Creative, curious writing
Hello. It's been a while but I am trying to get back to doing what I love so bear with me as I resharpen my pencils. In my previous post, I talked about talking to myself. Now let's talk about you. Or at least 'you', if you were me, talking to you. Patterns, rhythms, accents... Continue Reading →
Derived from Greek, dia(through) + logos(words), the spoken word within your story is critical if readers are to engage in a meaningful way. It somehow has to be true to the tone and style of your story, completely authentic for your character but also move the story along without screaming "Hey look at me, I'm... Continue Reading →
This week, I am going to talk about time. Which is relative because your 'this week' may not be my 'this week'. I'm not talking about time-travel although in essence all stories, unless they happen in an instant, do travel through time. No, this is about how time is represented in fiction and how, as... Continue Reading →
The late, great Sir Terry Prachett advised writers to take the pressure off and write an ending even if it's not the real or final ending. Writers' HQ (brilliant resource) asks us if we are plotters (writing to a defined plot) or pantsers (pretty much making it up as we go along). Epilogues seem to... Continue Reading →
Or getting up close with the third-person POV. This point of view uses a narrator to tell you the story offering greater insight into events, characters and story points that don't directly involve the main character. Using he/she/they gives the writer distance and objectivity which is particularly helpful if you are working with an unreliable... Continue Reading →
This week within the MA, we have been encouraged to look at genre-bending or blending. Using existing work; breaking it up, rewriting it and considering it from all angles. As I work through this week's reading and writing activities, I find one question rises to the top over again. What genre do I write in?... Continue Reading →
When it's a metaphor. We all know a good one when we see it. Something that evokes a feeling or a sensation without a drawn-out description. We also know a bad one when we read it. Something that pulls us out of the moment and away from the character. Some novels are overloaded with them,... Continue Reading →
Are you a maximalist or a minimalist? As part of the MA in creative writing, we were asked to consider our style and how it impacts our writing and also our reading. At one end of the scale you have the lush maximalism of Delia Owens 'When the Crawdads Sing' (Penguin, 2020) that draws you... Continue Reading →
The Curious Wordsmith 