Like many, I have learned a lot on my path to become a writer.It set me thinking about what I would tell my pre-writer self. This is what I put together: Continue reading “12 Things I would Tell My Pre-Writer Self”
Tag: writer advice
Writing Recipe #2
Guest post
by Ellen Plotkin Mulholland
I have two problems that make it difficult keeping up with this world.
First: I don’t have a lot of time. Wait; let me place that in context. Life is busy, and I don’t have the hours I once had to sit lazily on the porch and read the Sunday paper all afternoon.
Second: My attention span is not what it used to be. Blame it on our over-indulged world of fast food, 140-character summative quips, or the impatient and impulsive adolescent wiring that just won’t go away.
As a consumer and reader, I can deal with it. I read the headlines, listen to TV news summaries while I cook dinner, fold laundry, check my email and answer my daughter’s homework questions. I somehow manage to keep up with the world outside my home while navigating the numerous details inside.
As a writer, I daily and desperately seek to find balance in my world. Time to live. Time to write. There must be some middle ground, an oasis nearby in this desert of over-scheduled lives. Continue reading “Writing Recipe #2”
Muse Wrangling 201 – AWOL
We have a great deal to cover today so I’m going to jump straight in. First and foremost, an AWOL Muse cannot be wrangled. Neither whips nor carrots will work. An AWOL Muse must be wooed.
But how do you woo a Muse?
There is no simple answer to that question because each Muse is different. Nonetheless, there is a way to prevent your Muse from leaving in the first place, but it involves knowing and listening to your Muse.
Does your Muse have a strong work ethic? Or is it flighty and easily distracted?
If your Muse is easily distracted then it may have gone AWOL because it was bored. Yes, I know, that is an awful thing to say to an author, but sometimes we have to face facts – Muses get bored just like readers. If your Muse is bored with what it is doing then perhaps that is an indication that readers might find the prose boring too. If this is the case then a rethink is the only thing that will lure your Muse back into the fold. Continue reading “Muse Wrangling 201 – AWOL”
Thoughts on Killing Off a Character
Guest post
by Sophie Schiller
In my novel, “Spy Island”, the protagonist, a girl named Abigail, is compelled to cross the Caribbean Sea by steamer during WWI to live with her spinster aunt. On the journey, she strikes up a friendship with Ian, an Irish sailor. I incorporated those witty Irish expressions and that unmistakable Irish humor that wraps around you like a Shamrock wool blanket.
Ian’s Irish red hair burned the pages of my manuscript. His Cheshire cat grin, his twinkling eyes, his Gaelic sense of humor and manner of speaking, and his vulnerability captivated my Writing Class. And now we come to the “killing off part”. Out of a sense of duty and patriotism, Ian stalks a wanted German spy and turns up dead—a corpse lying in a pool of blood—on the boat deck.
The ladies in my Writing Group bristled at this notion. They demanded a rewrite. “But it’s crucial to the development of my story,” I argued. “If Ian doesn’t die, Abigail has no reason to hunt down German spies.” They shook their heads. “Change it!” they demanded. Again my brow wrinkled. Change it? And so, pen in hand, I kept the ominous pool of blood but removed the corpse. They were satisfied. But the question remains. When is it appropriate to kill off a character? Continue reading “Thoughts on Killing Off a Character”