Skip to content

Nov 21

2 Comments

Using the sixth sense to enrich your story

In my last post, I discussed how to use the five senses to make your story world more believable—even if you’re writing about real-live gods and the dead coming back to life like author Neil Gaiman in American Gods. But what about the sixth sense of intuition? How can you use what is unseen, what is beyond the five physical senses to enrich to your story?

Contrary to what you might think, your character doesn’t have to be a psychic or a mind reader. You can activate your readers’ sixth sense by using foreshadowing or details that set the mood of a scene. Again, it comes down to using telling details based on the other five senses. Take a look at this passage from “American Gods.” What does it evoke in you as a reader? Read more

Nov 18

Unstick your writing mind

Do you ever feel like you’ve hit the writing wall and you’re not sure what to do? Relax. Read these posts to reveal a strategy that will put you back on track.

Stuck on what to write about? Consider these big ideas

Do you have a deep desire to write but aren’t sure where to start? Find the answer by asking the right questions. Read more

Nov 17

3 Comments

Use all six senses to make your story come alive

Sometimes, I don’t like to read another author’s work while I’m writing, other times I do. Since I began writing my current manuscript, I’ve started and stopped several books. But last week I picked up Neil Gaiman’s American Godsand haven’t been able to put it down. I find myself asking, “How does he do it?”

American Gods is a wildly creative and beautiful story. What I love most is how the story is so otherworldly—people coming back from the dead, gods walking around among us—yet feels so absolutely real as if it were playing out in front of me. Read more

Nov 16

How you can apply method acting to writing

How much do you immerse yourself in your characters’ worlds and emotions? The renowned director and acting coach Constantin Stanislavski was known for his theories of method acting, in which he said actors must learn to think and behave like their characters would. As writers, we can also use his system to create more realistic characters on the page.

A fundamental principle of Stanislavski’s teaching is that the actor must live the life of the character that he portrays. This portrayal isn’t limited to the actor’s stage performance but to some degree overlaps into the actor’s life. Stanislavski believed this is the only way to achieve total realism. To reinforce it,  he said, the actor must also extend this exercise of imagination to include the clothes, the set and the props. If there is a particular prop that is important, the actor must invent a history of who bought it, where it was purchased, and how it ended up in the setting. This then completes the elaborate imaginary world that will lend conviction to the actor’s performance.

Much of the Method process was about creating a realistic portrayal on stage through acute observations of the world. Method coaches taught students to draw on personal experience as well as their imaginations to reveal their characters’ emotions.

While building a character and creating actions on paper (or computer monitors) may not be the same as an actor playing a character’s role, I’ve tried using elements of method acting to build more fully developed characters. Read more

Nov 15

2 Comments

How writing persistence pays off

He’s been writing longer than I am old. In this short video, Ray Bradbury explains the secret to his long career: persistence. He kept writing and kept submitting and each year he doubled his sales of short stories. If you need a quick dose of inspiration and a smile (and not just because of the giant blow-up dinosaur in his living room or his writing snack of beer and cheese) enjoy this video!

Nov 14

4 Comments

Anton Chekhov’s six writing principles

From the beginning of his writing career, Anton Chekhov was recognized for his originality. Writer Leo Tolstoy called Chekhov, “an incomparable artist…an artist of life.”

Chekhov wrote about ordinary events and the relationships of people in small towns and villages. He employed a variety of techniques, including pacing and word choices that paint imagery, create his characters and reveal their changing moods. His style, in stories such as, “The Lady with the Little Dog,” and “The Huntsman,” built a new literary form that was described as impressionistic by other writers of his time.

In letters Chekhov sent to his writing contemporaries, as well as his family, Chekhov often discussed his work and ideas about story craft. His advice is as relevant now as it was in the 1800s. In a May 10, 1886, letter to his brother Alexander, also a writer, Chekhov noted six principles of a good story.

  1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of a political-social-economic nature Read more

Nov 11

3 Comments

Inspire your inner artist

Writing is a solitary, sometimes lonely process—we tuck ourselves away physically and mentally in the name of our art. Because we’re used to spending time alone with white space and words, writers tend to be a bit introverted.

As an artist, I think it’s important to also seek community—not only with other writers but with different types of artists. Going outside our comfort zone can inspire us in new ways. Recently, I was so inspired.

I traveled to Seattle to see poet, author, graphic novelist, and lovely [British version (inside joke)] singer Neil Gaiman and singer, songwriter, piano and ukulele slayer Amanda Palmer (who just happen to be married to each other) in an astounding multidimensional performance. Gaiman read his poems and short stories. Palmer sang and played her own music.

Not only were the duo incredibly entertaining but watching them perform was like watching art being born in front of me. Something visceral and human and transcendent took place on stage. It was the kind of performance that leaves you trembling with aftershocks that you know you’ll be processing for months or, even, years.

At some basic level the experience transformed me as an artist. I feel more connected to my center and to my art. And maybe that’s what great art is meant to do, no matter what the medium—connect us to that which we’ve been missing and to that which we didn’t know we were missing.

To learn more about Amanda Palmer and hear samples of her songs click here.

For access to Neil Gaiman’s wonderful world of skullduggery click here.

What has inspired you recently?

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →