Sorry it took me longer than I wanted to get this blog post up. Another workshop from The Write Stuff conference and another from James Frey - How to Write Damn Good Prose:
Attitude
- There are no born writers, everyone can learn
- I'm a good writer but I want to be a damn good one. If you adjust your attitude to this, you will, with work.
Style
- Violation of rules - grammatical errors.
- You first have to know the rules in order to break them well.
Sense-ous details
- How many sense used in each page? (sight, sounds, smell, touch, taste, "sixth sense")
Viewpoint
- Writer creates narrator who creates the characters.
- Your writing is a letter between you and the readers through the narrator.
- Author is invisible - just reporting on the characters.
- Limited omniscient
- 1st person - wised-up person looking back, has a take on the story.
- Voice of the narrator is crucial
Scene
Dramatic narrative
Show the reader what causes the reaction. Show the rat first, then the recoiling.
Telling details versus generic terms.
Switch between narrator and character voices.
That's the last of the workshops notes that are worth sharing from The Write Stuff. I'm going to go back through my notes from EPIcon and post them next.
5 comments:
These are great tips! Especially all of the senses. I always forget to include touch and taste. :)
good reminders. and have i said i love your blog template. nice combo of scenery and kissing.
Nicole,
You are a good writer. I loved both of your books. I just couldn't put them down. You made some excellent points in this post. I am still trying to learn how to write tight. Hopefully, I will get it through my thick head one of these days. LOL. By the way, I love the graphics. They are really catching. :)
Margie
Great post! I want to be a great writer, so I'm taking two fiction writer workshops to help me achieve my goal. So far I think it's been worth it.
Thanks so much, Margie! I'm so glad to hear that you loved my books. That makes my day. Writing tight isn't easy but like everything, it just takes a little bit of practice. Plus it makes editing sooo much easier. :)
The best way to become a better writer is to take workshops and be open to learning. It sounds like you're on the right track, Stina! Good luck!
~Nicole
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