Quick pacing hooks readers, deepens the drama, creates and increases tension.How to pick up the pace:1. Start story in the middle of the dramatic action, not before the drama commences.2. Keep description brief. This doesn’t mean using no description, but choose one or two telling, brief details.3. Combine scenes. If one scene deepens character by showing a couple at dinner and a few scenes later they have a fight, let them have the fight at dinner.4. Rely on dialogue. A lot of the story can be carried by spoken conversation. Readers seldom skip dialogue.5. Keep backstory to a minimum. The more we learn about characters through what they do now, in story time, the less you’ll need flashbacks, memories and exposition about their histories. All of these slow the pace.6. Squeeze out every unnecessary word. This is the best way of all to increase pace. There are times you want…
Tag: Just write. Writing freely. The Write Spot Blog
BEE-ING
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. BEE-ING By Su Shafer I have become a stone. A gemstone. Labradorite Or Moonstone maybe. No – an Orca Agate From the Earth, with an affinity with water. I am a stationary object. My unruly legs have taught me The power of stillness, How motionlessness invites presence In each moment. Today I watched a bee visit All the flowers in my patio planter. Her tender attention to each one The pollen pantaloons on her legs The song of her wings, Humming as she went from floret to floret Trailing in the air behind her as she flew off. Her busy work reminds me There are no small lives. I think of her and her sisters Bustling about in the hive, Content in their purposefulness. Unlike my quiet house There is no stillness in a…
Yearnings . . . Prompt #791
As a child, what toys or games did you see advertised on TV, or in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, that you wanted and didn’t get? OR: What toys did you want that your friends had and you didn’t have? OR: Write about being jealous, or feelings of “have not.” OR: Yearnings: Then or now. Frances Lefkowitz wrote a wonderful memoir, “To Have Not.” #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
If you could be small . . . Prompt #789
Writing Prompt: If you could make yourself small, what would you do? #justwrite #iamawriter #iamwriting
Movies! . . . Prompt #779
Movies! What movie made you laugh more than any other? Your all-time favorite movie. Why? Write about a movie that deeply touched you. Write about a movie you saw as a teenager. What movie do you remember seeing as a child? What makes these movies memorable?
From The Roots
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. From The Roots By Su Shafer I need to let go of the uncertainty That I am anything else but a dragon. Just a little dragon A little wood dragon Hatched from a little crystal egg As green as the nest of moss it was laid in Carefully built in the cool leaf mould Gathered in the crook of Granny Maple’s Gnarled old roots. There is a fire in my heart But wood dragons are careful Creatures of the trees Where fire is seldom welcome. Shy as a brown creeper, Hiding in plain sight, Few people see me And the ones who do Can hardly believe it. Su Shafer is a creative crafter, fabricating bits of writing in poetry and short stories, and other bits into characters that appear in paintings or sit on various bookshelves…
More First Lines From Books . . . Prompt #771
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . .” “The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster.” “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus “Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there’d even be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible,…
Neuroplasticity & Character Development . . . Prompt #743
Neuroplasticity We have well-worn neural pathways that help us get through routine activities without having to think about the details of each one. For example: Driving to a destination and arriving without having remembered every detail on the route. When that neural pathway gets interrupted, there is an opportunity for: Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to form new connections and neural pathways. That change of habit can enrich perspectives: The way we look at our world, the way we meet challenges, and problem solve. Prompt #1 Set the scene. Choose a fairytale character, a fictional character you create, or someone from your life (this could be you): Finish the sentences: A character wants ___________________________ To get it, character needs to ____________________ But (obstacles) ______________________________ What if: Neural pathway gets interrupted. An opportunity for neuroplasticity? _________ Prompt #2 Choose one path to follow Path One: Fractured Fairytales: Start with a well-known fairytale…
State fairs, county fairs, bazaars . . . Prompt #740
Photo by Denisse Leon Writing Prompt: State fairs, county fairs, bazaars Where you . . . Tried your luck at winning prizes. Threw a dart to win a stuffed animal, tossed a ring to win a goldfish. Went on a dizzy, scary, gravity-defying ride. Ate fair food: Fried food, caramel covered apples, cotton candy, funnel cakes, soft-serve cones. Were entertained: Music, hypnotist, magicians, stilt-walkers. Inhaled a variety of smells: Barnyard animals, food. Gazed at exhibits: 4-H crafts, fine art, photography, sculptures. Prompt: State fairs, county fairs, bazaars . . . an overabundance of sensory riches.
Has your comfort zone changed? Prompt #730
Has your comfort zone changed? Are you more, or less, tolerant than you used to be? Are you more, or less, comfortable in crowds? What did you used to do that you don’t do now? What do you do now that you didn’t used to do? #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter