Title To Be Determined (Procrastination)

pro·cras·ti·na·tion [proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn, pruh‐]

noun

the act or habit of procrastinating,or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention: She was smart, but her constant procrastination led her to be late with almost every assignment. (Dictionary.com)

My History teacher always use to say “Procrastination is the Assassination of the Proclamation of Motivation.” In his defense, we were also talking about Abraham Lincoln and his assassination at the time he said it so his confusion is understandable. But the point is he was right... maybe. Procrastination is such as pain in the ass but it's the kind we can't get enough of. Don't deny it. Right now, you're reading a blog about procrastination because you're procrastinating on that thing you need to do.

So why are you procrastinating? Don't know how to start your piece of writing? Is it your project so big that you have no idea where to start so you decide a nap or reading an amateur’s blog would be easier? Or is it simply because you have no desire whatsoever to do the thing that needs to be done? Well let me tell you something, good sir/madam: Stop it! Ok, think about stopping it. Actually, don't stop at all. Just keep procrastinating.

This may sound very insane, but stay with me, some of us are actually very good at the whole “last minute, time crunching, night before its due, caffeine rampage” thing. We do our best work when we have a deadline and that deadline is up in an hour or so. You need to reach your 10,000 word mark by tomorrow to get it into a contest for publication? Pff, no problem. There are levels of procrastination that you should be aware of. Know where you are and embrace it. And if you're a super slacker, I applaud your bravery to dive into all your assignments the night before it's due. ROCK ON SUPER SLACKER and shame on your master procrastinator! I, too, have been guilty of smooth talking into an extension for many assignments in High School, only to procrastinate on it.

However, some of us can't deal with doing all that so last minute but we don't feel like doing it anyways. It's either too big of a project, too long term to the point where you you don't see the need to, or you just don't have the motivation. So here are 2, I repeat TWO, Faraway Tips that are fairly easy to understand:

1. Do it. I HATE doing homework, or starting a new story that I have no idea how I'm going to write, waking up, showering, socializing, and so on. But I do it. Why? I think about how it's similar to me and working out. I don't want to run 5 miles or do those insane amounts of bicep curls or pull ups, but after I force myself to do it, I think about how great it feels to accomplish it. So even though I have no desire to do absolutely anything, I do it and as soon as I do, it's easy to find a rhythm and keep to it so I can get everything done. So if you don't feel like doing whatever it is that needs to get done, force yourself to. Once you start, it's not that bad.

2. Schedule it. If it's one of those long term projects where you want to do, say, 10000 words before a certain date, make sure to stretch out over time. For example, if you need to do that many words over the course of a month, aim for a certain amount of words each week. So each week, write 2500 words. Then break it down from there. How are you going to do that 2500 words in the week? Are you going to do it over the weekend? Or do a few words every other day? Then when you schedule when you'll do what, resort back to the 1^st tip; DO IT! This kind of thing doesn't just apply to writing. Obviously it goes for homework, projects, essays, business stuff where business needs to get done.

I know you're probably thinking to yourself, “Ian! Surely there's more to it than that!” No. That's cutting past all the bull crap and getting right down to the point. I could probably come up with 5 or 10 reasons but it'll all come down to the two points I mentioned above. Besides, I don't really feel like coming up with more reasons than that!  

WRITE ON!

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Check out my blog out every Tuesday for a new blog on writing tips, advice, stories, and so on!!!

WWMCD? What would my character do?

Conflicted, yet very driven main character? Check.

A taste of his past? Check.

A taste of personality? Check. 

Well now what? That's enough for the reader and a story, but is it enough for you as a writer trying to make the best story you can?

Character development is always hard and very tricky. Everything needs to make sense. Take me, for example. I am who I am because of events throughout my life. Pieces of

experiences have formed me to be who I am. So why is your character any different? That's why it's tricky. Creating a back story and whole history that the reader probably won't even know may sound like busy work but it's for your benefit, not theirs. Knowing your character on a personal level and not just something your writing, will help you write your story. If you know your character, you'll know the kinds of decisions they'll make with the different situations you'll put them in; otherwise, it'll be all over the place and won't make much sense to the reader.

1) Write a short story. I know a lot of people who want to write an amazing short story or novel and want expert advice (which I am certainly not certified to give) but writing a short story about just your character will help you understand. For your eyes only, if you will. Write about something that happened to them as kids that helped form who they are. Or a challenge they overcame to get where they are. Anything to give you a slight insight into the mind of the person you're creating. What's the harm? I'm attempting it and all I need is an idea for a novel to put him in. 

I said I was attempting it and I meant it. I don't want to give advice and not follow it. I'm writing a fantasy story about a young magician who gets caught in a war between good and evil. Anyways, I wrote a short story about when he was a kid and a traumatic event happened to him. I looked at how he felt, how it changed him, if it was the one thing that motivated him to do better. I was forced to get into the mind of my character. 

2) Of course, this isn't the only way to form your character. I've encountered many 'character sheets' that ask IN-DEPTH questions about your character. By 'In-Depth' I mean I had trouble answering or even improvising answers on the spot. The link I'm going to post is going to lead you to the National Novel Month Writing website forum's. It's not the forum I'm directing you to, it's the first response under the initial post. The response is a Character Sheet that someone posted and it asks a ridiculous amounts of questions about your character and, honestly, you won't even add most of it to your story. It's for you. The more you know and understand about your character, or characters, the better your story will be (depending on plot, but that's for another day).

Here's the link to the Character Questions and Sheets -----> National Novel Writing Month Character Sheet Forum

3) Another great, and a very fun and entertaining, way is to act it out. Walk, talk, and act how you want your character to act like. It makes it look at your character's personality. Is your character shy or one of those people that stands tall and asserts authority?  Act it out! Focus on how you talk and walk as the character and if you're like me, you're going to have a hard time remembering for when you do write it in the story, so take notes... even video yourself doing it. I actually video taped myself escaping from a chair that I was duct taped to to see how much time it took and how I did it so I could help my character do it. Needless to say, I had to keep doing it to make it more difficult.

So, to review, character sheets that ask a lot of questions that'll give you a headache, acting like Tom Cruise (without the crazy) or Jennifer Lawrence (for the ladies), and writing a story about your character FOR your story will help you in your journey to make your character (and, hopefully, your story) better!

Write On!

-Ian Faraway

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Check out my blog out every Tuesday for a new blog on writing tips, advice, stories, and so on!!!

Oh God, Did I really write that?!

We've all been there. We have the best idea for a story ever and we write it. Then it's the bets thing we've written so far. Unfortunately, a year or so later we go back to read it and just think, "Oh God, why?" I just had that moment tonight while I was reading a fantasy story with Princesses, Castles, Magic, and a secret civil war, a young hero forced to rise to the occasion, and the "impossible romance".

Don't get me wrong, I like the premise still but reading HOW I wrote it just made me want to burn the papers and hide away in my closet until the world has forgotten about its existence, the world meaning me. But there is an upside to this tragic moment in our writing lives. Want to know what it is? You do? Seems weird you'd trust a young, inexperienced writer like myself but OK!It shows us how far we've come as writers. I often question if my poems or short stories are becoming better. I don't see the difference right off the bat.

The story, almost literally, has to collect dust and be forgotten for a while. So you go on with your life making more stories and whatnot then one day, while you're cleaning your room or office or where ever, you come across a dusty little story that you barely remember writing. Then you read it and your memory starts coming back of this ingenious story... wait... did you really write that? Yes, that right there? Was it really necessary? Did you really just spend the last 3 pages explaining things you barely understand before moving on with what was supposed to be going on? Seriously? You misspelled the word 'Princess' and used the wrong 'there'.

Maybe it's just me whose clumsy enough to make every writing mistake in the book with such an incredible story idea, but I'm sure we've all looked at our own writing (at some point in time) with fresh eyes and realized what could be better and what could be taken out then put back in. So go ahead and write that incredibly legendary novel or short story, my fellow writer. Forget about what grammar is. English is complicated anyways. Besides, it's the first draft of a story you probably won't see again until next year when you're wiser, smarter, and more experienced. So their!

I gave you an idea of how to fight off those mixed feelings toward your writing, but just in case you think you don't have enough ammunition, here's another few tips you can do to confront and combat it:

1) Look at it in the eyes of the reader. What things take away from the flow of the story? Do you spend too much time describing what's going on or describing why something is the way it is? The blockage could be coming from how you worded everything else!

2) Again - leave your story on the shelf for a few days. I left mine on the shelf for 4 years (mostly because I have terrible memory and it served as a great paper weight) and upon reviewing it, I realized how I wanted it to be. Of course, it was in a completely different direction, story-line wise, but the characters and some of the events in the story would still be there. The difference would be that I left room for me to continue through the story.

3) If it's character development, then write a completely different short story where your character is younger and the story is something that happened that helped make them who they are in your main story! That way, you'll get an idea into your character and you'll be able to understand the types of decisions your character will make in different situations. Otherwise, it might throw off the reader and make your story confusing.

4) Finally, experiment. Blockage comes in a lot of shapes and forms that I could not possible begin to understand nor explain (though I will try in future Hubs) but sometimes it can be broken by simply experimenting different types of outcomes (outcomes being what comes next). If you don't know what comes next in your story, then experiment with different types of ways to continue the story, maybe you'll find the way out or it'll give you an idea for what to do next.

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CHECK BACK EVERY TUESDAY FIR A NEW BLOG ON WRITING!!! I swear it'll be better next time, I promise!  ;)