Suggested types of Dialogue An Excerpt from Conflict, Action & Suspense By William Noble

Yes/No:

The most obvious form of conflict is confrontation, and conflict develops action and conflict for our characters and the stories plotline. This type of dialogue is an excellent way to develop confrontation.

            Ex:      "I'm calling the police!"

                        "You'd better wait."

                        "We must tell them."

                        "Not tonight, we don't."

Well/Maybe:

Since people are rarely responsive to one another, more often than not they are evasive or partial in their answers.

            EX:       1.       "Would you tell me your name, please?"

                                    "Why do you want to know?"

                        2.         "I wish you'd pay more attention."

                                    "Wow, I hate the dress that lady is wearing."

Possible techniques of usage

·         Answer a question with a question

·         Let two or three lines of dialogue go by without the character answering a question

·         Mimic another speaker's line

·         Have the character not answer a question posed, but have him give the answer on his own to those in the crowd or group

The Threat of the Unsaid:

Sometimes to further the plot, put your character into an emotional whirlwind. Have him/her quiet when everyone else is shouting. This technique gives you the opportunity to ramp up the tension of a scene.

            Ex:       From Raymond Carter's, The Student's Wife

                        "You're asleep," she said.

                        "I'm not," Mike said.

                        "I can't think of anything else. You go now. Tell me what you like."

                        "I don't know. Lots of things."

                        "Well, tell me. We're just talking, aren't we?"

                        "I wish you'd leave me alone, Nan." He turned over to his side of the bed again                            and let his arm rest off the edge. She turned too, and pressed against him.

Self-talk/Inner Monologue:

Unlike a thought, an internal monologue is usually one character's dialogue with him/her self. Because it's in one person's and there is no other character to bounce the lines off, this should mirror the jumbled, disjointed thoughts that fly through our heads. Something like the following:

            Ex:       ...what do I know about boats, I'm a musician, there are some better, a lot                                              worse... but boats are scary, and I hide in this closet they call a head, waiting for                          something to show while jazz riffs flow through my head... and I know I don't                          belong here because boats can sink.

Gesturing:

This technique is different than an action tag in that it has more to do with the subtext of the scene. It can show the character's attitude as well as his/her hidden intentions without stating them in the line of dialogue.

            Ex:      Karen laid her hand on Max's arm. "I need your opinion."

                        "I don't know what you want from me."

                        "Well, can't you tell me what you think?"

                        Max's eyes never left the mirror while he spoke. "I'm not sure I have an opinion."

(Think about it, what does the red portions of this dialogue exchange show about the subtext of the scene?) 

Punctuating Your Dialogue (Jo A. Wilkins)

 Since you want your reader to get concise information from the way you present your story, you must write pithy dialogue. And, the best way to have dialogue read as you intend the reader to see it, it is important to punctuate it correctly.

1.      What is the usual way to identify the beginning and end of a dialogue line?

a.      Quotation marks ( “ ” ) are the identifiers that most authors use at the beginning and end of a character’s dialogue.

                                                                          i.      “I would rather not go there.”

b.      Although, in Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, he used no quotation marks. His dialogue lines began with an em-dash. He used it consistently so it worked for him and his publisher.

                                                                          i.      ― Why would I want to do that, he said.

2.      How could an author create an interruption in a line of dialogue without telling the reader he was interrupted?

a.      To let the reader experience an interruption naturally, use an em-dash at the abrupt end of an incomplete word to show that there was an incomplete line of dialogue. Let the next paragraph start with the dialogue that carries on.

                                                                          i.      “Why woul―” (next paragraph) “Because I told you too.”

3.      How can an author punctuate around dialogue when action identifies the speaker?

a.      When using ordinary dialogue tags, use a comma between the tag and the dialogue delivered then either open or close the quotes. Or you can split the sentence and place the tag inside the dialogue as shown below.

                                                                          i.      “I said I wasn’t going to do that,” she said, a tear falling from her eye.

                                                                       ii.      “I…” she said, a tear falling from her eye, “…I,― I  wasn’t going to do that.”

a.      Note the ellipses and the action portion of the tag. They show the reader that there is a hesitation and/or the emotions in the delivery of the dialogue.

4.      Action tags (or gestures)

a.      To eliminate the overuse of dialogue tags, and still show the emotions or intentions of the character, you can use an action tag or gesture that also identifies the speaker. When using an action tag you end the tag with a period (.). These can be placed either before or after the line of dialogue.

                                                                          i.      Jerry slammed his fist on the table. “I don’t want you to go.”

                                                                       ii.      “I don’t want you to go.” Jerry slumped onto his chair.

How To Write Successful Dialogue (Jo A. Wilkins)

Writing dialogue is as simple as writing the way people speak, right? Actually, no. If you copied down a real conversation exactly as spoken, it would be boring, very, very boring. Fictional dialogue looks like real speech, but it isn't. Dialogue is your most effective tool for developing characterization, the advancement of plot, and many other tasks in fiction.

1. Dialogue should add new information for the reader. If there is nothing new in the words a character speaks then it shouldn't be there. However, introducing something new can relate to plot, characterization, setting, or any of the other aspects of the story.

2. Avoid meaningless or routine exchanges. How exciting is it to read: "Hi, Joe. How are you?" "Oh, I'm fine, Sam. How are you?" "Can't complain. Wife doing well is she?" and so on, every time these two characters meet? Not exciting at all, is it? Whether or not real people speak that way is irrelevant. Fiction is an art form that represents life.

3. Avoid conversational repetition. We all stick in endless "Umm's and "Er's when we talk, and we often repeat all or part of what was just said to us as we consider what we'll say in replay "How's your job going?" "My job? Oh, it's going just fine." Like routine exchanges, repetition is boring to read, no matter how true-to-life it may be.

4. Use dialogue to suggest how the speaker feels about others and themselves. What a person says can show how they feel and what they think of the other person. You can also add description about the character's tone of voice to the surrounding text, but don't overdo it. You might want to use action tags (Gestures) instead of the usual he said/she said. But remember, the dialogue itself and the reader's knowledge of the character often supply this information more effectively.

5. Use the speech patterns and vocabulary of the speaker. Everyone talks a little differently from everyone else. When they are really being themselves, you should be able to tell them apart by their words alone, even if you couldn't hear voices. For examples of speech patterns that bring your character’s personality to life, listen to the people around you and use from true life examples.

6. Make use of region, class, group, or profession-specific language. If your character is a computer nerd, think about what kind of terminology they might use that a character unfamiliar with computers wouldn't. There are terminologies and jargons specific to all kinds of different groups - professional, social, regional and more.

7. Avoid phonetic spelling when using dialect, non-standard grammar or individual pronunciation. Phonetic spelling is difficult to read, and becomes annoying. Besides, every reader will interpret your phonetics a little differently. The rhythms of language and word choice are a much more effective way of conveying dialect and other speech differences.

8. Use caution with slang, not because slang is offensive, but because it can change very quickly. If you want to set your work in the 1980s, then you can use 1980s slang to help. On the other hand, if you write using contemporary slang, you may be restricting your work to a contemporary audience. Also remember that the things kids say now will be the things old people say 40 years from now.

9. Use character dialogue to set the pace of the scene. Short, quick dialogue moves the story to a faster pace. Longer, dialogue that is more expressive creates a slower, more relaxed pace. To create higher tension use fast, curt dialogue. But, unless you are reiterating something that happened earlier in the story, avoid telling info dumps.

10. We are always admonished to write in active voice and show our story with the reader. What better way to accomplish this than to let our character’s speak using active verbs (verbs that show action) to convey information. This can also show the emotional makeup of the character, or the face they are showing at that point in the story.

11. Dialogue can also show the subtext, the real or underlying meaning of what one character says to another through their inflections, (and in the case of your point of view character) through his deep and internal dialogue.

      Tips:

Dialogue is not conversation. Real conversation is boring to read. With dialogue you need to create the illusion of real conversation but pare the interaction down to as few lines as possible to convey the necessary information (plot development, characterization, etc).

Intersperse descriptive narration with your dialogue to give it detail and context and to add more information: "I'm not sure." She pushed a hand through her hair. She shifted her weight to the other foot and back again. "If you think I should, though, I will."

Don't overuse "he said" and "she said." Do realize, however that these particular dialogue tags are nearly invisible to the reader (in other words, they won't notice how many you have until you do overuse them), and should be used as necessary to clarify who is speaking.

Don't overuse colorful alternatives to he said/she said. Something like "he shrieked" can be useful, but make sure that the word you choose is accurate (did he really shriek?). Also make sure any tag you use can actually replace "said." You can't say, for example: "Go over there," he gesticulated. Gesticulation is not a kind of speech. You could say: "Go over there," he said, gesticulating.

Don't overuse direct address. Sam does not have to say "Joe"" every time he talks to Joe. It becomes annoying fast. "Say, Joe, what is that you're doing?" "Well, Sam, I'm fixing my car." And so on. 

Don’t Lose Your Passion (Denice Whitmore)

I love to write! I love the feeling of having an idea, sitting at my computer, typing and watching it blossom on the page. Sometimes I don’t even end up where I planned. But there are times when I find myself caught up in the mechanics of writing. Is my grammar perfect? Is this paragraph passive or tell? Should I write this in deep point of view? Are my attributions bad? Do I have too many adverbs?

When I first started out, I was a rigid outliner. I would outline the chapter, even whole conversations. The outline was the law. I had to stick to it. Well, there was a certain chapter—I  wasn’t sure how to get to from point a to point b. I knew how it started and where it had to end but the details in the middle were a bit fuzzy. I decided to just sit down and start with what I had.

A wonderful thing happened. I wrote! I just let the words flow onto the page. It turned out to be some of my best writing. I didn’t worry about the rules that I had been obsessing over since I started my novel. I wasn’t held back by the details in my outline. I entered the story, letting the characters and events unfold on the page.

I had such a rush at the end. It was the same rush I wanted my readers to experience. I poured my passion onto the page and it showed in the writing. I learned that I was not an outliner or a free writer but a mixture of both. It was the balance I needed to free up my creativity and passion. I still outline, but loosely. Beginning, end and how it furthers the plot are about it. I might jot down a few details or ideas so I don’t lose them but nothing like before. I then sit and let things happen as a free writer. I call it free writing with direction.

Here’s my advice to new writers. Learn the rules. They will make you a better writer and in time will develop into good habits. There is a reason we have them (we all want to be published, don’t we?). But during your first draft don’t hold so tightly to them. Get your ideas on paper. Make mistakes. Try new things. Some will work and some won’t. The important thing is to have fun in the process. The business and mechanics of the manuscript come later. That’s what editing and re-drafting are for.

We all started writing because we enjoy it. It’s fun to take the people and places in our imaginations and commit them to paper for the world to see. Remember how you felt about writing when you didn’t know what show don’t tell meant? Let your creativity flow on the page and forget the rules for a moment.

When you write with freedom, you write with passion—that passion is appreciated by those who read your work. And passion can’t be taught.   

I tell my four boys all the time, “Get your work done first and you will have more time for fun.” When it comes to writing I truly believe it is the other way around. Revel in the creation process and make amazing characters with incredible lives. Put them in unbelievable situations. Put them through heart wrenching tragedies and up against impossible odds. Laugh with them, cry with them, mourn with them, scream with them. When you have done all that, then you can set to work applying the rules through your editing process.

Keep your passion and love for writing so it doesn’t become just another job. Your readers will love you for it!

~Keep writing~

Publishing Hypocrisy (Richard R Draude)

Attending the Las Vegas Writer’s Conference this past April made the hypocrisy of the modern publishing industry. Right now you’re scratching your head, wondering, What’s he talking about?

I’ll explain after I say this. Yes I am a writer and the first version of my novel was, at best, horrible and was rejected. My current publisher required a complete rewrite and my editor beat me over the head with the rules you’ll find in the next few paragraphs. I will be expected to adhere to these standards in every book I write, going forward. No, this is not a ‘hit piece’ in retaliation for past rejections. We all get them, it’s part of the process. This blog comes in response to what is presented as the Publishing Standard versus what we see in print from established authors.

Throughout time writing styles and requirements have changed. How an author presents a story to his or her readers is determined by the publishing industry and varies from publishing house to publishing house. In the late seventies publishers required their authors to stop Telling their story, and let the reader live it through the characters’ eyes. Show, Don’t Tell,  is what all authors are expected to adhere to today.

At every writer’s conference you’ll attend, the people presenting the classes are, for

the most part, agents, editors, or an acquisitions editor. They present material to will stand in front of a group of eager writers searching for the road to publication.

Of the many tips offered these stood out to me: 1.Write in Active Voice   2. Have a Fixed POV (Point Of View)    3. No Author Intrusion   4. Show, Don’t Tell   5. Limited Use of Adverbs. (Limited to use in dialogue not in exposition.)

Some of these concepts are foreign to new writers. They take copious notes, read

anything they can find on the subjects. At home they are determined to write their story or rewrite their existing novel to the accepted standards.

Later, after a lot of hard work, a writer will submit their work to a publishers. Five or six months later they receive a curt rejection note with no explanation.  They then start over submitting their novel to another publisher or agent, only to wait another five or six months to get rejected.

An added note, many of the manuscripts submitted in any given year are terrible at best

and warrant a rejection. But some are never really given a fair shake. Legally Blonde is a good example. Turned down by most publishers as too frivolous, it became a self-published novel. The author, through perseverance,  brought it to the attention of Hollywood.

So where does publishers hypocrisy come in? Go to any book store and pick up a book

written by an established author with a following, written after 2001 up to the present. Once you understand the concept of Write in Active Voice, Have a Fixed POV, No Author Intrusion, Show, Don’t Tell, and Limited Use of Adverbs, you will see how the rules fall away for the publishers’ money makers. 

Take for example the novel Frozen Heat, by Richard Castle, ghost written by an unknown author. I offered this review on Good Reads.

I too am a huge Castle TV show fan, but I have to disagree with many of the

reviewers. I looked forward to reading any of the Niki Heat novels. I picked up Frozen

Heat, read the first chapter and a half, and close the book. Whoever the writer is, may

be sticking to the show’s formula, but the complete overuse of adverbs kept throwing

me out of the story. 

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Stephen King.

While I can read and enjoy novels written before publishers made a big DEAL of

"Show, Don't Tell." standard, and limited use of adverbs, this book falls way short of

either of those standards. Publishers reject a new writer's manuscript if it contains lot

of tell and uses too many adverbs, yet in the first 13 pages the 15 adverbs used, are

unnecessary. (I'm not counting the ones used in dialogue. Those are fine.)

For example, on page 4 line 8, the ride in the elevator. "-his back against the wall then

SUDDENLY hers.” The use of the word 'suddenly' is ambiguous.

Anton Chekhov said, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

How did Niki's back wind up against the elevator wall? Did she pulled Rook in front of her, or did Rook twist her into that position for more control? Those actions would have painted a much better picture of the scene. On the same page, line 16. "He appeared at the door COMPLETLY naked." Use of the word 'completely' is redundant. If you're naked, you're without any cloths. Your nakedness is complete. This continues throughout the book. For me what was an anticipated read turned into a big disappointment.

One more comment. On page 12, 2nd paragraph 5th line. "SLOWLY, METHODICALLY she ran the beam of her flashlight from right to left along the bottom edge of the case." Starting a sentence with an adverb is bad enough. Two in a row, please! Whoever the writer is, go take a creative writing class and reread the quotes above by Stephen King and Anton Chekhov, 

This is what Twain had to say about adverbs. 

“I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me. To misplace an adverb is a thing which I am able to do with frozen indifference; it can never give me a pang. ... There are subtleties which I cannot master at all--they confuse me, they mean absolutely nothing to me--and this adverb plague is one of them. ... Yes, there are things which we cannot learn, and there is no use in fretting about it. I cannot learn adverbs; and what is more I won't.”

I gave this book one star because I had to give it something.

Pick up any established writer, say Patterson for example, and you will find violation of

many, if not all, of the above standards. Why? Once an author is established, he or she

becomes lazy. Their publishers require them to crank out a number of novels per year. Publishers want to get another book out for cash flow and profits, so the editors let a lot go, if they edit at all. Because the author has an audience, their fans are going to buy and read a new book simply because it’s their favorite author.

When a book falls short of a publishers own self-proclaimed standards, fans and the so-called major reviewers should complain.  By offering bad reviews, we tell publishers  their established authors should have to conform to the same rules publishers expect new writes to follow.

We of the reading public would be treated to stories with more depth and impact, instead of publishers’ hypocrisy along with author and editor laziness. If publishers will live up to their own standards, the bottom line will follow. 

Two Bits Worth 25 Writing Tips from Fiction Authors (Richard Draude)

 Writing success boils down to hard work, imagination and passion—and then some more hard work. Here are 20 writing tips from 12 best selling fiction authors.

Print a copy to put on your desk, home office, refrigerator door, or somewhere else noticeable so you can be constantly reminded not to let your story ideas wither away by putting off your writing.

Tip1: TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies says,  “Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.”

Tip 2: "Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you." — Zadie Smith

Tip 3: "Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution." — Michael Moorcock

Tip 4: "In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it." — Rose Tremain

Tip 5: "Always carry a note-book. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever." — Will Self

Tip 6: "It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction." — Jonathan Franzen

"Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet." — Zadie Smith

Tip 7: “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: Memoir of the Craft

Tip 8: "Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out—they can be got right only by ear)." — Diana Athill

Tip 9: "Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." – Anton Chekhov

Tip 10: "Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted 'first readers.'" — Rose Tremain

Tip 11: "Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money." — Jonathan Franzen

Tip 12: "Don't panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends' embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end. Leaving the desk for a while can help. Talking the problem through can help me recall what I was trying to achieve before I got stuck. Going for a long walk almost always gets me thinking about my manuscript in a slightly new way. And if all else fails, there's prayer. St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers, has often helped me out in a crisis. If you want to spread your net more widely, you could try appealing to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, too." — Sarah Waters

Tip 13: "The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement – if you can't deal with this you needn't apply." — Will Self

Tip 14: "Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!" — Joyce Carol Oates

Tip 15: "The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator." — Jonathan Franzen

Tip 16: "Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful." — Elmore Leonard

Tip 17: "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." — Neil Gaiman

Tip 18: "You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished." — Will Self

Tip 19: "The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." — Neil Gaiman

Tip 20: "The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it on the wall in front of my desk saying ‘Faire et se taire’ (Flaubert), which I translate for myself as ‘Shut up and get on with it.’" — Helen Simpson

Tip 21: Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.” ― Lloyd Alexander

Tip 22: “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” ― Stephen King

Tip 23: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Tip 24“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”  – Mark Twain

Tip 25: “There is such a place as fairyland - but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way.

One bitter day, when they seek it and cannot find it, they realize what they have lost; and that is the tragedy of life. On that day the gates of Eden are shut behind them and the age of gold is over. Henceforth they must dwell in the common light of common day.

Only a few, who remain children at heart, can ever find that fair, lost path again; and blessed are they above mortals. They, and only they, can bring us tidings from that dear country where we once sojourned and from which we must evermore be exiles.

The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and story-tellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.” ― L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl.

Writing A Proper Bio (Jo A. Wilkins)

A bio, written by and for an author to present himself to an agent or publisher, is the second most important promotional piece you as a writer must have. Its basic function is to describe your qualifications for, or your background in, the genre or field you have chosen to write in.

When planning your bio, first, you must determine:

1. Do I need to generate a long or short bio?

            a. Short bios are needed to center in on each single project. Keep it to one page.

       b. Long bios are needed when you want to give your entire background for a long term relationship with an agent or publisher.

2. Do I need to include my bylines?

           a. In a short bio you need only list a few of the titles you have published, but make sure they reinforce your current pitch.

            b. Always have a list of all you bylines ready if asked

3. Have I evaluated what I have written? Is it appropriate for the pitch I need to give?

            a. Have another person read (or read to them) your bio for content

4. Did I remove the Adverbs and adjectives?

          a. Did I evaluate my use of all the adverbs and adjectives in my bio so that I am describing myself in the most active way possible?

5. Will my presentation captivate the agent, editor, or publisher I am aiming at?

            a. Does my presentation catch the interest of my target audience in the way I want to impress the agent/publisher?

Remember to incorporate these 6 factors into your bio:

· Write in Third Person

· List facts, not wishes

· Cite relevant experience

· Write Tight (Most Important feature)

· Add a hook if necessary

Writing Prompts (Richard Draude)

Writing Prompts, what are they?

If you’re a fiction writer, you may want to consider the use writing prompts to kick-start your creativity. A writing prompt is a topic around which you start jotting down ideas. The prompt can be a single word, a short phrase, a complete paragraph or even a picture. The idea being, to give you something to focus upon while you write. You may stick closely to the original prompt or you may, as many do, wander off at a tangent.
The point is to start writing, without being held back by inhibitions or doubts. Your first notes will be rough, disjointed, but the more you refine your idea the closer you’ll to something polished and complete. Maybe a scene or even a complete story.

Here are four good reasons for writing to prompts:

1.When faced with a blank page, many times it’s hard to start writing. Focusing on your unrelated prompt for a while, helps get the creative juices flowing. Writing for  for just ten minutes on a prompt, you should find it easier to return to the piece you intended to write. You may also find that if you stop trying to think so hard about what you wanted to write and switch you attention to the prompt instead, the words and ideas for your original piece start to come to you after all.

2.The things you write, responding to inspiration of your chosen prompt may end up as worthwhile material in their own right. Your prompt may give you ideas from which a complete story can grow. You may get a fresh idea for another piece you’re already working on. It’s often surprising how much material you come up with once you get started.

3.Working to a prompt regularly, helps to get you into the habit of writing. It can act as an exercise regime, helping to build up your “mental muscles” so that you start to find your writing sessions get longer and longer, while the effort gets easier.

4.Prompts can be a great way to get involved in a writing community. Some writing groups offer a prompt for everyone to write about, with the intention being for everyone to come up with something they can then share. The leader of one such group handed out a 3 x 5 card. Each member wrote down two nouns, two verbs, two adjectives, and one color. The twist to the exercise came when we passed the cards two places to the left. The card we received, became the basis of a 300-500 word piece. This can be a source of great encouragement, although knowing others will read what you have written can inhibit your creativity.


Examples of Writing Prompts

Here are twenty writing prompts that you could use to spark your imagination. If you want to use one, don’t worry about where the ideas take you or whether what you’ve written is “good”. The point is just to get into the flow of writing. You can come back later and polish if you wish to.
 01. It was the first hard snowfall of the year.
 02. She woke, shivering, in the dark of the night.
 03. His feet were already numb. He should have listened.
 04. Silk lace.
 05. She studied her swollen face in the mirror.
 06. Red eyes.
 07. This time her boss had gone too far.
 08. She’d have to hitch a ride home.
 09. The streets are deserted. Where is everyone? Where had they all gone?
 10. The city burned, fire lighting up the night sky
 11. They came back every year to lay flowers on the side of the road.
 12. Stars blazed in the night sky.
 13. He woke to the song of birds in the meadow.
 14. The garden was overgrown now.
 15. The smell of freshly-cut grass.
 16. He hadn’t seen her since the day they left High School
 17. ‘Shh! Hear that?’ ‘I didn’t hear anything.’
 18. He’d never noticed a door there before.
 19. Where does this corridor led?
 20. ‘I told her not to go there!’
 21. He’d always hated speaking in public.

Where To Find Writing Prompts Online.
The internet is a wonderful source of writing prompts. There are sites dedicated to providing them which a quick search will turn up. Examples include:

 •Creative-Writing-Solutions.com
 •WritersDigest.com
 •CreativeWritingPrompts.com

I also came across numerous blogs offering a regular writing prompt to inspire you and where you can, if you wish, post what you’ve written.

 •DragonWritingPrompts.blogspot.com
 •OneMinuteWriter.blogspot.com
 •SundayScribblings.blogspot.com


There are also many other sites that can, inadvertently, provide a rich seam of material for writing prompts – for example news sites with their intriguing headlines or pictorial sites such as Flickr.com that give you access to a vast range of photographs that can prompt your writing.
Have a Twitter account, there are users you can follow and receive a stream of prompts Three examples:
 •twitter.com/writingprompt
 •twitter.com/NoTelling
 •twitter.com/writingink

Another idea is just to keep an eye on all the tweets being written by people all over the world, some of which can, inadvertently, be used as writing prompts.

How To Make Your Own Writing Prompts

You can find ideas for writing prompts of your own from all sorts of places. Get used to keeping your eyes open for words and phrases that fire your imagination. Sometimes snatches of overheard conversation, headlines, signs, words picked from a book and so on. Jot them down any and all, then use them as writing prompts to spark your creativity. You never know what road they may take you down..

Do you need an Editor? (Richard Draude)

Do you need an Editor?

I'm constantly amazed at writers who come to our writers group or any group with a story they've written to have it critiqued. From the first it's easy to tell whether they've really serious about having others opinions or they just there to have their egos stroked.

They sit there stone faced, nodding while the members provided honest observations about problems they see in the writing, the story or both. Some listen, go home, work on incorporating the comments they feel are most helpful into the next chapter. Some listen, but return with little if any improvement. The ones I really feel for are those who get their feelings hurt and don't return. Instead they go elsewhere, looking for someone to tell them its a great novel. If that's what you need, have your mother read it.

If you are one of the lucky few accepted by a publisher, tuck your ego in your in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile. The redlines, corrections, deletions, and changes have just begun. In case you don't know, a traditional publishers employs an army of people who will go over your book. Content, line, grammar editors and proof readers, stand between you and publication. So you work has just begun.

Case in point. A woman came to Mystic Publishers a few years ago with a novel she wished to self-publish. She was asked if she'd had the manuscript edited. She replied that her family had read it and it was ready for publication. Most self-publishing houses would have said great and sent it to press. After reading the first two chapters, the people at Mystic suggested they have an editor look at it. What the author received back shocked her. Every page had some much red on it you have though the story had tried to slash its wrists. The author hired the editor, made the corrections, but never bothered to have someone proof read it. She insisted on printing 500 copies. He son bought a copy and returned it the next day the book's errors all red-lined. Almost every page had errors. Now the author has 500 units of fire starter.

Three years ago I joined a writers group to share my work. For one reason, to a better idea of what I'm doing right, but mostly where I'm going wrong. I soon learned that while theses are good people and good writers, they're not there to stroke anyone's ego.

Case in point. My first book, I published in a vacuum, so to speak. Wrote it, talked a few people into editing it and made the corrections. No one else saw it until it hit the market, (and didn't sell). A friends wife read it and handed the book back to me with sticky tabs on numerous pages. Close to fifty typos.  When I started sharing it with the group I learned very quickly what show don't tell really means. I went back pulled the ISBN number and rewrote the story. The first half was just released by NewLink Publishing, titled, Dreams and Deceptions. (ISBN # 978-1-941271-00-1) It's on Amazon and available for the Kindle and available in most other eBook formats on Smash Words. Part two Plots and Prophecies will be released early in 2015. I'm busy working on books 3 & 4

So, do you need and editor?  John Grisham, Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, JK Rowlins, Sue Grafton, and Orson Scott Card all have editors, Heck, Even in the make-believe TV world of Jessica Fletcher and Richard Castle, and Tim McGee, they all have editor. What makes us think we don't.
Don't get discouraged, to turn a good story into a great novel takes hard work and dedication and at least one decent editor.

5 Senses—How to Invoke Them In Your Writing (Denice Whitmore)

5 Senses

We all use description in our writing. We describe characters and settings, actions and reactions. Most of what we write is description of some sort. By using the 5 senses, we can broaden our descriptions from a list of attributes to an experience for our readers.

Touch—How do you describe touch? The word feel/felt is passive so how can we describe how something feels without using that word? Let’s think of some words that describe something that you've touched.

Silky, smooth, rough, scaly, sticky, slimy, hard, soft, ribbed, slick, grainy slippery…you get the idea.

It’s not the adjectives themselves but how they are woven into the nouns, verbs and phrases that will truly help a reader know how an unfamiliar, or even familiar, object feels. Let’s have an example.

           

            He ran his hand through her _______ hair.

A little cliché, I know. But what if we didn't go with the obvious choice? What if we chose sticky? This would have a huge impact on his reaction.

He ran his hand through her sticky hair. He stared at his fingers, squishing them together. The skin peeling apart from top to bottom and then he did it again, fascinated at the suction the sugary substance caused.

We've all experienced that as kids and, while unexpected here, we get a clear picture of how sticky feels.

Smell—We all know what things smell like. Describing the actual smell without using comparisons can be a challenge. Let’s think of some words that describe smells.

Foul, sweet, burning, smoky, pungent, fruity, rancid, decayed, fresh, stale, dusty, minty, woody, earthy, sweaty, musty, dank.

How would you describe fresh cut grass? Or, the smell of baking bread? How about the smell of a dirty diaper? These are all things we have smelled before but putting words to a description can be hard. A lot of times we rely on common experience of the readers to fill in the blanks. When we write things like, fresh cut grass, or the smell of baking bread, or even dirty diaper, they definitely evoke something in each of us. But because everyone’s experiences are different, what they think of will not be the same as what the writer intended.

Scent also has the strongest connection to memory. Who hasn’t walked into the house while cookies were baking and thought of visits to Grandma’s or baking with Mom? But we can’t just rely on ‘tells’ and the readers experience to describe scent. As an exercise, try using adjectives to describe the following. Some may be harder that you think. If you come up with a good one, share it in the comments.

·         Fresh cut grass

·         Baking bread

·         A garden/your favorite flowers

·         Two-week-old leftovers in the fridge

Taste—How would you describe the taste of salt to someone who has never eaten it? Not as easy as it sounds, is it? Especially since we use ‘salty’ as an adjective. So, on to the list of taste words.

Salty, sweet, sour, sweet and sour, savory, rich, tangy, bitter, bittersweet, fruity, starchy, flavorful, raspberry(or all the fruit flavors), mild, spicy.

When writing about taste, your goal should be to evoke the memory of a specific taste in your reader by giving the description of the item and the characters reaction to it.

She loaded the chip with salsa. Opening wide, she crunched down and chewed rolling the tomatoes, peppers and lime flavors around in her mouth. She smiled at her date, but then her eyes watered and she gasped for air. She swallowed the mouthful and the heat slid down to her stomach. Drawing in a deep breath, she plunged her head into the punch bowl, cooling the burn with huge gulps of the sweet, fruity drink.

           

Or how about the taste of ice cream?

He slid his tongue over the cold scoop on the cone. Flecks of bittersweet chocolate mingled with the sugary cream. He closed his eyes savoring the mix of flavors.

Draw on your personal experiences and sensations to help the readers identify and make their mouth’s water.

Hearing—Sounds are important to our lives. If you describe a setting and leave out the sounds you haven’t given the reader a complete picture. Would you describe a carnival without the barker yelling, the music of the merry-go-round floating on the breeze, a bell ringing and people cheering as someone wins a prize, and let’s not forget the shrieks of the daring souls brave enough to ride the roller coaster. These all add to the setting.

But sometimes we can use sound to convey action.

Pop! Pop! Pop! He ducked, bullets peppering the wall above his head.

This is called onomatopoeia. These words imitate the natural sound of things. Think of them as sound effects for writers. Here are some examples of onomatopoeia.

Boom, crash, pop, splash, drip, plop, warble, whoosh, croak, whistle, giggle, growl, bawl, clang, clap, clink, slap, thud, buzz, chirp, meow, moo.

These words mimic the sound they describe. They are often found at the beginning of a sentence and signify the sounds themselves. They can also heighten the tension or surprise the reader as in the example above. So don’t forget the sound of your setting for a complete picture.

Sight—Last of all is sight. As writers, we are used to describing the visual aspects of our characters and setting. But we have to remember to make them part of the story and not just a laundry list of description. Here’s an example.

He was tall, about six feet. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

Pretty boring, right? Now let’s make it part of the story.

I looked up into his face when the gun cocked. The boy’s blue eyes shifted around the alley. Switching the gun to his left hand he wiped his palm on his tight, black t-shirt. He turned and ran away, his messy blond hair blowing in the wind.

Making the details part of the action makes it more interesting for the reader.

Using color can be tricky. Ally Condie stands out to me as someone who has mastered the use of color in her writing. Here are the first few paragraphs of her book Matched.

Now that I’ve found the way to fly, which direction should I go into the night? My wings aren’t white or feathered; they’re green, made of green silk, which shudders in the wind and bends when I move—first in a circle, then in a line, finally in a shape of my own invention. The black behind me doesn’t worry me; neither do the stars ahead.

            I smile at myself, at the foolishness of my imagination. People cannot fly, though before the Society, there were myths about those who could. I saw a painting of one of them once. White wings, blue sky, gold circles above their heads, eyes turned up in surprise as though they couldn’t believe what the artist had painted them doing, couldn’t believe that their feet didn’t touch the ground.

            Those stories weren’t true. I know that. But tonight it’s easy to forget.

She uses color seven different times in that passage alone. Never once did she ‘tell’ us something about the color. She didn’t tell us her dress was green or the night was black or even that the painting was of angels. She ‘showed’ us the thoughts of her POV character and worked the color in. So let us find better ways of using sight in our writing to make it vivid.

By employing all the senses in our writing, we don’t just tell our readers a story, we let them share in the experience of our characters. We can evoke emotion and memory. We can create well-rounded settings and vivid, colorful pictures. So go forth and try something new. Expand your descriptions to artistry.

Keep writing.