So… This is the sum total of my creativity this week:
As such, I have no new content to share this week. What I do have is an update on some re-arranging I have done around here.
For the past few months, I have been concentrating on posts dedicated to sharing thoughts and what I hope are useful tips on writing, specifically geared towards those writing in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres.
As the posts have built up, my menu above has begun to look a little cluttered, so I have divided the post into categories in the hopes that they will be a little easier to cope with.
Here’s a quick run down of what’s on the new menu:
The Writing Process
Every writer has a process and the first step to writing consistently is understanding your own. This section of Turning Ideas Into Words is dedicated to articles and tips focused on drawing out aspects of the writing process itself. A lot of this is based on my own process (such as it is and such as it develops). You may find yourself disagreeing with my approach. That’s fine. That just means your approach and your process are different.
What you’ll find here:
- Creative Discipline
- Overwriters -v- Underwriters
- Great Opening Lines
The Planning Stages
The more I work on my first novel, the more I am realising the importance of planning! As much as we would like to think that every novel we have ever loved just sprang into the world fully formed, this just isn’t the case.
In this section, you will find articles designed to get you thinking about your own novel-in-the-making. There will also be insights into my own planning process and how this has helped to shape (and at times re-shape) the novel I am currently working on.
What you’ll find here:
- Narrative Voices: Person and Tense
- Narrative Voices: Knowledge and Character
- World Building: Physical
- World Building: Human
- World Building: Extraordinary
Characters and Places
Part of planning your novel is building a world for your characters (this is covered in The Planning Stages). Here, you will find more details regarding the planning and developing of the characters who will drive your plot, and the places they will visit along the way.
This will include an opportunity to learn from my mistakes as I discuss an instance were I didn’t fully develop a character before putting pen to page (see Finding Jaecks).
What you’ll find here:
- Character Development: AKA Finding Jaecks
- Gateway Deaths
As ever, I am keen to know your own insights and experiences of writing in all its forms and stages. Please do get in touch or write a Guest Post that can be featured on this site to share your thoughts.
Rachael Farrimond 
I’m currently learning a lot about the publication and marketing process with my first book. It’s as enlightening as it is infuriating. As much as I wanted to believe it would just be me and a notebook writing gorgeous prose under a willow, it just isn’t so. Now I know about things I never expected when I decided to become a writer. So I know what you mean about learning that my favorite novels didn’t spring fully-formed like Athena from Zeus’ head. It’s more half-baked, like my attempts at souffle.
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