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Posts by Carol Despeaux Fawcett

Jan 10

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How to create a project-specific reading list

My reading list changes depending on what project I’m working on. I have a fantasy book, a memoir, and a poetry manuscript in the works.

Since the memoir is done and I’m in the “sending it out” phase, I don’t have any memoirs on my current reading list—though I have read over 50 memoirs in the past four years. I wanted to read a wide variety of stories and styles to see where my story might fit. Along the way, I discovered many treasures that I’ll share in my Memoir Reading List soon.

As I begin to focus on my fantasy book, I recently revamped my reading list. Of course, as a writer, it’s good to read a variety of books but having a specific project-related reading list helps keep me focused on my next big goal. Read more

Jan 6

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Tips for imagining memoir characters and events

Below are three previous blog posts with tips for writing your memoir:

Do you have a character in your memoir who needs to be fleshed out but you don’t have enough information to do so? Try these techniques:

How to Fully Imagine Your Memoir:

Deepen your memoir by imagining character thoughts and feelings

Need fresh ideas for describing your characters? Read this post:

Memoir “The Tender Bar” inspires unique character descriptions 

Jan 4

How to use misfortune to make your writing stronger

“A writer, or any man, must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end. This is even stronger in the case of the artist. Everything that happens, including humiliations, embarrassments, misfortunes, all has been given like clay, like material for one’s art….Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so. If a blind man thinks this way, he is saved. Blindness is a gift.” –Jorge Luis Borges

I don’t have many “off” days. What I mean is, I’m pretty good at handling life’s little surprises. I wasn’t always so cool and collected. I used to obsess and worry and play the repetitive mind-game as well as the next person. But over the years, I worked hard at letting all that go. I was motivated to change.

I knew I was making progress the year my son turned 13. It was the morning after Halloween. I opened the front door to pick up the newspaper, when I saw it—somebody, in the middle of the night, had thrown a gigantic pumpkin at my brand new car. The car’s rear end was demolished, the trunk caved in, and my deductible was $1,000 (which I didn’t have at the time because I’d just purchased the new car). I was stunned. I felt as if somebody had sucked up all the air in the world. Read more

Jan 2

Start the new year by writing a gratitude list

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions anymore. I guess I’m at the age where I see each day as an opportunity to flex my resolve. But I do find the beginning of the year a great time to reflect back on all I achieved in the preceding year and set new goals for the next one. I do this in all areas of my life and in different phases. Phase I of my New Year’s plan is to start a gratitude list.

For ten to twenty minutes, I write a list (in a sparkly new journal) of things I’m grateful for. The beginning of my list looks something like this:

I’m grateful for:

1. My family who not only loves and encourages me but also helps others in the world;

2. My writing partner, Carly, for pushing me to stretch my comfort zone and believe in myself;

3. My friend J.M. for making me use my brain and heart in ways I never knew I could; Read more

Dec 29

Narrative Magazine: the PBS of literature

Looking for some good free reading? Check out Narrative Magazine—an online journal dedicated to great literature. The magazine publishes poems, short stories, nonfiction, fiction, six-word stories, novel excerpts and more. Narrative even pays its contributors and is free for anybody to read (although donations are greatly appreciated to maintain the Narrative mission).

I just finished reading Joseph Stroud’s poem “Provenance” about the winter he lived in Madrid and mourned his father. Everywhere he goes in the city, his grief follows. His pain is reflected in artwork, cobblestone streets, a Gypsy violin, even a bowl of tripe soup.

I love how the poem goes on and on with no stanza breaks, how it wraps around itself as the poet wanders the streets of Madrid and the depths of his love for his father. If you want to see how a great poem is put together, study this poem. Read it out loud. Allow the words to wrap around you, feel their weight on your tongue, in your heart.

Writing about strong emotions, particularly about the death of a parent, is a difficult task to do well. The key is to use specifics to evoke the emotions. Stroud is a master. Read more

Dec 27

The Way movie: plot as character in conflict

The movie The Way written and directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen depicts the spiritual journey of a father who’s estranged son dies on the first day of his pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, an 800-mile trek from the Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the burial place of St. James.

The father, a widowed ophthalmologist living in California, flies overseas to collect his son’s body but ends up walking the road and becoming a pilgrim himself. The movie is a touching story of a father’s reconnection with this son and awakening to life. It has everything going for it (as long as you don’t mind not seeing something being blown up every two seconds): incredible scenery, the father’s emotional transformation into a person his son would be proud of, great dialogue, humor, sadness, perfect pacing, and micro-tension between characters that builds throughout the story.

The script is a great example of plot defined as characters in conflict. Each character is a study in human nature. How they interact over the course of the story is a study in how the microcosm of character reflects the macrocosm of the story world. As I work through my current project, I picture this cast of characters and think about how I can create more conflict for my characters.

The Way is beautifully written, superbly rendered, and highly recommended this holiday season!

Dec 23

Three posts for generating creative ideas

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” – Carl Jung

In case you didn’t catch these the first time around, below are three posts for generating more creative ideas:

Find creative possibilities in your workplace — Ideas surround us. See Carly’s tips for noticing what’s right in front of you at your workplace.

Exercises in memoir: finding your story – Whether you’re writing memoir or fiction, here are some tips for digging deep into your characters.

Three ways to use word riffs – Wordplay is important, it frees the mind to make new connections.

Thanks for stopping by! Please share some of your favorite places to find creative ideas.

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