In an interview with The Costco Connection, Will Forte – an eight-year vet of Saturday Night Live – talks about his experience working with Bruce Dern in the movie “Nebraska.” When asked what he learned from Bruce Dern, Will answered, “Bruce would always give me this advice: ‘Be in the moment. Just find the truth of the scene.’ I’m not a trained actor, so that just seemed like drama school hogwash, but the further we got into the movie, it really made a lot of sense to me, and then I started thinking, maybe that’s what I’m supposed to do in comedy too. The truths might be very different, the levels of reality might be different, but you have to commit 100 percent either way.” Note from Marlene: I think this is true with writing also. When “the truth of the scene” is conveyed, writing is strong and readers feel…
Month: March 2014
In this photo . . . Prompt #55
This is a two-part prompt. Part 1: Get a photo of yourself. We’ll wait. Toe tapping . . . humming. Photo in hand? If not . . . close your eyes for a moment and picture a photo of yourself. Write, starting with: “In this photo . . . ” Go! Now! Write before reading Part II. Wait. . . did you write on the prompt? If yes . . . proceed to the next part. If not, take 10 or 15 minutes to write, “In this photo . . . ” We’ll wait for you to catch up. Maybe we’ll hum a little tune. . . la. . . de. . . dum. . . Ready? Part II: Add three sentences after every sentence you have just written. Start first additional sentence with “I felt” and then add two sentences after that. Example of adding three sentences to what…
One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.
Constance Hale launches Sin and Syntax, How To Write Wicked Good Prose with: “The French mime Étienne Decroux used to remind his students, ‘One pearl is better than a whole necklace of potatoes.’ What is true for that wordless art form applies equally to writing: well-crafted prose depends on the writer’s ability to distinguish between pearls and potatoes. Only some words are fit to be strung into a given sentence. Great writers are meticulous with their pearls, sifting through piles of them and stringing only perfect specimens upon the thread of syntax. The careful execution of beautiful, powerful prose through beautifully, powerful words is guided by my five principles.” Hale’s five principles: Relish Every Word Aim Deep, But Be Simple Take Risks Seek Beauty Find The Right Pitch Peruse Sin and Syntax to discover the pearls of wisdom of these principles and how to distinguish between words that are pearls…
Klutz or dazzling . . . Prompt #54
Tell a story from your past that has something to do with being a klutz or a time you were dazzling.
Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch by Constance Hale
Guest Book Reviewer Kathy Myers nails a review of Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing. If a mousy English teacher yanked the hairpins out of her tight bun, slammed down a couple of boiler makers, and shimmied around the dance floor at a biker bar, she could blame it on the copy of “Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch” tucked in her Borders Book bag. Constance Hale stimulates writers to accentuate and resuscitate their sentences with better verbs—the “little despots” that dictate what happens in the sentence. But it’s not just about verbs; it’s about better writing. It’s about smashing bad habits, and flirting with new ones. It’s about the rich history of our mutt of a mother tongue, and appreciation of its ongoing evolution. And because “the antidote to anxiety is mastery” each chapter includes prompts to “try, do, write, and play”, and thus makes this a worthy…
WriterAdvice seeks flash fiction, memoir, and . . .
WriterAdvice seeks flash fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction running 750 words or less. Enlighten, dazzle, and delight us. Finalists receive responses from all judges. First prize is $200. Submit to the 9th WriterAdvice Flash Prose Contest by April 18, 2014. Complete details at www.writeradvice.com Is Writer Advice’s Manuscript Consultation Service right for you? Details here Scroll down column.
Crafting scenes a reader can see—and sense by Constance Hale
Crafting scenes a reader can see—and sense by Constance Hale Place looms large in all the work I do—whether in travel writing (when I’m trying to capture the essence of another country or culture), or in narrative journalism (when I often begin with a scene to draw my reader into the story), or even in Facebook status updates (when I try to sketch a place with a few poetic images). When crafting scenes, many writers make the mistake of loading up adjectives. But, as always, nouns and verbs do the best detail work. Take for example this description by the Indian writer Arundhati Roy, in The God of Small Things: “May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. The river shrinks and black crows gorge on bright mangoes in still, dustgreen trees. Red bananas ripen. Jackfruits burst. Dissolute bluebottles hum vacuously in the fruity…
The nervousness of writing — Francisco Goldman
“When you’re beginning a book, or getting back into a book, as I am now, you have to learn to deal with the nervousness and stress of it. The blank page or the stalled page is incredibly intimidating. And you have to turn that nervousness – rather than into something that blocks you, rather than into something that makes you try to over-think, that makes you feel that you can’t proceed unless you have a clear idea of where you’re going – you have to harness that nervousness, almost like a natural force, and make it work for you. You have to trust that you’re just going to get inside the page and get inside the sentences, and you have to release the desire to feel in control and just follow the writing where it takes you and have faith that you’re eventually going to find the way. — Francisco…
What I want to say . . . Prompt #53
Today’s Prompt: What I want to say . . . Post your writing and watch for comments.
I am from . . . Prompt #52
Based on the poem, “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon. Learn more about this woman, with the unusual name (for a woman): George Ella Lyon. “In the summer of 1993, I decided to see what would happen if I made my own where-I’m-from lists, which I did, in a black and white speckled composition book. I edited them into a poem — not my usual way of working — but even when that was done I kept on making the lists. The process was too rich and too much fun to give up after only one poem. Realizing this, I decided to try it as an exercise with other writers, and it immediately took off. The list form is simple and familiar, and the question of where you are from reaches deep.” George Ella Lyon Watch and listen to George read her poem. Note from Marlene: I had the…