Does your writing show clearly defined arcs? In story, scene, and character? I spent last Saturday afternoon teaching about arc and it has gotten me thinking about it a lot. Whenever I teach, I do a lot of research to add onto what I already know. That research got me paying more attention to the […]
After a month-long writing retreat in France, I am home! The trip back was even more chaotic than the journey there, but we made it. So here I am at home in Portland, smack in the middle of chaos. While I was gone, my daughter and her family moved in (that includes two small boys). […]
The other night, my husband and I watched an episode of Scorpion, which I’d only see bits and pieces of before and ended up thoroughly enjoying. The show is about a band of misfit computer experts led by Katherine McPhee, who is their interface and explainer of the real world. In this episode, a helicopter […]
Hilda? Here, for your consideration, two aspects of storytelling. 1. Parsing the story. This is, of course, most often the purview of the rough draft, or shitty first draft, or discovery draft, or whatever you want to call it. Hilda would do. (I think I'll start giving my drafts names. Why not?) Although it must […]
I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because even though I'm a writer, I don't always get my grammar correct! I am submitting a short story to Amazon Kindle Singles sometime this weekend, after I get the query letter perfected and go through it one more time. It's a story I originally wrote when […]
Do you have rules for storytelling? I'm not really sure I do. When I think about it, the words of advice I regularly dispense–make your character want something, add more conflict than you think you need, have at least a general notion of where you're going next–echo in my brain, but I'm not sure they […]
I volunteer with an organization called Step It Up, which connects high school students with experts in their chosen careers, and offers advice and support around jobs. Over the last couple of months, I've done a couple of writing workshops for them, with a co-leader who is a teacher. The last two days we've been […]
I have a friend who sets up mini-challenges for herself. She's a pro at navigating through LA traffic to get somewhere on time when it looks impossible. She not only zips from lane to lane and takes clever alternative routes, she projects thoughts to ease her journey. When she succeeds, as she usually does, it […]
Yesterday, I wrote about watching the Winter Olympics and how Bode Miller winning gold inspired thoughts about stepping up to the plate. Today the subject is story. My daughter and I were watching the men's ski cross races on Sunday night. This is a relatively new sport, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I […]
