Time to Write Now will be down for a few days while my website master works on my site. I’m not sure when that will happen, but sometime between late next week and August 12th. A new look replaces the row of books and the green background. The blog’s name and link will be the […]
Using Fog in Writing
I like fog, however, last night as a few hundred people claimed their spot at the Emeryville shoreline park at about 6:00, a thin layer of fog threatened to block the sunset and promised to become thicker. Our friends from Sacramento who own a boat docked at the Emeryville harbor invited us to join them […]
A Little Italian and Greek
Elaine Schmitz, author of Recipes & Recollections of My Greek-American Family, put greetings in her email to me which I asked what they meant. They are below and might be useful if you want to put in a little Italian or Greek into your story’s dialogue. In Italian: Buon giorno is Good morning, Buon pomariggio […]
Secondary Characters Deserve Attention
Do you have secondary characters in your novel or story? Have you given them enough attention? Or are you using them as if they were props? As writers, we spend time in character development for our protagonist and antagonist, and tend to throw in a secondary character for dialogue or for a cause of some […]
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 […]
Does Your Setting Have an Arc?
Writers know that the main character’s change follows an arc. The plot has an arc of increasing tension toward the climax and then some resolution. How can a setting have an arc? Setting details are important, not lengthy chunks of detail, but enough interspersed so the reader has an image. The image also is relatable […]
What Did You Start Writing?
When you first started writing, what form did you use–short stories, poetry, memoir, or a novel? In middle school, I chose short stories and I still like to write them. Next I wrote a few novels, and then poetry. In the afternoon writing class I teach, we are writing a Haiku twice a month based […]