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All That Shakin’ Going On

details in writing / musings / quotes

All That Shakin’ Going On

“Like the plates beneath the earth’s crust at the time of a quake, the underpinnings of her life were shifting. All she could do was to take shelter under the most stable structure she knew and wait it out.” Barbara Delinsky, Together Alone p.146 Have you ever thought what your stable writing structure might be when you feel the shaking? It might be sitting and staring at the computer or re-reading what you’ve written or walking away from writing for a few days or weeks. Every shift brings new understandings and new direction when you allow yourself to work through...

Writers Who See Clearly

writer reminders / Writing's distinct voice

Writers Who See Clearly

When the book you are reading is littered with sticky notes marking great images, you know you have a writer who sees clearly. Check out Peter Hessler, author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Through his ‘eyes’, I revisit Fuling, China, a city situated where the Wu River meets the Yangtze. “Fuling is not an easy city. Old people rest on the staircases, panting. To carry anything up the hills is backbreaking work and so the city is full of porters. They haul their loads on bamboo poles balanced across their shoulders, the same way freight was carried...

Details, Details, Details

details in writing

Details, Details, Details

What separates mediocre from good or great writing? Details. In the book,  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the style is dated, but the details held me in the story. Betty Smith took the time to incorporate significant details related to the 1910-1915’s: money tied in the corner of handkerchiefs, carrying tin to be sold for precious pennies and reading the family Bible as a way to learn to read. In a more recent read of a current author, I felt let down. She told us what she saw instead of drawing us in with sensory details. True, her drama moved...

Inspiration from Others

musings

Inspiration from Others

“(My diary) became a friend, the paper that it was made of was ready and willing to accept anything and everything I had to say; it could handle my fear, my questions, my sadness. I discovered the beauty of writing – when one can pour oneself onto a great white emptiness and fill it with emotions and thoughts and leave them forever.”  written by Zlata Filipovic and shared in Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell) Passion for writing oozes from Zlata’s words. There are days I agree; when I can’t get words out fast enough. More often, however, my words...

Spring Changes Everything

musings

Spring Changes Everything

There is something in the air. It’s spring. Sure we still have rain and storms, but the world feels different in spring. Maybe it’s the flowers pushing up or the leaf buds showing color. It might be the grass looking green and shaggy or the sky a deeper blue. Whatever it is, it inspires me to get outside, to feel a change in the crispness, to investigate the neighborhood, to inhale the changes around me. Regardless of the drizzle,  I know spring will affect a change in my writing. Change is good. Give yourself a pat-on-the-back as you use those...

Before AND After

details in writing / writer reminders

Before AND After

This writing exercise helped me deepen my story. Five minutes or a day before a traumatic event, characters have no inkling of what is to come. Their lives follow their day-to-day routies then, Wham! A major traumatic event arrives. So… Write that calm. Soothe the reader so that when the trauma arrives, the reader is doubly shaken. After the traumatic event has been exposed, write the after. Go back to the calm and use elements from that time as contrast to reactions/actions that followed the trauma. Example: Marta was kneading bread (mundane activity)before hearing the news of a good friend’s...

Quotes to Ponder

quotes

Quotes to Ponder

Kristin Hannah’s book, Angel Falls, provides us with a lot to think about: p.111 He’d never thought much about silence, but now he knew its every shape and contour. It was a cheap glass jar that trapped old voices and kept them fresh. p.149 The measure of a man comes down to moments spread out like dots of paint on the canvas of life. p.331 The falling apart of a man’s life should make noise. p.375 Love wasn’t a great burning brush fire that swept across your soul and charred you…it was everyday moments laid out like bricks, one atop...

What Have Y-O-U Learned This Week?

musings

What Have Y-O-U Learned This Week?

I’ve learned that: Writing is a much more complex process than readers imagine and often don’t want to know about. Every scene has innumerable plot,dialogue, setting possibilities. I love the parts of the process where I create stories, edit and talk with other writers better than what follows. I thrive on talking with other writers, sharing ideas and becoming inspired by their spirit. The more I write, the more I expect from writers who are published; old favorites dim by current standards. I might take a day off here and there, but I can’t not write! Let’s compare notes. Send...

Mirror, Mirror: A Writing Exercise

prompts

Mirror, Mirror: A Writing Exercise

Think about this idea. 1. Stand in front of a mirror and pretend to be your POV character. 2. What do you see looking back through the mirror?  Describe it aloud. 3. Imagine a second character standing behind you (POV character). Share aloud what the new character thinks about the POV character. 4. How do your mirror images vary in what they see? Does your writing expose those differences? 5. Work through each of your major characters. Bottom line: you must know your major characters so very well that you can climb inside their heads. There is a richness that...

Are You on Pitch?

marketing / writer reminders

Are You on Pitch?

Writing a pitch for a story or book is a tricky thing: it’s short, it needs to interest the prospective reader and it needs to express the essence of the story without giving away the storyline. It’s short. Write the pitch for your current project. Can you do it in 100 words? 50 words? 25 words? or like an elevator pitch’s 4-seconds? It’s interesting. Could what you write become the grabber listed on the back cover? Your choice of nouns and verbs is critical. It’s an overview. The pitch needs to hint at setting, main character and the story problem....