This is where you can come and check out tips and tutorials on improving your writing skills...
If you feel you're not getting any better... maybe this is the place to pick up those vital tools to a better story.
I will close this thread behind me...but if anyone has suggestions or tips of their own they can PM me and I will post it up.
good luck and have fun...
Hence Forward
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Cheryl Paquin is a nationally published writer in both the business and humor markets. Cheryl has a Master Of Arts in Journalism and has been writing freelance for over five years; she contributes regularly to publications in Minnesota.
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How to Write Winning First-Person Stories
by C.S. Paquin
The essence of good first-person narrative is sharing an experience, letting the reader see and feel it, and reaching a resolution from which both reader and writer grow or have an 'aha' moment. Writers often confuse essays with a recollection of an event -- they fail to share how the experience enlightened them, affected them, changed their opinion. An essay is an internal journey of discovery. To work well, the reader takes that journey with you.
What to write
The topics are endless. Almost anything can be the subject material for an essay -- nature, climbing, sailing, death, parenting, relationships -- but ask yourself what you feel passionate about, or what you have experienced that has universal appeal. Ask yourself what makes you happy, or what makes you sad. When you have a clear idea of what you'd like to share, begin a draft.
The draft
The draft essay is the first step in clearing your head for a final, tightly focused piece. Don't hold back in your draft, don't critique it, just let your emotions and thoughts run unchecked. Write where you are comfortable; perhaps try longhand if you usually type. Then, when you think you've said all you can say, close the file or notebook and walk away.
When you're ready, perhaps in a day or so, read your draft. You'll find paragraphs that make you wince, and others that shine with brilliance. You might find you sound dogmatic or overly emotional. It's good to recognize this now before you submit your piece. If you don't, the editor will.
Many essays for commercial publications are not lengthy -- perhaps 1,000 to 1,200 words, often less. To share all you want to share, you must keep focused on three elements -- the beginning or hook; the conflict or the internal journey; and the ending, what you find at your destination.
1. The hook
Look at your first draft and see what parts of it are crucial to set the scene -- people, places, events -- and what will distract the reader with unnecessary detail. The balance lies in giving the reader enough information so they can know you at least a little. Remember, your neighbors, spouse and children may be familiar with you and your experience, but your readers are not, yet are about to embark on an intimate journey with you. On the other hand they don't want tedious details about your Aunt Marge or her canary, unless they're coming on the journey too.
The most successful essay I've published had this introduction:
I sob in Sydney International Airport as my 5-year-old daughter Bee and I bid our friends and family an emotional farewell. At age 30, I am leaving my native Australia, after a whirlwind romance, to join my husband in his native Minnesota.
Immediately, the readers (Minnesota Monthly) knew they were going to hear about a physical journey as well as the internal one, and the key players were myself, my daughter and husband, and a relocation to Minnesota.
What wasn't important in this piece is what got to me the airport -- why my daughter and I were going to Minnesota, and not my husband to Australia, or whatever. What mattered was that I was at the airport, and that I was leaving.
If you are writing about coping with infidelity, don't talk about the ten good years before your ex-spouse's affair; start from when you discovered the betrayal.
In short, begin with the phone call, the letter, the diagnosis, the news, and the event... not what led up to it.
2. The journey
We're packed, ready and off we go. This is where we experience your challenge or conflict with you, grapple with the curveball, struggle to make sense or laugh or cry with you. To recapture your emotions and make us feel them, the body must be lively and interesting. Again, don't bog down your story with unwieldy descriptions; keep focused on your emotions and the drama to keep the reader moving forward. Make sure you occasionally remind of us of the theme of the journey, but succinctly.
It's OK to pause, recollect your thoughts, or comment on where you thought this journey may have led you, but you do have to press on. You've taken us this far and we're engrossed, so you have an obligation to see us to the end.
3. The destination
Aah, so we discover that it is possible to survive a Minnesota winter; a broken heart; beat the odds; or change a belief about yourself. Tie the ends together, remind us where we were when the journey began and how far we've come. The ending or resolution doesn't have to be happy, but there should be evidence of growth or a new understanding in the author.
And if the reader can apply that growth and understanding to his or her own life, then your essay has achieved its goal -- a journey worth taking.
Editing your essay
Now for the hard work! You've written what you think is close to a publishable piece, but don't be hasty in sending it off. Put this second draft away and then reread it, removing yourself from your experience as much as possible. Look for the following pitfalls:
1. Emotion vs. emotional
It's fine to be angry, sad or happy. We want those emotions, but remember the reader is more removed from your particular experience. If you are too emotional, you will appear to be venting, possibly irrational and to not have grown from your challenge. If you haven't grown, neither can the reader.
2. Passive vs. active (I stress emphasis on this point-Mag...)
There is a tendency for essays to be passive because they describe past events, which offers no immediacy to readers and less chance to engage them. Look at your sentence structure, if you have a lot of "was" or "by" in your essay, revise it. Look at the following:
"I was being lied to by my wife" is passive. So break it down: Who's doing the action? The wife: the wife is lying. What is the verb or the action word? Lying. Who is having something done to it? I am. Sentence structure should be subject/verb/object: "My wife lied to me" -- offering less to wade through and bringing the action (the verb) closer to the reader.
3. Adverbs
Writers often think if they use adverbs they're heightening emotion when, in fact, the opposite is true. Use of words ending in "-ly" weaken prose. If you shout because you're angry, the reader should know that from your actions and not be told, "I shouted at her angrily."
4. Show, don't tell
Sheila Bender, author of Writing Personal Essays: How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page, says that a good essay is one with imagery appealing to the five senses. To engage readers, offer enough detail so the audience sees, smells, hears, etc., what you are describing. Don't "tell" the reader what's happening; use verbs that "show." Don't say, "it was a hot day," instead, tell us, "the sun beat down."
Copyright © Cheryl Paquin 2001. Excerpted from 101 Paying Markets for Essays, Columns & Creative Nonfiction
Last edited by Mag...; April 4th, 2004 at 04:31 PM
Hence Forward
Structure
Novice writers are often given this advice on how to structure their short stories:
* Put a man up a tree
* Throw stones at him
* Get him down
When you come to think of it, it's good advice for any writer.
Short Story Plan
Start with a situation - a problem to be resolved for your protagonist ( the man up the tree).
Then present the problems that can occur (throw some stones):
* Misunderstandings / mistaken identity / lost opportunities etc
The final step is to show how you can solve the problem - get the man down from his leafy perch - safely.
* Love triumphs / good conquers evil / honesty is the best policy / united we stand ...
When you've finished writing, always (always) proof-read your work to check your spelling, punctuation and grammar. Don't spoil all your hard work by presenting an unprofessional image to your readers.
Put this simple plan into action with your next piece of writing.
Theme
Every piece of writing must have a message or thread of meaning running through it, and this theme is the skeleton or framework on which you hang your plot, characters, setting etc.
As you write, make sure that every word is related to this theme.
It's tempting to use your short story to show off your talents at characterisation, descriptive writing, dialogue or whatever ... But every excess word is a word that dilutes the impact of your story.
The best stories are the ones that follow a narrow subject line. Decide what the point of your story is and even though it's tempting to digress, you must stick to the point otherwise you end up with either a novel beginning or a mish-mash of ideas that add up to nothing.
Time Span
An effective short story covers a very short time span. It may be one single event that is momentous in the life of your main character or the story may take place in a single day or even an hour. Try to use the events you depict to illustrate your theme.
Setting
Because you have such a limited number of words to convey your message, you must choose your settings carefully ... there's no room for free-loaders in a short story!
That doesn't mean you have to be trite or predictable when deciding on settings. For example, some of the most frightening settings for thrillers are not cemeteries or lonely alleys, but normal places where readers can imagine themselves.
Appeal to your readers' five senses to make your settings more real.
Characters
Around three main characters is all a short story can effectively deal with because too many will distract you from your theme.
Don't give in to the urge to provide detailed background on your characters ... decide on the characteristics that are important for your theme and stick to those. If you fall in love with your character, use him/her as the basis for a novel later on.
Dialogue
Never underestimate the power of dialogue in conveying character, but it must contribute to the main focus of the story - don't just use it to pad out your characters. Every word you put into the mouth of your characters must contribute to revealing your theme ... if it doesn't, be ruthless and cut it.
Plot
Begin with an arresting first paragraph or lead, enough to grab the readers and make them curious to know what happens next.
Make sure your plot works - there must be a beginning, a middle and an end. But don't spend too much time on the build-up, so that the climax or denouement (as in the twist ending) is relegated to one sentence, leaving the reader bothered and bemused but sadly, not bewitched.
And don't signal the twist ending too soon - try to keep the reader guessing until the last moment.
If you're telling a fast-moving story, say crime, then keep your paragraphs and sentences short. It's a trick that sets the pace and adds to the atmosphere you're conveying to the reader.
Proof Read
Readers are easily put off by bad formatting, bad punctuation or spelling mistakes. Don't distract them from your story - always proof read and then proof read again.
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