Once there was a group of people who wanted to go to overthrow a dictitorial government.  So they created an army and overthrew the government.

As you can see, the story lacks conflict.  This is a very simple example, but I have read some stories - normally a bit longer, but just as poor.  That's a habit that far too many people have.  I'm not normally one for discouragement, but if you write like this, then you have no talent, you're a wannabe, and you might as well give up.

Another bad habit I see is lack of details.  Storytelling is not just telling stories, it's an art.  You can't be interesting by simply explaining a storyline to people, you have to paint a vivid picture in their mind.  If you just tell a story, you'll be boring.  You need detail.  Compare these:

He went to the building to arrest the criminal known as Crazy Dave.  As he walked in, he saw the Dave.  After a fight in which he was wounded, he arrested the the criminal.

He walked up to the elegant mansion to see if he could solve the case involving the notorious gangster known only as Crazy Dave.  He walked through the mahogany doorway to see Dave sitting on the couch as if he were expecting an officer.  Two thugs jumped from the ceiling and attacked the officer.  The fight with the two bulky criminals proved to be a tough one.  One of them swung his knife and cut the officer's arm.  Enduring the tremendous pain, the officer managed to defeat the two thugs and arrest Crazy Dave.

As you can see, the top one can put you to sleep while the bottom one give you the ability to visualize the scene as it happens.

The final bad habit I see is one that really bores people, especially for longer stories, such as novels.  The problem is that the storyline becomes fixed at the beginning of the story.  When this happens, the storyline never changes.  When this happens, no matter how talented the writer is, the story will get boring after a while.  So ensure that your story has its twists and turns, or people will fall asleep on you.

Storytelling is like any other art.  It takes talent, and more importantly, technique.  If your stories aren't descriptive or they lack any storyline, people just won't read them.

If you keep who keep old greeting cards or read through old journals and diaries.  You will find a story there somewhere.  Go through old scrapbooks and re-read old letters you might have kept.  All these will tweak your writing creativity.  Find and go through old magazines and even children's story books,  You might find a story of your own to write.  

If you have any interaction with kids they are an excellent source for material. Kids are great with imagination. Talk to them get ideas from them, they are full of questions, musings, wonder, curiosity and make you laugh and think.  

Go for a walk, take you camera, look for interesting, unusual, beautiful, scenic and character's of people to photograph. Take your note pad and pencil with you as well,  From there write a poem an essay or story. Go through old home video tapes those should give you a lot of incentive and motivation.  

Sometimes reading someone else's article will give me an idea for another article sort of a spin off at times and other times just one line or word can trigger a whole new concept and idea.

What ever you do don't sit at the computer fuming and frustrated because your mind cannot kick into gear and you cannot seem to write anything intelligent. When this happens it means your mind needs a break from trying to come up with material.  It is time to take a few minutes an hour or two or even a couple of days or weeks to do other thing and then ideas will come.

It doesn't hurt to carry a small writing notebook and pen or pencil with you where ever you go, so when you get an idea while on a nature hike, or a trip to town. you can jot it down for later reference.  I have even woken in the middle of the night and due to a dream reach for pad and pencil and jot down ideas for an article or story.   Once that is done I can go back to sleep. 

Go back over the past years calendar at times will trigger a thought or an idea for a storyline.   There is ample material all around us, we just need to be attuned to it and when we get an idea if we can write the thought down enough to help remember what storyline we need.  It is handy to pull that notebook or even scraps of paper out and start letting the thoughts flow into a creative writing piece.

If you have several ideas, make a list,  put them into genretic categories and audience appeal and interest.  Go with your gut if a specific idea really is pulling you to put the words down then do it.  Don't worry about typo's or spelling, punctuation or grammar to start with.  Just get the creative thought going.   Once you get to a point you can stop, then it is time to go back and start fine tuning things with better sentence structure, proper grammar, spelling and punctuation.   

Have a couple of people you can run the rough draft by and get their input and opinions and from there continue to polish your story or article.   Before you know it your ready to submit your article to the public.

Instantly, your conscious mind returns as is if from a bountiful fishing trip. Like beautiful, shimmering fish, the details of your magnificent idea just keep pouring forth from your imagination and you chuckle quietly and commend yourself on your brilliance.

With a delighted smile, you hasten to finish the job that you'd originally set forth to do. You flush, thrust open the door, admire the face of genius in the mirror as you wash your hands, and finally pass your hands several times before the faulty sensor on the paper towel dispenser before it finally complies with your demands to issue paper.

You smile and nod at a coworker as they push desperately though the doorway into the bathroom. You deftly slip through the doorway before it closes - with the resounding force of an exploding star. You immediately realize what has just occurred and you stand in the silent hallway, blinking, with your mouth agape.

That's right. The idea died, right there in the hallway. It was there one moment and gone the next.

"Where could it have possibly gone?!" You mutter in disbelief.

Try as you may, you simply cannot resurrect the idea; and with a sigh of frustration, you return to your duties.

Sad and shameful, eh? Yep. But most all of us have done it at some point. Whether driving home from work, walking home from school, or hurling yourself from an airplane, inspiration has struck us unexpectedly and was gone before we had time to put it into action.

It can be very disheartening, but there are things that we can do to help prevent such disastrous loss.

Carry a notepad and pencil.

If you carry a notepad and pencil with you, you can capture the idea with these primitive writing implements while it is still fresh in your mind. It's almost like miraculously pressing save on an office document only moments before a catastrophic power failure sucks your hard work into binary oblivion.

Say the idea out loud, to yourself.

This can actually be a very effective means of committing information to memory. Your idea spawns in one part of your brain, but when you speak aloud you employ your thalamus which is forced to process the auditory data and store it elsewhere in your brain before your brain can dismiss the idea as mere white noise and banish it eternally to a dark, scary place from whence it may never return.

The more times that you say it the more important your brain will think the information is and it will be more likely to store it to long term memory.

I successfully employed this technique on the school bus when I was a child. To this day I remember my friend's phone number, though unfortunately the data is now irrelevant.

Carry a dictaphone.

This is perhaps the best means by which to recall information about the idea and it can be a far more efficient means of recording the details of your idea - especially for those of us who are extremely out of practice with primitive writing implements. This gives us the benefit of fresh details at the press of a button as well as the added bonus of having said the idea out loud to ourselves, though it can be a bit awkward if done in a busy restroom.

Don't allow your precious idea to die tragically. Be prepared to welcome it into this world like a brand new baby, fresh and glistening with cerebral goo, so that those who depend upon your literary progeny for mental stimulation or entertainment will not go unfed and disappointed.

If you've enjoyed this article, please feel free to share the link with your friends.

1. People; observing people is not only fascinating but also educational.  Each individual represents a unique story line, a story theme, and a plot.  Begin by selecting a person of interest and begin by writing just one word on your legal pad that best describes this person.  It could be "colorful," "bold," "pensive," or whatever word you would use to describe this person.  Next, write a second word to descirbe this person and "string it" to the first.  For example, you could write, "pensive eyes," or "colorful clothing" or "bold posture."  Next, write a third word and "string it" to the previous two words.  For example, you could write, "Pensive blue eyes," or "colorful wool clothing," or "upright bold posture."  I think you are beginning to get the idea of how to start with just one word and "string it" to another, until you are satisfied that you have adequately described and fully developed your thoughts.  There are literally hundreds of observations that you can make about people and then use the technique outlined above to develop your thoughts. 
2. Environment:  The same technique can be used to develop your story environment.  Let's begin by finding something within your environment that is interesting and unique.  Windows are great descriptive pieces for your environment.  For example, write the word, "reflection," on your legal pad.  Now, use the technique developed in "people" to "string it" to a second word.  Next, write "children's reflection".  Next, write a third word and "string it" to the previous two words.  For example, you could write, "passing children's reflection."  Describing detail in your environment is a great way to keep the reader's interest.  For example, let's say that you are sitting in an old and disorganized office.  You want to begin to describe the setting.  Look for small details like, the desk drawers were missing handles, or a small portable heater was sitting on a stack of magazines.  You don't expect to see drawers with handles or a portable heater sitting on a stack of flamable magazines.  It creates visual interest and questions for the reader. 

Now, let's stitch this all together and see if we can create a vivid and interesting few lines for our readers.  It may read something like this:  A tall man, well dressed, wearing "colorful wool clothing," looked at me with "pensive blue eyes."  As we briefly exchanged glances, a young professional model appeared with an "upright bold posture" in a designer's shop window.  Behind me, children in Christmas constumes gathered to sing as I watched the "passing children's relection" in the shop's window.  There are hundreds of combinations and sentence structures that you can create with just a few "strings."  Good luck and have fun writing your next story. 

• First, you need to have interesting subject matter. To do this, it is advisable to find popular tags on the homepage. These typically include women, life, love, death, gardening, gaming, computers, or food. You may laugh at the wide range of possible topics, but the variety is indicative of the wide range of success that is possible.
• Next, you need to do a little bit of background research on your topic if you need to know more. You may be already prepared to write your article. Whatever the case, you need to convey your information in an appealing way, using different fonts and display patterns, as the bold title and bullets in this article.
• After you have written your article, proofread it and publish it on the submit page. For proofreading, it may be advisable to print out your article and run through it physically, as opposed to on the computer.
• Now that your article is published, you need to propagate your article to get large numbers of views. If you have a facebook, include it in your status. If you have lots of friends that like to share papers and articles with eachother, you could send it to them by email. If nothing else, people will naturally gravitate to new articles and you will retain a certain amount of views. Here is the key: no matter what you think about your article, the way to get more money is to get more views. Being creative in your means of attaining this is always a plus.

I hope you found this article helpful and I hope that you find success on Triond.com!

Try it out in the real world of the copywriter. Go to one of the sites where you can hire out as a simple copywriter. If you are selected from among the dozens or more who are applying for what sound like super low level projects, you may be a good writer. The pay will vary but select the projects you find interesting and make a bid. If you are one of the chosen (from among those desperate enough to write for a penny a word and often much less) consider yourself a copy writing success. If you can spare the time - get a few months experience by doing this.

One day after reading about seven ads while looking for a project to bid on, I realized one buyer was trying to get writers to grind out articles at the rate of ten per day for - get this - one dollar for 500 words. That wasn't even the shocking part. The astonishing part was that 7 writers had bid on the job.

I note that people in India or The Philippines in particular will work at sub, sub standard wages and agree to unreasonable deadlines to get the work. It was then I realized that I'd been fortunate getting the jobs that paid three cents a word. I'm keeping the ones that pay two cents a word too.

Somehow though, I'll never agree to grind out ten articles per day. My blog and other submissions which may pan out eventually need my attention too. However, I never give low quality gibberish as some do. I value my writing too much - whether my own name is on it or not. I love reading other good copywriter's work when there is time and keeping in touch with the buyers I write for regularly. I like the compliments they give.

In case anyone is looking to join this hopeful group of called copywriters - keep in mind you're doing it for experience and just enjoy the act of creating your own content. Having the ability to make a little money doing what you is of great value. Enjoy the journey. You never know where you might end up as a writer.

A full time offline writer. I was writing historical mysteries, plays, audio drama, teambuilding game and tv scripts, and even some poetry too. Suddenly, I fell in love with this wonderful online writing business and all these new tools and opportunities, this brand new market place and all the new ways to tell your stories and get an audience. As an online writer, you're in the first place something like a "multimedia director", or a "composer of content", working with plain text (even poetry!), pictures, audio, video, links, news feed and all that really exciting stuff. 

Image Source: Me, Shopping in Paris with my Offline Writings

Is it possible?

To make a decent living while you're composing content? Let's see... I started in April, 2008 on the HubPages, in September on Triond and Squidoo... and I'm still not sure. I have a number of blogs (in Dutch) that are doing very well, but they sure are not going to get me a swimming pool. Some of us are blogging their way to the bank, or so it seems. The problem with me is... I want to have fun while blogging my way to the bank . If I can't have fun, writing online, I quit. So, now I'm enjoying myself and some others too (I hope) while only making a handful of euro's here and a few dollars more there. And yes, I'm definitely having fun now, even with something extremely serious like an article about the online writing business, and I'm having fun all the way, that's for sure but... well, I'm not that sure if I'm heading to the bank, really.

Image Source: The Man from the Bank - He's a Sceptic

Okay, enough socializing! Here are the Goodies!

First of all, the sites that are mentioned here - and much more information! - is on my Squidoo Lens Making Money with your Online Writings, together with some creative writing publications.

But here they are, in a nutshell and in no particular order, your "Must Be" Sites:

1. I'm fond of Triond and that's where you are now, lucky bird! Triond works with a bunch of "associated sites" and keeps innovating all the time. You get paid every month, thanks to the visitors you've attracted and you can even earn some money with your poetry. The "Triond Community of Fellow Writers" really exists and it's very easy to submit your content. Remember, you may not have submitted your articles, creative writings, photographs, audio or video elsewhere!... Also a Good Thing: you'll receive an editor mail when your content is published ("We are happy to inform you...") and when not ("We regret..."). If you have a problem, you can mail the support team. And guess what? You get a mail back, polite and helpful!
2. Squidoo rocks! Go to the Making Money with your Online Writings article, and you'll see why. These  Squids also have a great, helpful and friendly community, with Giant Squids and Angel Squids  and that sort of things. It's really fun to build all those "lenses" (as these Squids call the Squidoo sites), they have great tools to promote and to sell your stuff, and you get paid every month thanks to the visitors you've attracted and the commission on the stuff that was sold on your page. Oh,  and if you'd like to start on Squidoo and become a Giant Squid, be an Angel Squid and do it here, please. (I'll get a commission thanks to you and 1 step closer to that swimming pool my wife and daughter are dreaming of.)
3. Hub with the HubPages! I started online writing here. The HubPages were my first love, and they will always be my Love! ("Hey, that's my quote!" John Miles is yelling.)  HubPages also are  Big Fun, and they are easy to create. The Hub Community is a fine one, with much "Hubtivity". If you go hubbing, you have to get a Google, eBay, Amazon and Kontera account. You will be paid by those "affiliates", every time someone clicks an ad or buys something from your HubPages. Thinking about a career making Hubs? Do it here (you know why, by now).
4. Associated Content. I'm new here, but it seems a good place to be for a Composer of Content. You can get an "upfront payment", if you have not submitted your content elsewhere and promised not to do so in the future. And you get paid thanks to the traffic you've attracted. They not only have an "articles" and "creative writing" section here, but you can also publish your slideshows, audio and video with Associated Content.
5. Helium is not really my cup of tea. They have writing contests on Helium and there are awards to win, but you have to read and rate articles written by others, and that isn't always fun. And there are no nice video or photo tools here, no stilish layout possibilities as you have on Triond, Squidoo or the HubPages. But some colleagues are doing fine with Helium, so... why not give it a try?
6. PrintnPost. A dull site, pretty much like Helium... and I constantly got lost here. But maybe that's because one of my nicknames is "The Lost Dutchman"?
7. Get a Freelancer! - A real "market place" for online writers. There's a feed on my Making Money with your Online Writings Lens.

And now... While Blogging Your Way to the Bank... Enjoy!

Image Source

Did their letter make the number one best sellers list?? Probably not but was just as powerful to it's reader as any book you'll ever read. Just like the "Love letters" there have also been many "Dear John letters" and unfortunately they may also be read over and over again. They are not just words any more but something that you can hold and be able to feel great emotion every time you read it and also allows you to say your thoughts without any interruptions. When someone loses a loved one... the one thing that they will cherish forever is on paper whether it is a card or a child's drawing... it will be handled with such care and heartache. When a child has had any kind of emotional or physical abuse they ask the child to put it on paper. One of the most famous of all was called "The Diary of Anne Frank" and has been read by many. Writing not only allows us to put our thoughts and emotions on paper but actually allows the reader to pick up on our emotions. Most of us when we speak it's a signal sent from the brain and sometimes we don't give it enough thought time before we actually throw it out there and it doesn't come out quite the way we wanted it to but if we write our thoughts down then we usually speak from the heart. Almost anyone who has had to speak in public has had their speech written out and will either use notes or have it memorized.

Everyone is a writer.... so if you are writing now... Great!! Keep it up and if you're not than sit down and start writing. I'm not asking you to write a book or a presidential speech but to just put your emotions into writing. It may feel a little awkward at first but you will soon love the freedom of speech... even if you are the only one to ever read it. Now.. just to be fair.. speaking is very important and can be done quite well I might add.. and we certainly don't want to read everything someone has to say. In fact we will do much more speaking than writing most days but it's knowing when and how we feel is the best way to express our feelings and thoughts. Picking up the phone to call someone you haven't seen in a long time is great and let them hear your voice and exchange small talk... than later send them a note to let them know how much you enjoyed the conversation and as they read it they will hear your voice in your words. Trust me.. they will cherish that note and keep it close and even pick it up from time to time to just read it again. Well... I've got to let you go so you can start writing..Have fun and enjoy!!

1. The effect must be very close to the cause. If you have Bill punch Jack in the face, move on to your dramatic dialogue, change point of view for a couple of chapters, and then return to Jack and show that his nose is bleeding, your reader may have to pause and try to remember exactly why that should be. Keeping your cause and effect relationships close together helps to eliminate confusion.
2. As much as possible, keep causal relationships separate. In other words, don't show Cause 1, Cause 2, Effect 1, Cause 3, Effect 2…. Again this creates confusion in the reader and slows enjoyment of the story. Using the fighting analogy again, you wouldn't show Bill punching Jack, Bill kicking Jack in the shins, Jack reeling from the punch, then Jack holding his knee. Show the punch, the head moving back, the kick and then the knee holding reaction.
3. Don't overwhelm a character with actions. If Marsha screams at Adam, throws a bottle at his head, threatens to call the police on him and shoots him with pepper spray, now what will he do? He has too much stimulus thrown at him at once for him to react to all of it. Try to keep it to one action plus one reaction at a time.
4. Sometimes the reaction will be unexpected. For example: “Will you marry me?” John asked Julie. Julie hit John over the head with a beer bottle. At this point, the reader is saying, “whaaat?” Obviously there is something missing here. In a scenario like this, an internalization (character's thoughts) is needed to clear up the confusion. The edited version will look like this: “Will you marry me?” John asked Julie (cause/action). How could he ask me now, she thought. Now that I've finally given up on him and said yes to Fred? What a jerk! A sudden fit of anger hit her (internalization). Julie hit John over the head with a beer bottle (effect/reaction). Now the reaction makes sense.

What is continuity? Simply put, continuity is story logic. When you start a plot element and don't finish it, make characters behave contrary to what we expect, make the reader focus on an object or person and then don't make them significant later, you have committed a continuity lapse. Unlike reality, nothing should be arbitrary in your story. The following are some common continuity lapses that should be avoided:

1. The insignificant object. As we discussed in Lesson 11, an object, location or person should not be described in great detail unless they are essential to the story. Think of description as pointing a video camera at an object during a movie. If you make a big deal out of pointing out an object and then you never refer to it again, it gives the reader the impression that you are either a sloppy storyteller or that you forgot that object.
2. The inconsistent character. This one refers to a previous lesson also, Lesson 5. Once you have established the basic nature of a character, you must stick to that personality. It is a challenge to establish personality in a character in the first place, and if you go counter to it you will ruin all of your previous hard work. Honest characters don't steal, prudish heroines don't fall into bed without any resistance, and shy characters don't sing karaoke unless a death threat is involved. It is okay for a character to have opposing characteristics, but you must establish that early and often. The continuity lapse occurs when you break character late in the story, after the personality has been set in stone.
3. The dangling plot point. Any time you put a twist or significant development in your plot, it should have a downstream effect on the rest of the story. When significant events happen that have no effect on the story, it can make the story lose its punch and feel trite. For example, if you show Jeremy cheating on his wife, he should be shown dealing with that later in the story at some level. If he has his fling and then it is never mentioned again, the reader feels as if that event meant nothing to the character, and they lose respect for the character and consequently, the plot itself. Even if Jeremy is a villain, this event should serve to solidify his wanton ways or lead to further debauchery. If an event is meaningless to the plot, either greatly downplay it or eliminate it altogether.
4. The cut scene. Sometimes you will have two or more storylines that are running parallel to one another. This can be a great way to keep a story alive, changing viewpoint every so often to keep the reader engaged, leaving one character at a great narrative hook moment to focus on another. It is very important that when you leave one storyline for another, you must pick the first storyline up in a place that logically follows where the reader left him/her. Example: At the end of Chapter 3, Edgar has had a terrible car wreck. We leave him in this predicament for a couple of chapters while we explore our second storyline. In Chapter 7, we open with Edgar boarding a plane for Paris. What is missing here? If you want to move from a car accident to an international flight, you can. To pull this off you must add a segue, such as, “People stared at the bandage on Edgar's head as he waited in line for his luggage.” As long as you refer to the previous scene, your reader can handle the change of setting. If you leave out the linking actions or phrases, it prompts the reader to thumb back to the past chapter, wondering what he or she missed.
5. Abandoning the story question. Hopefully you have accepted by now that the story question IS the story. If you wander too far from the basic premise of the plot, you will eventually lose your reader. Nothing is more frustrating as a reader than to read fifty pages of something only to find out that it has no effect whatsoever on the story question that we have invested time and interest in finding the answer to.

The Bottom Line: It is very important that everything you write is logical and consistent. Help your reader to follow and enjoy your story without messing with his head!

Recycle Your Writing!

Recently, I wrote an article about linking your articles in your new work in order to keep them in fresh circulation. That is one excellent way to rejuvenate your work however it's a good idea to continue to come up with creative, innovative ideas to ensure all your work is consistently receiving the attention it deserves. Ingenuity is a sure fire way to meet and exceed all your writing goals dreams.

So here is another idea: submit articles that give fresh, interesting snippets of your work, including links to the full article. Do this for all your work and eventually, you will have created smart catalogues and new ways to make sure all your work is always continually viewed. Give these catalogue articles a theme title that will draw the reader in and give them easy access to the articles that are relevant to the topic.

In the end, your goal is to make sure your work brings in substantial growing, residuals for the rest of your life. The more great ideas you come up with, the closer you become to solidifying this reality in your near future!

Below is a sample of what your article catalogues can look like:

image source

Inspirational Catalogue

1. Stumbling on Happiness

Who are the angels?

When you are working on a path to a happier, healthier life, you must always keep in mind that no matter where you are in life physically, mentally or spiritually every moment of the day offers you an opportunity to learn something new about yourself, the world, and others.

To read more:  Stumbling on Happiness

2. Success is a Matter of Choice 

Unlock your potential

Whether you decide to work for a non-profit organization or become the next Brian Tracy, well-renowned self-made millionaire, the bottom line is, success is a matter of choice. You have the option to go after any career field imaginable, but with each endeavor come specific steps that you must prepare for and be willing to devote your time to. For example, if you want to go back to school, then you must commit to completing the coursework, attending classes and paying tuition and book fees. If you want to be a model, you must keep fit, have a picture portfolio, and attend auditions.

To read more: Success is a Matter of Choice

3. One Click: We Can Save the World

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi.

Everyday we have control over every choice we make. Do you opt to fill your mind with current news affairs, the latest fashion trends, and other such media driven updates? Or do you prefer historical, fictional, or interpersonal avenues to spend the majority of your time focused on?

To read more: One Click: We Can Save the world