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Posts tagged ‘writing tips’

Mar 21

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The key to writing success? Never give up!

“My favorite rejection letter was from an agent who said, “We don’t have time to take on any new clients, and if we did, we wouldn’t want you.” But I kept trying. My second book got published. The first one never did.” Lisa Scottoline, author of legal thrillers.

The above quote comes from the book “The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists,” edited by Andrew McAleer.

Rejection is a natural part of any creative pursuit. In business, we say, “Some will. Some won’t. So what.” I like to say, “Some will. Some won’t. Keep going!” Okay, so maybe the alliteration isn’t as good, but the message is better. “So what” gives the vibe that you don’t care. “Keep going” conveys determination. Much better.

Last year, I submitted a creative nonfiction piece to a contest and it didn’t win anything. It didn’t even make it to the finals. I know I had rushed the project, but I still felt it was a good piece of writing. After reading it again several months later, my rushing was evident. Instead of tossing the piece out, I rewrote it and entered it in another contest where it won first place. If I had let a little rejection get to me, I never would have realized the piece’s potential.

Potential. I love that word. It means capable of being or becoming. Use rejections to push you forward into your full potential.

To read more on how to turn rejection into success, read my post, How to use rejection to improve your craft.”

Mar 17

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Channel your anxiety and fear to write your best book

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” — Leonardo DaVinci

In a recent Storylogue.com lesson, novelist and TV Writer/Producer Lowell Cauffiel mentions that many would-be novelists get to the two-thirds point in their novels and quit.

Author Dorothy Parker has been quoted as saying that she hates writing but loves having written.

Writing is hard–physically, mentally, and emotionally. We struggle to find just the right words and structure. We question our work and question our abilities. We question everything.

Cauffiel says this is good. He tells how author John Steinbeck kept a journal during the time he wrote his great American novel, “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Steinbeck constantly questioned himself and his abilities. Below are a few of his thoughts from his journal, Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath: Read more

Mar 12

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How your book is your teacher

As a business owner, I often meet other business owners or people who want to start a business. I’ll never forget one lady who told me she wanted to start a business but, over the years when I’d ask her how her business was going, she’d always reply that she was “researching” and “getting ready to start it soon.”

While I’m sure she learned a lot about her field, she never did start her business. She was always getting ready. A friend of mine calls this the “paper-clip-arranging” syndrome. It’s a syndrome that affects writers and other artists as well.

What is the real problem? FEAR. Read more

Mar 4

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Add alliteration to make your pages pop!

In my earlier post, “Rhetorical Devices: Your Secret Writing Weapon,” I mentioned that, as a poet, I often use alliteration, which is the repetition of the same sounds or the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables.

I never really thought about using alliteration purposely in my prose writing…it just kind of happened naturally as I wrote and tuned in to my “poet’s ear.” But after taking Margie Lawson’s online class on Deep Editing and Rhetorical Devices, I realized what a great tool alliteration (and other rhetorical devices) can be to make my pages pop.

You don’t want to overdo alliteration making your prose sound forced or “writerly” but you can learn to use it to add sparkle to your sentences.  Read more

Mar 3

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Lessons from Ernest Hemingway’s shortest novel ever

Rumor has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write the shortest novel ever. In response, he wrote: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”

Whether or not Hemingway actually wrote those six incredible words, they show the power in simplicity. One of the “rules of writing” that I’ve heard over and over is that sometimes less is more—especially when evoking strong emotions. Novelist and TV Writer/Producer Lowell Cauffiel stated in an interview on Storylogue.com that Hemingway’s “shortest novel ever” reminds him that when he’s editing to especially look for what he can delete or pare down—long paragraphs of description or setting that don’t move the story forward, unnecessary dialogue, or large chunks of information.

There are as many ways to write and as many styles of writing as there are fingerprints but remember the beauty in simplicity and lean writing. To read some of Hemingway’s (short) writing tips, check out this post by Brian Clark: “Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips for Writing Well.” To learn more about six-word memoirs, read Carly’s post.

Feb 25

Use onomatopoeia to enhance your writing senses

In an earlier post, “Use all six senses to make your story come alive,” I write about the importance of using all our senses when creating a scene. Too often, writers rely on sight or visual cues in the scene and forget to include the other senses.

Touch, sound, taste, and smell are just as important as sight, yet are often overlooked.

What senses do you use the most in your writing?

Find out by taking a chapter and highlighting the five senses with five different colored markers or pencils. I did this recently and discovered that after sight, my most used sense was smell, then sound, then touch. I didn’t use taste at all in that particular chapter.

You don’t need to use every sense in every chapter but you do want your writing to come alive and varying the senses will help you reach this goal.

One way to play with sound is through onomatopoeia—words that imitate the sounds the words describe. We’ve all seen this device used in comic books or in cartoons: POW, WHAM, BAM, etc. But you can also invent word sounds to match anything you want. Read more

Feb 19

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How to create a metaphor practice, part 2

In my last post, I wrote about the benefits of starting a metaphor practice and gave one exercise for doing so (by using a template from a writer you admire). Below is another exercise to add to your metaphor or simile practice:

Make a List: Find a spot where you think a metaphor might work in a scene and write down the subject. Example: As I write my scenes, I can usually tell when a metaphor or simile will add spark to my page. In my last scene, I wanted a simile to describe how a house looked from the outside at night. So I wrote down the subject “house lit up.”  Read more

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