Writing Articles

You've always wanted to write.  It didn't make any difference to you if it was fiction or nonfiction.  The creative juices have been flowing at top speed through your body for several years.  How do you ever get motivated enough to write the first line of the first manuscript?  This is a question that's haunted new writers for generations.

There's lots of ways but one of the best is to write fiction or non-fiction from the heart.  In a Writer's Digest article by James Scott Bell, he expresses it extremely well when he suggests that the only way to grab your readers is to first get your own heart into the matter.  I would add that if your first manuscript is a technical exercise of all the correct procedures that you have derived from a attending a multitude of writer's workshops, the final draft will probably be letter perfect in creative form but rather chilly in substantive matter without much heart, warmth or inspiration.  If you produce a totally correct manuscript but with no heart and less enthusiasm for the reader's expectation for a good story, I doubt if the manuscript will ever sell.

So, as a new writer, you unfortunately don't have an automatic starter like a new car so that all you have to do is just turn the key and off you go in the right direction.  Therefore, it's important to start your literary engine and get moving in the right direction with a plot that will maintain the reader's interest level.

One good direction for the writer to move in, urged by James Scott Bell, is to develop multiple story ideas that is, to think about as many possibilities as you can jot down and then, shorten your list until you feel comfortable with the final selection.  Bell offers the following suggestions.

1. Make a list

Let your mind wander over any number of events in your lifetime that has some appeal to you because of a poignant memory:  Each experience can be reduced to a few words and make a list of the different events. You'd be surprised how many good ideas you can come up with from such a list.

2. Look for an issue.

a. Every day you hear about a situation, problem or issue that raises your blood pressure.  It really gets you going, because you feel so strongly about it, maybe even outraged.  This could, also, be a good subject matter for you to write about.

b. Here are a few subjects, important to everyone, straight out of the last election, 2000.

(1.) Charter Schools

(2.) Roe vs. Wade

(3.) Reduced Taxes

(4.) Gun Control

(5.) Social Security Benefits

(6.) Health Costs

(7.) Global Economics

After you've got your emotions in a proper turmoil, and all nicely stirred up, pick a subject, develop some good three-dimensional characters around both sides of the issue and let your fingers do the talking.  Maybe this includes some detailed research, but you can usually get what you need from the Internet, Public Library or your Congressperson.  Either your United State House or Senate representative can be most helpful in providing material on important national issues.

Now that you've picked a viable topic for your first manuscript, you're moving in the right direction. Good luck!