On Fridays, we like to share writing tips and tricks with our readers. We hope this section will encourage and inspire you to continually improve as a writer.
Writing Tip – Know your Characters
Sometimes, when you get an idea for a story you just want to dive in and start writing without doing any planning. One thing that will help you in your writing is to know the characters you are writing about. Before you start writing your story, try writing down everything you can about a character so that you know their interests, background, personality, etc. Whether you actually use all of that information in your story or not, it will help you when it comes time to writing. Writing a scene with the characters will be a little easier because you really have a sense of who they are as opposed to what they are doing in that specific instance.
Writing Prompt – The Reason for the Season
The Christmas season is a season that brightens everyone’s mood. There is something magical about this time of year that seems to make everyone happier while they anxiously await the day of Christ’s birth. People do things, small and large, to help others have a nice Christmas; we find it important that everyone has a nice Christmas. Everyone celebrates this special holy day with their own traditions. What does your family do to celebrate Christmas, and what does it mean for you? Use your family beliefs and traditions to write a Christmas themed short story to share the meaning of Christmas with others.
The Mayan Judgment Day prophesied for December 2012 has come and gone leaving little in its wake, except perhaps for a lump of coal in the History Channel’s stocking. Nevertheless, this final month is as good a time as any to judge if we’ve been naughty or nice. December was originally the 10th month before 2 months were added making it 12th. Interestingly, in December 1791, only 10 of the original 12 law amendments were ratified to constitute the U.S. Bill of Rights. Ironically, God’s right to judge the Chosen People had always been based on the 10 Commandments, until Jesus was born in December destined to give Christians the right to judge themselves with 2 new Commandments. The legal precedent for this 10-2 split decision had been set by a ‘jury’ of 12 tribal leaders Moses sent to spy the Promised Land; 10 of which returned fearful, while only 2 remained faithful. And thus, the 12 Days of Christmas present us with a vital opportunity to side with the 2, rather than be judged with the 10.