This next bit of advice is important so read it through thoughtfully: Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. Think about this: if you know someone wants something, a part of your brain is going to read to find out if they ever got it.
Writing Resources
Creative and Memoir Writing
Your job in that first draft is to think through who did what to whom, where and why, and then who got in the way. That may sound like a mystery or thriller, or sci-fi. But those words get you to the heart of every single story.
Creative Writing and Memoir Jan 18, 2023
If you want to publish something significant, it really helps if you have some name recognition. You get that by getting published. Starting small. Like articles. Like entering contests. Like putting your toe in the water where the water is warm and friendly at first.
Creative and Memoir Writing Class
The first mistake that we talked about was the idea that you had to write “the most beautiful prose in order to write a story that holds the reader’s attention.” The reality is that by the time you purchase or borrow from the library any book, it has been through the hands and efforts of many professional editors. So, just get your story down; remember that the first draft is just a first draft. Once you have your ideas on paper, you can polish them to your heart’s content, and your editor’s heart’s content.
Creative and Memoir Writing Class Notes
October 26, 2022 Carol Brennan King We have been talking about writing techniques useful for both fiction and nonfiction or memoir writing. Then this last week, I was reminded of the power of voice in both genres. So next week, well, this week in class, I will tell you the story of the importance of…Read more Creative and Memoir Writing Class Notes
Creative and Memoir Writing Class scheduled for Oct. 12, 2022
Then, what do you know about the character you are focusing on for this exercise: his or her place in history or life? Do they have a position of influence? Are they bound by their place in the culture of the community where the action occurs? Or have they been influenced by the events that impinged on life before the story opens?
Creative and Memoir Writing Plot, Scene and Chapter September 28, 2022
The point is both scenes and chapters have a place in your story’s pacing. Short chapters tend to move the action along quicker. Longer chapters might lull you into relaxing with the longer flow of information and less tension. Remember, both scenes and chapters have a part in how quickly your story unfolds, and how your reader experiences the story.
Creative and Memoir Writing
First of all, if you don’t know your audience, you cannot very well market your book or story or article. So let’s talk about genre or markets.
Writers: This alert is for you! July 27, 2022
I never envied your clothes, homemade and thin of fabric. I never envied your dented car nor your life on a farm small farm, the barely scrape-by kind of farm. I never envied you until,
Creative and Memoir Writing
It crunched. Yes, it crunched, like a thing with a shell, really, I could imagine like a baby octopus with little bony tentacles. Well, I could not swallow it like it was, so I had to chew it up somehow. So very gingerly, with my napkin very close to my mouth, I chewed it up fast. There is no other way to describe it – fast. And almost as fast, I swallowed it.
Carol's Notes 