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Posts from the ‘Craft’ Category

Apr 22

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Original idea & logline: using them to write a better story, part one

A writer friend called me earlier this year slightly discouraged after pitching her novel at a writer’s conference in her home state of Hawaii. The feedback she received from one agent was that her book idea seemed scattered–as if she had too much going on. Another agent said that the writing was good but that the story didn’t seem finished yet.

My friend conceded that she probably did need to do more work on her book, but she also felt as if she didn’t get her idea across in a succinct way that the agents could understand.

Ah, the pitch. The pitch can get the best of us. And, when you have a complex, multi-layered novel, it can even be more difficult to create and maintain all the connections and communicate our ideas.

I suggested two remedies to her, and to you as well, to help in writing, revising and then communicating your work to agents and editors. Read more

Apr 19

Poetic inspiration from our early days

As we celebrate National Poetry Month, we thought you might enjoy three poetry posts from the early days of our blog.

In An experiment in form: Channeling a beat poet, Carol writes about how she was inspired to write a sestina.

Write lyrically by reading poetry was inspired by a tip from author Cristina Garcia.

Poet or not, in Two exercises to help you write poetically, Garcia offers tips that enhance your writing.

Apr 11

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How character names tell a story

What’s your strategy for naming characters? The right names can add depth to your characters and advance your story.

In See You at Harry’s, a book about a family who survives a tragedy, author Jo Knowles named her 12-year-old protagonist “Fern.”

In one scene, Fern and her mother discuss how Fern’s name was inspired by the book Charlotte’s Web.

“Do you know why I named you Fern?”

I nodded looking at the drawing of the girl on the cover of the book.

“Why?” She asked.

“Because Fern is one of your favorite characters?”

“And why is that?”

I shrugged.

“Because Fern cares,” she said. “From the moment you were born, I could tell you had a special soul.  I knew you’d be a good friend. A hero.”

I looked at my chest and tried to feel my soul buried in there, deep in my heart.

“It’s true,” my mom said. “Not everyone would share a sandwich with Random Smith.”

I smiled, feeling my soul stir a little.

Fern isn’t the only character who is named after a character in a book. Fern’s brother Holden is named after Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. When Fern and Holden found out their mom was pregnant, they were allowed to weigh in on names, and they chose the name “Charlie” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

Names can inspire personality traits in characters. The names can become part of the story, and the characters can sometimes live up — or not — to their names.

How do you choose your character names?

Apr 10

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Make your characters come alive with a character journal

I’ve been working on my fantasy novel lately and feeling as if I need to get closer to my protagonist. Scenes have been clicking along but I was starting to feel that some of my protagonist’s feelings and reactions to what is happening around her need to come out more.

Expanding on an idea I first heard about from author James Scott Bell, I decided to start a daily journal from the point of view of Caitlin, my protagonist.

My plan is that when I’m done writing a scene or a segment of a scene, I’ll take five minutes and write in her journal about how she feels about what just happened. Read more

Apr 8

How your audience can feed your writing soul

This weekend, my writer’s soul was nourished and fed. I gave a poetry reading at our local artsy coffee house, the Poulsbohemian, with two other poets—author and teacher Bob McAllister and Bill Mawhinney who runs the Northwind Reading Series in Port Townsend.

I was honored to read with these two prolific and treasured poets and they’re part of the reason I had such a great experience this weekend. But there was another reason the night stood out for me as the best reading I’ve ever given—the audience.

When I read, I like to take turns reading from my pages and glancing around the room at the faces in the crowd. My intent is to tune into their energy and take them for a ride with me. My goal is to entertain and move my audience.

Last night, I have to admit I was a bit tired when I arrived. But as soon as I started reading, I could literally feel the audience’s intent—they leaned forward, their eyes were open, they followed my words and wanted more. It felt as if they had all dialed into the same static-free channel at the same time. I’ve given readings before but this was the first time I felt the audience was really hungry. Read more

Apr 2

Use cause and effect to further your plot

Martha Alderson, otherwise known as The Plot Whisperer, defines plot as, “a series of scenes arranged by cause and effect to create dramatic action filled with tension and conflict to further the characters emotional development and create thematic significance.”

In her book, Blockbuster Plots, Alderson breaks down the above statement an element at a time to explain what each part means.

Cause and effect means that the events that happen in one scene cause the events that happen in the next scene. For the most part, we want our stories to flow from scene to scene and not feel episodic or random. Episodic scenes can make a novel feel disconcerting and choppy.  (Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule—I’ve read purposely episodic memoirs or novels where the author intended this. But, the key here is the authors knew what they were doing and used the technique on purpose).

If you want to hear more on cause and effect by Alderson watch this 7-minute video:

Apr 1

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What are your writing quirks?

As an editor, I’ve found that all writers — including me — have patterns of writing that I have to fix during editing. Over time, you learn some of your own quirks. But when you work on the same piece of writing day in day out, you get too close to your sentences to spot everything.

That’s when other writers who come to your work with a fresh perspective are invaluable.

I met with my writer’s group yesterday and feedback revealed overused and unnecessary words, repeated phrases or sentences left over from when I moved sections around, and passive writing that I missed when I read my manuscript for the umpteenth time.

At a certain point, it’s impossible to effectively edit our own work. Our brains glaze over.

If you start figuring out these patterns (with a little help from your friends), you’ll become a better writer. You’ll be more effective at self-editing because you’ll have a new level of awareness. Read more

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