Lost in Multiple Drafts of a Short Story

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When I saw a TED video called “Try Something New For 30 Days” by Matt Cutts a few days ago, I knew  immediately it was the cue I needed to get back to re-writing and editing a story I’d really wanted to write but which I couldn’t finish.

I’m going to commit July to getting to getting to grips with that story (while not forgetting all those other July summery things like floating on water!).

which to choose?

which to choose?

I’ve written a mass of material – far too much for a short story. It has got too spread out and I have quite simply lost my way with it.

So the question is, how should I re-start? So many choices! But I need to find a new way to go about it. Continue reading →

One Core Essential Of Narrative Energy, And A Writing Exercise

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man dancing with feathersYesterday, at the National Arts Gallery in Ottawa, we were walking up the ramp along the glass wall to the galleries behind two young boys with their mother.

An elderly, very smartly dressed couple started down the ramp. The man stopped as he and his wife were about to pass the boys. He leaned towards them. Pursing his lips, he started to Continue reading →

Narrative Energy Tip #1: Chameleon Sentence

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A chameleon sentence begins with one energy and ends with another.

Usually it starts off positive with maybe even suggestions of light-heartedness, but then turns into something more ominous. But there’s no reason why one shouldn’t try the reverse.

While chameleon sentences make for terrific beginning sentences, they can shift the narrative, and surprise and engage writer and reader at any time.

Two Examples

  • “It was a summer’s night and they were talking, in the big room with the windows open to the garden, about the cesspool.” (opening sentence of Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf) A pleasant gathering on a summer’s evening …changes to… something dirty and stinky and underground
  • “Edna and I had started down from Kalispell headed for Tampa-St. Pete where I still had some friends from the old glory days who wouldn’t turn me in to the police.” (Rock Springs, Richard Ford) A trip down south to old friends …changes to… on the run?

The Exercise

Write 6 chameleon sentences – each one beginning a new story. Surprise the sentence. Surprise yourself.

What chameleon sentences have you come across in your readings or writings? Please share them in the Comments Box.

Write in the Moment – A Writing Prompt

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fireworks, Montreal Nuit BlancheGot half-an-hour to treat yourself to a fun writing pick-me-up?

Try this writing prompt that Stephanie Ein* gave to my writing group this week. It’s very energizing – has roughly the same effect as a couple of very strong cups of coffee. No choice but to write in the moment.

  • Write for 30 minutes using the following structure: The first sentence begins with A, the second with B, the third with C… and so on through the alphabet. When you get to Z, start all over again with A. Write fast. No pauses. Do not break the sequence.

Let me know how it goes.

*Stephanie Ein is a teacher, writer and part-time comedian who has performed at numerous comedy clubs around Montreal and beyond. In November 2011, she founded “Love 2 Laugh Montreal,” a group of volunteer stand-up comedians.

Back-Story and Writing Forward

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I treasure the stories I fall in love with, not only as a reader, enjoying them for the terrific stories they are, but also as a writer, trying to learn from them by working out the secret of their magic.

My most recent love is “Reception” by Nona Caspers that appears in the Spring 2013 issue of The Kenyon Review.

There are a whole slew of reasons why I fell for this story: the striking image at the beginning, the way every detail echoes and reverberates with other details, the oddness of the details and images, the beautiful, clever ending that both illuminates the narrator’s experience and goes beyond it. But I especially love it for the pointers it gives me about back-story and writing forward. Continue reading →

Published? You Deserve It!

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I received a lovely email from a friend congratulating me on a publication. Great news, he wrote, you deserve it.

I deserved being published? Why? What had I done to deserve it? Continue reading →

11 Steps to Preparing to Read Your Story in Public

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Has your mind ever wandered while listening to a public reading?

As a kinesthetic and visual learner, I sympathize with how difficult it can be for some people to stay with a text being read out loud by another person, even if it is a story and not a lecture. Understanding this makes me prepare extra carefully for public readings.

Here is the checklist I use: Continue reading →

A “Real” Writing Prompt

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Flipping though some of my old journals the other day, looking for inspiration, a paper napkin fell out. The words scribbled on it were in the handwriting and distinctive blue ink of my Advisor in the Lesley University MFA in Creative Writing, Brian Bouldrey (The Sorrow of the Elves, The Honorable Bandit). I can’t actually remember what we were talking about when he wrote those words down, but three or four years later, I found them a fun writing prompt and thought you might enjoy them too.

Once you start, don’t stop for twenty-five minutes, using the following however you like:

  • real eyes
  • realize
  • real lies

Let me know how it goes!

It’s All In The Metaphor

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rose as metaphor

Love is…

I found Jane Hirshfield’s delicious lesson on The Art of the Metaphor, together with the animation by Ben Pearce, really brought home the immediacy and physicality a metaphor can have. Very inspiring. The door image at the end is fantastic and so evocative that I started writing on the spot. No brilliant metaphors at my fingertips, sadly. But I did find some great metaphors by famous authors here.

Do you think one has to work at creating a terrific metaphor? Or does it arrive on a thunderbolt of inspiration?

Have you tried using a metaphor – for example, one from the link above –  as a prompt for a writing exercise? How about Bob Dylan’s “Chaos is a friend of mine”? Imagine yourself arm in arm or drinking beer or on a road trip with your friend Chaos, I mean Charles, or setting him up with a date, or waiting for him to turn up at your wedding as best man…

Breathing to Write 2 – Writing Prompt

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Here is the second in my series of movement/breathing/writing exercises.

First the breathing exercise:

  • sitting with your spine tall and away from the back of your chair, and your feet on the floor. Close your eyes. Put your right hand on the right side of your ribcage, left hand on left side. When you breathe in, you should feel your palms move away from each other, and when you breathe out, they come towards each other. Breathe quietly, focusing on this movement. After a while, try breathing only into your right side….only into your left side.
  • If you feel uncomfortable or dizzy when holding your breath in this second exercise, stop and breathe normally. If 4 counts feels too much, try 3. Breathe in for 4 counts (in, 2, 3, 4); Hold for 4 counts (hold, 2, 3, 4); Breathe out for 4 counts (out, 2, 3, 4); Hold for 4 counts (hold, 2, 3, 4). Repeat for a couple of cycles, then breathe normally.

Now the writing:

  • Select one of the following:

in the same breath

with bated breath

breathing down his neck

catching her breath

taking a deep breath

out of breath

holding her breath

under his breath

  • Writing from the prompt you’ve chosen, describe in detail where your character is, what is around him or her. What is the light like? Is it hot or cold? What can the character hear? Who are they with, or are they alone? Is anyone else there that they are not aware of? If so, where is that person in relationship to your character? Let the story emerge gradually.

How did this work for you? I’d love to know. Please let me know in the Comments box below.