A Novel Idea

Hello!

Today I am answering last weeks writing style questions for A Novel Idea. They're really cool.

What things influence you to write?
Lots of thing. People I see, pictures and quotes from Pinterest, song lyrics. Any number of things make me want to get writing.

Advice on how to start a story?
Um...Don't start it by having the main character waking up and starting her day (unless she's Cinderella, then that's fine)

Honestly though, I'd say start in the middle of some kind of scene. Make it interesting. If you start in the middle then the reader will want to know what is going on, and it draws them in.

Advice on how to end a story?
Tie up the loose ends. Even if you don't end the story the way some people might want it to end, at least make it believable. Don't forget any background characters, because readers care about them too. Also, it really helps if you leave at least one of the favored main characters breathing.

What do you do to make a story interesting and not boring?
I have no idea. I try not to show too much regular life. I mean, yeah, it's realistic, but we all know what normal life is like. As readers we are there for the abnormal. The exciting stuff we can't do ourselves. I try to balance off things like narrative and dialogue. Also, chapter and scene breaks make stories interesting for me. I love cutting a scene off short, or switching point of views. It keeps things jumping for me.

Do you ever get sick of writing?
I'm sick of writing right now actually. That's why I have done hardly any blog posts. I've have hardly wrote a word since I finished The Iron Curse (more on that later). I get burned out on writing sometimes, especially if the story isn't going like I wanted or I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get one done by a certain date. When that happens I'm useless as a writer and spend way too much time reading, liking things on pinterest (because I'm too lazy to take the time to actually pin them), and watching movies I've saw a hundred and fifty times.