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Posts from the ‘Craft’ Category

Mar 30

Hone your craft with these three writing posts

Writers are some of the most avid learners I know. We want to know about everything. That’s why I love reading other writers’ posts. This week, these three posts taught me something new. Enjoy!

Finding Your Natural Writing Voice by Charlotte Rains Dixon. Some great ideas on finding the “voice” of your story.

Keep ’em Hooked by Laura Griffin. Are you making these mistakes in your chapter endings? If so, try these fixes.

Realistic Expectations for Writing a Memoir by Bill Roorbach, with Kristen Keckler. My favorite part of this short article is the last paragraph on polishing your work.

Mar 23

Super charge your writing with these three posts

In need of some creative fuel to finish off the week? Power up with this trio of blog posts about writing craft.

Marla Madison reviews Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden and reveals 11 tips to create compelling sample chapters that will entice readers to buy the whole book. As it turns out, these tips are just plain good writing advice.

Darcy Pattison at Fiction notes writes about her search for a scene to avoid a “sagging middle.” Learn more about her exploratory techniques and find other great links to scene writing tips.

Poets and writers of any genre will find a burst of creative energy from Keith Jennings’s guest post at The Write Practice about collecting and connecting images and words. At the end of the post, you’ll find a writing exercise to practice connecting the images you’ve collected.

Mar 22

Going from panster to plotter

Someone asked me recently if I was a plotter or a panster. In other words, do I outline and plot my stories and poems before writing or fly by the seat of said pants? I think I’m somewhere in the middle. I usually have an idea of where the piece is going and make a few notes along the way, but mostly I just write. And rewrite. And rewrite some more.

But things are changing. Since my next book is fantasy, it will require more planning than my memoir. Also, I don’t want to take as long to write my next book. I’m hoping to shave off a few years. (Yes, seriously, years).

Since I’m in new territory and expanding my comfort zone, I’m using some aids along the way to help me brainstorm, plan, and outline. Read more

Mar 21

Book ideas don’t fall from the sky: Writing wisdom from an award-winning author

I was struck by a piece of writing advice in an interview with Kate Messner posted on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) blog.

While Messner writes for children, this advice applies whether you write poems, memoirs, novels, short stories or essays.

“It’s simple. If you want to write picture books, write them. Whether you are feeling inspired or not. Some of them will be awful, and this is okay. Don’t send them out. Let them live their lives out quietly on your hard drive, and learn from them.” Read more

Mar 19

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Find the right start to your story

A teacher once told me that you’ll find two types of beginnings when it comes to writing anything, whether it’s a poem, memoir, short story or nonfiction piece.

  1. The place where the writer begins writing.
  2. The place where the story actually begins.

If you feel as though you’re beginning isn’t quite right, consider whether you’re starting in the right place.

Start with a punch. Well not literally, although it depends on the story, but think about how you can grab the readers’ attention in your first few pages. Consider how you can raise a question in the readers’ minds that must be answered (then be sure to answer it).

Read more

Mar 15

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Outline key elements of your story, poem, or essay with one simple exercise

As I was reorganizing files last week, I found a writing exercise I’d done that helped me see how I could quickly sketch out the outline of a story from beginning to end in about 12 to 15 sentences (or more depending on how deep you want to take it).

I discovered the exercise in the book Writing and Publishing Personal Essays by Sheila Bender. She assigns it to help her students practice collecting sensory images. She credits a poem by poet Charles Proctor as the inspiration.

It’s a good focusing tool to note the key elements of a writing idea and chart the beginning, moments of conflict, middle, and resolution. And it works whether you’re writing a poem, memoir, short story, or novel. Read more

Mar 14

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How to murder your darlings…or cut what doesn’t serve your story

In my last post, I wrote about finding my real story while writing my memoir. I ended up with about 110,000 words in my finished manuscript. When an agent recently suggested I cut between 25,000 and 45,000 words I was stunned.

If you could hear my thoughts, it might have sounded something like this: No way! Really? Well, maybe I could cut SOME words but not that many! I need those words! There’s some really good writing in those words. 

I put the project away for awhile and worked on something else. I knew I was too close to it to see it clearly. As I worked on my other project, I gradually thought about sections of my memoir. I asked myself the questions I wrote about in my last post: Find your real story by asking these questions.

Then my mom passed away and everything was a blur for several weeks. During that time, I came across a contest for memoirs just a few days before the deadline (which happened to be the day of Mom’s funeral). I really wanted to enter the contest–mainly to use it as a deadline to make those dreaded cuts–and the contest had a page limit that fit what the agent had suggested. Read more

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