Writing Tools and Processes: Jumpstart Your Writing

Overview
In the next few blog entries I will provide an overview of numerous tools and processes you can immediately employ to make your writing better and/or more voluminous.

My Challenge
My challenge is to introduce them to you and spark your interest, without overwhelming you and creating extremely long entries.

More Details
If you find you want more detail, subsequent entries along with my other blogs will describe these processes further and provide concrete examples.

Encouraging Dialogue
I'm hoping that while reading about one or more of the processes you'll become stimulated to respond (either positively or negatively). Please take advantage of my blog to post intelligent responses which detail why you agree or disagree.

Here's the entire list of tools to give you a quick idea of what upcoming entries will cover.
This time I'll cover the first one (in bold red text).

Tool / Process List
1. movie-screen of the mind
2. stimulus / response writing (action / reaction)
3. what do I show?
4. shadow-copy
5. lose the journal - no more practice writing / warm ups
6. describe to the Nth. It'll draw you in -- specificity practice
7. character studies
8. topic saturation
9. Learn from bits
10. LBD
11. MAR

Step 1 of the Writing Process: Imagine
Do not write anything until you see it happening. Become a journalist who witnesses the events as they occur. Yes, I'm talking about fiction.

I'm talking about seeing the scene play out upon the movie-screen of your mind. Once you see it, you write down what you see.

How To See
Try this exercise: Take a moment to imagine a fight between two men.

Do you see it? Wait until you do.

At First, It's Just a Phrase
At first, a fight between two men, is just a phrase, just an abstract concept. Readers do not like to read about abstract concepts. Readers want to follow characters. They want to see those characters take action and see what happens.

The Writer Must See More, So the Reader Can See More
However, if the writer doesn't see more, the words will not transform into images for the reader. Allow the words to transform into images in your mind. To do that you'll need to think in detail.

To Think In Detail, Ask Questions
To think in detail, you must ask yourself questions.
Ask and answer every question possible.

Some Possible Questions For Our Scene
What is the one man saying to the other? What do they look like? Is one overcoming the other. Is it a fair match?

Allow the scene to play out before you.

Start Here
Start with seeing the tall man punch the shorter man in the jaw. The tall man says, "I hope you liked that, Keith. Because there's more where that came from."

Beginning to See?
Can you see that? Now, what is the next logical thing to happen?

Decide, imagine, then, and only then, write it.

Stimulus / Response Coming
I hoped to also cover Stimulus / Response during this entry, since it is closely related and the next logical step when writing. However, since this entry is getting so long I'll go over that tomorrow.
See you then.

Keep on learning, keep on writing.
~Newton Saber