Thank you again for responding to my Instagram plea and sending in questions. I love these quick hits! I’ve chosen four questions to answer, but please keep sending them over. There’s a form on the website here if you scroll to the bottom and we’ll get to them either as a Quick Hits post like this, a full article, or as a traditional GTW Mail Bag.

Your questions:

Do you have any writing rituals or routines that you do before you start writing for the day?

Yes! I spend the first fifteen minutes of nearly every writing session sweeping the floor and clearing my daughter’s arts and crafts off my desk. She’s a lovely little disaster, but I’m sure that’s not quite what you were asking!

As far as things I do every session: I need a cup of coffee, a lit candle, and the Pride and Prejudice Pandora station turned down low. When these three things are happening, my body knows it’s time to write.

I can write elsewhere, and sometimes that’s nice–breaks up the monotony–but I’m more productive at home because my body has been trained to recognize the writing cave and what should happen when I’m in there.

How do I get over my writer’s block?

The first step is figuring out what’s keeping you from writing. Writer’s Block is a big, fat phrase that is used to describe all sorts of writer ailments. You need to be way more specific with yourself. Ask yourself some questions:

Are you exhausted? With writing specifically or with life in general? Both will impact your ability to be creative. To this, I say take a break. Walk away and take some time to rest. I bet fresh eyes will help.

Are you bored or disillusioned with the project in front of you? If so, remember that unless you’re under contract or fully committed to getting the end of this project, you have all the freedom in the world to work on something else. Something that excites you. Perhaps starting a fun new story will inspire you.

Are you stuck? Have you written yourself into a wall? Do you not know what happens next? I suggest opening a new document and writing a very generalized summary of your story. Moving from beginning to end, connect every dot you can possibly connect and see if a natural transition begins to present itself. Sometimes we’re too close to the story and we need to back up and look at it with a bird’s eye view.

If you find yourself consistently sitting down and lacking inspiration, you may just need to practice writing without it. Inspiration is lovely and so helpful, but a career writer has to be able to function without it. We all go through seasons where it’s nothing but discipline putting words on the page. That’s not very romantic, I realize, but it is normal.

Where do your ideas come from?

Everywhere! I had an interesting discussion with two of my writing friends the other day and it highlighted just how different we all are. One of my friends always starts with the idea of a character and then works to find out why they are the way they are. The other friend starts with an scene and works from there.

As for me, my book ideas are more random than that. My debut novel, Angel Eyes, was the result of a “What If” question: What if we could see the invisible?

After the trilogy, I wrote a murder mystery that was the result of a vivid dream I was trying to sort out. I love this book, by the way. I hope to sell it one day.

I also have half a historical written because I fell in love with a location and just had to write its story.

And Winter, White and Wicked, my fall 2020 release, came together because I wondered what it would be like to be an ice road trucker in a world where the snow was enchanted.

Ideas come from so many places and there’s no one way to write a story. As you grow, you’ll begin to notice trends in your creative process, and that will help you separate the ideas with potential from the ones that have no staying power.

Do you have any tips for editing a first draft?

Macro first and then micro. In other words, start with the big picture stuff and then move on to the smaller, more detailed items.

The big picture items worth looking at first would be: Plot, Characters, Setting, and Theme. Ask yourself where the problems are in these areas, devise a plan of attack, and make those changes with brutal honesty.

Smaller items that will need to be addressed later include: point of view, description, showing and telling, dialogue, and pacing.

I do both my macro and micro edit by reading through my manuscript with a notebook and pen at my elbow. As I read and reread the story, I take notes and then I use those notes to make adjustments, and then I start again. I do this several times focusing on various macro issues and then moving on to the micro issues.

At various times, Jill, Steph and I have all taught classes on this very subject, and there is a lot to be found here in our archives if you search “editing.” I’ll also throw this out there, if you’re all in and ready to edit a first draft, most of what we teach can be found in detail in the book, Go Teen Writers: Edit Your Novel. Steph and Jill wrote this book long before I joined Go Teen Writers, and I used it extensively in my own writing and as I mentored young writers. Definitely recommend.

We did it! We got me a blog posted! I couldn’t have done it without you, friends. Do you have any other questions we can tuck away for a future blog post? Or how about answers! Do you have any answers to the questions above? We’d love to know what works for you.

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.