“Happy Mother’s Day, Sally,” I said, while holding a plate of basil mashed potatoes and beef medallions. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that broccoli salad – the house specialty – and eyed it as another patron of the Sunday Brunch dived in. Sally looked up as she spooned smoked salmon onto her plate. “Hello.” She glanced behind me, and I saw one of her children, the six year old, heading into the buffet line. “How’s the writing going?” “Good,” she said as she reached around me, handing him a plate. “Don’t spill.” She stepped out of line. “I don’t know if we can meet tomorrow. I have a school field trip.” “No problem, I said, we’re just going to talk about Scene Structure.” She made a face. […]
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Thoughts On Writing A Review
I’m venturing out. Being bold. I’m going to talk about writing reviews. You may wonder what this has to do with writing or being a writer. Everything. Writing is art. That’s the first thing I want you to remember. Art. And art is subjective. I’ve read many books that I’d have written differently, but I choose to read the story as the author portrayed it. There are so many things going in an author’s heart and mind while writing it is IMPOSSIBLE to think of every angle, every pitfall, every emotional high or low. Many times an author will have an objective in mind and during the writing process¾changes, editing, rewriting and proofing¾and the original objective gets chipped away. What seemed clear in the author’s mind doesn’t quite communicate in […]
Read the RestQuick Skills: Tips and Tricks for building Scenes
There are three stages to the discovery stage of writing a novel: Character development, Story development, and Scene development. Like building a house, the book takes shape as you craft each scene. Yesterday, we went over scene rhythm, how an author knits together the story, through Action and Reaction scenes and the components of each. Here are some tips as you work through each component. Action Scene Tips: Goal – A character has an overall story goal, but inside those goals are smaller goals, goals derived by the situation, or his motivation, or the events happening around him. For each scene, make your goal specific, tangible, measurable and timely. This will give an urgency to your scene, and will make your character alive and interesting. A character that wants something […]
Read the RestConversations: Building your story through the rhythm of scenes
The sun tugged at the irises peeking from the dirt edging the coffee shop. Another month in the northland and spring might actually arrive, cascade into summer. I found Sally at our table, grinning at me. “What?” “Now that I know my characters, and my story structure, I think we’re coming to the best part – the scenes.” “You’re right. At least, that’s my favorite part about writing. Because we can talk big picture and characters all day long, but when you create scenes, you are bringing the story to life. Think of every book as live action that we can observe, like a movie. In fact, for me, writing is not unlike viewing a movie…I close my eyes, see the scene and walk through it with the reader.” “That’s what […]
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