Wholesome Books for the Whole Family
Before you can create conflict, you must determine what your protagonist wants most. What are his or her goals? Basic Survival (Safety, food, water, air, sleep) Emotional (Love, self-esteem, achievement, respect….) Relational (Family, friends, spouse, ….) Spiritual (Salvation, spiritual, growth, spiritual battles, ….) Clarify the stakes: What is at risk? What are the rewards? How …
Continue reading “For Writers: Show Don’t Tell – Conflict and Stakes”
Workshop #6: Setting Setting is your story’s stage – Show your reader what you want them to see, narrow the camera lens from panoramic to single shot Her skiff lay in its slip, near the end of the dock. Its hull had faded to a sickly hue of green. A pair of oars hung …
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Showing emotins adds depth to a character, draws readers into the story, and allows the reader to share in the character’s experience.
Within each person dwells a hunger for positive feedback and approval. We crave those little tidbits that spur us on; a pat on the back, a kind word, an honest compliment, a ‘like’ on our social media posts – and for good reason. From the moment we wake up till we crawl into bed, …
Words that tell rather than show, part A Filter Words Filter words tell the reader what a character is thinking, feeling, or perceiving: See (He saw a bird fly by – A goose flew past) Know (She knew he was mad – He slammed the door on his way out) Smell (She smelled the smoke …
Continue reading “Tips and For Writers: Show Don’t Tell, Workshop #2”
Fairly That Just Then Very Pretty (as an intensifier) Totally Quick Gave/give It It was/It is Felt Absolutely Literally Act to Actively Probably Actually Any As to Basically Carefully Certainly Completely Considerably Consistently Constructively Of course Currently Decidedly Definitely Did (as an intensifier) Do (as an intensifier) Words that end in ‘ly’ Begin/began/begun Quite Words …
Continue reading “TIPS FOR WRITERS; Words to Cut From Your Manuscript”
Technique #1: Create mental images for the reader E.g.: It rained last Tuesday. Few people showed up to the baseball game – this sounds like a report or newspaper column, doesn’t it? Instead, create a mental image: The baseball stadium was sparsely filled last Tuesday. The handful that showed up huddled under their umbrellas. Technique …
One of the hazards of being a writer is the potential for devoting more time to our own mental creations than to actual people. Thus our isolation is largely of our own making. We run the risk of losing that vital connection with our readers on a personal level; the very audience to whom we write becomes just that – an audience rather than flesh and blood readers.