So says Brenda Ueland and I agree with her. Her book, If You Want to Write, is one of my all-time favorite writing books. She is practical, straightforward and delightful. From the preface: For many years I had a large class of people at the Minneapolis YWCA. I think I was a splendid teacher and so did they. My teaching differs from that of others in this way: I am blessed with a fascinated, inexhaustible interest in all my pupils — their thoughts , adventures, failures, rages, villainies and nobilities, “Tell me more. Tell me exactly what you feel when you tried to kill the man.” . . . “You say his muscles rippled through his shoulders.” Did they really ripple? Did you really see that?” Then the young novelist’s excited defense: “Yes, they did! His muscles were so big they seemed to burst the seams of his coat!” Myself:…
Category: Quotes
There was something awesome in . . .
There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world. — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Note from Marlene: Perhaps it was this ability of Doyle’s that enabled him to write with sensory detail, especially the sixth sense.
Show me the glint of light on broken glass . . .
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” —Anton Chekhov
Cast off the fear
“I was terrified about writing stories about where I came from because I was embarrassed. Truly great writers are not afraid to bare their souls. Sometimes you may feel like: ‘I shouldn’t have put that in there, I don’t want people to think it’s about me or look at me differently.’ Toss those thoughts aside. That’s a mental block. Don’t think about it. Just do it. As long as you write from a place of purity, and it comes from your heart, you can’t go wrong.”—K’wan Foye, interview with Alicia Anstead, October 215 issue of The Writer.
Writing as an organic process. . .
“Think of writing as an organic, developmental process in which you start writing at the very beginning – before you know your meaning at all – and encourage your words gradually to change and evolve. Only at the end will you know what you want to say or the words you want to say it with.” –Peter Elbow
“The publishing world is always changing.” Jane Smiley
“As long as there’s a persistent audience for reading novels, then there’s going to be some way for them to be published.” —Jane Smiley, interview by Adrienne Crezo, Writer’s Digest September 2015 Jane’s daughter works at Book Country, an online writing community where you can share your work-in-progress and receive feedback from community members. “Connect with fellow writers on the discussion boards and learn from accomplished authors and editors on the blog.” Information at Book Country, “Treat Your Book Like a Start-up“
Start at the height of desire — David Lavender
Many of us have heard “start your story in the middle of the action, or the height of the conflict.” David Lavender suggests “start at the height of desire.” You need not worry about being dull if you can present within the first few hundred words a definite character in the grip of a definite emotion. “But introducing a character and his motives to an audience must be done deftly and without explanation. For example, if setting up a boy-loves-girl story, Lavender says, ‘I must show the boy immediately engaged in wanting the girl. I must do it with unobtrusive little touches. I must bring it out through the way he acts and what he says, being at all times careful not to let the reader guess that he is having something explained to him.’” — Nicki Porter, August 2015 The Writer magazine
Silverstein wrote for the ear
Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends “resonates because Silverstein wrote for the ear. Purposeful rhythm. Calculated pace. Challenging riffs. Delightful melodies. Words selected as much for their sound as their meaning.” —Jack Hamann, “For the ear — Writing with rhythm,” The Writer, July 2015 Tips to make writing stronger, inspired by Jack Hamann, “For the ear.” Vary pace – “bookend longer sentences with short, rhythmic declarations.” Use a thesaurus. Use alliteration (see below). Give weak verbs the boot. Omit unnecessary words, especially “the.” Read aloud. You’ll notice places that need tweaking. Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series: But a better butter makes a batter better. Marlene’s Musings: Have fun with this. Choose a prompt and write. Then, revise, using the tips above.
Start at the height of desire — David Lavender
Many of us have heard “start your story in the middle of the action, or the height of the conflict.” David Lavender suggests “start at the height of desire.” “You need not worry about being dull if you can present within the first few hundred words a definite character in the grip of a definite emotion.” “But introducing a character and his motives to an audience must be done deftly and without explanation. For example, if setting up a boy-loves-girl story, Lavender says, ‘I must show the boy immediately engaged in wanting the girl. I must do it with unobtrusive little touches. I must bring it out through the way he acts and what he says, being at all times careful not to let the reader guess that he is having something explained to him.’” — Nicki Porter, August 2015 The Writer magazine
Don’t think . . . then you can add, embellish.
Don’t think. Just write. Then you can add, embellish . . . “I don’t think about . . . things when I’m writing. I really try to shut off the thinking part of my brain. . . Don’t think . . . until you edit. And then you can add, embellish, and the next thing you know, if you’re very honest, all of the other stuff comes with it if it didn’t come before.” Sandra Cisneros, August 2015 The Writer magazine Marlene’s Musings: Yes! Your first bit of writing could be a freewrite. . . where you write freely. Then you can go back and revise, edit. . . add, embellish . . . make any changes you want. But first get it all down. Write from your heart, from your gut. Just write!