Ordinary People: a writing exercise to capture characterization

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Writer and teach Margot Case offered a brilliant workshop at he Richard Hugo House Write-O-Rama workshop entitled Ordinary People. We read excerpts from “Robert Kennedy Saved from Drowning” by Donald Bartheleme, Sixty Stories.
I’d tried The Dead Father by Bartheleme, but found it at the wrong time and had never tried Donald Bartheleme again. What a [...]

Tips on Writing the First Chapter and Beyond

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

These are some more tips from romantic travel writer Janice MacDonald’s on First Chapters.

Don’t sweat it initially, it will change.
When you’re ready to return to it, consider the following:

start as close to the end without leaving out important information
open with action
quickly establish: who, what, where, when and why

These are some additional tips on writing [...]

John Truby’s 22 Plot Building Blocks

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

John Truby’s screenwriting courses and software are a staple of screenwriting classes worldwide. His book,The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, presents his “Twenty-Two Building Blocks” plot structure is a classic. I purchased one of his first video writing courses mumblety-mumblety years ago when I was writing comedy and spent a [...]

Fiction Writing Plot Development Storyboards

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

While taking a workshop with author Janice MacDonald on developing a traditional fiction story plot (the kind with a beginning, middle and end), I decided to modify one of the templates that came with my Pages program into a set of worksheets. These worksheets can help you outline your fiction plot and determine the story [...]

No Shows and Catching Up

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

Well, no one showed up at the Itty-Bitty Buzz this morning from my region. So I NaNoWriMoed by myself for 2.5 hours. The place is now invaded by a couple of Boomer grandma’s gossiping at the tops of their lungs (you’d think they were on cell phones) about breast feeding and the inevitable conversation of [...]

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