How to write when you don't know what to write

There's this impasse that all authors hit when they're writing. I'm not talking about writer's block. I'm talking about substance block.

I just made that title up, but it's real. I've struggled with it. My friends have struggled with it. It's real.

In essence, it's what happens when you have a great plot, but it's moving too quickly. When your characters have just done something awesome, and you want them to do something else awesome...but it's only been a page since the last awesome thing happened. Basically, you need substance that isn't too action packed. What do you do?

Well, there are two ways to deal with this that I would recommend, so here they are.

1. Plot it out

The one big problem with the substance block is just that - you can't think of substance. Just action. One of the best ways to fix this is to plot out what you're going to write.

Basically, plot it out.

For example, say my main character is eating lunch, when a group of Agents from a secret association come and try to kill him. He manages to escape against all odds, showing his amazing skills.

And the next thing I have in my plot is he goes to the main bad guy lair. Only problem is, I don't have anything in between these two.

What do I do?

I would add an extra scene. Either I would make a scene out of his journey to the lair, or I would add a scene where he goes to a pet store and buys a dog for his brother's birthday party. Or something like that.

2. Add Character Development

This is an interesting one. If you need some filler, make your character do some mundane things. Ride a bike, do something he/she loves, meet a hated character.

And when you do this, make sure your characters have some flaws. Make them subtle, but there. If there aren't any, the character will not be believable.

One of the things you could do to really develop all the flaws/awesomeness of the character is to meet another character. Either one that's already been introduced or a new one.

That's it! Hope this was helpful for everyone with substance block.

Criticism is Good

For you TLDR people: the end paragraph (for you snarky people, the one before the  "Thank you" paragraph) contains my basic message.

Let me start off with a quote that you should never agree with: "When people give you advice about your book, don't listen to it. Write what works for you; don't give a flip about your readers."

Okay, I'm hoping that quote doesn't exist. But recently a friend told me about this "advice" that they had read on a blog somewhere. I couldn't find it, fortunately. I have no idea who came up with it.

But if someone actually said that quote, they would be wrong. I am writing this post because it seems that beginning writers are too afraid of advice, and will do anything they can to protect their pride.

The impression I get when I look at online forums, blogs, websites etc. is that whenever people give a critique of something someone else has written, the person who wrote it will stop at nothing to defend their mistake.

Why? Why do people do this?

Well, probably because we are born into pride, and we don't like being told we're wrong.

Actually, that's definitely it.

But seriously, think about it this way. Say, in one of my books, I had the following metaphor: The grass was like the sun, with its rays shining forth into the world, its truth and justice made known throughout the nations until the earth turns its back and abandons the beauty, preferring the inherent evil until the rooster calls back the sun.

Does that make any sense? No, it doesn't. If that were in my book, I would need to take it out. And if someone told me, that would be great! How would I know that it was bad if they didn't?

But then what if I defended it, saying it was "good" and "relevant?" My book would have a confusing and horrible and irrelevant metaphor. Or simile. I never can get those straight.

My basic point is, your audience is who you are writing for. If you don't write for your audience, or your readers, then you are writing for yourself. And then you might as well not even show it to anyone else.

So, the underlying message: if someone tells you how you can improve your book, at least listen to them. Hear them out, check it out. If you completely disagree with them, tell them why. If there is no good reason, ask a lot of people about it. But don't ignore your readers, because that's why you're even showing the book to anyone. 

Thank you for your time.

If you're an author, you need to have a professional format your book

I was reading a book that someone shared with me recently, and I was shocked at the lack of proper formatting. It was extremely difficult to read. To the point where I was skipping pages and pages of information just because of the formatting.

Your book needs to be professionally formatted if you're doing a self-published book. Period.

But that doesn't appeal to a lot of people. Pay money? Ridiculous.

I have the same thoughts.

What? But this is about having your book professionally formatted! you say. And it is. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to pay money.

Let me explain: there are people who help you format your book (for free) without realizing it. If you're any good at figuring things out, here are some links you can look at to see how you need to format your book to make it look awesome.

First one - this page has some really good tips and hints about what you should think about when formatting your own book. No examples, just questions you should ask. A great resource!

Second one - this page has fantastically wonderful examples for formatting. Look over it. Even I got some great ideas, and I thought I was already done with my formatting!

Third one - this page is a fantastic resource for page formatting. It only shows you Kindle formatting, but you can use it for print as well. This is where I got the first ideas for the way my own book is formatted. Check it out!

Fourth one - this page has several good options.

Hope that helped! I looked for others for a really long time, but either they weren't any good or they were downloads, not images, or something else was wrong. So this is all I could find. If you're any good at figuring things out, play the "copy others who really know what they're doing" game. If not, you should really pay a professional to do it. Seriously.

And if you're looking for cover inspiration, this is an excellent resource. Check it out if you're looking for inspiration for a book cover.

That's it for this time! Thanks.

P.S. if you are doing your book in print, use the CreateSpace template creator (this page). Even if you're not going to use CreateSpace, use it. It's really handy. At the bottom of the page, you will see a list of links that you can download for MS Word. 

There are two options for each: Download blank word template, and Download blank template with sample formatted content. Click on the second option of the size you want. It helps a lot.