Friday, January 11th, 2013 A long time ago I resolved not to make New Years resolutions.
I’m not against trying to do better. I just don’t like the system: For the last month of the year or so, people start talking about what they’re going to do next year: lose weight, read more, eat more vegetables, stop kicking the cat.
Whatever.
And for a month or so, people binge eat, swear off books, eat less vegetables and kick the cat more…because they know in a few weeks they’ll have to go cold turkey. (Never realizing, of course, that by Valentine’s Day, 75%* of all those resolutions will be long broken anyway.)
* I made up that statistic. But you get my point.
And besides, it’s all so arbitrary. If you want to stop kicking the cat, do it NOW. Why wait?
That being said…
I do like to set goals for myself: reachable, measurable goals which are wholly under my control. (If they’re out of my control, they’re not goals, they’re dreams. Don’t get me wrong: dreams are awesome. But they often rely on outside influences to obtain them.)
If I miss a goal, I’ve only got myself to blame…
…unlike really good fiction.
Goals are the building blocks of stories. The hero has a list of goals he wants to achieve. The protagonist has a list of goals he wants to achieve (often at odds with the hero’s goals). Without this conflict, the story is boring.
Often, the hero’s most basic goals, let’s say, leaving a room, are stymied by the protagonist — who locks the door, or shoots the hero, or reveals a bit of information to the hero that is so inconceivable, that the hero is frozen in place (by shock, indecision, heartbreak, anger, etc.). No matter what, the hero cannot simply get up and walk out of the room.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Make a list of 3 – 5 goals you want your hero to accomplish. (If you’re writing a short story, stick with 1 goal, 2 at the most.)
- Make a list of 3 – 5 goals for the antagonist to accomplish: goals which by their very nature are at odds with the hero. Remember: at the beginning of the story, the antagonist doesn’t know what the protagonist’s goals are, so it’s cheating if the goal is a direct contradiction of the hero’s.
For example:
Your protagonist might be a retiring Firefighter looking to purchase his neighbor’s 10-acre farm on which to live out his golden years.
The real estate agent handling the transaction finds out the land contains lucrative mineral deposits, and puts in a bid for himself instead. Prices for the farm escalate into a bidding war as the realtor decides he wants to own the property for its potential value.
(So, the protagonist’s goal is to buy some property to retire on. The antagonist’s goal is NOT to stop him from retiring with property, but to invest money in a property with possible lucrative minerals. It just so happens that in this case, the property is one and the same.)
- Choose one goal for each of them, and write the scene where the two goals conflict.
Good luck!
Friday, January 4th, 2013  The holidays are officially over and it’s back to the daily grind for most folks, myself included.
The snow’s still on the ground here (it snowed Christmas Day) and heading back to work in this Winter Wonderland (albeit a little sun-dappled with large patches of grass poking through) is a bit of a letdown. Sort of like that feeling you get when you threw a rockin’ party at your house, and you’ve just ushered the last guest out the door.
The party was great!
But now you’ve got to empty the sink full of dirty dishes, pick up all the empty bottles lying around, and scrape the remains of the crab dip and shrimp pesto into the trash — and take it out — so your house doesn’t smell like a fishing pier in the morning.
In other words, the coats are off the bed, but you’ve got a lot of work to do before you can relax.
Here’s Your Prompt
- “The Party’s Over” is a metaphor for divorce, break ups, graduation, etc. What does it mean to you? Journal about it or write a poem about the loss of “The party is over.”
- Write the “clean up” scene between roommates who just hosted an awesome get-together. Use the end of the party as an underlying metaphor for something else: they’re cleaning up, and as they do so, one roommate announces he’s moving out, or that she’s taking a job in another state, or that he’s breaking up.
- Nat King Cole and Journey both wrote hit songs about this topic. Write your own song.
To give you some ideas, here are Cole’s Lyrics:
The party’s over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right just being with him
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party’s over
It’s all over, my friend
(Read the complete lyrics here.)
Journey called their song The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love with You).
You never call me up
When I’m alone at night.
What can this poor boy do,
When he’s hopelessly in love with you?
So I will tell you now
This love is fallin’ down.
Just what more can I do,
When I’m hopelessly in love with you?
Oh, bye-bye, baby – The party’s over, I have gone away.
The party’s over, I have gone away.
(Read all the Journey lyrics here.)
- Turn the expression on its head: write about the party being over as a good thing. Don’t take the easy way out by having the “party” be something bad to begin with. This party had to be so good, it’s craziness that it’s over: but killing the party is going to be a good thing, just a little risky.
Good Luck!
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“Cocktail” Photo by Dan Mojado.
Friday, December 28th, 2012  Today in 1895, the first commercial movie was viewed at the Grand Cafe in Paris, France. Admission was charged.
The film was made by two professional photographers, Louis and Auguste Lumier, who were goaded into creating a movie when their father saw Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope, and told them they could do better.
(Let’s hear it for a little parental guilt!)
The movie was a series of short scenes of everyday French life.
It enthralled the public, and the rest is history.
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a scene as if you might be writing a movie script, rather than a novel or short story. Don’t worry about making a perfect script. Simply set the scene with a few paragraphs at the top, then write the dialogue.
- Part 2 from above: once you’ve written the movie treatment, turn around and write the scene as if for a novel or short story. Does the dialogue still work? If not, revise.
- Write a journal entry or essay on your favorite movie you’ve seen on the big screen. What about it seeing it in the theater makes it your favorite?
- In Cornhuskers, chapter, 28 Memoir of a Proud Boy, Carl Sandburg writes, “There is drama in that point: the boy and the pigs. Griffith would make a movie of it to fetch sobs…” Write about a movie bringing you to tears. What emotion stirred the tears? Why?
Good Luck!
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012 
Conversation about 20 minutes ago:
Husband of Awesome™ walks up two flights of stairs from the man cave to see how I’m doing.
Husband of Awesome™: Why does your office smell like onions?
Me: You’re probably smelling the potato salad I had for breakfast.
Husband of Awesome™: Eww.
Me: Can you do me a favor?
Husband of Awesome™: Not if it means getting closer to onions.
Conversation I imagine we’ll have the next time he pops in to check on me:
Husband of Awesome™: Why does your office smell like sauerkraut?
Me: You’re probably smelling the sauerkraut I had after the potato salad. You know – to get rid of the smell of onions.
Husband of Awesome™: (Shakes head and leaves, wordlessly)
Me: (Laughing…) What!?
In my book, there is nothing better than Christmas leftovers for breakfast the day after Christmas. Yum!
And it’s snowing again, yippee! White Christmas and more snow coming. I smell a sleigh ride at lunch time (after a ham sandwich, some crab dip and a huge hunk of fruit cake)!
What’s everyone else doing today?
Monday, December 24th, 2012  Merry Christmas!
Here’s my gift for you (or for you to give to a writer friend).
I’ve created 30 prompts – all different than the ones I’ve used on my Web site for the last few years.
Included are quotes, story sparks, one-word prompts, etc. There are prompts for journalers, short-storyists, poets and novelists. Some are thought-provoking questions, some are simple directives.
(If it sounds like it’s all over the board, it is: I wanted there to be a little something for everyone.) Nonetheless, any prompt can be used multiple ways: if you’re a poet and it tells you to write a story, well, just write a poem! If the prompt is something fictitious and you enjoy journaling, relate it to your life in some way.
The prompts are spread out, 10-to-a-page on 3 pages, with dotted lines between each.
The idea is to print the three pages, cut along the dotted lines. them fold the strips over so the cute image is showing, but not the prompt. Decorate a shoebox or a glass jar, toss them in, then keep them on your desk when you need a bit of inspiration.
Here’s the PDF Link to the free prompts. (Right-click and choose save as to download it to your computer.)
I hope you enjoy them!
You Say You Want More?
If you’re looking for a more robust gift for a writer friend, I’ve written 370 more prompts – one for each day of the year and a few extra which are available in the same format. They’re $2.99 via PayPal. Just click the link below. Once you pay, you’ll be directed to the download link. Thanks!
Friday, December 21st, 2012 That’s me today: relaxed.
I’ve got all my holiday stuff together: gifts bought, packages wrapped, etc. Now, I’m just sitting with my feet up and a cup of eggnog in my hand.
(Well, not really. Being done just means I get to play at my second job – writing. But you get the idea…)
Here’s Your Prompt:
Good Luck!
Saturday, December 15th, 2012 I read the first chapter of Ghost Hand, and was instantly hooked. So hooked, I invested in the Kickstarter project, because I wanted to read this book as soon as I could! The book is finally ready, and I don’t want to put it down – just when the plot was getting good: it got even better.
And lucky us! Author Ripley Patton agreed to answer a few questions below. I hope you enjoy…
Do pick up Ghost Hand when you get a chance. It’s terrific!
~ Kelly
 Why did you write THIS book?
The short answer is: an agent told me to.
The long answer is a bit more complicated than that.
In 2009, I had been writing short stories for about five years, and really enjoying it, and I’d even won some awards and contests, but I wasn’t making much money. I had thought about writing a novel and had started a couple, but I always lost interest a few chapters in. I was beginning to doubt I could even be a novelist. Then, out of the blue, a New York literary agent contacted me on Facebook. She had read one of my short stories online and wanted to know if I was working on anything longer. After I picked myself up off the floor, I told her I wasn’t, but I could be. What followed was three weeks of frantic writing and outlining. I don’t think I even slept. All in all, I managed to prepare four different novel synopses with sample chapters for her to look over. She read them all and gave me feedback on what she liked and what she didn’t. And of Ghost Hand she said, “I could sell this. Write this one.” And so it began…
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, by the time I had Ghost Hand done, the agent had quit the business, so I ended up publishing it myself.
Do you have a “story” about the writing of this book? Something fun, crazy or frustrating that happened while writing?
Ghost Hand took me three years to write, so yeah, a lot of fun, crazy, and frustrating things happened during that time. Probably the craziest thing was that my home city was destroyed by two devastating earthquakes. I was living in Christchurch, New Zealand at the time, and in September 2010, we had a 7.1 earthquake that, among other things, took down a wall of our house and we had to move in under six hours. Then in February 2011, Christchurch was hit again by a 6.3 which was actually much more devastating than the first one because it was shallower and hit smack in the middle of the city. This time our house wasn’t damaged much, but my neighbor was killed, my husband lost his workplace, and my daughter lost her high school. After that one, the city was under a national state of emergency for three months while we suffered the 7,000 aftershocks. Water, food and fuel had to be brought to us by our friends in the safe zone for several weeks. It was a harrowing experience for me and my family, and many other people, and I have a feeling that someday I will have to write a book about it. But at that time, Ghost Hand was my escape into a world a lot less shaky than the one I lived in.
How much of the book is realistic?
All of it. Every last word is as realistic as I could make it. If a girl did have an ethereal hand that could reach into people and pickpocket their souls, I’m pretty sure it would look and act exactly like Olivia Black’s ghost hand does in the book. That being said, it is a paranormal thriller. It is fantasy. I personally don’t like books that are too realistic. If I wanted realistic, I wouldn’t read fiction. I’d just step out my front door.
Perhaps one thing that people might find too realistic is that my teen characters do swear. Honestly, I debated that, taking words out and then putting it back in again. Ultimately, I asked my own two teens what they thought and they said, “Mom, teens swear.” To them, it wasn’t authentic without some swearing. But I’m sure it will bother some people.
What books do you love, and what authors have influenced you?
Oh, I’m so glad you asked this. Probably my two favorite YA books in the last few years have been Lisa McMann’s Dreamcatcher series (Wake, Fade, and Gone), and Neal Shusterman’s Unwind. Both are grungy and dark, have amazing plotlines, and are a unique take on your typical YA story (no werewolves or vampires). Those books heavily influenced Ghost Hand. And Neal has just come out with a sequel (promising to make it a trilogy) to Unwind called Unwholly. Which reminds me, I haven’t bought it for my Kindle yet, and I don’t know why. I shall now go and do just that.
What’s next?
When I first started writing Ghost Hand, I didn’t know it was going to be a series. But as I wrote the book, the story grew, and I soon had a three book plot arc that I was really excited about. I love to read books in a series because then you don’t feel as sad when you finish the first book, knowing there are two more to look forward to. So, what’s next is book two of the PSS Chronicles, which I will start writing in earnest in January. I’ve already done research for the book, which takes place mostly in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I have the basic plot line in my head. Given the fact that scenes have already started to write themselves, I don’t think it will take me three years this time. I’m shooting to have the first draft done by summer, and release book two of the PSS Chronicles in fall of 2013.
You can read the first five chapters of Ghost Hand using Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature. Go there now, click on this link to read!
Where can you find Ripley and her books? Right here:
Ripley Patton’s Web Site: http://www.ripleypatton.com/
Kindle Version of Ghost Hand: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AF1CM0A
Paperback Version: https://www.createspace.com/3904994
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghost-hand-ripley-patton/1113899293?ean=2940015815030
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Ghost-Hand/book-tcaOM1Z-bEqiPYB_TaglRQ/page1.html?s=FDxT59tXp0WF-cKDbgUOfQ&r=10
Ripley Patton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rippatton
Ripley Patton on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ripley.patton
Friday, December 14th, 2012 Give your character a deadline and you’ve got instant tension in a story. And without tension, you’ve got no story (or maybe no good story).
This works in real life, too.
Case in point: I gave myself a deadline of tonight to have all of my Christmas prep done: present buying, gift wrapping, house cleaning, card sending, etc. Talk about tension! And tonight’s a mad scramble: I’ve got about eight more presents to wrap and 30 Christmas cards to get out the door.
And I’ve come pretty close to my goal. But, alas, there’s one mail-order item that hasn’t arrived yet, and one more gift that hasn’t been bought.
Still: the next 10 days are going to be pretty relaxing around here. And that was my goal, to get it all done so that I could spend some actual time enjoying the holiday instead of making a mad dash in the weeks that lead up to it.
(You’ll want to give your character more dire consequences, however, if you want some real drama in your story. Kidnap his girlfriend and give him five hours to get the ransom money. Have a job hang in the balance, or a long-standing relationship, or a life.)
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a scene where your character is presented with some kind of deadline. Make the stakes high, and have your character really struggle to meet it. Don’t let the answer to the problem come from an outside resource.
- Write the “consequences” scene if your character doesn’t meet her deadline.
- Journalers: write about a deadline you made in the nick of time. Talk about what would have happened if you hadn’t have made the deadline.
- Write a poem about figurative deadlines…fall turning into winter, the end of a long life, a road that goes nowhere. Invoke the feeling of a deadline, but don’t use the word deadline.
Good luck!
Friday, December 7th, 2012  The setting in a story is the place and time the story occurs. Every story has one. It lends context to the tale.
The settings for different types of stories will be different, as will the approach to creating them. One thing to consider is the audience reading the book.
For instance, the setting for a story taking place in modern Washington, DC might include a description of the Lincoln Memorial, the terrible traffic, diesel fumes from buses, protesters on the corner, etc. It might include some details on the weather: the oppressive heat of a July sun baking all that marble or the sleet of a November rain. And that’s it: just enough detail to ground the reader to location and atmosphere. He’ll fill in the rest with his own imagination.
A period romance might include the description of a brownstone townhouse in England, gas lamps on the sidewalk (if you’re in the rich part of town) or ragamuffin children (on the poor side of town). It will usually infer the economic status of the heroine, and some background, so we know how she got to this place and time. And, it might include a description of the historical events taking place, so that the reader gets an idea of the main character’s thoughts and motives. This description might go on for several paragraphs, because this audience enjoys rich detail.
Science Fiction readers will want explicit details on science, mechanics, atmosphere, politics, etc. But you don’t want to include detail, for detail’s sake. For instance, while you’re setting the scene, if you have machine that creates breathable atmosphere on a planet formerly known for its deadly gases, you don’t need to explain how that works…unless one of your characters is knowledgeable about it, or questions how it works, AND that information is crucial to the story.
If specific details aren’t important, but you point them out, you’ll either a) bore the reader, or b) leave him wondering why you included the detail. You don’t want that bouncing around in the reader’s head when she should be enjoying the story.
Also, a good rule of thumb when setting the scene is to include details related to the five senses. So, describe:
- what is seen
- what is heard
- what is felt (or touched)
- what is smelled, and,
- what is tasted
The hard part is writing the scene without making it sound like a checklist, like this:
The chaotic barnyard was filled it with animals. I could hear the cows mooing, the chickens squawking, and in the background somewhere, an old hound dog. The dirt was hard-packed beneath my feet, and I could feel every pebble through my shoe. Someone hadn’t mucked out the barn in ages. I could smell the dung all the way across the pasture. The wind kicked up, blowing dust in my face. I could taste the corn feed Farmer Brown just strew for the hens.
Terrible!
Here’s Your Prompt:
Here are a few suggested locations and time periods, choose one and write the scene.
- A junior high school in the US, mid-1970s.
- Modern day in a Scottish castle.
- A 1950s traveling carnival.
- A rock ‘n’ roll concert during the holidays, and the singer is late.
- Thanksgiving Dinner – the week before Thanksgiving.
- A fictional planet, during a civil war.
- The coast of any continent, 1800s, during a powerful storm.
- Today, in your home town.
- England, during the middle ages, in a small cottage
- Santa’s workshop, in July.
- Alice’s Wonderland – only set the scene of somewhere Alice didn’t go.
If none of these strike your fancy, choose your own time and place.
Good luck!
Friday, November 30th, 2012  Toys.
It’s that time of the year, right?
(But I drafted this prompt back in April, when I contemplated the purchase of a new toy…so that time of year? Not working here.)
I never did buy that toy: not enough bang for the buck. And the new version isn’t scheduled to ship until at least January. No toys under my Christmas Tree this year.
How about yours?
Here’s Your Prompt:
- Write a scene from a play or novel where a toy plays an integral role. It could cause an argument between characters, be bestowed as a gift, be stolen. Anything, so long as it’s crucial to the plot.
- Write a free-verse poem about a toy. Or, write a poem where the first word of each line starts with one letter in the name of your favorite toy. (So, if your fav toy is the xylophone, the first line of your poem starts with a word starting with X, the next line starts with a word starting with Y, etc.).
- The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
~ Little Boy Blue, by Eugene Field
- Design a toy you’d like to own. (This toy can be mechanical, electronic or old fashioned wood and springs. It’s your toy, you design it!)
- Write an essay about your favorite childhood toy. Or, write an essay about your favorite current toy (your car, your laptop, your iPod…all these qualify).
- Leaving the things that are real behind
Leaving the things that you love from mind
All of the things that you learned from fears
Nothing is left for the years
~ Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic
Good luck!
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Writers - Maryland Writer's Assn.
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