Create Your Perfect Writing Space

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Part of The Writer’s Life Series

When I first started writing, it was at my desk, usually in class, while ignoring my teachers. Over the years my writing space evolved to a real desk in my room, then it migrated to the dining room table after I got my own apartment, and eventually a home office. I’ve written on the living room sofa, in a coffee shop, and even airports and hotel rooms.

This past year my husband and I have been remodeling the house, and part of that includes building out the upstairs bonus room to be my office and writing space. After a decade as “an author,” I finally get to design that dream office I always wanted.

Having a dedicated writing space is important, because it triggers our brain that it’s time to write” whenever we go there. It helps us build solid writing habits and routines, and those habits will get us through the days when the writing is hard and the ideas aren’t coming.

An Easy Tip for Developing Story Ideas

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

It's not unusual for a writer to have an idea for a general story (such as a series, trilogy, particular genre), but have no clue what that story is going to be. Often in these cases, they have a character, world, and even rules in mind, but only a vague idea, not "An Idea" they can write an entire novel from.

If you truly have no idea beyond premise and character, it's helpful to first look at concept and theme. Until you can narrow the story focus to something manageable, it's just too large to work with. The first step, is to figure out what general type of story fits the rough ideas you have.

I love using Blake Synder's Save the Cat and Ronald B. Tobias's 20 Master Plots for this. (Save the Cat is for screenwriting, but there's a ton of great advice that also applies to novels). These two books discuss traditional story categories, such as Snyder's "The Golden Fleece" or "Dude With a Problem." 20 Master Plots breaks it down even further with a "Revenge" plot or a "Rivalry" plot. It's easy to read through the various categories and consider how an idea works with that plot or category. 20 Mater Plots is particularly useful for looking at possible themes, because the classic plot structures discussed are very thematic in nature.