Spy shy—In case you aren't into eavesdropping

You may have heard that you should eavesdrop on conversations around you if you want to learn how to write good dialogue. You should listen to the words flowing in public so you can get a feel for different accents and cadences and expressions.

That's nice; but eavesdropping can also feel a little creepy.

It can seem odd to eavesdrop on people. What are you supposed to say if they catch you? That you're working on writing dialogue? Seems awkward.

Well, fear not, there is another option that might not be as awkward or impossible to explain.

You talk to people every day. You listen to people every day in meetings or when asking for help or during any other normal transaction. You have nothing but chances to listen to people as you're going through your day.

So, if eavesdropping on people seems like uncomfortable spying, you can choose to pay more attention to the conversations that are already in your life. If nothing else, people will start thinking that you're a very good listener.

As precise as a contract

You need to be precise in a contract.

If you need someone to offer you five years of service, that isn't "a little more than a few" years. If you need ten people to access services, that's not "at least ten people." If you need access to Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, you don't need access "to the most popular social media platform."

Contracts require precision and so should your writing.

Don't beat around the bush of what you’re trying to say with vague wording. Be clear and precise as though you were signing your life away on it.

Any inspiration is good inspiration

Sometimes, you just need a little something to get your creativity going. Just a little something to spark your interest.

Once you get that first spark, you can write on and on.

So, where do you turn when you get stuck?

Anywhere!

There are so many options to inspire you.

Every day seems to be a theme day, so write about grandparents on Grandparents Day or cats on Pet Day or whatever other theme is going on. Every news item is a potential launching point. Every new song brings a story possibility.

Inspiration can be hard to find when you aren't having an easy time getting words down. But your solution might be simpler than you think. Don't look too hard. The inspiration you need might be right in your calendar or playing in the air.

Did you solve your story?

Story endings can be hard. Not only because you have to say goodbye to your characters, but it feels like this is the moment that will make or break your story.

A successful ending can be hard.

But here is one question you can ask yourself to help find the right ending for your story: Did you solve your story?

Whatever problem was moving your story along, was it resolved?

Did your protagonist grow up? Did they attain their goal? Was the world saved? Did the couple get together in the end?

There are a lot of things to consider in order to create a good ending. One of them is to make sure that you have satisfied the promise you made to your reader in the first pages of your story and showed your characters either succeed or fail in the goal that was moving everything along.

Start there and see where your ending goes based on that.

People need to change

Stories and novels have different paces, impetuses, and drivers. Some stories are all about characters evolving and others are about people surviving what is happening around them.

No matter what your story is about, however, readers will come for the characters. They want to know about people. They want to see themselves there. They want to feel some satisfaction for the characters when the story is over.

So, regardless of what action is happening in your story, you need to make sure that characters progress, change, and evolve. You have to make sure that characters are somewhere else at the end of the story. Not physically, but as humans.

You can make anything the focus of your story, but make sure that something happens to at least one of your characters along the way to change them. Your readers are waiting for it.

Second chance resolutions

January is almost done. How are you doing with your resolutions?

More specifically, how are you doing with your writing resolutions?

Have you reached your word count every day or week? Have you tried new styles? Are you fully in on the Bradbury challenge?

Whatever writing resolutions you've made, you still have time to make them a success.

Maybe you've missed a few days or have given up completely. Well, while the year may no longer be new, the time to improve hasn't disappeared. Every day is a new beginning and a chance for you to get back to your resolutions.

So, forget about your challenges and get back on that horse. You've got plenty of time to achieve resolution success.

No one is that interesting

No one is so interesting that they can carry a story by themselves.

You may love your character, but you're asking a lot if you want readers to stay with them for an entire novel without anyone else around or any extraordinary circumstances.

In some cases, nature might become your second character. You might have characters outside the scene that the main character remembers or talks to in his or her mind. You might have the weather be its own character to antagonize a character who's stuck on a boat.

Whatever you're writing, remember that it needs to interest readers, and that few readers will be interested by just one character.

Make sure that you give readers something equivalent to another character to cling on to and love or hate as you write.