By Dalyn Weller, @DalynWeller

I’d like to capture my readers and treat them to a movie-like experience but to do that I have to “see” each scene before I write it. So, I’ve been learning about visualization for writers.

I’ve created a sort of meditation method for myself. Meditation is just getting quiet and gathering information and sorting thoughts. Grounding your imagination before you sit down to write will help you connect with your characters, visualize your setting, and reduce distractions and brain chatter.

Here’s an example of my writing meditation session. (I pray after I get seated, but you do you.)

Try this:

• Get somewhere cozy and quiet before a writing session. You think better in an upright position. Set a timer for five or ten minutes. (More if you’d like) 
• Review the scene you want to write. Who is the POV character? What is their GMC? (Scene goal, motivation, and conflict/obstacle) What is your scene goal as the author?

• Now, ground yourself in your seat. Breathe deeply through your nose and out of your mouth a few times. Your mind will wander. That’s okay. Just bring it back to the scene you want to write.
• Close your eyes and enter the setting through your POV’s lens. What is the mood here? Note details. Where are you? What time of day/year/etc.
• Zoom in. What does your POV see? Smell? Feel? Rough wood, the dog’s soft fur, etc. What’s the temperature? (What they are wearing will probably coincide) What do they hear? The ticking of a clock, the barking of the neighbor’s dog? Do they feel a breeze on their skin or is the sun scorching their back?
• What is my POV’s mood? What are they thinking? Feeling? What do they want right now?
• Who else is there? What relationship do they have to the POV? Why are they there?

Now that you have a good sense of place, use all those craft skills you’ve gathered along your writing journey and write your scene as soon as possible after your meditation/visualization session.

Remember, friends, start with a hook, end with a hook. 

Happy writing!

 

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Fashioned For Love

She needs a model ASAP
Her only option looks like Bigfoot in blue jeans…

Social media influencer extraordinaire, Nina Taylor, loved summer trips to Wild Rose Ridge in her teen years. So when she’s offered the opportunity to organize a fashion show in the magical town, she jumps at it. The more attention she’s able to draw, the greater her chances of winning an award.

There’s just one problem. She needs one of the town locals to model for it. Now where can she find a handsome, rugged man in Wild Rose Ridge?

Sloan Sutherland has always loved the outdoors. So much so that he even starred on a big reality TV survival show. Unfortunately, it ended with his humiliation on national television. Thank goodness Wild Rose Ridge is a small town with plenty of places to hide. That is until she came back.

To make matters worse, the family business, Wild Rose Outfitters is in trouble. He has little choice in the matter when he’s pressured to get a make-over and become a fashion model.

Now he’s not only hiking up to the town’s famous ridge with a woman in spiked heels, but he discovers she could expose his shame to the world. None of his survival training prepared him for this! Nor did it get him ready for his growing attraction to her. Nina Taylor might be Sloan’s biggest lesson in survival yet. Only this time, it means the survival of his heart.

Dalyn Weller writes small-town romance novels with sweet sizzle and a pinch of humor.

She lives on a small horse ranch surrounded by apple orchards and cattle in Washington State with her own tall, dark, & and handsome and plenty of four-legged creatures. 

Like any self-respecting PNW woman, she’s a coffee snob. 

website: dalynweller.com and be sure and sign up for her newsletter: Writing from the Ranch

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