LIZORAE

Transcript - 5 Ways to Fuel your Creativity Books - read anything and everything. Even the bad ones. Movies and TV shows - you binge it with a buddy (if you have one) and be inspired too. Magic! Graphic novels and comics - like a picture book but longer. Video games - not well known among authors, but a truly amazing medium. If you're a first timer, try RPG's. Music and musicals - For music, go for the ones with lyrics that tell a story. For musicals, it's roughly two hours of singing a movie.

Transcript - 7 Steps To Writing Fast Start early. Use as much time as possible. Have a plan. Save you from changing your mind and a gazillion pages. Type or write fast. Scribble, but make it legible. Skips parts you don't know. Come back to them later. Write what you know. Save you from researching. Don't be afraid to ramble. Editing can fix that. Don't edit while writing. It's more important to get things down than to make it perfect.

Transcript -  Finding Your Writing Voice THE FOUR STEPS: Forget what school taught you. Type however you want. Ignore spelling and grammar if you want to. Type how you talk. Bring proper spelling and grammar back. TIPS: Write often. Experiment with different styles. Listen to yourself talk. Your voice is important and unique!   

Fiction impacts lives. You can't call something "just a story" because it isn't. Stories have messages, intentional or unintentional, and the readers will be affected. Sometimes, it's obvious. Sometimes, it's not so obvious.  When you're writing something, it's important to make sure you're intentional about your content. While it's okay to write from a perspective you don't agree with, you need to make sure you're framing it with intent.  The following topics on this list are objectively  bad. I'm not saying never ever write a story that has this in it, because that's wrong. Everything here has a place in fiction. What I am saying is that you should not romanticise them.  I have seen them many, many times in fiction. It's horrifying how some of them are portrayed to be good for you. Like you should wish to go through it.  Yeah nah, mate. It's painful. You don't want to experience any of these, and you don't want...

To be a successful author , building your writing muscle is something you should focus on as early as possible.  Why? It will make your writing life SO much easier. It will take you less time to warm up, help you write more in less time and ultimately, you'll get more books out.  The best thing about this part is that you can start now. It's easier than struggling through a novel - and much faster too.  So here's five ways to hone your writing muscle. Let's get to!    1. Blogging  Starting with an obvious one, blogging! This has been paramount to building my writing muscle. You can compare my older and newer posts to see how far I've come.  Blogging has a huge influence on your writing. It has a consistent nature, so you become used to writing on a regular basis. It also helps you find your  voice  and share your ideas to the public. An engaged audience will help shape you into the best you can.  It doesn't matter what you're blogging...

So you want to be an author.  Being an author is something a lot of people dream of, but not everyone is successful. To be called an author is easy. Be dedicated to your writing. I call myself an author even though I haven't published anything. Am I successful? By most accounts, no I am not. To be fair, I've just begun my journey, so I still work and hope.  That said, I've been writing for a number of years, though struggling would be a better word. Writing is hard, and writing full time is something I'm yet to achieve.  I'm sure we've all dreamt of earning millions or billions of money, going on talk shows and imaging our movie or TV show adaptation. I definitely have. But even with all the talent and resources in the world, success isn't guaranteed.  What I've learnt in those years where I've stopped being a writer and become an author are things they don't tell you in schools. They were huge eye-openers as I floundered in my stories and dreams...

   Transcript  10 Tips To Ace Cowriting  Before Partnering Get to know each other. Lay out your rules. Discuss big decisions. While Writing Leave your ego at the door. Don't be overly considerate. Have open communication. Have face-to-face planning time. Find a writing style that works for both of you. Use Google Docs and Sites. Promote each other on your social platforms.  

Hey authors! Today is a special day. You know why? It's Lizorae's first birthday! That's right. You heard me. Lizorae is one years old. *throws confetti* To celebrate, here's how blogging made me a better human organism and a yearly roundup.  Let's get to!    Lizorae's Journey  When I started blogging, I was a weak writer. You can see my first post here . It's awful. I cringe to think about it. Compare this to last week's post . Firstly, my latest post is longer. I'm usually not one to add fluff to my writing, so I know they are facts . (I hope. Please tell me what you  think!) But writing more  isn't the only thing. I'm writing over 1000 words in the same time it used to take me to write around 500. That's double the amount. My typing speed has stayed the same. What's different is how fast and how well I get into the zone. While I have long ways to go, it's an improvement that has made a world of difference outside blogging. ...

Hamilton the musical came out on Disney Plus. How could I, a musical lover and author, not resist? There's nothing authors love more Than going downtown and staring at some randos They pull up with their toolkit and gawk At the people in the cafes Just to watch them talk. Take [your name here]: the wo/man is loaded. Uh-oh, but little does s/he know that His/er favourites: Rubber, Apple Macbook, Pencil Sneak into his/er toolkit just to watch the author Write, write! Apple Macbook! Write, write! Pencil! And rubber! The author's toolkit. Apple Macbook! Rubber ! My pencil! Write! Author said to be replaced by white-out. Author doesn't need to know. Author said not to sneak back here. Like I said, you're free to go. But look around, look around, the Writing is happening in Starbucks. (Starbucks) Apple Macbook! Write! It's bad enough the author wants to stare at strangers. People shouting in their chairs. It's bad enough there'll be violence in the prologue. New i...

After an hour or so of thinking, I've concluded that every book has three parts. No, I'm not talking about the three act structure or anything. I mean literally. The spine and covers, the pages and the binding.  Nah, just kidding. I'm talking about the three parts authors follow when they're writing a book. Three phases, if you may. So without further ado, let's get to it!  1. Idea The first stage of a book is the idea. The sparkly egg in its full glory. (Talking about sparkly eggs, someone needs to write a book about chickens who lay sparkly eggs)   Often, this is the part that takes the longest. It involves firstly coming up with something, hopefully interesting, and expanding on it. Think of it like a chicken (you) laying an egg (the idea) and brooding on it.  Most authors I know like to spend years imagining this and that for their shiny new idea. (Exhibit A: *me*) Some don't, which is totally fine. We all work differently. Personally, I say take as long as...

For the past two weeks, I haven't posted anything. I'm fine, life has just been a little hectic lately. But I'm back!  I had a book planned for today's post, but I, being the smart person I am, returned it to the library thinking I would remember all the points I was going to make. Of course, I've forgotten all but one and procrastinated for so long the library is now closed.  So instead of a normal LFTM post, here's a list of things I've noticed in a lot of modern entertainment.   1. On diversity.   Considering entertainment from, say, Tolkien's time, diversity has improved by kilometres. All humans are beautiful in their own way. All humans have some kind of scar. Africans, Asians, Europeans, Americans, Australians. Males and females. What type of body we have. Stripped to our core, we're all the same.  Previously, most, if not all, of the main cast would be white dudes with maybe a few females. Even the white cast seems to be strictly British o...

Last month, I wrote 12 Quotes To Nurture Your Author Mindset , but I only wrote about six quotes. I had collected 12 quotes but I only had time to write about half of them. Yay procrastination!  But now, I'm going to finish the last six quotes. Let's get to! 7. "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." -Joni Morrison You know that dream book you've had all your life? Stop wishing that someone else will write it. Get down to work and write it yourself .  Getting someone else to write it, unless you commission and even then, is only going to lead to disappointment. There will be something missing. After all, the author can't read your mind. They might not even know you.  Wishing for someone else to write it is pointless. Your dreams you've been building all your years will crumble away.  The only person who can write exactly what's in your mind is you. Only you can write the book you want ...

One of my favourite parts of writing a book is discovering the characters. Maybe it has something to do with my INFJ tendency to find people fascinating. Maybe it's because I love psychology. Whatever the reason, it's da bomb. I've multiple WIPs at the moment (none of them close to having the planning finished, haha)  and as much as I love characters, it's taking a lot of time to fully discover and develop them. I've experimented with questionnaires, interviews and archetype plots, but none of them clicked with me.  It's only recently that I have found these methods, but I'm 100% won over. Let's get to my three favourite methods for uncovering characters.  Disclaimer: I'm not really sure how necessary this warning is, but these methods all require a basic understanding of your character's journey and personality. It doesn't have to be much, just a bit is enough. 1. Music Playlists  Source: Tenor I love musicals. I love music. Why not use m...

It takes a skilled and practiced person to stop being them  and become someone else. Even on paper. Especially on paper. If eyes are the window to a person's soul, stories are the books to their heart.  That's why we, as authors, must be mindful of what goes on in our, well, minds. Our interests tend to be what we write about, you know? It'd be pretty strange if you wrote a book featuring a protagonist spider when you hate spiders.  That's why I went on a hunt for quotes that stood out as ones we should remember. Let's get straight to it! 1. "As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand." -Ernest Hemingway Source: Tenor If this was not a quote, I would delete the "as a writer" part. Life would be so much better if everyone  understood before judging. Or maybe not judge at all. I know that's idealistic and I probably don't do that as much as I'd like to, but why don't we all try? Rant aside, understanding why people wo...

Every author can agree that first drafts are their absolute worst draft. You might want to keep it for sentimental value. Or to mark your progress. But what happens when someone stranger finds it and even worst, reads it? Enjoy this meme made by yours truly's! (who may or may not have been procrastinating until it's too late to write a full blog post)   Transcript Isuldur, aka the reader, holds the Ring. We can't see his face. Elrond, aka the author, shouts: Cast it into the fire! Destroy it! Isuldur smirks and says: No.

Authors need to always have a place to find new ways of incorporating ideas. Where do these ideas come from? There are two sources: real life and stories.  The two of them are the same, but different. Mind blowing, I know. Today's focus is going to be on the latter, stories.  Humans need stories to survive, so how much more do authors need stories? I'll give you the answer: a lot. We're one of the biggest sources of entertainment. To be able to live up to this expectation, our creative well must be stimulated. Here are five sources authors can take from. (I swear this is not just an excuse for me to gush about some of my favourite stories.) 1. Books Source: Gif Library Let's start with the obvious. Books. If you weren't expecting this one, please say you're completely sleep deprived and we'll forgive you. Maybe. Like I talked about last week,  studying how books are written is hugely beneficial to authors. But you don't always need to be criticising t...