“There are very few professions in which people just sit down and think hard for five or six hours a day all by themselves. Of course it’s why you want to become a writer — because you have the liberty to do that, but once you have the liberty you also have the obligation to […]
Surprise Aspect of Character’s Personality
Jack Heffron’s The Writer’s Idea Book, p.229, a prompt involves showing an aspect of a character’s personality that readers haven’t seen before in the novel. For example, if a character has been kind, considerate, and does everything right, show the opposite in a crucial scene. Heffron talks about Tobias Wolff’s Mary, “In the Garden of […]
The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass/Protagonists vs. Heroes
Donald Maass states on page 9-10 in Chapter One of his book, The Fire in Fiction, that there is a difference between a protagonist and a hero. “A protagonist is the subject of a story. A hero is a human being with extraordinary qualities. A protagonist can be a hero, certainly, but isn’t always. Quite […]
Saving Time
Violet’s father said it right.
Activewear in My Protagonist’s Closet
My Protagonist, Jill Steele, in Norman in the Painting, wears what I called a pink jogging suit. In a critique group, I was told the terminology is activewear, not jogging suit. Apparently, people don’t jog now days, they run. Jill’s sister convinces her to buy new clothes. Jill doesn’t like to go clothes shopping but […]
Are You a William Faulkner Fan?
William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust was the book chosen for our reading group’s February novel. We all agreed it was a difficult style to read. He used little punctuation. The pronoun ‘he’ in his long sentences could mean Chick or Lucas or his uncle or any male in the scene. Within the long, long […]
Link for Story Ideas
Here is a link for story ideas/Writer Igniter: Writer Igniter Press the big bar that says shuffle and specific words from four columns stop after spinning for a few seconds. For my first shuffle, I received: Psychic meets new roommate with a silver quill on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. My second shuffle: Bronze Olympian […]