Tag: write

I could have [written about the] dance all night…

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[found on egouvernaire.wordpress.com]

“Introduction : a dance scene is more about the conversation the characters are having through the medium of the action. The physical actions of your characters are really just another form of expression, like a secondary conversation, underlying the primary verbal conversation. The most important thing to figure out is what the characters’ intentions are and how your characters can express them through their dance – oriented interaction.

1) Preparation

First of all, the objective is to collect all informations you need about your dance scene (technical, history, habits etc.)

    • Looking at videos for learning how the dances you’re using work and look
    • Understanding the community and history that surrounds them
    • Read some interviews, chat or book with some dancers about dancing, so you can figure out how your characters might think about it
    • Taking a dance class could also help to experience it
    • Search for references : Titles, habits, cloth etc. – I can be very useful to select a track for your scene
    • Consult various scholar references, including specialized glossaries or images about dance movement and steps etc.

2) Identify Character Intentions

See, all things flow from the characters’ intentions, objectives and desire –setting up some obstacles. So all you need to figure out then is :

    • What each character wants- define a want list for each or a clear goal (and, of course, what there is to know about it)
    • What each character knows about the other character’s intentions
    • What each character would do to get what they want
    • How each character would react to the other character’s actions
    • Define what is the nature of the conflict : an object, money, love, power, social or psychological conflict etc.
    • What each character is going to do in getting what he wants – to reach his goal – what are the intensity of their desires
    • What each character is going to Win / Loose – what is the reward

So basically, just make sure to nail down the flow of information, intention, goal and interaction between your characters on a high level.”

For the rest of the steps to writing a great dance scene, with tips from Egouvernaire, click HERE.

[found on http://egouvernaire.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-to-write-a-damn-good-dance-scene]

Emotions…even in the REAL

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[found on freelancewriting.com; by Catherine Franz]

“You have completed the draft of an article, but it seems flat and lifeless, even to you. It needs to have the spark that ignites that all important emotional connection to your readers but you are at a loss as to how to spruce it up. Breathing life into a nonfiction article is tough, especially if it doesn’t include a character or an emotional storyline….

…Why would you even want to add emotion to a nonfiction article? Adding emotion to your writing, any type of writing, fuels the reader’s attention, helps them connect with the action. It gives the reader an experience. Experience is why people go to the movies or watch TV. More importantly, it keeps them reading.”

To learn the steps on how to emotionally charge your writing, with tips from Catherine Franz, click HERE.

[found on http://www.freelancewriting.com/articles/article-write-nonfiction-with-passion.php]

Where’s the Plot?

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[found on theunnovelist.com]

“Plot is a braid of three strands:

1. Character Emotional Development

      • The plot exists so the character can discover for himself (and in the process reveal to the reader) what he, the character, is really like: plot forces the character to choose and act.  By making choices and reaping their consequences, the character transforms from a static construct to an animate being.

2. Dramatic Action

      • Action is driven by what the characters want and the conflict that stands in their way.

Thematic Significance

      • Tie the character’s private passion to a bigger, more universal public subject, and the thematic plot line is launched.”

For more great tips and insights on writing structure from The Unnovelist, click HERE.

[found on http://theunnovelist.com/plot/plot.html]

Secret & Silent—Inspiration

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“In fiction, I exercise my nosiness. I am as curious as my cats, and indeed that has led to trouble often enough and used up several of my nine lives. I am an avid listener. I am fascinated by other people’s lives, the choices they make and how that works out through time, what they have done and left undone, what they tell me and what they keep secret and silent, what they lie about and what they confess, what they are proud of and what shames them, what they hope for and what they fear. The source of my fiction is the desire to understand people and their choices through time.” 

― Marge Piercy, Braided Lives

In The Trenches, Sigh In—Sigh Out

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“Please don’t entertain for a moment the utterly mistaken idea that there is no drudgery in writing. There is a great deal of drudgery in even the most inspired, the most noble, the most distinguished writing. Read what the great ones have said about their jobs; how they never sit down to their work without a sigh of distress and never get up from it witout a sigh of relief. Do you imagine that your Muse is forever flamelike — breathing the inspired word, the wonderful situation, the superb solution into your attentive ear? … Believe me, my poor boy, if you wait for inspiration in our set-up, you’ll wait for ever.” 

― Ngaio Marsh, Death on the Air and Other Stories

Make Your Readers Cry

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[found on goinswriter.com  by ]

“Shattering the frozen sea

Frank Kafka once said, ”A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.”

Be honest. You dream about your writing having that affect on someone, don’t you? Because words have had that affect on you.

The frozen sea inside of you has been shattered by stories, truths, ideas, and turns of phrase so astounding that you had no words to respond or even tell someone what it meant to you. Isn’t that why you want to write?

So, how do you write words that will move people, and potentially even play a part in breaking the frozen sea inside of them? It’s actually quite simple:

You write what moves you.

Except that part is not always easy. Because in order to write what moves you, you will have to visit your pain. Your fear. Your weaknesses. Your nightmares and demons. The skeletons in your closet and the horrific possibility of self-disclosure, even if veiled in stories and themes.

Because, as you well know, that’s where the frozen sea inside of you is. If you are ever going to crack the ice of another person’s soul, you have to be brave enough to go first. To be a witness. A testimony. An example.

You have to go first

If you love your reader, you will go first. You have to lead them on this journey. To show them how and why it’s important.

There is enough fluffy, meaningless drivel on paper to fill the Marianas Trench. So don’t add to it. Write something that matters. And write it with conviction:

    • Write about the truths and ideas that are so astonishing you can hardly believe them.
    • Write the story that keeps you awake, tossing and turning at night because it echoes the ache in your soul.
    • Write that memoir, and include the parts that you are terrified of putting on paper, because it will remind you that they are real. (Some may no doubt need the support of a friend, therapist, or pastor for this.)

Whatever it is, write about those things that punch you in the throat and stir your insides.

Because if it moves you — if it raises a lump in your throat as you type, it will move someone else.

It might just give them the hope that you’ve been given by other writers, with their words and stories that have inspired and reminded you that you are not alone. Aren’t you glad they went first?

As I was writing my first novel, there were many times where tissues had to guard my keyboard from falling tears. The story I was writing moved me and, thankfully, it has gone on to move others.

Such is the inexplicable magic of words, and I am in awe of the weight they can carry.

This is not just for the reader

Oh, and one more thing: Don’t believe that going first is only a gift to your reader.

It is first a gift for you — and a very meaningful one at that.

We all need to go to our frozen sea, because seas were not meant to be frozen. They are meant to thrash about with life.

So, what are you waiting for? Go find your ax. And get to work.“

For more great insights from Jef Goins, Click HERE.

[found on http://goinswriter.com/emotional-writing]

Perfect Horror Short Story? Yes, please.

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[found on fecklessgoblin.blogspot.com]
    1. “Pick something that could happen to your reader.
    2. Pick a location that’s familiar to your reader.
    3. Eat, drink, sleep the horror that you have created before you actually begin to write. Lie back in a darkened room and really visualise it. Scare the pants off yourself.
    4. Go to your location or one that looks like it and sit there quietly for a while. If your story takes place on a quiet street in the early hours, find one, get up in the early hours and drink it up. Take a pad and write down some notes about what you see and how you feel.
    5. Try to see the story from three or four different views even if they won’t be in the final version. Choose someone timid, someone thick skinned, someone religious. The choice is yours.
    6. Take your time, build up the pressure, slowly but surely. This may be a short horror story but you’ve got more time than you think to lay out your stall.
    7. Stay focussed. Don’t get bogged down in back story. In fact, try giving back story a miss altogether.
    8. Anticipation is nine tenths of the horror story battle – let your reader know something bad is going to happen, lead them there by the hand.
    9. Dig deep into that horror. Choose one that scares you. If it doesn’t scare you, how do you expect it to scare the hell out of your dear reader?
    10. Throw a few red herrings in there, twist them on their heads. The old cat jumping out of the fridge is a bit of cliché but you get my drift.
    11. If you’re scared of heights, go and stand on the edge of a tall building and lean over, if you’ve got a spider phobia, go and put one on the palm of your hand. Remind yourself how real fear feels.
    12. Don’t overload your reader with gore. It becomes boring and they quickly attain sensitisation. A splash of blood here and there will do fine.
    13. Don’t over describe. You’re not Dickens. Give your reader some credit that they can imagine your ultimate horror. Don’t be afraid that they won’t get the point.
    14. Keep the monster/horror hidden for as long as possible.
    15. Read the best and the worst of horror. Reread the passages that got your heart racing and try to see how the author did it. Look at the way you reacted and imagine that’s what you want your reader to feel.
    16. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different styles. Write a couple of different versions of your story to see how it comes out.
    17. Leave your first draft for a decent amount of time so that you come back to it fresh. For some people that’s a couple of days. For others it’s a couple of months.
    18. Always, always read your draft through once without touching it before you sit down to edit.
    19. Check you have the right vocabulary to scare. Choose the words to describe your fear with care. Make sure they fit and sound right. Try not to use unusual words that your reader won’t readily know the meaning to. It will break the flow. You’re trying to build fear not a larger vocab.
    20. Don’t forget that your story isn’t written in stone. It can change. It can evolve. It can be totally different from the original. Don’t be afraid to delete stuff that doesn’t belong.“

What Goes In…Is What Comes Out

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“To have output you must have input. It helps to go on a period of creative nourishment, or dolce far niente, clearing the brain. Go to bed with the cat, some flouffy pillows, tea and a book which could not in any sense be called improving. Read for fun for a change: superior Chicklit is good, or children’s classics. You are not allowed to try and analyse what the author is doing. After a good sleep, go and do something new, or that you haven’t done for a while….” 

― Lucy Sussex