It doesn’t matter if you have the most unique and interesting story on the planet if your readers can’t connect with your characters. Think of the books you love most; the ones you gently stroke as you walk past your bookshelf. As I write this, one book in particular comes to mind – I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. When I finished reading this rather lengthy novel I felt as though I had lost a good friend. I lied awake missing him like he had just gone off to war and I might never see him again.

The character I’m referring to is a middle-aged man with anger issues and I’m… well, none of those things. It was the realness of this character; the raw truth of his story and the often brutally honest, sometimes vulgar soaked thoughts that brought his story to life and into my world, permanently etched into my memory. This effect is a major goal, but not one that’s always achieved so easily.

When I’m having trouble getting into the minds of my characters or struggling to picture them in my story, I go people watching. This is one of the most fun and enlightening writing exercises you can do. If you’re just starting out go anywhere, a coffee shop, a park or just take a ride on the bus. If you already have a character outline think of the places your character would go and the type of people they would associate with and go to those places, watch those people.

Wherever I go I notice little things about people that can lift characters off the page. I used to take the subway to work and somehow always ended up a few seats behind this guy with a buzzed haircut who always kept a short pencil behind his ear. He never carried anything with him except a black lunchbox and once or twice a trip he would take the pencil from behind his ear and twirl it between his fingers then put it right back. Every day I would try to figure out what this guy did for a living – I was intrigued. What an odd character I would think.

There are people who dance as they walk; the ones you always assume to be listening to music, but guess what – lots of them aren’t! Some people wear spandex when it’s obvious they’ve never worked out a day in their life; some feel that it’s perfectly acceptable to let a pregnant woman stand while they sit comfortably in handicapped seating. Some shake their foot out of nervousness while others read books with covers on them so no one can see what they’re reading (and yes this drives me crazy because I always want to know what people are reading!).

Sometimes a simple hand gesture or tattoo on someone’s shoulder can spark a whole new story idea or create a character that your story is missing.

I just read an interview with Jennifer Aniston in the newest issue of Elle and she says when she thinks about a character she thinks about the shoes. “What kind would she wear? How would she walk in them? If I’m going to put on a dress for a role – I don’t care if it’s the hardest dress to put on – I have to put the shoes on first”, she said.

This can be a great place to start with people watching. Find your character’s shoes and then look up to find your character.

Everywhere you go there will be interesting people in varying shapes, sizes and personalities, and by simply sitting back and watching sometimes, you can give your characters those true human elements that make people feel like they know them, relate to them and miss them once they’re gone.

Shelby Rachel

Shelby graduated with a degree in Media Studies and a diploma in Journalism from University of Guelph-Humber. She was trained in broadcast, radio and print media, and completed her internship as an Editorial Assistant at Outpost Magazine in Toronto.

As an Editorial Assistant she was responsible for copyediting, fact-checking, rewriting and writing small articles. Shelby had a number of articles published in Outpost and once her internship was finished she stayed on as a freelancer for a few issues.

She has taken on freelancing as a fulltime career and loves what she does more than she ever thought possible. The majority of her work has been ghostwriting blogs and articles for companies both small and large for the purpose of driving traffic to their business websites and expanding their clientele.

http://shelbyrachel.com/

Bookmark This

By Tamesha S. Hawkins

Writing is breath…

Catharsis wrapped in self-reliance and possibility

Write because it doesn’t make since not to

It is adjuvant in the development in personhood

Without the written word

The body lies on a bed of discontentment

Rigor mortis in thoughts

Blood siphoned

The ink that kept everything flowing

Without the lingual quill

Nothing moves forward

Writing is breath…

Because when you give a girl a pen

You make an honest woman out of her

Breathing honesty with every page

Creating the mogul, maverick, the majestic

Many solutions

Many powers

Many things needed to keep consciousness spinning on its axis

Writing is breath…

The pulse for the beating heart

The tissues used to coddle muscles

Swaddle the capillaries not to be vain

Throbbing with creativity

Writing births new ideas

New beginnings

New essences from scratch

Without it

Nothing moves forward!

Tamesha S. Hawkins is an author, actor, vocalist and PBGP Slam Champion for 2009. She has written “Sugar Lumps and Black Eye Blues” (2007), “Confectionately Yours” (2009) and is the creator of “Cipher This” for PMZ Magazine!. A lover of the arts, Tamesha will continue to expand her knowledge by producing her first play “Beginning with Molasses” then she will be traveling to Japan to perform poetry. For more information: www.myspace.com/tameshashawkins or become a FAN on Facebook!

Bookmark This

A year ago I was a dreamer.  Words poured from me like a river, characters bloomed along their banks, and plot was carved from the swift waters.  My stories were beautiful. The kind of beautiful that you imagine seeing on some pretty post card or calendar scene that you looked at with a Mona Lisa smile and thought, I want to go there. Yup, those were my stories: rich in content, full of life, refreshing in their originality and never-ending in their possibilities.

Or so I thought…

See, a year ago, I stopped dreaming and decided to DO.  My stories had become too big for me.  The worlds I created were so vast that I found I was lonely.  I needed people to share them with. They had become as much a part of me as the color of my hair, the way I laughed, or my love for my family. I needed to write.  I wasn’t me unless I did. It was my breath, my life-giving water. When I wrote, penning words to paper, I knew: writing was part of my soul.

It’s hard to expose your soul.  But, for me, no harder than it had been to hide it away.  And I did. I bit the bullet, and on the advice from a recently published author I knew, I went to RWA nationals.  I bumbled through my first ever pitch session, wandered wide-eyed from workshop to workshop, and then came home at the end of the exhausting week, looked at my stories, and cried.  My tone was off, my prose meandering, my POV unclear.  My beautiful novel was out of focus and cookie cutter typical.  Hallmark picturesque, maybe? No, the cheap 99c greeting card with the bad painting on them.  Those were my stories.

I almost gave up right then and there.  Obviously I didn’t, as I’m here blogging on an aspiring author page. See, some good things also happened at nationals, two of which were that I met the best critique partner ever (Erin Kellison, whose books Shadow Bound and Shadow Fall will be coming out next summer, WOO HOO!), and I came away filled to the brim with new knowledge: how to construct an engaging plot, how to self-edit, how to find your voice, how to, how to, how to DO.

So I did.  I tore into my babies, ripping away the fat, molding what was left, filling the gaps, polishing, polishing… I wrote.  Even when it hurt. Even when I had to drag the words out of me. I wrote. And wrote. And wrote.

I’m still not there.  I still have a long way to go.  With nine RWA chapter finals under my belt, a semi-finalist in ABNA, a PRO status with RWA (that means you’ve been rejected by someone in the publishing industry at least once, in my case way more than once), and three completed and polished manuscripts (two of which are playing the great waiting game on editor and agents’ desks) I know I haven’t made it yet.  But, see, that doesn’t matter.  Because I still dream, but now, when the going gets tough, I also do.  I am a dreamer.  I am a writer.  And one day I’ll be an author, too.

Tes Hilaire

http://www.teshilaire.com/

http://www.teshilaire.blogspot.com/

Bookmark This

Whether you’re an aspiring writer or a seasoned one, you’ve been there: You’re typing away, or perhaps staring at a blank page, fingers poised over the keyboard, when suddenly you’re crippled by a debilitating case of writer’s block. You might have a chapter due, a feature deadline looming, a press release to dash off, or pitches to make. The point is, you’ve got stuff to do, but nothing’s flowing. You’re stuck.

It happens to all of us. When it does, it can make you want to scream in frustration and throw your notes, computer and various other writing implements out the window. Or at your husband. Take a deep breath. I’m going to share a few hard-won secrets with you. Over the years, I’ve discovered that pushing through a block rarely helps—I just waste time and my blood pressure goes haywire—but these tips do the trick:

1. Read a few paragraphs of really great writing, preferably in the area you should be writing about. For me, if I’ve got an environmental piece due, this could be Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston’s Green to Gold, a clear, extremely well-written tome on corporate environmental responsibility. If I’ve got a press release to finish, I might check out some recent entries on PR Newswire. If I need to write a humor piece, Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding inspires me every time. If I’m stuck in general, I might grab one of Abigal Thomas’ memoirs, or Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Good writing always gets me in the mood to write again.
2. Get outside. Sometimes just sitting on a bench or under a tree for ten minutes, closing my eyes and breathing deeply acts like mental Drano, clearing out the sludge in my head. I try not to think about work. I relax. I breathe in. Breathe out. I remember that no block lasts forever.
3. Break a sweat. If you’re truly stuck, set aside your work and go for a brisk walk. If you’re really, truly stuck, run. Exercise always clears away the clutter, especially when I turn up the volume of my iPod and let the Talking Heads or Rolling Stones or even, gulp, cheesy Madonna sing in my ear. More often than not, what I’m working on gets written in my head as I’m pounding the pavement, and I come home and like what I write.
4. Get organized. Step away from your desk. Organize your notes. Staple like pages together. Sharpen your pencils. Toss highlighters that no longer highlight. Make folders. Label them. Fill them. File them. Vacuum your office, neaten your piles, stack your books. Even better? Move your desk. Change the position of your monitor. Buy a plant or five. Write your deadlines on a calendar. Ahh. Don’t you feel inspired?

As for the opposite of writer’s block—inspiration—keeping a pen and paper handy at all times is a must. The only thing more frustrating than writer’s block is constructing a great piece of writing in your head only to forget it. (One of best lines from late comedian Mitch Hedburg goes something like this: “I write jokes at night in bed in my hotel room. If I don’t have pen and paper nearby, I then have to convince myself that the shit I thought of ain’t funny.”)

I also find that my writing goes measurably better when I get to it first thing in the morning, before the day’s clutter works its way into my brain. I get up, eat a healthful, light breakfast, and go right to work. (I beg my kids to feed the dogs and hermit crabs on work days.) And it goes without saying that your writing will flow better when you’re well rested, sticking to a healthful diet (nothing clogs my brain more than a syrupy, fatty French toast and salty home fry diner fare (yum!)) and getting in some exercise daily. And, sorry Hemingway, writing also goes better when you’re sober. Good luck.

Amy Hourigan

Amy Hourigan, Freelance Writer and Editor
Member, The Society of Environmental Journalists

Bookmark This

Sitting in a thirteen year old car with limited air conditioning, parked next to a chain link fence in an industrial center an hour before a networking interview isn’t terrible as long as you find shade. An uncomfortable highway driver, I left early enough to ensure plenty of time for possible missteps during the 70 minute trip, bringing along a book to read if I did make it early.

My current educational literature is Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones which comes with short, compelling chapters. I hoped she’d calm my nerves while I waited to meet with the President of a not-for-profit mental health service provider who may have future project work for me. Thankfully, Natalie did relax me, although not as anticipated. Flipping though the pages, I wondered if I’d have enough focus to read, but it turns out it didn’t matter, because she directed me to sit there and write instead. I usually bring a steno pad with me wherever I go and I took it out after reading:

“Try writing under different circumstances and in different places. Try trains, buses, at kitchen tables, alone in the woods leaning against a tree, by a stream with your feet in the water, in the desert sitting on a rock, on the curb in front of your home, on a porch, a stoop, the back seat of a car, in the library, at the lunch counter, in an alley, at the unemployment office, at a bar in a wooden booth, at the airport, in Texas, Kansas, or Guatemala while drinking a Coke, smoking a cigarette, eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.”

Natalie didn’t include: “Write to calm your nerves before an employment interview,” but she could have, and I did. At her suggestion, I pulled out my pen, and in my mindset, the limbs poking through the fence twisted their leaves like worried hands in the hot breeze. I wrote about the laughing squeals of the children climbing the jungle gym in the playground at the daycare center at the back of the office, and how the building was covered in orange bricks with two rectangular windows that peered like eyes etched with brown liner. I described the freshly painted spaces and the smell of hot tar on the recently sealed lot, and the sound of a bird with a call that has been familiar to me since childhood but whose name I’ve never known.

Then I got down to it and wrote how the buzz of the high tension wires crossing above the asphalt could have been emanating from me. Taking measured breaths I wrote a reminder to myself that I have plenty to offer–at which point my eyes drifted to the seat beside me and I began to detail my three-ring zippered leather case holding plastic sheathed samples of newsletters I wrote in my old job, advertisements I facilitated, and my most recently published pieces. That portfolio is new.  I pulled it together last week– evidence of my past accomplishments and who I hope to become together in one professional binder–and while I documented those contents, the hour galloped past. At five minutes before eleven, I swapped flip-flops for shoes, pulled on my linen blazer, walked through the building entrance, and up two flights of steps.

Thanks to Natalie Goldberg, high tension wires outside were the only things left vibrating as I adjusted my shirt and smoothed my blazer, grasped the door handle and announced myself to the receptionist.

Liza Carens Salerno

Liza Carens Salerno is a freelance writer and former corporate professional whose position was eliminated in an economic downsizing.  Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe Magazine, Adoptive Families Magazine and Writer’sDigest.com.  She has spent the last several months focusing on her writing, and blogs at www.middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com.

Bookmark This

Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

---

The following writing tips have become mine through study and usage, but they are based on techniques advocated by English textbooks, creative writing books, composition books, and various published authors and other experts in the field of writing.

The list of tips is broken into two parts: Things that should be done (posted today), and the things that should not be done (tomorrow’s post). Everything is not covered, or I would have a book. Here are some things that can make a difference.

DO the following:

1. Do use first or third person when writing. Second person should be used only when writing directions or in dialogue.

Example of third person: “Roger grabbed his suitcase off the rack.”

Example of second person: “You grabbed your suitcase off the rack.”

Example of first person: “I grabbed my suitcase off the rack.”

2. Do experiment with a variety of sentence beginnings. The following list gives some different ways to begin a sentence:

A. Subject followed by adjective
Example: Curtains, lacy and white, ruffled in the breeze.

B. Adverb
Example: Lazily, the toy duck floated in the tub.

C. Prepositional phrase
Example: Behind the tree, the two boys giggled as they hid.

D. Subordinate adverbial clause
Example: When she saw the knife in his hand, she screamed.

E. Adjective
Example: Lively curls tumbled around her face.

F. Present participle
Example: Laughing, the man felt more relaxed than he had in a long time.

G. Past participle
Example: Frightened, the little girl started crying.

H. Infinitive
Example: To find the truth, Margery vowed she would search wherever needed.

I. Absolute phrase
Example: Her hands shaking from the cold, the woman dropped the valuable vase.

3. Do remember and use the seven C’s of composition:

Clarity – the writing is clear, lucid

Coherence – parts of the writing “stick” together, are connected

Completeness – no parts are missing, has a beginning, middle, and end

Conciseness – condensed, brief, no extra, unneeded padding

Concreteness – solid, united

Continuity – continues in sequence or order

Correctness – rightness, rectification of errors, revised without errors

4. Do use the writing process: brainstorm, organize, support; write rough draft, revise, rewrite until work is error-free and clearly communicates your ideas; do final write for publication, assignment, or posting.

5. Do use correct sentence structure (avoiding run-on sentences and sentence fragments) and a good variety of sentence types (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex).

Examples of run-on sentences:

The boy ran into the house and he called for his mother. (A comma after house would correct this sentence.)

The boy ran into the house, he called for his mother. (This run-on is also called a comma splice. To correct this error, a coordinating conjunction such as “and” must be added after the comma.)

Examples of sentence fragment:

Called for his mother.

Since the phone rang.

Examples of sentence types:
Simple: The dog chased his tail but never caught it. (One set of subject and verb with a complete thought called an independent clause)
Compound: The dog chased his tail, and he caught it. (Two or more independent clauses, joined correctly)
Complex: With his hand held out in supplication, the man begged for help. {One independent clause – the man begged for help – and one or more dependent clauses [has subject and verb, but without a complete thought] – with his hand held out in supplication)
Compound-complex: With his hand held out in supplication, the man begged for help, but he never said a word. (Two or more independent clauses joined correctly and one or more dependent clauses)

6. Do use correct spelling and a variety of correctly used words (increase your vocabulary). Use spell check, dictionary, Google (search engine at http://www.google.com ) and a thesaurus. Check for words that sound the same but have different meanings so that the correct word is used. (Examples: it’s and its; your and you’re; their, there, and they’re). Use synonyms for overused words, but be sure the synonym “fits” the way you use it in a sentence.

Spell all right correctly. All right is always two words, just as all wrong is two words.

Distinguish between which and that:
A. Which is used with non-necessary clauses. Example: The book, which sits on the table, has a red cover.
B. That is used with necessary clauses. Example: The book that I need has been taken from the library.

Distinguish between sit and set
A. Sit means to perch, to be situated, and it doesn’t have a direct object.
B. Set means to place, and it has a direct object.

7. Do use correct pronouns and correct pronoun references. Also avoid using a vague “it.” It as a pronoun should refer to a singular noun or indefinite pronoun (such as anything) used previously and closely to the pronoun.

Example of incorrect pronoun usage: Does anyone have their paperwork completed? (Anyone is singular while their is plural.) To correct this sentence, we need to either use a plural antecedent or change their to his or her.

Another example of incorrect pronoun usage: Mary gave gifts to John and I. (I is the object of the preposition to and must be the object form me.)

Another example of incorrect usage of I: This idea is between you and I. (Should be you and me because between is a preposition, too.)

Example of vague “it”: It was a beautiful day. Rewriting avoids the vague “it”: The sun shone brightly, creating a beautiful day. (The revision also avoids the use of a state-of-being verb and uses an action verb. It also tells the reader what “beautiful” means.)

8. Do use correct punctuation and capitalization, even in poetry.

9. Do have correct subject / verb agreement.

Example of incorrect subject/verb agreement: One of the children have forgotten the date. (One is the subject.)

Example of correct subject/verb agreement: One of the children has forgotten the date.

10. Do have unity, coherence, and organization in all writing.

11. Do use correct sentence beginnings. Unless used in dialogue, certain words are not strong sentence starters. Coordinating conjunctions (such as and, nor, but, or), there, that, and this (unless used as adjectives before a subject) and well should be avoided.

12. Do make all work believable and understandable to the audience (your readers). You need to know to whom you are writing, who will be reading your work.

13. Do use active voice most of the time in writing. Passive voice is to be used seldom and only when it cannot be avoided, because passive voice many times destroys accountability.

In active voice, the subject is doing the acting. “The boy hit the ball.”

In passive voice, the subject receives the action. “The ball was hit by the boy.”

14. Do use vivid action verbs with few state-of-being verbs.

Example of state-of-being verb usage: Everyone is very happy about the birth of a baby.

Example of action verb: The birth of a baby delights everyone.

15. Do keep verb tenses consistent.

Example of inconsistent verb tense: I wanted to go with him to town, but he wants me to stay home and wash dishes.

Example of consistent verb tense: I wanted to to go with him to town, but he wanted me to stay home and wash dishes.

NOTE: In both sentences, “to” wash is understood.

16. Do write numbers under 100 as words. For journalistic articles only, write numbers under 10 as words.

17. Do reread final copy of material before posting or submitting. If any problems or errors exist, revise and correct.

18. Do practice to improve proofreading skills: read slowly and read aloud; examine each line; be aware of usual errors; check dictionary; have a friend check your writing; read the material backwards to catch spelling errors and see things you might miss because you’ve read it often.

Tomorrow some Don’t's for writing.

Vivian Zabel

http://vivianzabel.blogspot.com/

http://viviangilbertzabel.com/

http://4rvpublishingllc.com/

Vivian taught English grammar and composition as well as creative writing, newspaper, yearbook, and literary magazine for much of her life. As she taught, she also attended classes, workshops, and clinics dealing with writing, not only to help be a better teacher, but also to hone her own writing skills. She still attend writing conferences and sessions to help herself improve.

Bookmark This