Tuesday Tip for Writers—Being an INTROVERT

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Children's books, Film, introvert, kid lit, networking, novel, Television, Writer, writers life, Writing, writing conferences

Tuesday tip for writers (and any creative)

Many of you are introverts.

I say YOU because I’m one of the rare individuals who is a creative and yet and an extrovert.

You have to attend events, it’s part of the career you have chosen. It could be a book signing, a conference, a school visit or an award ceremony—so many different types, but we all have to do them.

It’s hard on people who would rather stay at home by themselves.

So the first big tip that I can give you is to TAKE BREAKS.

It’s fine to excuse yourself and get some downtime.

All those people coming at you, talking, talking, talking, it’s exhausting at best and overwhelming at the very least. AND then add that you must be “on” OMG

So give yourself permission to take those breaks between sessions, after speaking, during an event. Go for a walk, go to your hotel room, take a 5-minute meditation break in the corner, sit under a tree, whatever you need to do but do it.

It’s okay.

In my new STORY CONCIERGE COURSE launching this summer 2019!!!—yay–I am going to have a full chapter (some coaches call them modules, I am calling them chapters—hello, I am a writer after all) on being an EXTROVERTED INTROVERT.

Seems impossible, but it’s not and I can definitely help you overcome some of your anxiety and help you navigate through these social situations every writer will need to be in at some point.

TRUST ME

YOU CAN DO IT

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GoT LAST NIGHT Season 8 April 28th

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charcter, female, Film, game of thrones, GoT, storytelling, Television, Writing

Thoughts on last night’s episode?? Did you like it? Why or why not? Did her actions speak to character or plot? Tell me!!

Purely from a storytelling pov, I think liking anything based on gender isn’t good.
If you loved last night’s GoT because it was well written and the story was well executed that is one thing, but if you liked it just because a certain female was badass that is a problem–same with Endgame.
Female characters are doing badass things these days more and more just to fill a need but aren’t serving the story.
That to me is just as wrong as not having them.
I didn’t see the GoT episode but I know what happened and I have heard mixed reviews.
When writing always avoid anything that starts with an idea in your head, “wouldn’t it be cool if…” and then literally anything that follows that. Please, your story and characters deserve better.

 

Photo: Pinterest 

It’s Monday–Time For Writing Goals

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author, Film, Novels, storytelling, Television, travel, Writing

It’s Monday!!! Time to post your writing goals for the week!! Mine are:
1.Write every day
2. Plot out character arc
3. Go to the @scbwi Northern California #springspirit conference
#WritersLife #Writer #Author #Kidlit #Childrensbooks #novels #AuthorsLife #author 

#writerscommunity #amwriting #amrevising#ilovemondays #creative #creativeconsultant #judaniebean #goals#weeklygoals #writinggoals

www.judaniebean.com 

Tuesday Tips

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author, character, creating characters, fiction, Film, Novels, screenwriting, Television, TV writing, Writing, writing for teens, writing tips, YA fiction

You want to be a writer? Okay then, you need to write. It’s literally that simple.

People always ask me, “how do I become a writer?” I mean people I met on planes, at coffee shops, at the grocery store, while at malls/shopping centers, at events, dinner parties. “Oh, you’re a writer? Cool. I have an idea, how do I do that?”

WRITE, that’s how.

There is no other way to be a writer than to write.

The way you get good at it, write every day. You have to, there is no shortcut on this one. It takes time to learn your craft.

You also need to read-constantly. If you want to be a novelist, you have to read novels. It is best to read in your chosen genre. I met someone recently who said that she was writing YA and I asked her what she had read lately and she said, “Oh I hate books for teens.” I was so confused, why write YA then?

***don’t write to trends

If you want to be the next Cameron Crowe—watch a ton of films, study the characters, dialogue, story and to up this to the next level, get your hands on some shooting scripts. It’s important.

TV writers who don’t watch TV? What?? Yes, they exist. They often brag about how they don’t even own a TV and or waste their time, and then they are writing the next great sitcom or drama. That makes no sense to me.

You need to immerse yourself in whatever it is that you want to do. It’s important.

You can also get many TV scripts online. For TV writing it’s a bit more complicated because of formatting for cable, network, primetime, late night, half hour, single camera, multi-camera—-but first—get your characters and story down, then you will need to learn all the above to start submitting. Also in TV writing you must have spec scripts of existing shows—this is beyond important.

Okay, so what are you going to do today??? WRITE!!

If you don’t know how to start, how about at the beginning–get a blank sheet and just get some words down.

YOU CAN DO IT. I know you can!!!

www.judaniebean.com 

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Writing Goals Monday, April 22nd

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author, Film, reading, storytelling, Television, Writing, writing goals

 

Happy Monday to all the writers out there!

How are you today?

I hope your weekend was amazing, inspiring and joyful.

If not, that’s okay, today is a new day. I simply LOVE Mondays because they are so full of hope for the week. ANYTHING is possible on a Monday.

I like to start my week by writing down my goals for writing.

I will share mine—I hope you will share yours.

1. Write every day in the novel for at least 1 hour. I’m going to do this by getting up 30 minutes earlier and write in the morning BEFORE I do anything, including having coffee and or walking with my little dog.
2. Work on content for my videos coming in June—this is for the business helping writers.
3. Write out a new beat sheet–which is a TV writing term that I use for all my writing now—for the novel because I know that I need some plot fixing on this one and I can’t see it the way that it is.

Those are my three. What are yours?? Please comment below.

 

And be sure to swing over to my new landing page at Judanie Bean ~ Stephanie Bourbon Creative Consulting so you can sign up for my newsletter and information about new courses and fun freebies coming THIS SUMMER.

 

Happy Saturday–What Brings You Joy?

Hope you are all having a great Saturday!
Tell me, what are you doing today that brings you joy?
#writerslife #amwriting #amrevising #amdrawing #artistslife

How Do I Love Thee? Dialogue Tips to Avoid Being Cheesy

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fiction, Film, Films, Novels, Television, Writing

Sometimes writers get into the habits of making their characters sound a bit too cheesy when writing romantic love interests in books, plays, films, etc. Now, I’m not saying this amazing line is cheesy because it’s not, but if you met a man/woman/guy/girl on the street had some coffee with them and then they said this to you, you’d be running for the hills, right? Er…I hope you would be.

Make your dialogue real.

Look I love Hallmark movies. I do, I love them. Especially at Christmas time. I can’t wait to watch them because they make me happy. They don’t even have the cheesy dialogue I am talking about. If they can do it, you can too.

My best advice is think about your own life. What did someone say to you that swept you off your feet? What is a cheesy line or was it sincere?

I find that the best way to be sincere in dialogue is to continue to always be thinking about what the character wants in every scene. Everything comes back to character–notice this theme. It’s important.

You can also read books that you love and look for the dialogue.

One love story that I read every year is the YA The Fault in Our Stars—Gus never drops a line on Hazel Grace–he is a real person. He isn’t cheesy in the least. Sure John Green could have loaded up the cheese factor but he kept it real and that’s why teens (and adults) all over the world fell in love with their story.

*Speaking of Gus—he has a very unique way of speaking (back to an earlier post)

In films.. Star Wars…

“I love you.”

“I know.”

No magical line was needed.

It is all real and the love story works.

This is important and I read work all the time from writers who make the mistake of trying too hard to be clever and it just comes off cheesy.

If you haven’t been in love like this yet or can’t honestly remember the dialogue you and yours exchanged read, read tons and watch films and TV.

You can do it. I know it!

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Monday Goals April 15th

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author, Film, Novels, reading, Television, Writing

I just got back from the Iceland Writers Retreat and I was put down by a wicked bronchial thing that I got from a girl who sat down on the last day, coughed on me and then said, “don’t worry, I’m not going to lick you” SIGH

I’m behind in my writing so this week my goals are simple. I’m going to WRITE.

How about you??

What are your goals?

Happy writing

www.judaniebean.com

Writing Wed

I love this quote. I have no idea who first said it. (If you do, please comment) but it’s great because it makes me think about my actions.

What can I do today that my future self will thank me for?

I know! Work on my novel.

So this morning, after going down to Pike Place Market and grabbing some Seattle coffee, I’m going to sit outside and enjoy the amazing PNW air and write a bit. Probably not a lot but I’m going to aim for 30 minutes. If it starts raining, then I’ll do that in the airport but someday I’ll be happy that I never gave up~~

So.. you know what to do. Go. Write.

 

Tips for Tuesday–DIALOGUE TAGS

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dialogue, fiction, Film, Films, Novels, Story, Television, writers life, Writing, writing dialogue

Dialogue tags continue to stump many writers, new and experienced.

I’m not sure why this is, maybe it’s because we as writers feel the overwhelming need to paint a detailed picture. We want the reader to not miss even for a second what we mean—right?

She said angrily. She yelled with the noise of thunder. He howled like a wolf. –these are not needed.

My rule of thumb is when in doubt use SAID.

***The way a character speaks is so uniquely them that it should be obvious who is speaking but sometimes it’s not, so fine–use he said, she said, they said..

Don’t over think it.

In preparing for this blog, I found this article that does a great job of further explaining what I mean.

I have posted the link below. I hope you like it and I hope that it helps!

https://www.novel-writing-help.com/dialogue-tags.html

An exercise: tell your friend, spouse, neighbor, anyone a story about a conversation you had with someone else, do you ever overly describe the way they said it? HINT–you don’t. People don’t. Go do this and you’ll see what I mean.

If you do. If you are the type who uses adjectives to describe the way someone spoke–well that just might be YOU and the way you as a character speaks, but in books it pulls readers out. In screenplays and teleplays, it confuses the actors–or they will follow exactly instead of doing what comes naturally. I would say in scripts—NEVER qualify ever. Scripts don’t need tags.