Have you ever read a passage of a story and just stopped to enjoy what the writer did? How the writer shared their world view in such an economical way? or how they created a world without using fancy terms? Happens all the time, yes? Well, I keep this book on my desk, which I [...]
There are writing exercises galore for storytelling, such as story or “first-line” plotting prompts. However, there are only a rare few that focus on the quality of your writing. It’s the quality of your writing that sells your stories. So which is the best writing exercise for improving the quality of your writing? The one [...]
One of the more frequent writing questions I get is “What is tone in writing?” It’s rarely defined, never mind taught. However, as I mentioned before, Nancy Dean in her textbook, “VOICE LESSONS: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone,” created my absolutely favorite definition of tone in writing: “Tone is the [...]
Have you ever seen that animated little stick guy on You Tube, where he’s pounding his fingers, then his head on a keyboard and does so until the blood starts to splay? Warning: it’s a bit graphic, but it’s also very evocative of how hard it sometimes feels to “get it right” on the page. [...]
Some of the best descriptions I’ve read — including some of the responses to the previous #ImageryFriday exercises! — are not literal descriptions that paint a picture, but figurative, which evoke an emotional response. So the question becomes when is it best to use literal descriptions and when to use figurative ones? There are no [...]
I hope you’ve been enjoying our Imagery Friday exercises. If you’re here for the first time, you might want to read the first post in this Imagery Friday series to gain a perspective on how this highly important exercise enriches our writing. (The link opens in a new tab or window, so it’s easier for [...]
