box of tissues handy.

Use the same review tools that you would for all your other movies, but this time, try writing two different reviews. Review the Christmas movie as a movie: what are its cinematic merits? How is the acting? The cinematography? The direction? The shot framing? The music? Does everything come together into a coherent whole?

Next, review the Christmas movie as a CHRISTMAS movie. Does it have the spirit of the season that it portrays, or can you move the plot to any other season and still have it work? Does it use the Christmas season to its advantage, or does the movie end up sappy and look like it's trying its hardest best to warm your heart?

This exercise should help you see how your book can be reviewed, too: you can be reviewed in terms of your skill as a writer, and you can be reviewed in terms of your skill as a weaver of imaginary worlds. Both these reviews can exist in one review, but you need to be aware that you also have two major skill sets to develop. Recognize it in another art form, and you can get a greater grasp on how you can improve your craft.

Merry Christmas! Happy watching and happy reviewing!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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"Christmas is the keeping-place for memories of our innocence."

- Joan Mills
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