Just last week I sat down for dinner with a family who has young children. The oldest started a conversation with me over dessert, asking if I knew about the large ball that is located in the middle of the world. My first response was, “Oh, the earth’s core.”
His response was a scoff, and a condescending, “No! A ball. And if you turn it, the world will crack,” which efficiently grabbed my attention.
Writing is hard.
Exhilarating, rewarding, life giving? Absolutely! Sometimes though, it’s just straight up a pain. What is it that separates published authors from the hundreds of thousands of wannabes? I think a little illustration might help.
Recently, I was put through intensive spine shaping therapy due to a back injury. What does that mean? Everyone, including myself, was most curious to know.
There are many ways to begin a story—action, intrigue, mystery, a clever premise—but back story is often not one them.
Opening chapters are like first dates; a feeling of wonder, anticipation, adventure, impulse, curiosity. Perhaps a bit of flirting, letting your date see only what’s appealing, then, the longer you talk, the more you open up. There’s momentum.
Back story, (information pertaining to the story’s plot, character or worlds past) can take away from that momentum. Too much at the wrong time can be like pushing pause on a movie’s climax or a girl who talks to her date about another boy. A turn off.
However! Continue reading
What does a pirate who is afraid of water have in common with a thief who has a conscious or a snowman who loves summer? What about that monster who is innocent and wants to be loved? That vampire who detests human blood? That sister who wants to save a life but must kill to do it?
At a conference awhile back I heard an agent talk about internal contradictions in characters. Basically, she claimed that the greatest characters, the ones who keep coming back around, are those with the greatest internal and external dichotomy –what they do contrasts with who they are.
This contradiction causes tension and conflict. We are being pulled to opposite ends. It begs resolution. How can we bring these two sides together so there is peace? Continue reading
Pen Friends~
For our Feature Friday we want to welcome The Spinning Pen’s new Contributor, Ira McBee, a writer of Young Adult fiction, among his many other trades. His current novel is a YA fantasy titled, The Watchman. His first post is below ~ Welcome Ira!
One time a witchdoctor healed me after being wounded in a sword fight. That’s kind of how it went, mostly. Well, not exactly. The wounded part is legit. Oddly enough, so’s the witchdoctor part. The sword fighting? That’s a stretch. Continue reading
Good writing comes from two things. Lots of reading and lots of writing. There’s just no getting around it. But you hopefully already knew that.
Our Feature Friday author Kim Vandel, recommended writers to “read, read, read.” I used to be one of those types who would find time to write but rarely to read. Then one day, I stumbled upon something one of the most prolific writer, Stephen King, wrote. He said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”
I’ve heard writer’s block described or defined in a variety of ways, as well as methods of “getting over” it, so I doubt I’ll be adding much here that is new. But I’ve never been one to blindly follow advice,[1] sometimes (often) to my detriment. And the same practice applies to my writing processes.
Life happens. New jobs, finals, promotions, moves, family emergencies—we get it, you have a legit reason for not writing. Trouble is, once you have the free time to start back up, it’s daunting. It’s been so long. Where to begin?
Reflect for a moment on the special books that embody your childhood; those stories you still hold clearly in your mind, even if you haven’t picked them up for a reread in years.
I like to ask fellow book lovers what pivotal books they read as children or teenagers, because it’s often a window into who they are today – sometimes a window that I might not have glimpsed or understood without the shared love of reading.
I want to talk about the books that helped shape us, the stories and the characters that molded us (consciously or not) into the people and readers we are today.
The Spinning Pen 