Prompted Writer

Do you feel like your plot has been way overdone and people are sick and tired of reading the same storyline over and over again? That’s exactly how I was feeling the first time around. But, if you take any TV show, movie or book and look at the bare bones of the plot you will realize that most of them are the same they just executed the scheme differently. Think of TV shows that take place in New York with 20-30 something-year-olds, movies where the nerdy girl gets a makeover or the one that I absolutely cannot stand… when they make the father an incompetent moron.

The difference between the story lines in these various plots is a simple question, What if? Let’s look at The Princess Diaries. What if an average girl finds out she’s a princess? Or in My Fair Lady, what if a pompous phonetics professor transforms a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for an experienced member of high society. See how they both are the same, but very different?

What if a husband vanishes and leaves his wife and children behind. This is one example that I have been mulling over the last few days. What if he didn’t leave on purpose? What if he was forced to leave but couldn’t tell his family? What if she gave up hope for ever finding him? What if he did leave on purpose?

Asking myself those what if questions got me thinking, and pondering what would happen if this happened? How would I react in this situation? I even threw questions by Ruben to see how he would respond in a similar situation. I so appreciate my husband’s willingness to listen to my ideas and help me out. He’s given me some great ideas for plots, told me when something seemed not realistic, and helped me out with different conversations between characters.

I have a much clearer picture this time around of how I want this to end up and I am excited to start working on it again. Just need to get over the hurdles of criticism and self-doubt that I face and I am certain many others face. It’s scary to put yourself out there because you are going to get judged once you do. Everyone has an opinion, some good, others not so good.

---

Sign up for my email list to receive access to my private discord server, where we talk about all things writing. Also, be the first to hear news about my current work in progress! [mc4wp_form id=”6600″]

Here are some of my favorite resources I use when I am writing:

1. I bought a Bluetooth keyboard off of Amazon for my iPad and had been using it to write when I am on the go. It’s a lot easier to haul my iPad around than it is my computer. If I use the Pages app on my iPad, I can sync it through the icloud drive and continue writing right where I left off on my computer! My phone also has the pages app, so if I get an idea I can scribble it down on there as well 🙂

2. Scrivener: If you follow me on Instagram you will see me post screenshots from a program called Scrivener every so often. I bought this program for $40 and use it almost every day to write. I love that you can organize and personalize it however you want to suit your needs. I am more of a pantser when it comes to writing, but I have slowly developed into a planner. I need to write a post about Scrivener at some point…

3. Grammarly! I wrote a post about this one already, but it’s so good that I just needed to mention it again to you. I love that it helps me correct my grammar mistakes and tells me exactly why I shouldn’t write something the way I did.

4. One stop for writers– this resource has helped me enhance my writing. It costs $9 a month, but I think it’s totally worth it. When I am stuck writing a scene, I can quickly head to the setting thesaurus and find sights, sounds, smells, tastes & textures, and possible sources of conflict for that particular environment.

5. Evernote– I use this one to jot down a note when I am on the go since it syncs to my computer so I can easily access it. I will save my whole manuscript to it as well just to have another place to store it.

6. My iPhone– It works as an excellent voice recorder for the time being, but I am looking at getting an actual voice recorder. My phone runs out of space quickly!

7. Facebook groups- I have a few groups that pertain to writing that I am part of, but for the most part, I am in Christian homemaking groups. Sometimes I get sparks of inspiration from posts from others!

8. Pinterest– LOVE this resource! I have a few boards about writing that I find useful when writing, or if I get stuck. It’s nice to have resources about writing, character development and grammar all in one place.

9. Thesaurus and Dictionary– Pretty self-explanatory, I think 😉

10. Jerry Jenkin’s Writers Guild- At this moment the guild isn’t open to new members, but if you are interested I would highly suggest that you sign up to be notified when it begins. If you do join, send me a message I would love to connect with you!

**BONUS: Music- but, I think, that’s also a given 😉 I love to listen to Pandora or Spotify when I am writing and sometimes, sometimes I will get inspiration from a song.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. Clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, thank you for your support!

---