Month: July 2014

Writing Prompts for August 2014

The_Dragon's_Revenge_Cover_for_KindleWow! August 1st! What’s happening to the summer? I hope you’ve been busy with the things you love to do as well as dealing with life’s necessities.

I’ve been very busy, but in a good way, and am happy to have both of my self-published books now online. The first is Writing Fiction: A Guide for Pre-Teens, and the second is my fantasy for middle readers, The Dragon’s Revenge, a sequel to The Dragon’s Pearl. You can read more about The Dragon’s Revenge here. To celebrate its release, The Dragon’s Pearl is free right now on Kindle until Sunday. Here’s the link to check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Pearl-Temple-Blue-Mist-ebook/dp/B00C0C94G2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1406805446

The other work I’ve been doing is writing business case studies for an educational publisher to go along with a new textbook, and writing a kids’ version of Frankenstein for Caramel Tree Publishing. They specialize in ESL material. Frankenstein won’t be out until next year sometime. With my friend and co-writer, I’m also working on an anthology of stories for boys that we hope to have out by early September.

And like you, I’m still looking for new stories to write.

Here are some prompts to help you find your stories this month:

1. Use one some or all of these words in a story or poem”

Blue, rain, bridge, driving, insect

Trees, sign, warning, chase, silver

 

2. Here are some titles for you to try: It’s Conditional, Dream Valley, A Piece of Sky, Lodging Exit 52, Silver Creek Adventure, Mail 346.

 

3. Try one of these opening lines and see where it leads:

How long ‘til we get there?

Looks like rain.

From here, the place didn’t look that scary.

There was only one way out.

I’d had a root canal, broken my wrist, and been kissed by Mackenzie Schmidtheimer, but all of them together weren’t worse than a family road trip.

 

4. What kind of scene can you build around these lines of dialogue?

Where are you going?

Why?

Look at the sky.

 

I want to go now.

That’s impossible.

Why?

You haven’t met Sirus yet.

 

The place has changed since I was here last.

One thing has stayed the same though.

What’s that?

It’s still dangerous.

 

5. Describe your ideal concert? Who would be playing and where? Who would you go with and what would happen that would make this experience the most important one in your life so far?

6. In your imagination, picture a street corner that you know well. In your imagination, turn that corner and find something completely surprising—a circus, the same street in the year 1850, a Roman ruin … you get the idea. What happens next?

 

 

 

 

Writing Fiction: A Guide for Pre-Teens

BookCoverImageWell, the day has finally come and Writing Fiction: A Guide for Pre-Teens is available at Amazon and CreateSpace. Yay! The Kindle version should be up in a day or two, and in a few weeks, it should be available on Kobo and at other on-line retailers. A labour of love, this book has kept me inspired and busy for the past several weeks, tweaking and adding final touches. The cover photo may still change, but for now I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief. You can take a peek at the Table of Contents below.

Hope you have some fun, writerly days ahead!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Getting Started  7

Joywriting           8

What do I need to be a writer?  9

Habits and Goals              11

Choosing Your Goal         11

Writing Every Day            12

Don’t Miss a Word           12

Write with a Friend or Two          12

Pantser or Plotter: Which are you?          15

The Pantser        15

The Plotter         16

Where do I get ideas for stories?              17

What if?               18

Write What You Know   18

Pick 4 Words      20

Writing Prompts               21

Plotting Tips       23

Basic Rule of Plotting      24

Story Planning   24

Plotting with the Hero’s Journey               27

How do I start my story?               31

Who should tell the story?           33

Point of View: First Person          33

Point of View: Second Person    34

Point of View: Third Person         34

How do I describe my characters?            37

Show Don’t Tell                38

Change Is Good                39

Character List     41

How do I describe the setting?  43

Think about how much you really have to describe.         43

Use Comparisons             43

Get the Senses Involved              44

Draw a Map or Use Photos          44

How do I write dialogue?              47

How do I end my story?                51

How do I make my writing better?           53

Revising and Editing        53

Words   53

Sentences           53

Combining Sentences    54

Paragraphs         55

What do I do when a story gets stuck?   59

1. Outline.           59

2. Forget about making the first draft perfect.    59

3. Write more than one story at a time.60

4. Put the story away.    60

5. Brainstorm.    60

6. Ask “What if?”              61

7. Don’t worry.  61

Last Words          63

Bibliography       65

Moving Soon

I’m in the process of upgrading my website and moving it to a new web host. I’m fairly tech savvy, but these things still make me nervous. Not everything always goes smoothly, as you know.

The new website address is http://wrightingwords.com. At least it will be when it’s set up. I hope!

Fingers crossed that this won’t be too complicated a process!

Hope to see you soon at the new location.

Storm front rolling in. This is how I feel about moving my website. Yikes!
Storm front rolling in. This is how I feel about moving my website. Yikes!

A Website Milestone–and Looking for Balance (again!)

Owen Sound Windows
Owen Sound Windows

A huge THANKS to all the people from 172 countries who drop by to visit my website! This morning, my website surpassed 100,000 page views. A big day for me! It’s a pleasure spending time with you. I hope you and/or your students and/or your children are having fun with the writing prompts and are making use of the other resources here. It’s exciting for me to see how many creative people there are out there, and how many people love to write stories. I wish you lots of fun and wonderful surprises as you pursue your writing and teaching goals.

I’ve been doing some of my own writing lately: some short stories for boys for a self-pub project, and an adaptation of Frankenstein for an ESL publisher that I’ve worked with before. I was planning a relaxing summer, but the adaptation, the stories, plus another large freelance gig, are keeping me busy–and, as it turns out, too busy. I chug along at full speed for a certain amount of time and then just hit a wall. Today is “wall” day.

20140622_141428
Photo taken at Owen Sound marina

All I hear is the clock ticking and the worrying thoughts in my head about how I’m going to get everything done on deadline and still find some time to relax, too. Well, guess what? Part of that break is happening today. Time to take a deep breath, get the calendar out, and plan the work–and–the down time.

Plowing through, head down, shoulders up and tense as can be is my usual approach to projects and deadlines. I always want to get the job done the day it’s assigned; however, I’m learning to stop before I get too carried away. It’s time to break the work down into small bites and find a little balance.  I’m going back to a favourite blog post by Kristi Holl, “How to Recover Your Writing Energy–All Day Long!” She offers some excellent strategies for helping pace a busy day, and I definitely need to listen to that advice today.

2014 Peonies
2014 Peonies

If you have some tips for pacing a busy writing (or anything else) life, please share. I’m sure I’m not alone in needing some help with this one.

Have a great, writerly day!

PS. Lots of photos in the blog today. I got a new smartphone and have been playing with the camera. 🙂

 

Writing Prompts for July 2014

IMG-20120521-00409Happy Canada Day to those north of the 49th parallel, and an early Happy 4th of July to those living south of our border. May you all enjoy safe and relaxing holidays with family and friends.

Since we’re half way through the year, now’s a good time to check in with your writing goals How close are you to achieving the goals you set back in January? Have your goals changed? Did some events or people come into your life to take away your writing time? Now is not the time to fret over time passed or lost. Celebrate what you did accomplish and spend a little time over the next few days thinking about the next six months.

Maybe the goals you set were unrealistic for your lifestyle, or schedule, or personality.  Is there one small thing that you could change that would free up some writing time? Is there a TV show that you are still watching in reruns even though you’ve seen every episode? Can you delay checking your email, Facebook, etc. in the morning and give yourself a half hour of time at the beginning of your day? Skipping that time in front of a screen and heading for your writing project could give you a scheduled time every week (or day!) in which to put some words on paper.  Maybe writing in your journal while you’re having lunch or just before bed will be all you can do to keep the writing flowing during a busy summer. Even a small number of words, as few as 250 a day, can leave you with a decent-sized manuscript at the end of six months.

When the busy holiday weekends are over, here are some writing prompts for you to think about for the rest of the month–or for the next six. 🙂

1. Use one, some, or all of the following words in a story or poem:

a) blue, floor, mirror, shoe, ribbon, fear

b) screen, shine, cover, window, ink, push

2. Here are some opening sentences for you to try:

  • Prom met all expectations.
  • “Turn that off now!”
  • Waiting stinks.
  • The boys found the body right after lunch.
  • “What’s in the bag?”
  • Sirens echoed through the valley.

3. See if you can think of a story or poem to go with one of these titles: Love’s Embers, Brook’s Brothers, Chase, Blue, The Last Tower, Mouse House, One Small Moment, Candle Power, Apple Days

4. Can  you think of a scene to go with these lines of dialogue?

  • That’s mine.
  • Are you sure?
  • Are you sure you want to ask that question?

 

  • I thought your magic would help us to get out of here.
  • I thought it would, too.
  • So, what’s the matter?
  • Someone’s using stronger magic.

 

  • You said you had the key.
  • I do.
  • Then why don’t you use it?
  • I’m not sure I want to know what’s on the other side of the door.

Hope you all have a writerly week ahead.

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