Once again, I am offering a free series of writing workshops for teens through the Kitchener Public Library. The workshops begin on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 and will be at the Forest Heights’ Branch from 4 to 5 pm. I’ll be working with teen writers to help them develop story ideas, write dialogue, create characters and add action and suspense to their writing. Check the KPL website for registration details.
Month: November 2012
Day 8 Writing Challenge Check-In
For someone who for months has been despairing that any creativity she professed to own had the life spark of mud, the fact that words have been hitting the page for seven days is a small miracle. Maybe they’re being written because I’ve left the laptop unopened, and I’m using paper and pencil instead. Maybe the words are coming because I have committed to writing something every day–not something great, long-lasting, or toward a goal of publication–just something. Whatever is going on is just fine with me.
I’ve been totally surprised at the workings of my brain. (Okay, that might be a surprise to a few people.) What I mean is–where do these stories and people come from? I just start writing and things happen. So far, though, all the protagonists have shared one thing–isolation. They start out alone or apart from others. In one story she is fairly content where she is–until she meets ‘him’. In two others, she is curious about something strange in her environment and that leads to a suprise (in one case a corpse.) In another, he is desperate to finish a manuscript that holds a secret, knowing his life is in danger. In the story that I’ve been working on for 3 consecutive days, she is a grumpy tourist who leaves her group long enough for them to be all gunned down. (Of course, I would continue the one with the highest body count!) Do you have a pattern to the beginnings of your stories? What do you do go get the creative sparks lighting? Do you write only on the computer? With pen and paper? A combination of the two? Do you find yourself suprised by stories or ideas that seem to come out of nowhere? I’d love to hear your surprise stories and how you tap into your imagination.
Writing Tips and a Writing Pledge
I just found this link a few days ago and want to pass it along. CBC Books is a website containing all things writerly created by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. (I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to live where a national broadcaster promotes reading and writing.) Within that site is a set of pages called Canada Writes, which contains a series of writing tips from Canadian authors. I’ve only had a chance to read a couple of them and I’m already printing and saving them to read again. So if you’re looking for some great writing tips, check out Writing Tips at Canada Writes.If you’re a mystery writer, you also might want to explore Louise Penny’s five-part series on writing mysteries. Here’s one to explore: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2012/05/louise-penny-master-class-things-i-wish-id-known-before-starting-my-first-book.html
You can tell that the muse/creativity/inspiration and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment because that’s when I read about writing rather than do the writing. I’m hoping that our separation doesn’t last too much longer, but in the meantime, I think it’s okay to fill the cup with some reading, too.
I have a friend who does daily writing exercises, whether they are about her book or not. I admire her enormously, and I think she’s absolutely on the right track. I also believe that it’s something I should be doing, too. If I want to keep calling myself a writer, I feel that I should be writing every day. I have writing gigs with deadlines that help pay the bills, but my creative writing has stagnated for a long time—and I miss it. So, I’m going to pledge to write every day for a month and keep you posted on my progress. If you want to join me, we can keep each other motivated, and I’d love the company!
Time Travel Tips
I am in the process of rethinking a current project and looking for a way to solve one of my major problems with the character. The book is set in medieval England, and my young hero just lacks the spark he needs to connect to the reader. In a brain blast, I realized that the way he spoke was a barrier to young readers–and to me, trying to bring him to life. But if he was a modern kid in a fish-out-of-water situation, I could use the language I want to write, and I think the story would be more fun for the reader. Time travel was the solution I came up with. A bit of The Time Machine and a bit of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
But …
I don’t know very much about time travel except for reading the two books mentioned above. I would love to hear your suggestions for time travel novels (for readers of any age) or how-to-write books that would help me research this framework for my story. I don’t want to copy anyone, but I do want to understand what the conventions are–does present time move in synch with past time, for instance, or is present time ‘on hold’ until the traveller returns? That sort of thing.
All help will be welcome. I look forward to your suggestions–and some great reading!
Does Your Character Have a Secret?
Two weeks ago I had the great fun of spending three days at Ridley College, working with the Grade 11s who were writing short stories. Because I was there last year, I didn’t want to go in with exactly the same material I used on that visit, even though the focus for my workshops was basically the same. To prepare, I did more reading about writing, focusing on character and dialogue, and found some great tips that I could pass along.The students’ imaginations went into high gear when I suggested that their character should have a secret. When they were asked to think about their own secret, it was clear that we had struck a chord. We all know something about ourselves or our families that we don’t want other people to know. The students also talked about short stories that they had read previous to my visit; they had no problem defining the characters’ secrets and how they added to the conflicts in the stories.
I challenged them to complete the following sentence from their character’s point of view: “I would die if anyone found out that I ….” We played with a couple of examples and saw how adding a secret gave a character one more challenge to face before he or she reached her goal. The secret upped the conflict and involved the reader.
I wish I had thought of this idea myself, but I got my inspiration from Lee Martin in his chapter, “Subversive Details and Characterization” in Naming the World: And Other Exercise for the Creative Writer, a fabulous book edited by Bret Anthony Johnston. I offer my heartfelt thanks to my friend Heather who suggested I read it.
Do your characters have secrets? Does the threat of revealing them motivate their actions or motivate their reactions to situations and other characters? Think about your favourite books. What secrets motivate those characters? Drop by the comment box and don’t keep your answers a secret! 🙂
November Writing Prompts
November 1st has arrived and with it my decision to skip NaNoWriMo this year. Part of me would love to join that crazy writing world for a month. I enjoyed the process a lot and loved tracking my wordcount and watching others work toward their goals. But, I feel like I’m in survival mode with a lot of other work and things on my plate, so no NaNo. On the plus side, I have a new writing gig to keep me busy and I’m planning more brainstorming sessions for another project I want to work on, so some creative work is ahead for me.
I did something totally different last weekend and put brush and paint to paper at an art workshop. I’m always fascinated with things medieval and the project was based on a medieval herbal. A sample of my efforts is in the photo. I really enjoyed the day. I used to paint “a bit” many years ago and it was fun to get out the paints and play again. The nice thing was that the final products were very small–something you could finish in an hour or so and they didn’t occupy much work space either. I find it very calming, too. While I’m painting, my brain really can’t cope with anything else but deciding where I’m going to put the brush next. Time passes and the to-do lists and have-tos recede into the fog–and I get a pretty picture at the end. Gotta love that!
Instead of writing prompts this month, here are links to two writing prompt creators that provide endless combinations of ideas to spark your imagination. I challenge you to try each of them just once.
The Writer Igniter: http://diymfa.com/writer-igniter
The Brainstormer: http://andrewbosley.weebly.com/the-brainstormer.html
Have you found any great sources of writing prompts that you’d like to share? I’m always looking for more links to add to the blogroll at my book’s website. There are nearly 80 of my own writing prompts on that site, too. Hope you all have a creative month ahead!