Do you like poetry? I admit that I don’t know much about it, although I do know what I like.
I favor bouncy, rhyming poems a la Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein (because they are so fun!), but I also like e.e. cummings (clever, clever).
Henley’s Invictus is my favorite (Thanks, Charlie!) because the strength of the narrator appeals to me. It’s also dark, and I really like that.
In honor of National Poetry month, let’s have a prompt about poems.
Here’s Your Prompt:
Write a poem. It can be jouncy, bouncy, rhyming fun, or free verse, or even a patterned poem, such as a sonnet. (If you choose haiku, you must write at least 5!)
For a twist on writing poetry, choose a favorite scene from a book or movie, and write it in poetry form. Again, it can be free verse, rhyming or patterned.
Here’s where the reverse poetry idea comes in: find a poem, any poem, that you like. It can be one from childhood, or a new one you’ve never read before. Then, re-write the poem in prose, but the deal is, you have to use the exact words of the poem in your essay /story / scene.
For example, if you were to choose Silverstein’s “Forgotten Language” which starts off:
Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
You could write…
Once I spoke the language of the flowers: silent and delicate, a trembling of fingers or tilting of head conveyed much. Lengthy speeches could not offer as much information as the casual lift of a hand.
Once, I understood each word the caterpillar said, I knew the flowers for liars….
NPR is reporting that a new Dr. Seuss book will be available in the fall.
I’m so excited! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Dr. Seuss.
I have every book he’s ever written (venerated on the top shelf of one of my many, many, bookcases) but apparently not every story.
But you can bet I will by this fall!
These seven collected tales were printed in magazines in the 50s, and never collected into any volume. According to the article, some of them have not been in circulation in over 60 years.
How cool is that?
I have other favorites from childhood, including Milne and Nesbit (and Heinlein and Asimov, but they hardly qualify – even if I was reading them all together).
So: if you could have a “collected works” of any one childhood author on your top shelf, who would it be?
It’s been pointed out to me that next week Atlas Shrugged — the movie — is being released (April 15).
How serendipitous! (Or not, really…)
I had no idea a movie was in the making (but I generally don’t follow that stuff anyway – so, please, cut me a break 🙂 ).
There will be limited showings, so, I hope there’s one in my neck of the woods — or close by. I’ll define “close” as within a 2-hour one-way drive. I’d like to see it ASAP since I’ve finished the book so recently.
Apparently, the book is so long, that the movie needs to be produced in three parts. Only part 1 is available next week. You can see the trailer, which I’ve plugged in below, as well as several scenes from the movie at the official web site. There are also two spankin’ movie posters on the site.
I love the “Who is John Galt?” poster. I’m going to hang it here in my office.
A single page, double-spaced, yields on average 250 words – less, however, if you’re writing poetry or dialogue. But if you can write one page every day, you can churn out roughly one novel a year (two, if you’re writing YA fiction.)
Can you do it?
Here’s Your Prompt: Write 200 words before something: 200 words before breakfast, or before your lunch break is over, or before you have to leave the house this morning.
Write 200 words before you’re finished drinking your coffee / tea / soda. Write 200 words before you have to pick up the kids from school today.
Do you work full time? Write 200 words before you start your workday, or before your morning meeting (admit it, you’re checking your personal email, right? Skip it, and write.)
Do you ride public transportation? Write 200 words before your stop. Or, 200 words before you arrive this morning.
Atlas Shrugged has been on my “to read” list for a long time, and I finally finished it.
I “read” it via audio book — the 25th Anniversary Edition — which contained a long introduction about Ayn Rand and her process. I found it fascinating.
She journaled obsessively about the story before beginning to write, and filled hundreds of pages with information about the characters and how they felt, what they did and why they acted in certain ways and more. She determined precisely how she would portray a character and listed ways to show this to readers.
The book is a hefty tome, and the audio version was over 63 hours of listening. There were times I wanted to just pull the plug, but I persevered, and I’m glad I did.
Atlas Shrugged is the story of Dagny Taggert, who fights to save Taggert Transcontinental Railroad from failing as the US falls into a downward economic spiral. Bad economics are caused by government intrusion into industry and the economy.
The government passes the Preservation of Livelihood Law, which limits the production of any one company to the output of another; as well as the Fair Share Law, making it possible for anyone who wants its “fair share” of a commodity to simply file the paperwork and get in line, regardless if they can pay for it or not.
Big Business is essentially forced to pay for the privilege of being in business. And if obeying the laws creates a negative profit flow, they can’t close up shop: because there’s another law that states that a business must remain open and continue to employ all its workers.
[Spoiler Alert]
This government intrusion spurs John Galt, an inventor who creates a motor which would revolutionize the world, to destroy the motor and withdrawal from society. He creates a home in a Colorado valley which he hides with the help of another invention, and one-by-one invites other industrialists to join him. Their disappearance signals the end of the US economy and the death of many who no longer have the support of the industrialists.
[End Spoiler]
Rand’s writing in Atlas Shrugged can only be called ‘philosophical.” She employs rhetoric every chance she gets, which accounts for the length of the story. In fact, there is a radio speech at the end of the book, made by John Galt which lasted over two hours of my listening time.
(I never wanted to fast-forward something so much in my life!)
Part of me can’t help but feel that what Rand describes is what’s happening now in the U.S. Did she predict this present turmoil?
But that’s the nature of a philosophical work: the questions asked are timeless and thought-provoking.
I’ll go a step further and opine that Rand was writing alternate-future (rather than alternate-history), pushing the What if? boundaries as far as they could go. Let’s hope her fiction never comes to pass.
I’ll start by saying that if you get a chance to take a workshop with Don Maass: don’t pass it up. He’ll have you critically thinking about your manuscript within minutes…and by the end of an 8-hour session, you’ll feel like you’ve run a marathon.
His style is to tell to you choose a character or a situation in your book and then ask several questions designed to spur your muse to deliver a better product. When you’re done, you’re muse will want to hunt down Don and slap him – instead of your characters wanting to hunt you down for putting them in peril.
(And if you don’t understand that reference, you need to take a writing workshop with A. C. Crispin.)
Don gave a thought provoking address at lunch on Saturday, notably about the merging of genres in today’s market and the ease of e-publishing. One comment stuck with me: if you self-publish in today’s market, rather than go with a “traditional” publisher, you stand to make make more money in the short term, but you’ll fail to grow your audience base.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. It bears thinking about.
My favorite panel on Saturday was Jonathan Maberry’s Building a Writing Career. He offered several tips for making money in non-fiction while continuing to feed your fiction habit, and showed, as in his case, that if you keep at it, the jobs will come looking for you. Jonathan is a highly entertaining speaker, and he made what could have been a dry, boring seminar a delightful experience.
But there was much more than Don and Jonathan on Saturday: there were costume seminars, meetings with agents and editors, advice on your story’s opening, a writing contest, panels on marketing your work and more.
I highly recommend the GLVWG Workshop. I’m certain I’ll attend again.
Diane and I had planned to host World Building 101 – a cross-over gamer’s-author’s workshop on how to create a fantasy world – but there were scheduling conflicts on Saturday and it didn’t work out. However, I spent a huge amount of time in the Dealer’s Room, and that’s always a plus.
(And this just means that Diane and I have plenty of time to gear up the seminar for next year. In the meantime, if you have any questions about mapping, climate, weapons, flora/fauna, peoples, etc., drop us a line and we’ll answer them here.)
Of course, we got to read from our work. That’s always exciting, particularly when you read to a rapt audience, as we did on Saturday. There were children in attendance, so I stuck with The Dragon’s Clause, rather than Blood Soup. (It doesn’t hurt that dragons are ever popular with gamers!) It was well received.
As for the gaming aspects of the con: a definite “something for everyone” kind of place. There were board games and card games in addition to the expected Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games – which ran all hours of the day.
And if you had no experience regarding a particular game or gaming system: no worries! Exhibitions and learning games were hosted just as often as the tournament play. The best part: something for everyone at all age and experience levels.
Will I be back? Definitely. Next year I plan on gaming as well as ‘authoring’ at the con.
I’ve just finished editing a scene in my (completed) novel which has given me fits and starts for weeks.
It’s (mostly) a conversation between two very strong women in which important revelations are made.
Both women are surprised at what they learn. Their feelings — and their intentions — are both relevant to the story. But I can only tell it from a single point of view. So, which should I choose?
That’s been my dilemma. And over the last few weeks, I’ve re-written the scene several times, first from one point of view, and then the other. And then I flip-flopped, and flip-flopped again.
Each time, the scene has become stronger and the dialogue more tense. Each re-write made the prose leaner and tougher.
I finally settled on a viewpoint, and it’s not that of the protagonist.
The fact is: even though my protagonist learns some pretty significant things about herself, the other character has more to lose because of it.
Literary genius Sol Stein suggests that a scene should be written in the POV of the character who is affected most by the scene’s content. This makes sense to me, and that’s why I decided to leave it in the point of view of the secondary character.
Bonus! Writing from her POV stirred my muse to suggested additional plot layers, so the story has grown as well.
Here’s Your Prompt: Choose a scene you’ve written that’s not working for you. Write it from the point of view of another character. Be sure to include what this character thinks and feels and sees as the scene progresses. Be cognizant of how the flavor of the scene may be changed due to the alternate point of view.
If you don’t have an existing scene, write one! When you’re finished, start over and write it from the opposite POV.
According to Wikipedia, “Etymologists say the term [waffle] was derived from waff, a 17th-century onomatopoeia for the sound a barking dog makes, similar to the modern woof. Although the relationship between a dog’s bark and indecisiveness is unclear, the inference is that waffle words have about as much meaning as the noise made by a dog barking.”
Also, according to wikipedia, “a waffle is a batter- or dough-based cake cooked in a waffle iron patterned to give a distinctive and characteristic shape. There are many variations based on the type and shape of the iron and the recipe used.”
Thus, International Waffle Day can be celebrated by waffling on decisions or by consuming waffles. Your choice. (If you find yourself waffling on this decision, feel free to do both.)
True story: Once, I was traveling from Maryland to Georgia to meet some friends, and they gave me directions:
Get on Route 95 south.
Waffle House.
Waffle House.
Waffle House.
You’re there.
Such is the greatness of waffles.
Here’s Your Prompt: (Your Choice. If you’re waffling, do both.)
1 – Write about indecision. Tell a story about a person who must make a tough decision. The decision must be of such import that the choice of one contraindicates the choice of the other. This can’t be a “stay or go” choice. Either option must be painful. For example, your protagonist’s best friend needs a kidney, and your protagonist is a perfect match. If he doesn’t give up a kidney for his best friend, his best friend will die. But your protagonist suffers from a rare anesthesia allergy, and giving up a kidney might also mean giving up his own life. What does your character do? How does he feel? Why does he make the choice he does? (Not choosing is not an option.)
– or –
2 – Write a scene of someone eating waffles. Why are they eating waffles? Are they fresh? Homemade? Frozen? Are they eating at a restaurant? What’s the atmosphere, the sounds and smells, around him? Coffee and bacon? Orange juice and toast? Is it noisy? Glasses clinking, pots steaming and sizzling, loud conversation? Or, is he eating at home: quiet and serene on the back porch, with a gentle breeze shushing leaves and birds singing? Is the dog waiting for a handout? Does your character enjoy eating waffles, or is it the only thing “on the menu?” What condiments does she use on her waffles? Butter, syrup, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, fresh fruit? Once you’re done, make the event of eating waffles the significant action of the scene. Why is eating these waffles important?
I’m in Allentown, PA for The Write Stuff Workshop hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group.
Agent extraordinaire Donald Maass is here teaching from his “Writing the Breakout Novel” books, and I spent all day in his workshop learning how to apply his techniques to my current WIP.
I’ve read Mr. Maass’s books, and I’ve cruised the internet for information, but there’s nothing like hearing it straight from the well. The presentation is polished – as I expected it would be – but not so routine that it felt mechanical. Which is good, because tomorrow is Day 2 of the pre-conference workshops, and had this presentation been bad, I might have had to bail.
As it is, I’m looking forward to the “Fire in Fiction” workshop tomorrow.
My favorite portion of the class was a discussion of “micro-tension” among the dialogue, exposition and action. It’s this tension that keeps a reader turning pages. He suggests we toss our manuscripts in the air, gather the pages back together in random order, and read each individually to make certain this micro-tension exists.
(If I do this, I’m going to have to print a complete, new copy of my WIP to play with because there is NO WAY I’m putting the pages back in order when I’m done.)
Nine hours later, I’ve got some excellent ideas for tackling my current novel (and perhaps applying to the novel I’m going to shop later this year) and I’m exhausted.
A wyvern is a similar creature to — some say a sub-species of — the dragon. It stands on two legs instead of four, and its tail is often seen as arching over its head, scorpion-like, so that it can use the spade-shaped tip to poison it’s enemies.
They’re often depicted in English heraldry on flags and shields and coats-of-arms (such as this flag of the Ancient Kingdom of Wessex, located today in England).
Some people feel they’re interchangeable creatures – but wyverns lack the intelligence of dragons – so you won’t find them starring in any thoughtful stories. In fact, it’s pretty rare to see them “starring” at all.
I’ve written both dragon stories and wyvern stories. I tend to use dragons for “intelligent” tales and wyverns when I need a fierce creature who acts on base instinct…but it seems a shame to me that such a fine (if evil and nasty) creature gets pushed out of the limelight by its more intelligent cousin.
I’m sticking with the intelligence theory: that it’s this lack of smarts that makes the wyvern so unattractive in stories, though it could easily be that it’s not popular because a wyvern has less versatile “artillery” than that of various dragons (and is therefore less useful, in a story).
Or, maybe the wyvern is not used as much because fewer people are aware of the myth.
What’s your take? And which do you like better: dragons or wyverns?
Atlas Shrugged has been on my “to read” list for a long time, and I finally finished it.
SynDCon is a gaming convention held in Rockville, MD. This was the second year for it, and it attracted about 300 gamers. A few authors (
I’ve just finished editing a scene in my (completed) novel which has given me fits and starts for weeks.
Today (March 25) is 
Can I assume everyone knows what a dragon is? 