Just One Writing Tip

The other night, I'm in bed tossing and turning, counting sheep at nearly three in the morning, trying my best to fall asleep, when those amazing, fully-alive characters I created from the book I'm wrapping up kept talking to me, one after the other, and I couldn't make them stop. Seems they always try to talk when I'm in the shower, or driving, or when I'm trying to fall asleep. A while back when ideas would come to me - like when a character whispered to me that the murder suicide wasn't really a suicide at all, but that the murderer was still alive - I'd either get up and run into my office to jot them down, or I'd stay in bed, too lazy to move, finding ways to embed it all into my brain so I'd remember it when I woke up, but of course, I didn't.



My one writing tip is for authors to remember to always keep a notepad, post-it, tape recorder, rock, Etch-A-Sketch, something, beside the bed so that these yapping characters we obviously did such a great job bringing to life can tell us what's up, and then we can get our crafty, character-birthing, word-loving selves some sleep. Got it? Get up, flick the switch to the night-light or write in the dark, and make note of it. It's a whole lot easier than driving ourselves crazier than the bug-eyed woman in the above picture the next day, missing out on what could have made your next chapter a whole helluva lot easier. Write on!



Can you pick just one tip for writers? Please share. :-)