If you’ve been working on writing a bunch of words in the past few months, you might have got to the place where you feel tired of writing.

Maybe you’ve lost passion for your story, or are just feeling stuck.

If that’s where you’ve been at, I want to encourage you that it doesn’t have to stay that way. You can make writing your fiction story fun again!

In today’s blogpost I want to share with you a simple little tweak in my thinking that has helped me accelerate my daily wordcount…

3 Ways to Make Your Fiction Writing Fun

I struggled for a couple of months to write this current pen name romance.

Many days I’ve just stared at the computer screen… hoping against hope that the story would just ‘show up’ in my mind. But, no such luck.

After days and weeks like this, I finally realized what I really needed to do was dig deeper into my story.

This is where I had an aha moment.

I discovered I needed to go back to the spark of the idea that made me passionate to write this story in the first place.

But, how was I going to do that? And how can you do that too?

Here are 3 Tips to Help Make Writing Your Story Fun(Again):

1.Research. Dig Deeper into Your Main Characters. Read & Experience.

Often when I’m stuck, I pick up a book by one of my favorite romance authors. Some authors that have inspired me are Nicholas Sparks, Debbie Macomber, Barbara Freethy, etc.

Some days, even before I sit down to write, I’ll read a couple of chapters in my “to be read” pile of books. It inspires me. The writing, the characters and the setting and story lines draw me in and I begin to feel and experience the story as if I’m there.

Then I remember, this is exactly the feeling I want my own readers to experience when they read one of my romances.

It’s at this point, that I dig deeper into the background stories of each of my main characters.

This is when I discover details like: the Hero’s dad left his mom and him when he was four years old and it left a scar so big that by the time he was a adult, he promised himself he would never have children.

Or sometimes I will learn details like: the Heroine lost her parents in a car accident at Thanksgiving when she was five years old. Since then she was raised by her grandparents, but every year, she feels tense and worried every Thanksgiving Holiday. She has avoided driving on that same road where her parents had the accident… for years. And it’s made her super safety conscious.

It’s all these little details that will begin to make your story come alive to you once more. Try digging deeper into your character’s background… do a little research. You might be surprised by how it lights up your passion to write your story once again.

 

2.Begin to Notice what inspires you.

Go back to where you first started when the idea for this story came to you.

That’s what I did. I went back – in my mind and emotions – to that moment when I first was inspired about the idea for this book.

For me it was when I saw the 1950s musical 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. It was watching this musical on YouTube five years ago, and it inspired this new series of cowboy sweet romance series that I started writing last year.

Then I went back and read over early ‘scribblings’ of my ideas for this novel and for this series and my passion came back.

Then I started writing. And wow – I was so surprised when I checkout my wordcount for that day – 2, 543 words!

And you know what? I have had quite a few days this month where my word count is over 2,000 words – which for me is wonderful… lol 😉

So if you’re stuck, I want to encourage you to simply go back to where you started. Go back to your passion and your first inspiration for the book you’re writing.

Remember that feeling you had with the first story you wrote down and how it felt to create stories.

Begin to notice what inspires you.

 

3.Write Stories About Subjects that are Meaningful to You.

When you ask someone what they’re passionate about their eyes light up. They become excited and those feelings are contagious.

It’s no different for us when we are writing our stories.

Our writing will flow better and will be sifted from our minds through our fingers to the keyboard more easily, when we write about something that is meaningful to us.

Readers notice when they are reading a story that the author believes is truly meaningful, because it shows in the writing. The emotion shines through in every word the author writes, which emphasizes the author’s convictions.

Kurt Vonnegut, a master storyteller, recognized the importance on focusing on what is meaningful for authors in his essay for writers.

“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your writing.” Kurt Vonnegut

There are many reasons people read fiction stories.

Sometimes we read to learn new ideas. Sometimes we read to be provoked into a new way of thinking. But the majority of readers read fiction because they want an experience… they want to be inspired.

So focus on writing stories that are meaningful to you. Don’t worry that there might not be readers who share your interests or the way you tell stories… there will be and they will happily read your books.

Use your voice and your authentic experiences in your fiction. Write in your fiction about what is meaningful to you and use those stories to help readers understand themselves and the world around them.

Write the stories that are meaningful to you, and be doing that you’ll connect on an even greater level with your readers.

So, as you begin to write your fiction story today, I want to encourage you to try to: 1)dig deeper into who your characters are. 2)Begin to Notice what Inspires you and 3)Write stories about subjects and characters that are inspiring to you. This has often helped me get right back into telling the story.

Before I go, I want to share some helpful advice to writers by bestselling author Neil Gaiman:

“Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.” Neil Gaiman

Have fun writing your story today!

 

Question for you: What helps you to make your fiction writing fun?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.