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Aug 30

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How writers turn journal entries into novels

Writing in a journal is a powerful way to create the bits and pieces that become literature.

Journals serve as workbooks and a place to note descriptions, thoughts, ideas and character sketches.

Graham Greene set two of his novels, “A Burnt out Case” and “The Heart of the Matter” in Africa. The book, In Search of a Character: Two African Journals: Congo Journey and Convoy to West Africa, reveals the raw material — observations about people and the world — that eventually turned into his novels.

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Aug 29

How scene cards can build a bridge in your story

As I’m working on my next manuscript, I have a feeling for the beginning and end of my story but I don’t really know much about that big, sticky, middle section yet. But after reading The Writer’s Guide to Writing Your Screenplay by Cynthia Whitcomb, I’m using a technique she discusses to help me discover more of my story.

Basically, using a stack of 3×5 index cards, you write your working title on one card, Act I, Act II, and Act III on three others, and then write out as many scenes from the beginning and ending that you know you’ll have. Write down the basic information: where, when, and what. Some of these will be “obligatory” scenes, i.e. in a romance story, you have to have a scene where boy meets girls. In a mystery, you have a scene with a dead body. In a thriller, the bad guy is introduced. Read more

Aug 28

A haunting memory and Ray Bradbury inspired this writer’s short story

Where do you get your ideas for short stories? I like to think of them as slices of life. An event or image sparks an idea with an emotional response at its core.

Author Sam Weller says a haunting memory sparked, “The Girl in the Funeral Parlor.”  An image of a woman and her baby in a casket formed the kernel of an idea. At the end of the story, he explains how it came to be, including how he was influenced by author Ray Bradbury. Read more

Aug 27

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Write your book blurb first to stay on track

In working on my new manuscript, one of the things I do from time to time is look at my main idea to make sure I’m on track or to see if it’s changed. In The Writer’s Guide to Writing Your Screenplay by author and screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb, she suggests that you spend a little time figuring out if you can tell your story in an abbreviated fashion.

She’s talking about screenplays here, but the advice also holds true for novels or nonfiction books:

“Write the ad copy. Write the TV Guide blurb. Write what people will tell their friends about this great movie they saw last weekend. Word of mouth is powerful…. This simple exercise, done before you write the script, could be helpful all the way down the road. If you can tell it in a strong, abbreviated version now, it will be easier for you to get it right as you write (And then to pitch it, too).” Read more

Aug 24

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Inspiring advice from a commencement address by author Neil Gaiman

Are your actions taking you closer to your goal or further from it?

In a commencement speech at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia earlier this year, author Neil Gaiman said he used the image of a distant mountain to represent his goal to become a writer.

When he was confronted with a decision in life and wasn’t sure what to do, he said, “I knew that as long as I kept walking towards the mountain I’d be alright.”

Hear other inspiring bits of advice in this 18-minute video.

I’ve always thought that as writers, it’s our job to experience life, including the bad parts, and figure out how to make art out of it. See artist Gavin Aung Than’s take on Gaiman’s speech in this comic.

Aug 23

Submit your best work to contests

I have a confession to make. Sometimes, I’m lazy. Not lazy in a lay around all day way, but lazy in that sometimes, with my writing, I take the “easy” path without really thinking about what might be the “better” path.

Case in point: After winning first place in the memoir category at the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Conference I had an epiphany—I realized that sometimes when I submit my work to a contest I pick a piece that I feel is finished but I don’t always pick a piece that I think can win.

I mean, I hope the piece could win but I don’t really look at it with a critical eye and ask, “Can this piece actually win—really win—this contest?”

It seems sort of obvious—that I’d want to submit a winning piece (keeping in mind that all contests are very subjective). But sometimes I pick what feels complete, even though it might not be 100% ready to be sent out into the world. When I enter a piece in a contest, I want to take it to the highest level. So, instead of one more rewrite, maybe that means five more rewrites.

My goal for the rest of this year is to only send out work I’ve examined with a critical eye and determined that it’s truly ready to be sent out into the world. Maybe it still won’t be chosen, but I’ll know that I’ve given it every advantage I could.

Aug 22

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Try these techniques to amplify emotion in your writing, part 2

I’m intrigued by the ways writers can show emotion through words and pacing.

Recently, I wrote a post about how author Sigrid Nunez used several literary techniques in A Feather on the Breath of God to show how the narrator of her novel felt distanced from her father, a Chinese-Panamanian immigrant.

Here is another example of how Nunez employed a rhetorical device called anaphora –repeating a word or two in successive clauses or sentences to create emphasis. Nunez also used cliches to represent distance and the lack of understanding and communication the narrator felt with her father.

“Chinese inscrutability. Chinese sufferance. Chinese reserve. I recognize my father in the clichés.” Read more

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