Please help me welcome author Seleste deLaney to BIR! She's here with with a fun list writer and non-writer alike will love!
Welcome Seleste!
Top Ten (Silly) Writing Tips from Seleste deLaney
When this topic was brought up, I loved the idea, but then I
teetered between doing the absolutely ridiculous silly and the borderline
serious silly. So, bear with me while I try to do both.
1)
Always have a sharp pencil. Good for writing,
and you never know when you’ll need an emergency stake. What? It could happen.
(Really, have a writing utensil handy at all times. You can usually find
SOMETHING to write ON, but unless you really want to bleed for your craft, have
a pen or pencil handy.)
2)
Stalk strangers and have a recording device
active while you do it. Restraining orders are for people not truly committed
to their craft. (Kidding! Respect the law, but there is inspiration everywhere.
Remember that pencil? Jot down interesting snippets of conversations you
overhear—you never know when you might have use for them. Eavesdropping isn’t
illegal after all :P)
3)
Write in the dark whenever possible. Granted a backlit keyboard helps with this,
but I’m totally serious. With the lights on, it’s far too easy to get
distracted by other things that need doing: laundry, gardening, dancing in the
rain… In the dark all that’s left is you and the world you’ve created. Live in
it.)
4)
Wear pretty lingerie when writing sex scenes.
(No, I don’t always do it, but I do recommend it. Having on a pretty pair of
panties makes me FEEL sexier and it comes through in my writing. Writing naked
could work too. Don’t be afraid to embrace the ridiculous. )
5)
Use Barbies, GI Joes, or even Littlest Pet Shop
animals for staging battle scenes. (Toys are great for figuring out who is
where when things are happening. That way if you need to get Roadblock over to
Skipper before the black unicorn can impale her, you’ll be well aware of what
stands in his way and whether you need to totally re-arrange the fight or just
have Skipper figure her own way to escape the phallus-of-doom er… you know what
I mean.)
6)
Making up words is funtastic! Just be sure to
turn off your autocorrect. (People use non-words all the time, but be sure not
to overdo it or your characters will sound like idiots. One way around that is
to have one character that does it regularly and let the others speak unaltered
English—or Klingon or whatever language you write in.)
7)
Write drunk; edit sober at your own risk.
(Seriously, I’ve read through stuff I wrote when drunk. Sometimes I’m an
absolute GENIUS! Other times, I can’t decipher my own typing. I like to blame
aforementioned autocorrect for that, but I’m pretty sure my own inebriation is the
real culprit. Alternatively, sometimes a drink with dinner will help make edits
go down easier. Get your mind out of the gutter! I meant they’re easier to
swallow. No… I… forget it.)
8)
You don’t always have to check the pool for
water before you dive in. (Sometimes it’s good for even the most hard-core
plotter to throw away their notecards and highlighters and just start writing.
Take a chance on something new. I wrote my first M/M on a dare from two M/M
authors. You might just discover something new about yourself or your writing.)
9)
Put yourself in everything you write. (No, I’m
not talking about building an army of Mary Sues. What I mean is go back to
“write what you know.” You know how awkward and pain-in-the-butt it is to be a
busty woman? Use that and write a busty main character. Then for the next one,
pick some other personality trait that you know well and give it to your
character. Those little things are what will make them more real than many
characters in fiction. It’s not about writing them AS you. It’s about using
what you know to make them real.)
10)Take criticism personally.
It’s okay. (What’s not okay is getting in a snit about it. This goes for crit
partners, agents, editors, reviewers. They are allowed to say and feel whatever
they want. It’s okay for you to not like it because you have the right to your
feelings too. But DON’T get in a public snit—it just makes you look like an
idiot. Bitch to a friend or two in private, but your public face should always
say something to the effect of “Thank you, sir, may I have another.” This falls
under the Don’t-be-a-douchebag rule.)
Gaming for Keeps BCC
Pick up your copy at:
Pen Holloway’s done with men—in real life. Guys in game are so much less drama. But when her partner from Heroes of Fallen Gods invites her to the convention of the year, she panics. What if he’s another jerk? What if he’s not?Cal Burrows is living his dream of being a spy. One of TRAIT’s misfit spies, but still a spy. It’s the perfect job… until an arms dealer with a taste for blood invades his not-so-secret geek haven. All Cal wanted from ConDamned was to meet his on-line girl. Now, with the threat of mass murder looming, he’s forced to choose between keeping his mission a secret and protecting the girl of his dreams.
Seleste started on her career path as a young child. Stories of talking animals soon gave way to a love of superheroes and science fiction. Her first foray into the world of romance came at age twelve when she envisioned a sweeping epic love story of two people thrust together and torn apart again and again by fate. As she recalls, the plan was for them to admit their love on his deathbed. But, as is often the case with pre-teen girls, a story of that depth gave way to other pursuits, and sadly it is completely lost other than vague memories.
After that, she occupied herself with short stories for a while, and then poetry until after she had earned a degree in chemistry, spent time as a high school teacher, and became a mother of two. Then she delved into writing fiction once more.
She never lost her love of the fantastic, and her stories now always reach into other realms. The worlds and people she creates occupy as much of her time as the real world, and she is most fortunate to have a family that understands her idiosyncrasies and loves her anyway.
