March 20, 2012

Hi friends & writers,

How is your writing going? I’d love to hear. If you have time this week, send me an email sharing some of the highlights and lowlights of fitting writing in.

e

PROCESS: CHARACTERS & EMPATHY

In life and in writing, we tend to empathize with people who can communicate their own truth and experience, and who hold themselves accountable for their life’s shape. These people seem honest with themselves, diplomatic with others.

Try this: When revising a piece of writing, ask these questions of your main character: 1) Does she express her version of events honestly instead of just trying to make it socially acceptable? 2) Does he take responsibility for his role in events, rather than just blaming others? Working toward yeses for these questions creates characters with whom readers are likely to empathize.

FEATURED VENUE: FUGUE

Fugue, edited by graduate students at the University of Idaho, is accepting poetry, nonfiction, and “experiment” submissions online through May 1. Contributors receive payment (!) and two copies of the journal.

Submission Guidelines here: http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/fugue/submit.html

PROMPT

“After coming into contact with ________ I always feel I must wash my hands.” (10min)

March 13, 2012

Hi friends & writers,

Something heartening to consider when writing: nobody else can write your stories. These details are your details. In this way it is just like being a person – nobody else can be the person for your people that you are. Know what I mean?

PROCESS: ICEBERG THEORY

Hemingway said that writers should know more about their story than they let the reader see. In other words, the full story is an iceberg, and the part we actually get to read is just the very top that pokes out of the water. Whether we include lots of information or very little, it is a good idea to know too much about your characters and your world, so you can choose which details to disclose.

Try this: Brainstorm background information for a given project. What is the political climate? What are these characters’ jobs? How do their jobs affect their world view? What did their parents raise them to believe? Any food allergies? Knowing this sort of “extra” information adds great richness to any piece of writing.

FEATURED VENUE: BOSQUE FICTION PRIZE

bosque, the literary magazine of the ABQ Writers Coop, is offering a prize of $1000 plus publication for a winning short story by a writer of age 45 and over. Entry fee is $20, and all entries are considered for publication. Contest runs Mar 1^st-31^st.

Submission Guidelines here: http://www.abqwriterscoop.com/writingcontest.html

PROMPT

“Pillow Talk” – write a dialogue. (8min)

March 6, 2012

Hi friends & writers,

Do I dare believe that spring is here? The longer days make me think so – and from where I sit at a café on 8^th Street while writing this, I can see one person sitting outside (granted, he is a very bundled up person) but still – it feels like a good sign.

Happy start to March, and happy writing!

e

PROCESS: MAKING IMAGERY

Or metaphor. Or pretty language, or whatever you want to call it. Imagery is really just descriptive language that expands the way we look at a thing. It is most effective when it uses hard-as-nails images to illustrate hard-to-conceptualize ideas.

Try this: Make two lists: one of abstract ideas or nouns (getting older, Uncle Jerry, happiness, tomorrow). Then a second list of concrete visible things (banana leaves, hammers, geese in a V, armchairs). Then look at those two lists together. Try out the first abstract noun from List #1 against each concrete noun from List #2. Do any combinations strike sparks? If so – try using the second noun to describe the first: “Uncle Jerry sat among us, a stolid armchair of a man….”

FEATURED VENUE: THE APPLE VALLEY REVIEW

A journal of contemporary literature founded in 2006, The Apple Valley Review seeks writing that has “both mainstream and literary appeal” for its spring and fall issues. Accepting work year round. No genre fiction, please, and no simultaneous submissions.

Submission Guidelines here: http://www.applevalleyreview.com/

PROMPT

Choose a character from an earlier piece of writing. What does this person most hope for? (5min) What does she or he most dread? (5min)