Ah, perhaps it might make tomorrow possible. But art makes tomorrow pleasurable, so it cannot be wrong and I must not feel guilty.
The Blessing That Came To Me
by Carol Brennan King June 19, 2020 I have been taking a Meditation and Writing Class this week and today the prompt was this: The ---------that came to me: The teacher said just fill it in anyway that makes sense for you. Perhaps words like person, idea, blessing....and honestly, I don't know what came after…Read more The Blessing That Came To Me
Building a Setting for your story or novel
The emphasis this week is the setting, likening it to building a house, and you can't do either one if you don't know what belongs where.
Meditation on My Body: Thankfulness
I feel my body growing tense so this must be important that I explore this because I am seeing a place of neglect.
Meditation and Writing Days 1 and 2
but they thought their own writing could not really matter because no one asked to hear it again. No one wanted to listen to the heart beating in every word.
Zoom Class: Writing a Scene
Real-time momentum means what happens, what is said, and how does the character interact with the setting and characters.
Great Storytelling
Now, once you explore why you feeling that way, consider how you can use that scenario to inform your story.
Continuing Your Stories
For instance: Susan ran down the stairs, her heels slowing her only a little, but she knew she had to get there before he did. She stepped out onto the shiny rain-washed streets, the restaurant and bar windows flashing neon red and blue streaks lighting the way to her car.
Slice of Memoir Workshop
Remember, your memoir should have a takeaway. It should have some bits that your reader could identify with.
Playing with Poetry May 2020
...students did remarkable work. I wish you could have been there via Zoom to hear what they produced in the few minutes allotted to group work.
Flash Fiction Workshop May 6, 2020
Maybe the old man was crazy. Maybe he should call the police, or at least, check with the old guy’s wife, or maybe he should just go over there and see if he could help somehow.
How Deep Do You Sing?
All of a sudden, I couldn’t sing anymore. I just wasn’t sure the words were true or right for me. So I stood there and shut up.
The Class Ends, But the Writing Goes On
“Li,” he said. “If you see a snake, just scream ‘Li’, and a Chadian will come and kill it.”
You must start somewhere!
I can't tell you what a help it is to have a built-in editor who highlights spelling errors or punctuation errors and tells you how to fix them?
Quarantine Cookies by Carol Brennan King
Then it got so cold. And the snow fell and blew and the clouds hid the sun and I had a serious attack of quarantine fever.
Conflict: The Life Blood of Every Story April 11, 2020
Watch for the arrival of conflict and how it affects people and how they deal with it. This exercise will help you a great deal when you write your own stories.
Writing Humor
But we don’t have to live in that darkness and sadness and dread. We are forgetting one of God’s greatest gifts to us: humor.
Pandemic: Writing It Real: For Fiction and Nonfiction Students
I’d never really seen someone steal before, and I wasn’t sure what to do. All I could think of was that poor old lady. That poor old lady.
March 26, 2020 Book for the Moment: 50 Days of Hope
If you have to have cancer, this is the one to have.” But we live in the age of google and OK, the first news didn’t sound bad, but the more I explored the possibilities, the less I liked this leukemia, even if it was the “one to have.”
Blindsided by God
What makes this book especially good is that Chin doesn’t try to preach at you, or say how nothing discouraged him because after all, he had God.
Special Times Call For Special Ideas – like Garden Ideas March 2020
The other day I remembered reading somewhere that you could grow onions from an almost used up onion, and I had one. So, I took the writer at her word and yesterday potted it. Today I am a proud onion plant mom.
Writing Classes March 18, 2020 Carol Brennan King
The question is how have you shown or handled your emotion. Write it down as though you are describing someone else feeling what you just felt or did in the last few days.
Memoir and Historical Fiction Class Class 2 3/11/2020
Tips for Writing Your Memoir Carol Brennan King 2020 Write memoir, not autobiography where you feel you have to cover everything. Think a slice of your life. Discover what you want to write about my doing the following exercises:Diagram your life – making lists maybe from a couple perspectives. For instance, your line might have…Read more Memoir and Historical Fiction Class Class 2 3/11/2020
Memoir and Historical Fiction Notes from 3/4/2020 Carol Brennan King
Class Notes: Day 1 Introduction and defining our genres. In this class we talked about two related genres: Memoir and Historical Fiction. I am defining Memoir as a slice of your life, focusing on a single period of your life or a theme that threaded through your life over perhaps a longer time. Let’s consider…Read more Memoir and Historical Fiction Notes from 3/4/2020 Carol Brennan King
Creative Writing 3/4/2020 Carol Brennan King
Can your reader see what you see, at least the most important elements in the scene? Again, show it, don’t tell it but weave it into the narrative.
What Do You Do Sunday Morning?
You need to tell them that you are aware of the mission you have of preparing them to cope with life in a way that glorifies God. That you are aware of the importance of helping them understand that ...
Memoir Summary December 12, 2019
A memoir is more than an autobiography or record of what you did or what happened to you over the course of your life. An autobiography is a broad look at your life. Think of a theme as “What this book is about,” or “What holds these stories together.
8 Ways To Use Movie Watching To Improve Your Writing December 4, 2019
If you take note of when and how these different techniques are used, you can apply them to your writing.
Gluten Free Desserts for Thanksgiving…or Christmas
This Thanksgiving I knew I was having some gluten free guests and I wanted everyone to eat the same dessert. So I did some searching and trial bakes and came up with these recipes.
Cookies served at Writers Classes December 4, 2019
Some of you asked for recipes for the cookies at our last class, so here goes. I will post the recipe in my file, and notes about what you can do to alter it to your taste. These are always on our Christmas trays. Hope you enjoy.
Midway, the Movie – and Memories November 19, 2019 by Carol Brennan King
It occurs to me how a writer paints pictures with words, and our minds transfer those words and letters into pictures that may or may not capture the writer’s intent. But this movie was another experience altogether.
Ending Your Story or Book Nov. 20, 2019
A great ending is all in the build-up.
Character Arc Notes November 13, 2019
The arc is the emotional or psychological growth, transformation and development of your character
November 6, 2019 Character Development
Just like real people, our characters have emotional inner worlds. Even if this world consists of a lack of emotion (or rather, of the ability to show emotion), this is still an emotional quality.
Class 6, October 30, 2019 Writing scene breaks and transitions that develop your story
What is a scene break? Scene breaks can occur any time you change location, time period, or character POV in a story.
October 23, 2019 Class 5: Basic Plots, that which holds the work together
Even if you are writing a memoir or biography, it is important that your work has a plot or spine that holds all the bones together.
October 16, 2019: Class Notes, Creative Writing and Memoir
What should a third chapter do?
Hanging the Laundry: a spring poem
And I whispered Thank You
