Guest Blogger Becca Puglisi, co-founder of Writers Helping Writers, talks about clichéd characters. It’s hard to come up with characters who are believable yet don’t sound like every other character out there. It’s especially easy to fall into this trap with certain archetypes, like witty sidekicks or wise old mentors. Unfortunately, a recent book that I started had a whole cast of clichés: the jaded, super-sarcastic teen girl hero; the loving but confused single parent; a villain in the form of a Queen Bee Mean Girl. As for the love interest and sidekick…I didn’t stick around long enough to meet them. But even one clichéd character may be too much; you don’t want to give readers a reason to lose interest or roll their eyes when they’re introduced to a character they’ve seen a dozen times. Character creation is one of our passions at Writers Helping Writers, thanks to the research…
Doo-dee-da-dee-dum-dee . . .
“Caryl Pagel’s poems float and drift and alight in just the right places.” From “How I Write” in The October 2014 issue of The Writer magazine. Caryl says, “I start with a doo-dee-da-de-dee-dum-dee in mind and rhyme it with a bloop-bee-doop-bee, or something like that. A clearing of the throat. A hum.” Marlene’s Musings: Sounds like a good way to write just about anything. I love watching words fall into place and enjoy the sounds and rhythm of words . . . this goes for prose as well as poetry. How do you feel about words and sounds and rhythm? Tell us, we want to know.
Create a pantoum. Prompt #107
So far, on The Write Spot Blog, the prompts have been nice and easy. How about challenging yourself with a pantoum? Pantoum is the Western word for the Malayan pantun, a poetic form that first appeared in the fifteenth century, in Malayan literature. It existed orally before then. The Western version of the pantoum is a poem of indefinite length made up of stanzas whose four lines are repeated in a pattern: lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are repeated as lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza. ___________________________________________________________ line 1 ___________________________________________________________ line 2 ___________________________________________________________ line 3 ___________________________________________________________ line 4 ___________________________________________________________ line 5 – same as line 2 ___________________________________________________________ line 6 ___________________________________________________________ line 7 – same as line 4 ___________________________________________________________ line 8 ___________________________________________________________ line 9 – same as line 6 ___________________________________________________________ line 10 – same as line 3 ___________________________________________________________ line 11 – same as line…
Writing can offer solace and salvation.
From the October 2014 issue of Writer Magazine, “Writers on Writing,” Roxane Gay: “Writing, at its best and truest, can offer solace and salvation for both readers and writers.” Marlene’s Musings: Sometimes we want to read something good, just like we want comfort food. We need you, Writers, to do your best to create those words that soothe and settle us. Use the prompts sprinkled throughout The Write Spot Blog and Just Write!
Write about a vivid or recurring dream. Prompt # 106
Write about a vivid or recurring dream.
Fireside Fiction publishes great storytelling
Fireside Fiction Company publishes original, previously unpublished flash fiction of 1,000 words and short stories of 1,000 to 4,000 words. Fireside’s goal is to publish great storytelling, regardless of genre . . . stories that go somewhere. Fireside pays 12.5 cents per word. Fireside will be open to submissions in October 2014.
Organizing a Writing Project
Organizing a Writing Project by Guest Blogger Nona Smith, author of Stuffed, Emptying the Hoarder’s Nest, A True Tale. Nona tells the story of writing Stuffed: I didn’t start out with the idea of writing a book, but from the get-go, I was aware we were onto a unique experience. In late November of 2010, my husband, Art, became the executor of his friend Linda’s estate. Linda was a hoarder. Not your run-of-the-mill hoarder, but a collector of unique stuff as well as plain ol’ junk. We felt it prudent to document what we found because in addition to being the executor, Art was the only on-site heir. So I took photographs of the plethora of original artwork by a famous botanical printmaker, the rare mechanical music machines and closets of musical scrolls, tools and computers and even of the life-size teddy bear reclining in the bathtub. I also photographed…
“Magic happens in rewriting.”
“Muse still comes in a rewrite. Magic happens in rewriting. As you chip away, themes appear. Start the story on the day the character’s life changes. Use your first draft to explore characters.” — Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, author of The Pet Washer and Guardian Herd – Starfire Jennifer says this about Starfire: “It wrote me. I did not come up for air until the first draft was finished. I’d always been warned not to write ‘talking animal’ books — that publishers don’t like them — but as I edited STARFIRE, I realized it was the book I’d always wanted to read as a kid.” “In hindsight, I’m grateful STARFIRE is the book that broke through because this book, my fifth, is the book I was born to write. It is the sum of me and my interests—flying horses and underdogs, heroes and bullies, and a special colt watching his herd,…
What work would you do if you could do anything? Prompt #105
The following excerpt is from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. “Some of us hear our passion calling when we’re very young, but most of us do not because we’re too busy listening to what other people, especially our parents, are telling us. So we embark on a vocational path, trying on different lives for size until we find one we can wear even if it doesn’t necessarily fit. Perhaps you’re conflicted about continuing the journey you started twenty-five years ago but have outgrown. You know you’re not heading in the direction you want to go, but at least your daily motions are familiar. And familiar feels safe. In today’s uncertain world, feeling safe and secure seems the emotional definition of sanity. Perhaps you’re skilled in one occupation but not thrilled about using those skills anymore. Some other work does secretly thrill you. But the stakes seem too high. perhaps…
Writing is vital . . .
Kevin Larimer, editor of Poets & Writers magazine, in the Sept.-Oct issue: “Writing is vital; it’s important to more people than you can imagine.” Just write!