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Posts from the ‘Writing Exercises’ Category

Aug 1

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How to create fiction that moves readers

Literary agent and writing teacher Donald Maass says the most successful novels of the early 21st Century are beautifully written while telling powerful stories. He predicts less focus on genre and more focus on fiction that moves people.

What moves people? What connects readers to the heart of our characters? Emotions.

At the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Conference last month, Maass spoke about how to achieve an emotional landscape in our novels.

He says to ask yourself what new emotions you’ve experienced this year.  Then ask: is there a place in your manuscript where a character can feel this emotion? Read more

Jul 30

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Six elements of great short stories

In literary agent April Eberhardt‘s short story workshop at the recent Pacific Northwest Writer’s Contest, she gave us a list of six elements to look for in stories.

Eberhardt suggests that we write our story first and then overlay these six elements on it to help polish our work.

Six elements of short stories:

Setting.  Set the stage close to the beginning of the story. In my earlier post, I quote poet Nelson Bentley, “Give the readers a place to stand, and then you can take them anywhere.” Read more

Jul 18

Using difficult emotions to make your story stronger

Seven months into the year, and I realize I’ve been through so much: the passing of my mother, our two-week remodel that turned into nine-weeks, a mini-family reunion, and both expected and unexpected travel. I’ve had many different stressors and felt a gamut of emotions: sadness, grief, fear, love, joy, fatigue (well, maybe that last one isn’t exactly an emotion, but it should be!)

As I work on my next book—imagining my story and going deeper into my characters—I realize that my seven months have been a blessing, in more ways than one. Read more

Jul 16

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Write your book while dreaming

As a young girl, I was a big daydreamer. While my teachers tried to fill my blank mind with science or math or proper grammar, my head was crowded with imaginary friends, chestnut horses, and rainbow unicorns. Make-believe scenes reeled through my mind on a daily basis.

In forty-some years, not much has changed.

Now, however, I use my dreaming mind as a tool to find story ideas, develop character and plot, or find the perfect word for a poem. Read more

Jul 12

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Find writing magic in your favorite movies and books, part 2

As I write my next book, I find it helpful to think back on what has excited me about other stories or characters.

In my last post, I shared a few of my favorite scenes or ideas from the movies. Below is my list of recent in-print favorites. These are either scenes, images, objects or themes that have stuck with me and made me wish I’d come up with the them.

Novels:

Karen Marie Moning’s “Fever” series.  In her fantasy world, “Death-by-Sex” Faes can turn their powers off and on, capturing a person with lust. One of these Faes uses a pearl necklace in a very erotic, highly charged way. It’s one of the most unique and memorable “sex” scenes (there’s no actual sex) I’ve ever read. This is one of those scenes I wish I’d written. I’ve written more about this in my post, “How to Write a Good Sex Scene.” Read more

Jul 2

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Don’t write what you know, write what sets you free

Common advice given to new writers is to write about what you know. This can be good advice. For example, if you want to write legal thrillers, then having a background in law will save you research time and lend a sense of reality to your story.

Having been a paralegal for seven years, I have a background in law, but if I had to write a story with a legal theme, I’d end up as crazy as Jack in “The Shining.” So maybe better advice to a new (or seasoned) writer is to write about what interests you.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are you passionate about?
  • What makes you come alive?
  • What new things would you like to learn?
  • If you had all the money in the world, what would you do?

Exercise: Set a timer for 10 minutes and answer the questions above.

In my next post, I’ll share a technique I use to help discover what interests me.

Jun 28

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Banish your fear of writing with this exercise

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. . . . Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation.”— Stephen King

I’m starting a new book with the goal of finishing my first draft in 90 days. I started writing the book last year but was sidetracked with other writing and editing projects. I was also sidetracked by fear:

  • The fear of getting it wrong;
  • The fear of not being good enough;
  • The fear of getting halfway through the story and not knowing how to end it;
  • The fear of writing myself into a corner;
  • And about 100 other fears.

As Stephen King suggests, I’m learning how to let go of my fear to become a better writer. Read more

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