9 Do's and Don'ts

How can I or we possibly find 9 ways to write about fiction? Would it not be more in regards to writing, using, fiction?

1. Do your homework and research your topic(s)

As co-blogger Ashley says There is always more to the story and the best way to find out what that story is all about is to research it

Find out as much as you can about your topic. When researching aspects of your characters you need to look at which names, personalities, birth dates, locations and possibly jobs will be best suited for each of your characters.

Many of the aspects incorporated into Deborah, are also parts of me so she has my characteristics and for the most part my personality. I have been told that most of our characters have aspects of the author incorporated into them, that or aspects the author would like to be part of who they, themselves are.

A character I created for another book I have been working on, is the cook for the group of men traveling across and through the jungle. He likes to hunt and cook exotic meats for the crew and then watch as they eat what he has concocted..As poems I really didn't think of giving them names, personalities or any form of character, until someone told me I needed to make them more real. Developing the cook was cool and fun. He has exotic animal tattoos, snake, scorpion, spider and salamander. I had no idea how to name him, someone suggested researching words in other languages. bartagame is the German word for lizard or iguana...Bart A. Game became the name of my cook.

2. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

One of the best pieces of writing advice I have ever received is to work in 15-minute intervals. I took a writing workshop last year. It was my birthday gift from my daughter. The entire day was heavenly. We spent 15-minutes just writing, no editing, no looking at the screen, just write and edit later. We wrote for 15 minutes, took a 15-minute break and then wrote again. At the end of the day, I figured out that I had typed out a 4,000-word short story. After editing and adding here and there, I had a 5,000-word short story that could be the beginning of a rather interesting romance. A Day at the Beach was a lot of fun to write.

3. Do allow others to support and encourage you.

My support consists of friends and loved ones encouraging me to write on and not give up. Giving Deborah, Pipi, Haulani and Alain, voices to be able to share what Daddy (My God) is doing in my life and theirs.

4. Don't allow discouragement to come in.

Hope says it all in her blog post named Focusing on the Positive. She tells her readers that focus is a key element as one of her perks. She has such a cool and interesting perspective that encourages me to keep moving forward

5. Do collaborate with other bloggers.

Jeff Goins encourages guest blogging or guest posting. Getting to know other bloggers who like and write about the same things as you do is such an empowering thing to do. He teaches that with a blog, a lead magnet and knowing who you are as a blogger, comes the time to spread your wings and fly.

6. Don't overthink it, just write it

Nicolas Jones thinks writing is a big deal. He is offering a 30-writing challenge to help build courage in writing. If you believe the story you are writing is important, then others will see it too, just get it out there.

7. Do try new things

According to Mike Allison, incorporating new things onto our blogs will bring new interest to them. 9 ways to stop your blogging from changing like the weather in Melbourne Do a blogging marathon - if I understand it correctly - continue adding on to one blog post for a week or two or even up to a month. Recording posts by using a digital recorder to record everything that is goin on around you. Outsourcing or ghost writing might be interesting and fun. Curating blogs has become popular too.

8, Don't give up. Vince gives some very good reasons why we should keep going.

9. Do offer free gifts. Offering an e-book as a free gift is a great way to gain more subscribers.