onewildword

Oct 29

A good story or good writing: What’s more important?

What’s more important: A good story or good writing?

My cousin asked me this question recently as I was giving him tips to build out a series of travel essays he’d been working on.

I want to be able to say that both are equally important, but I think a good story is the first priority. Good writing comes in the revision.

Here are a few pieces of advice I gave him as he sets out on his writing journey to ensure he’ll write a good story AND write it well.

Create a reading list. We should always be reading but when I start a writing project, I like to create a custom reading list for that project. I advised my cousin to read books in the same genre as he expects to write. I always like the “Best American Series” books, so I suggested he add The Best American Travel Writing 2012to his list. Read more

Oct 26

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Submit your best work

“How you do one thing is how you do everything.” I can’t remember who originally said this but I’ve heard it many times.

Learning to write or do any art is like peeling an onion. A concept or craft technique I learned two years ago will continue to unfold and grow to a deeper level in my understanding.

One of many of these moments came to me last weekend at the Surrey Writers Conference. I heard over and over that, as writers, we should only send out our best work.

I know this, of course, but it resonated at a deeper level of understanding for me this weekend. Read more

Oct 25

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Enter the inspiration zone to generate story ideas

Tanya Lloyd Kyi has a prescription for filling blank pages: Freewrite with childlike abandon. Kyi shared tips about writing and generating ideas in her workshop, “The Inspiration Zone: Practical ways to generate and sustain ideas,” at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference Oct. 19-21.

Kyi said that, as a child, she wrote constantly and didn’t worry about who saw it. But things change when you get older.

“We can find ourselves in a straitjacket worrying about what we’re allowed to write about and not write about,” she said. “Sometimes we have to cast away those doubts and just write.”

Writing prompts can spark ideas for new stories. Read more

Oct 24

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Passive verbs are for zombies

When I first started writing, I struggled with the passive voice. I remember one of my writing mentors drawing it to my attention. In an early chapter of my memoir I had too many “woulds,” “coulds,” and linking verbs. All of this led to my reader feeling distanced from my story.

As storytellers, we want to engage our readers. One way to do this is by using active verbs.

Here’s the difference:

He kissed her. (active) Read more

Oct 23

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Find good story material by being an observer

If you’ve been reading this blog awhile, you may have seen me mention the term, “good material.” Good material is how I describe any incident, detail, or drama I’ve observed or experienced that might find its way into my writing.

Stories that ring true contain happy and sad events, as well as the mundane and terrifying, because compelling stories are distinguished by conflict and drama.

We’re surrounded by good material but it doesn’t do any good if we don’t recognize and note it.

How do you know what good material is? I like to say you know it when you see it. It might be as simple as an interesting bumper sticker that could later turn up on the car of a character. Read more

Oct 22

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Write a pitch for your work-in-progress: the sooner the better

This weekend, I attended the Surrey International Writers Conference in Canada. It’s one of my favorite conferences and a wonderful, supportive environment to pitch your manuscript to potential agents and editors.

I didn’t feel like pitching my memoir, so I decided to practice-pitch my work-in-progress, an urban fantasy novel, because that’s the project I’m really excited about right now. Problem was–I didn’t have a pitch for it.

I did have my original idea and an overall grasp of my story so I spent half an hour throwing my pitch together before bed Friday night. In other words, I winged it. (Shhh…don’t tell). Read more

Oct 19