{"id":24086,"date":"2021-05-07T01:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=24086"},"modified":"2021-04-29T11:26:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T18:26:34","slug":"journal-your-way-to-a-better-book-by-catharine-bramkamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/07\/journal-your-way-to-a-better-book-by-catharine-bramkamp\/","title":{"rendered":"Journal Your Way to a Better Book by Catharine Bramkamp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Journal-Your-Way-to-a-Better-Book-by-Catharine-Bramkamp.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-24090 size-medium\" title=\"Journal Your Way to a Better Book by Catharine Bramkamp\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Journal-Your-Way-to-a-Better-Book-by-Catharine-Bramkamp-300x300.png\" alt=\"Journal Your Way to a Better Book by Catharine Bramkamp\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Journal-Your-Way-to-a-Better-Book-by-Catharine-Bramkamp.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Journal-Your-Way-to-a-Better-Book-by-Catharine-Bramkamp-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?s=Catharine+Bramkamp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Catharine Bramkamp<\/a> as she shares with us \u201cJournal Your Way to a Better Book.\u201d Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>I was stuck in my book.<\/strong> I had nothing more to say. Hated every word. Dead stopped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to get out of my funk?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I journaled about my book.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>I wrote that I liked my character,<\/strong> Vic Gardner. At sixty, she is mature and refuses to play games, so not a romantic heroine, but a funny one. She helps people until they scream for mercy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I learned more details about her by inviting her to talk to me through my journal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ask Questions and Journal about Your Character\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do your characters want to say?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do they dream about?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is their favorite food?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These details aren\u2019t necessarily important for a plot, but they can inform and strengthen your characters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Journal about their dreams and visions<\/strong>, but keep those long rambling descriptions in the journal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we include every insight and thought into the story, we risk slowing the action and possibly derailing the narrative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, we will know far more about our characters than the reader ever will.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journal to Work Through Troublesome Scenes and Thorny Plot Lines<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journaling is a low risk activity that allows for exploration and digression without sullying the main story. Your character can emerge through the journal, talking, exposing quirks, allowing for intimate comments, with your journal as the place to record it all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Novelists like to claim that characters just start talking and all we do is record their voice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">True, but it\u2019s also true that not everything the character says is novel-worthy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>I journal to not only allow my characters space to talk and be silly<\/strong>, I also use it to work out troublesome scenes and thorny plot lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes (often?) <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Working On The Book<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a daunting task.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Writing a book<\/strong>, even saying that phrase out loud, carries weight and emotional expectations that first thing in the morning, can be\u00a0 overwhelming.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So don\u2019t work on the book. Journal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Things Your Can Journal to Craft a Better Book\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outline a character.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give a secondary character dreams and aspirations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give your villain a hobby<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">List what could or should happen next.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The beauty of journaling is that it keeps the novel in one emotional sphere while the journal<\/strong>, established as a draft, a place of experimentation, resides in another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That difference alone can help free your imagination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Journaling can grant space we need to write our best work.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I use <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/getupnote.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UpNote<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0(.99) for my journal and reserve <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.literatureandlatte.com\/scrivener\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrivener<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0for just novels.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/online-studio.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-24087 size-full\" title=\"online studio\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/online-studio.png\" alt=\"online studio\" width=\"320\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/online-studio.png 320w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/online-studio-300x61.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to read more articles like this one Writer\u2019s Fun Zone? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/contact-beth\/#signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subscribe here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1RlgH6b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1rlgh6b noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-12334\" title=\"Catharine Bramkamp\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Catharine-Bramkamp-pic-274x300.jpg\" alt=\"Catharine Bramkamp\" width=\"150\" height=\"164\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Catharine-Bramkamp-pic-274x300.jpg 274w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Catharine-Bramkamp-pic-300x329.jpg 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Catharine-Bramkamp-pic.jpg 584w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1RlgH6b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Catharine Bramkamp<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0is a successful <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/yourbookstartshere.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">writing coach<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Chief Storytelling Officer, former\u00a0co-producer of Newbie Writers Podcast, and author of a dozen <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1i9eAlQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">books<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1HgxT4W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Real Estate Diva Mysteries series<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1Tmil52\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Future Girls series<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She holds two degrees in English and is an adjunct university professor. After fracturing her wrist, she has figured out there is very little she is able to do with one hand tied behind her back.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re stuck on your novel, use journal writing to explore all the questions and trouble spots in a safe place. You may be surprised at the result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[940,9,2444,4330,4612,2182,5,4611],"class_list":["post-24086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips","tag-catharine-bramkamp","tag-creativity","tag-journal","tag-talk-to-your-book","tag-talk-to-your-characters","tag-writers-life","tag-writers-block","tag-writing-is-thinking"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Journal Your Way to a Better Book by Catharine Bramkamp &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re stuck on your novel, use journal writing to explore all the questions and trouble spots in a safe place. 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