Help on writing and the writing life. Grammar, Inspiration, Marketing & Publishing, Prompts, Writing Tips
One thing I enjoyed about Alexander McCall Smith’s light-hearted private-eye novel The Kalahari Typing School for Men is how well Smith conveyed the culture of Africa, everything from the formal style with which the locals address each other to how business arrangements are based on personal relationships.
What towns have you lived in? Would any of them make an interesting setting for a private-eye novel? What cultural aspects of that town could you use to create a sense of place?
The difficult part of creating art is not painting an accurate representation of the subject — almost anyone can do that with practice — but communicating how you feel about the subject matter. That goes for writing novels just as it does for painting or creating sculptures. Working in close connection with one’s imagination, and creating out of that connection, takes time and effort. It needs nurturing. It is crucial to be writing or painting about a subject that has some deep emotional significance to the author or painter.
— Roderick W. MacIver
When I sit down to write about a particular topic, it isn’t uncommon for me to end up writing about several other topics, as well. For instance, I might sit down to write about the day I got caught in a white-out in the Rocky Mountains, only to find myself writing about how, the day before, I received an e-mail from an old friend, followed by a passage on how the nosy clerk at the post office was driving me nuts.
I used to consider those unplanned topics as unnecessary tangents, as side roads to nowhere, but no longer.
I now realize that some of my most interesting and meaningful writing arrives unplanned.
Do you ever find yourself wondering off topic while writing? If you do, how do you respond? Do you ignore the tangents? Save them? Do you find them useful or not?
Literary agent Nathan Bransford recommends John Green’s young-adult novel Looking for Alaska as a good example of how to write about a relationship. Read more here: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/04/john-green-and-dynamic-character.html
Click on link below for writing tips from some of the biggies:
http://bighow.com/news/the-art-of-great-writing-60-writing-tips-from-6-alltime-great-writers
I just finished reading Julia Child’s My Life in France. Talk about joie de vivre. Talk about chafing at the conventional bit. In her memoir, which she wrote with her grandnephew Alex Prud’Homme, Child tells how she first fell in love with France and French cooking. Written by the loud, six-foot-two-inch chef who went on to become the star of public television’s “The French Chef” and the author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which she wrote with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck) My Life in France reveals one woman’s passion for life.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes something by saying it is something else. (“His eyes were brown stones.”) A simile is a figure of speech that includes the words “like” or “as.” (She was as tired as an accountant on April 16.)
More examples:
1. His relationship was a sinking boat. (metaphor)
His relationship felt like a sinking boat. (simile)
2. Chocolate was her only friend. (metaphor)
To her, chocolate was as comforting as a best friend. (simile)
3. Her voice was fingernails on a chalkboard. (metaphor)
Her voice sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. (simile)
Writing prompt: Use a metaphor or simile to describe your job or home. Is your job an anchor? Does your house or apartment feel like a warm cave?
“Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction.” — Anaïs Nin
Portland writer Don Clarkson is looking for a script-writing group (for writers interested in writing for stage and/or screen). If you know of such a group or would like to form one, you can reach Don at donclarkson@comcast.net.
Many thanks to Anita Offerman for forwarding this link to me:
Is publishing dead? By extension, are other mass media dead?
This 2-minute video will surprise you; just be patient and watch the whole thing.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/17/future-of-publishing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
Nancy Woods 