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Posts from the ‘Craft’ Category

Jan 6

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When it comes to writing, don’t let sleeping dogs lie

If you want to write a page turner, you must have conflict. What’s more, you have to raise the stakes. Have you ever heard that saying, “Just when you didn’t think it could get any worse….” If you want to write a page turner, you have to make things worse just when the reader didn’t think it could get any worse.

Writer and literary agent Donald Maass knows this. Here are several questions he urges writers to ask themselves about their work in progress:

1. What’s at stake? How can you raise the stakes so that there’s more to lose, gain, fear?

2. What gives your protagonist hope? How can you crush that hope?

3. What does your protagonist regret? Can you create a situation that amplifies the regret?

4. What tools or resources does your protagonist possess to help solve her problem? Can you take one away or put a block in her path? Force her in a new direction?

Maass believes its possible to write a book that appeals to readers on a commercial and literary level. For more insight that will take your writing to new heights, check out his book Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling.

Dec 31

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My 2014 personal writing theme revealed

I can’t help it. I love the idea of a fresh new notebook, a new year to see what is possible. A clean slate. I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but I like having a theme that helps me move through the year in a positive trajectory. It’s my touchstone to remind me of what I value.

Several things happened this year that propelled me to find my 2014 theme.

First, I took a short story writing class and discovered a breakthrough writing method. It involved writing 100 sentences and then seeing what kind of story would take shape. It really was a revelation for me and helped me lose some of my resistance around writing.

Second, I went to a workshop and heard Patricia Charpentier speak about how she keeps a five-year diary. I’ve always wanted to do this but never stuck to it. I decided this would be my year. I would do it by committing to at least one sentence. And while some of them may be random or boring observations about my day, others could likely turn into story themes or first lines. For more inspiration and my thoughts about this, read my post, Let your short story write itself. Read more

Dec 23

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How to tell when you have a good idea for a story

In her short ebook, “2K to 10K: Writing Faster, Writing Better and Writing More of What You Love,” author Rachel Aaron shares tips on how she went from writing two thousand words per writing session to ten thousand. For more details, see Carly’s earlier post.

In Aaron’s chapter “How I Plot a Novel in 5 Easy Steps,” she says that Step 0 is deciding whether the idea you have for your story or novel is the idea that you really want to spend your time on. How do you know if it is?

1.  You can’t stop thinking about it. You’re doing the dishes or some other menial chore and you find yourself totally lost in your thoughts about your story. Or, you’re at work and can’t seem to focus because your antagonist is whispering in your ear about his evil plans for your main character. Read more

Dec 17

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Using the poetry in us to influence our writing

“….Everybody, even people who don’t read poems, have poetry in their heads…,” says poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Filmed as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the 4-minute video below features poets Enzensberger and Tracy K. Smith, who discuss the nature of poetry and their process of working together.

Enzensberger says we find poetry in nursery rhymes and prayer and other everyday occurrences. Poetry is part of the fabric of our lives. Poetry can be a way in to other writing formats.

Watch the video below and then check out my earlier post, “Using poetry to enrich your prose” to see more ways that poetry can inform our lives and our writing.

http://vimeo.com/47090158

Dec 11

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Lessons in character development: parental influences

Our parents give us our first view of the world. We incorporate their lessons into our lives and, sometimes, we spend the rest of our lives trying to unlearn these beliefs and developing our own worldview.

The other day, I was wondering what the characters in my work-in-progress have learned from their parents about love.

Growing up, I learned some very specific things about love:  Read more

Dec 10

A lesson in storytelling and the power of healing

Storytelling has always been one way people process life, happy and sad.

Angelo Merendino found that telling the story of his wife Jennifer’s fight with breast cancer helped him create meaning from the experience. He wrote an iBook, “The Battle We Didn’t Choose,” and in the Ted Talk below, Angelo tells how he met his wife and how, shortly after they married, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Angelo and Jennifer’s story was a global inspiration. As I watched the video, I was struck by how powerful the story was, and I realized that, in part, it was because it revealed Angelo and Jennifer’s love story first (including the influence of his own parents’ love story) before she received her diagnosis.

Angelo’s story reminded me of something one of my writing advisors told me years ago about storytelling. “You have to give readers a reason to care about your characters by letting the reader understand who the characters are up front.”

Angelo created a very moving tribute to his wife in pictures, print, and in this Ted Talk. He says these photos and the story were created out of necessity. His need to make meaning out of the tragedy continues to have a powerful impact.

Dec 4

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One of the best things about writing: The element of surprise

One of the best things about writing is the way it surprises me, the way I sometimes look back on something I’ve written and think, “Did I write that?” This element of surprise reminds me that so much happens beyond our conscious state.

Here are several posts you might have missed that will inspire you to let go and find the story that lives in your subconscious.

In How to write in your sleep, I share some tips about using the power of sleep to find new revelations in your writing.

Read Trust in randomness and mine your subconscious with this writing exercise to see how you can use your subconscious and observational instincts to write a new poem or piece of flash fiction.

Become a prolific writer by harnessing creative flow offers tips to put yourself in a trance so you can immerse yourself in your writing world.

What is your favorite way to find creative flow?

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