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Moving Close to the End

details in writing / new works / Uncategorized

Moving Close to the End

Right now I’m close finishing When the Music Stops, book two in my ballet trilogy. It’s funny; the closer I get to finishing the more questions I find I need to resolve.  I question my tension and my problems strewn across their lives. Since my characters become as real as my friends, I know their strengths and weaknesses, their hot buttons and their fears. Often I become overprotective of their “lives”, unwilling to let harm approach them. I always hope I have provided the promise of a good story but fear I may have fallen short. It’s a writer’s curse....

Dialogue Hints

details in writing / writer reminders

Dialogue Hints

Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks contains everything from planning to completion of a novel. Her advice works well for other genre books as well as YA. Here are a few of her suggestions about dialogue. 1.  Hedge real topics in favor of direct references. 2.  Use incomplete sentences; that’s the way we often speak. 3.  Interrupt speakers, like we do when we’re excited and talking with a friend. 4.  Don’t repeat character names; find another way help us keep characters separate. 5.  Use body language and tags that reinforce the character’s uniqueness. 6.  Make every bit...

Can you Feel the Tension?

details in writing / quotes / writer reminders

Can you Feel the Tension?

Authors strive to put tension on every page. Can you feel it? Don’t always expect gut-wrenching tension. Certainly we put in some of that even in ballet stories. Instead look for the little moments where a character paces, stresses or pouts. You’ll also see it when unexpected mail arrives, someone doubts a character’s motive or when the car won’t start on the first try. The question is why do author’s place little moments like that in stories? The answer: would you keep reading if nothing exciting occurred? Probably not. And, if you think about it, your life is filled with...

Word Painting

details in writing / Writing's distinct voice

Word Painting

  I love the book Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan (Writers Digest, 1999). She writes about the power of description, calling it  one of the 3 parts of a story along with exposition and narration. Here are a few of her ideas. “Description is an attempt to present as directly as possible the qualities of a person, place or object.” She goes on to suggest that we work to evoke a visual or other sense as much as we actually share  it. She believes impressions of our senses have power. “A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a scent is worth...

Quotes Worth a Second Look

musings / quotes

Quotes Worth a Second Look

As a reader I often find phrases, sentences or paragraphs that stop me. They are the ones that create images I want to remember, usually sensory statements I wished I’d written. Tell me what you think of these. …memories as jagged and sharp as bits of glass (Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah, p. 342) But Anna was a loose marble. (Five Fortunes by Beth Gutcheon,  p. 20 (speaking of ingredients) …deep and mysterious like perfume lingering in the folds of a cashmere scarf. (The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister, p. 15) An enormous double-glazed skylight floods the room...

Re-Visioning

84 Ribbons

Re-Visioning

Writers often stress over editing. I know I did. It’s often a time when I become aware of holes as well as changes needed to elevate my writing. Then one year, at the Edmonds WOTS (Write On The Sound) conference, I heard a presenter suggest we stop thinking about revising a story and start thinking about re-visioning it. I immediately saw a huge difference in my attitude about editing. It became a challenge to look at the work as a whole, attempting to shine a light on what works and ramping up places where that light remained dim. Maybe it’s the same...

You’re Invited!

84 Ribbons

You’re Invited!

Throughout the year I want to break from my musings to allow you to be my guest and share your musings. As you notice I write short blogs but don’t let that stop you! If you have a lot to say, go for it! Here’s the plan: 1. Think of what you’d like to say about anything related to writing or reading. 2. Send me a note here, through my email (PaddyEger@aol.com) or call me at 425-420-5161. 3. Tell me when you’ll have your musings ready for me to post. 4. Send your writing to me and Voila! I’ll schedule a Tuesday...

On Being a Groupie

musings / writer reminders

On Being a Groupie

I admit it; I’m a groupie! When it comes to writing, I believe every author needs at least one group with whom to share their words and stories. As much as we strive to write our best, our attempts will fall short without the input of others. Sure it can be frustrating to think I’ve done a fantastic job only to discover that much of what I thought I said got stuck in my head and didn’t make it to the page. I have the good fortune to belong to two critique groups and also have writer-readers who give me feedback. I...

Writing Blog: Beginning Text Using Character Traits

writer reminders

Writing Blog: Beginning Text Using Character Traits

  Our task as writers is to share enough character traits in the first page or two to grab and hold the reader. So what traits will do that? How do writers decide what works? It’s a deep dark secret; one even the writer often doesn’t know how to share until the story has gotten underway. That means writers often return to the first pages after they’ve written a chapter or two to show us the character in action. (First chapters are frequently tossed out once the story is underway because we need to start as close to the action as possible...

Writing Blog: Show Not Tell

details in writing / writer reminders

Writing Blog: Show Not Tell

Show Not Tell is a shortcut statement to remind writers to show characters actions rather than tell us about them. An example might be…(Tell) Mary was mad  vs (Show) Mary balled up her fists, turned on her heel and slammed the door on her way out. Both achieve similar ‘ends’ but for me the showing is more visual and engaging. Here’s my question: Why to multi-million book selling authors continue to tell us actions? Are they tired, lazy, above the axiom to show their characters? Are their readers so excited to read whatever they write they’ll read anything they write? Are their...