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Posts from the ‘Craft’ Category

Oct 28

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Exercises in memoir: finding your story

We all have a story to tell. Some of us have several. So how do you discover your real story? In memoir, it’s important to sift through the events of your life to discover what’s important.

Below are a few exercises that helped me find the core of my story:

  1. Set your timer for 15 minutes and write 10 sentences that begin with the words, “I remember….” The sentences don’t have to be related, just write, try not to think too much, just let the words flow. When you’re done, read through your list and see if there’s anything that stands out or feels the most honest. Usually, these lines appear later in the list. Read more

Oct 26

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Three tips to writing multi-dimensional villains

At the Surrey International Writers’ Conference this year, I attended a workshop by author Wendy Roberts on how to create a great villain. Judging by her popular Ghost Dusters series, I’d say what she does works. Below are some of Wendy’s tips, mixed in with several of my own.

Books, of course, can have more than one villain (bad guy) but should really have only one main antagonist (the baddest bad guy).

1.     Know your antagonist.  Most of us spend more time developing our protagonist then our antagonist. But we should know our villain as well as, or even better than, our hero. We have to know our antagonist inside and out. To help with this, I ask myself questions. What makes them tick? What in their childhood or past set them on their path? What drives them? Greed? Revenge? Drugs? What do they want out of life? What makes them feel good? What makes them feel bad? Dig deep and find your villain’s motives. But don’t stop there. Read more

Oct 25

Place readers in your story world by noting significant details

One of the best things about reading a gripping book is the way it pulls you into another world where you become so immersed it’s as if you’re really there. One way to draw readers into your story is by using what writer and teacher John Gardner called “significant details.”

Before he died at age 49, Gardner wrote more than thirty works of fiction and nonfiction, including novels, literary criticism, and a book of poetry. He also wrote three successful children’s books, among them “Dragon, Dragon, and Other Tales,” which was named Outstanding Book for Children by the New York Times. Gardner was also a professor of medieval literature and creative writing.

In his book, The Art of Fiction, Gardner wrote, Read more

Oct 24

How to use poetry to better your writing

At the Surrey International Writers’ Conference this last weekend, I received the honorable mention award for poetry in their annual writing contest. It was an incredible honor and an exciting, inspiring conference. Later this week, I’ll share some of my personal highlights from the weekend—including a few tips I learned from author Diana Gabaldon on writing sex scenes and author Wendy Roberts on what makes a good villain.

In honor of my poetry award, below are three previous posts about ways to use poetry to better your writing:

Two exercises to help you write poetically

Four ways to stimulate creativity and cure the writing blahs

Three ways to feed your muse: hunting down inspiration

If you have other ways you use poetry to better your writing, please share!

Oct 21

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Find creative possibilities in your workplace

In these economic times when everyone knows of someone who has lost a job, we all have work of some sort — even if it’s looking for another job. Some people work as stay-at-home moms and dads, while others work in small businesses, schools, or large corporations.

Whatever your situation, jobs are sources of great writing material. You might find inspiration to write a poem, an essay, a scene for a short story (after all, your characters likely have jobs too), or maybe even a whole novel.

Broadcaster and author Studs Terkel chose to literally write about other people and their jobs. In Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, he interviewed people in all sorts of jobs — from a factory worker to a fashion model. The narratives move between mundane details, emotional truths, and existential questioning. Read more

Oct 20

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How to riff your way to more ideas

Earlier, I wrote a post about word riffing—applying the musical technique of riffing to find just the right word. Sometimes, I use this riffing technique to generate ideas for plot, character traits, or anything else I might be stuck on.

Often an idea will grab my attention and I’ll follow it, riffing along to see where it leads me. Riffing is like dominos–one thing leads to another. To really get my brain going, I ask questions such as: What if? What’s next? How does it feel?

This happened recently when a friend was diagnosed with an illness. She told me how the doctor’s words felt like a curse. The idea of words as a curse intrigued me so I started asking myself questions. Below is the poem that was born from my riffing: Read more

Oct 19

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Breathe life into characters with the right names

What do you think of when you hear these names? Holden Caulfield, Bilbo Baggins, Jane Eyre, Hannibal Lecter, and Scarlett O’Hara.

Memorable character names help grab readers’ attention, and gripping characters become so real that readers remember them long after they read the last page of a book.

I collect names the way I collect other writing bits in my commonplace book. I wrote these down recently: Virgil Doty, Pernelle Parker, Carlyle Scoggins.

Here are a few things to think about when you’re creating character names:

Avoid similar sounding names – Especially in the beginning of your story, readers will be meeting your characters and trying to place them and the relationships. Jared, Jason and Joseph are all nice names but too many “J” names might throw off readers. Read more

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