BookRix Author Elizabeth Towles on Writing
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Author Elizabeth Towles (etelizabeth) has been one of our most active contest participants recently, winning 2nd place and $500 in our “Family Stories” contest for A Ticket to the Past and 3rd place ($300) in the “My Best Fiction” contest for The Winter of a Mind. Her first full-length novel, The Long Night Moon, has received rave reviews and is available on Amazon. Elizabeth shared with us some of her tips for finding inspiration and curing writer’s block: The ‘Walks of My Mind’ on Writing Many things walk through my mind; they change with the choice of time. For instance: during the day, I tend to write with a conscientious eye, and a guarded temperance of my word choices; almost as if I’ve an invisible watcher editing my thoughts before they find print; night-time, then, offers a different stage for my writing; I feel the mellowing of my words, and my fingers fly across the keyboard with the courage of a Delilah. My thoughts sing a purer truth as the cover of darkness cheers me on. It seems most problems find an answer with only the light of the monitor in front of me. The shadowy dimness of the room lets my imagination have a free hand, no censoring of ideas, or judgment sitting on my shoulder. This night-time writing is very much an aid when I’ve stalled in a piece of work and the proverbial blank wall has to be climbed. I will take my character out of third person and write the voice in first person; most often I find that my author’s voice has been the culprit and I had slipped from a listening stage concerning my character’s actions to one of an author’s desire toward the script. In the dark, I can usually ‘feel’ my character around me, and if I close my eyes and truly listen, my character will lead me back into the story in a correct manner. Only then will the work move forward again. Another aid in writing is a gathering of ideas for later use: I read newspapers and magazines with an eye out for the oddity of a headline, or a story that draws me in. A parting caution: Never close your mind…let it be open to all that you see! - Elizabeth Towles You can connect with Elizabeth on BookRix, Facebook, Twitter and her blog. |
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Author Gay Talese on Writer’s Block
“Probably I have writer’s block as a natural condition.” LOL! A man after my own heart!
In case you’re not familiar with him, Gay Talese was an essayist for The New York Times in the early 1960s and one of several writers who defined “literary journalism”. His piece, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”, which ran in Esquire in 1966, is one of the most famous magazine articles in history, and one of the greatest celebrity profile pieces ever written. In their 70th anniversary issue, Esquire editors honored it as the "Best Story Esquire Ever Published."
What do you do to get past writer’s block?
How Authors Can Get the Most Out of Social Media
The O’Reilly Tools of Change Conference earlier this year focused on the impact of the digital revolution on publishing. Social media guru Chris Brogan offered his insights as to how authors can make the best use of social media:
There are some other great TOC 2010 videos on YouTube. Here are a few recommendations if you don’t have time to watch all 39 of them:
Writing Great Fiction Tales
By: Carmen Ana
Many people confuse being [a] great [writer] with the fact that you have to be published. No. Being great involves that your readers live through your work, that it becomes real and convincing to them, even when it is fiction.
Writing a great story involves many things.
1. Your work must be convincing and real to you first.
This means that you must live your characters in order for you to give them life in your tale. Let me get clearer in my meaning: You MUST become your character, feel and act like them. When you are in tune with that character, then you will write with their passion, personality and feelings. You’ll be writing from your heart with your character in mind and your readers will sense it also.
2. Write a background for your characters.
Yes, I know, there are times I don’t need one to make my story flow. But! There are times when secondary characters can become very important to the story, but when we don’t make a background for them, we end up going back to rewrite and fix our glitches we could have avoided. Background also helps us get to know our characters better, making them more real to us.
3. Analyze your plot and storyline.
Have someone read your work. If you or they can see how your story is going to end before the fifth chapter, be humble to accept you have a weak plot. Give twists to your story, stump your readers and make them work hard in guessing your ending. If you don’t do this, I guarantee you will have unsatisfied readers.
4. Check for inconsistencies.
This is one that we need to be very careful [about] when overlooking our work. I have seen characters change their personalities with no reason. For example, if you have a strong-headed independent woman in the first few chapters, then have her become weak and dependant without something happening in the tale to trigger that change, you are being inconsistent. If you’re writing a tale about someone who’s never seen the outside world and you’re using similes with modern things the character has never seen or heard of before, you’re being inconsistent. If you have your character speaking with an accent, then later on he’s not, uh-uh you’re being inconsistent. If you have a character in a party getting it on and then he/she appears somewhere else without an explanation, then you have another boo-boo to fix.
5. SHOW, don’t TELL.
It’s not a sin to tell a little in a story, and it even happens to the best of us. And if we never told at all, that would great! But too much telling kills the story. For example, instead of telling your readers your character is mad about something, portray it by the use of descriptive actions and dialogue. Your readers have a brain, and believe me, they like to use it. So, show your readers how your character thinks and feels about something by using the above method, without telling them every little detail. It can be annoying to find too much telling in a book.
6. In fiction and fantasy anything goes, as long as there’s a logical
explanation to it.
When inventing the use of technology and sci-fi gadgets, don’t become the scientist who wants to explain the slightest detail of their invention nor who invents things that make your readers roll their eyes and say, ‘Yeah right, whatever.” Nowadays almost everyone knows how time travel, teleportation, laser guns, space ship, identification scanners, etc. works. All you want to do is show your readers what your new device looks like and what it does, without going overboard with your explanations. This also goes with new mythological creatures — please do not overdo it.
7. Writing skills.
You can have strong characters, one heck of a plot and story idea, but if your writing skills are poor or terrible, then you’re getting the boot. I personally have improved tremendously, but I still have my misusage of words and awkward sentence structures to deal with. But I know that without going through them tediously and fixing it, my writing would get nowhere toward getting published. So if you’re one who needs help, take writing classes, be determined to work hard and learn how to get better and better. Be humble to accept constructive criticism to heart and apply it.
My fellow writers, it is good to see you all working hard to share your work and improve. I want to thank BookRix for having me here and for giving us this wonderful site that presents our work professionally and beautifully. May we all continue to grow as writers and human beings.
Always remember, the future of your writing depends solely on you. So don’t give up!
Living the Dream
– “There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” – Alexander The Great –
Believing in your abilities goes a long way as a writer. I posted this quote on a sticky note beside my computer. It comes in handy when the agony of writer’s block takes over. I procrastinate, distract myself and find twenty things to do other than write. The screen remains blank until my muse returns.
This saying is also useful when I receive rejection letters from publishers. Writing the “Great American Novel” is a desirable goal. However, how many of us invest the time and effort to make this dream a reality?
One of my first creative writing instructors told me that my work was good enough to publish. I sent out submissions to magazines and journals.
I was having coffee with a friend who asked me how the writing was going. “I don’t think I’m cut out to be an author,” I said. “I got rejected three times from this art magazine.”
She shook her head. “You’re giving up after three rejection letters? Go and talk to them. Introduce yourself and keep sending them your writing!”
Soon after I was published in that magazine and other print publications as well. I also taught creative writing and began to write more complex, longer works.
It’s great to have the talent to write, but monetary success partially depends on marketing skills. It would be a perfect world, if we all had agents and publishers looking out for our best interests. However, the reality is no one will know you as a writer unless you put yourself out there. In ways, it’s like running a business.
So you’ve fostered your writing and found a unique voice. Perhaps you’ve shown your stories and/or poems to fellow writers and received advice and suggestions. You’ve taken writing courses and participated in writers’ forums. Now is the time to approach publishers if that is your goal.
Make sure your work is the best it can be. Judge it not as the author, but as a skeptical reader. What makes it memorable? What is not essential? Who is your audience?
Skill as a writer can be learned. Natural talent puts you in good company. There are good writers who aren’t published and there are not so good writers who are published. Don’t be afraid of failure but treat it as a learning experience. If you’re going to dream, dream big. Your goals in writing are within your grasp. It may take time, but nothing is impossible.
Lovers Dance
By: David Wood
– Look into my eyes, look at the hypnotic essence of my stare. As my strong but gentle hand scoops you up, and we begin to glide over the dance floor, like the fog does over the water. My hot breath breathing on your neck, ear lobe. Not letting you go, as you stare into my hypnotic eyes. Your arm over my shoulder, the other holding my face near yours. As you bring up a leg while I steady your balance, I slide a open hand across your shin, like that of a violin. We begin bringing the audience’s stare, as they are captivated by our dance. We are performing the “Love Makers Dance” as we take over the dance floor. Like a hot fever leaving them breathless and thirsting for more. -
Now let’s take a look at this passage and what it has done:
1) Simply by using a little imagination and a picture that I had seen, it has presented you a subject.
2) You need to help the reader(s) see in their minds what you are describing. Give them the feeling of being there and seeing what you write about.
3) At times, using a little imagination and actual happenings from your life, can be useful when writing on-line. They can draw the reader into your thoughts as you express them from your heart, and not just going through a dictionary looking for words. I, for example, try making it as simple as possible for the reader as I can, that means that more people are willing to read my writing. Some authors like using giant words or words that you have to look up in the dictionary. If you’re stuck and not sure what to write about, try looking at different pictures, or people for that matter, and imagine what they are thinking about.
I hope this works, I tried by using a little story that I wrote to show a form of subject and how it draws some readers into the story.
Sincerely,
David Wood