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Posts from the ‘Craft’ Category

Jun 4

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The Editing Games, part 1

Editing. Does it ever end? Maybe if we have an apocalypse—where we writers would be too busy scrambling to save our skins or ambling down The Road trying to hide from lawless survivors. Or, would we take time out from the metaphorical red pen if compelled to compete with Katniss in The Hunger Games?

Nah. Being writers who want to get our work published, we’d probably just turn the arena into a battlefield of dangling modifiers, unnecessary adverbs, overwrought adjectives, and just plain old unnecessary words aka “fat.” Yes, in editing mode, we writers are fat trimmers. Read more

May 29

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The key to building complex, realistic characters

Ever have one of those “aha” moments in your personal life that just rock your writing world? I love it when this happens.

Recently, while on vacation with my hubby, we were surfing channels late one night and ran across an old rerun of The Odd Couple with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. The Odd Couple, in case you’re too young to remember, was a sit-com about two men Oscar, the slob, and Felix, the neat freak, and how they live together and drive each other crazy. We watched the episode and laughed more at how corny the show was than the jokes (but the jokes were pretty funny too).

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May 28

Seven elements of an extreme character

How extreme are your characters?

Some of the most interesting and memorable characters in literature have contradictory and irreconcilable traits. Extreme characters are a mix of traits that make them so unique that they aren’t like anyone we know.

But it doesn’t mean we don’t identify with some of their characteristics. These characters stick in your reader’s mind.

Tips:
Think of your character’s traits and consider which one you want to emphasize. Mental traits often work better than physical and can power emotional depth in your story. Surprise your reader by turning stereotypes inside out.

Here’s a profile of an extreme character: Read more

May 22

Where do stories come from? Find out here

Are you curious about where stories come from? How a writer comes up with a particular idea? I find it energizing to learn the story behind the story.

Some stories come to their authors in a rush, seemingly out of nowhere. Others say, a chance encounter, or an observation of something odd sparked their story. Then as they wrote, the meaning revealed itself and the language and the emotion rose to the surface and drove the story home. Read more

May 21

How listening to poetry sparked my muse: ode to Billy Collins

Recently, while on a six-hour plane ride, I listened to former poet laureate Billy Collins’ CD “Billy Collins Live.” After the hilarious introduction by comedian and actor Bill Murray, Collins reads nearly thirty of his own poems.

As mentioned in a previous post, “Three Ways to Feed Your Muse,” I often find inspiration in other writer’s works. As I was listening to the flow of words and ideas from Mr. Collins, one particular poem nabbed me and before long I found myself writing a new poem. Read more

May 18

Perfecting your first page and other inspiring ideas

Celebrate Friday with these tidbits of writing advice.

In Revealing Character through Details, Julie Eshbaugh at Publishing Crawl explains her philosophy about expressing character details in fiction and includes several examples.

Then, head over to writer and editor Jane Friedman’s blog to read Perfecting Your First Page: Three Tasks or Exercises.

May 17

3 Comments

How to use symbols in your writing

As a poet, I collect symbols. Because poems are usually shorter than novels, we have less space to get our meanings across, and a symbol can convey a mood or theme in a few words.

In a longer work like a novel, symbols can help deepen the plot, add to characterization, and expand themes.

But what exactly is a symbol? I like this definition from http://fictionwriting.about.com:

A symbol is a person, place, or thing that comes to represent an abstract idea or concept-it is anything that stands for something beyond itself. Read more

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