Monthly Archives: March 2013

What Keeps You From Success?

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What Keeps You From Success?

By Rory C. Keel

What holds you back from your writing success? Is it a rule of some kind that limits how or what you write?

Where are all the stories you thought might make a good book, short story, poem, or song? The ideas you have actually put down on paper or typed? Are they now aged, sitting hidden in a file on your computer?

“They’re not good enough. Nobody will like them,” you may say.

Well, I have good news for you. SOMEBODY wants to hear your stories.

Think about it. If someone told you a story about a little boy who did magic and had an enemy that had a name you couldn’t speak, would you have listened? Somebody did.

How about your best friend telling you about a romantic love story where they bite each other and drink each other’s blood? Somebody wanted to hear it.

These authors made millions of dollars.

You may not make millions, but you will never know until the right somebody hears your story.

Submit the story

That means you must submit it to somebody. “But what if nobody likes it?” you ask.

I’d say “What if somebody does?”

The truth is, as an author, you are not limited by some boundary that forbids you from success, but simply by the fear of the words “what if.”

Characterization Part 6

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Characterization Part 6

by Natalie Bright

I’m ending my series on tips for developing fictional characters with a recommendation of a useful reference tool that you might consider for your writer’s library.

“Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through. I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul.”  HENRIK IBSEN, playwright and poet

Best Tip Ever on Characterization

I’ve spent the past month pouring over conference notes in search of tidbits I’ve learned about characterization (click on my name, Natalie Bright, at right and scroll through previous posts on Characterization).

I hope you’ve found the information useful. The best technique that I’ve used over and over, unfortunately I can’t remember where I heard it or who said it, but it has stuck in my mind and I’ve never forgotten:

Use at least one of your character’s traits in every scene.

Show, don’t tell, through dialogue or actions.

Writer’s Reference

Now that you’ve completed a character profile relating to social and family issues that may have influenced your character, no matter how subtle, let’s take a look at personality traits. This is where we can dig even deeper and get to know our character better than anyone. You may not use hardly any of your characters’ background that you’ve developed, however I’ve learned that we should know it so that your character will stay in character throughout your book.

There are many useful tools to aid you in developing fictional characters, both on the web and in print. I’ve invested in several.  The most useful book that I keep referring to again and again is 45 MASTER CHARACTERS by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.

Archetypes

Character archetypes are emotions, ideas, and actions that reveal the details about personality. As Schmidt points out, these basic archetypes have been around for centuries and can be found in mythology, movie screenplays, and literature.

One of the unique things about this book is the examples based on legendary heroes and Hollywood block busters. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll recognize the character archetype immediately.

‘The Protector’ is Han Solo. The villainous side of ‘The Woman’s Man’ for example, is the ‘Seducer’ best portrayed by Count Dracula. The book breaks down traits into female and male, as well as supporting characters. And although the information tends to lean towards human relationships and developing love interests, the traits can be applied to characters of all ages which is why I find it a useful tool in developing characters even if they’re children.

As an Example

I’m working on a middle grade historical novel set in 1870. My two main characters are a frontier kid, Ben, and a Comanche kid, Wolf. Obviously the conflict is a given for the time period; Texan against Comanche. So how can I add even more conflict?

Because Ben’s father has just died and left him with a momentous task to complete, this kid feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is serious, focused, and acts much older than his age. He’s worked all of this life, and to him, life is drudgery, endless days of work, and hardships with little emotion or joy. Referring to 45 MASTER CHARACTERS, “The Businessman” seems to fit this character the best. The book provides specifics as to what he might care about such as fears, motivations, and the best pairing for that character. The ‘villainous’ section for each archetype gives you traits to make your hero well rounded. He needs some bad habits too.

As I study Ben’s personality, I consider someone who would bring the most conflict for him.  Based on the book, ‘The Fool’ seems to fit Wolf. The archetype name is not in reference to his intelligence, because this Indian brave is very smart. He’s a free-spirit and loves to have fun.  Others see him as unpredictable. Ben and Wolf begin their journey as bitter enemies, but come together as friends. Based on their personalities, can you imagine the conflict and trouble they might create for each other?

A Place to Begin

Schmidt’s book is by no means an exact literal guide to your characters. It’s a place to start, and as you write, your characters will develop even more and surprise you with their reactions.What are some of the most useful tools you’ve found when developing your fictional characters?

Next week’s topic: Motivation. Just keep writing! And thanks for following WordsmithSix…

Announcement

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Announcement 

By Nandy Ekle

This year’s spring season seems to be here. Spring is that time of year when young things are born and older things take deep breaths of relief. The harsh ice storms are getting further apart and the sun becomes stronger. The new world can’t wait to open up.

We’ve been locked indoors all winter watching the weather beat us with wind and snow. And what have we done while avoiding opening the front door? Hopefully we’ve been putting our perceptions of the world on paper. We’ve created places and people in impossible situations. We’ve spent time away from our own cold dark days having adventures that are meant to warm everyone who reads them.

With the spring sun the leaves bud on the trees, the flowers bloom and your work needs a place to go. And I have the perfect place!

The Panhandle Professional Writers right here in Amarillo, Texas, is sponsoring a writing contest called Frontiers in Writing. Get your winter stories, dress them up and send them off to be read and judged. Money prizes wait for you. Professional eyes wait for you. Prestige waits for you. Your fans wait for you.

I just have one question: What are YOU waiting for?

www.Panhandleprowriters.org.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Jan Epton Seale

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Jan Epton Seale

www.janseale.com

Jan Epton Seale, the 2012-13 Texas Poet Laureate, is a native Texan who lives in McAllen, in the southern tip of Texas. She is the author of seven volumes of poetry, two books of short fiction, three books of nonfiction, and nine children’s books.

Her writing has appeared in many magazines and newspapers including The Yale Review, Texas Monthly, The Chicago Tribune, and Writer’s Digest. Some anthologies including her work are Writing on the Wind, Let’s Hear It!, Red Boots and Attitude, If I Had My Life to Live Over, Cries of the Spirit, Mixed Voices, This Place in Memory, and Birds in the Hand.

In l982, Seale received a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship in poetry. Seven of her short stories were chosen in the P.E.N. Syndicated Fiction Awards series. Her poetry has received the Kathryn Morris Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of Texas, and the Bill Burke Award and Dolly Sprunk Memorial Award from the New York Poetry Forum. Her stories and poems have been broadcast over National Public Radio.

Workshops and readings by Seale have taken place in Washington, Oregon, Oklahoma, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in Texas in Dallas, Denton, Waco, Houston, Abilene, El Paso, Austin, and San Antonio, as well as many in the Rio Grande Valley.

For 16 years she was the South Texas editor of Texas Books in Review. Other editorial work includes serving as a founding editor of RiverSedge literary journal and as an editor of The Valley Land Fund pictorial volumes.

Seale was born in Pilot Point, Texas, graduated from Waxahachie High School, attended Baylor University, and received a B.A. from The University of Louisville and a M.A. from North Texas State University.

She taught English and creative writing at The University of Texas-Pan American and at North Texas State University. For a number of years, she has taught workshops in creative and memoir writing, both locally and nationally at conference centers such as Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, Gemini Ink in San Antonio, and Mo Ranch in the Hill Country of Texas.

Seale is available for readings of her work and for workshops in writing poetry and nonfiction. Besides these genre interests, she specializes in the subject areas of memoir, nature, aging, spirituality, and women’s lives. She is on the Speaker’s Bureau for Humanities Texas, speaking about the influence of personal stories on family life. She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Jan Seale and her husband Carl, a retired symphony conductor and composer, have three grown sons and four grandsons. www.janseale.com

Panhandle Professional Writers

Saturday, March 16 we look forward to having Jan Seale, with “Writing the Story of Your Life.”  Want to learn the basic story structure to use, what to include, and pitfalls?  Come hear Jan’s talk on writing one’s memoirs.  Greeting time begins at 9:30 a.m. at Amarillo Senior Citizens, 1219 S. Tyler, Amarillo, TX. – entrance on the southwest corner.  Join us for lunch at Noon:  Pasta La Mexican – Penne pasta topped with diced chicken, mixed vegetables, and pablano cream sauce.  Top this off with fresh tomatoes, corn relish and cilantro.  Dessert and drinks are included, all for $10.00, with morning and afternoon snacks also provided.  Come join us to learn more on “Writing the Story of Your Life.”

You may make lunch reservations by contacting Donna Otto at ppwlunch@gmail.com

Rest in Peace Mr. Mouse

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Outtakes 85

Rest in Peace Mr. Mouse

By Cait Collins

 

I never fully understood the importance of my computer mouse until my company updated my system and provided a new mouse. At first Mr. Mouse seemed happy to have me as an owner, but last week for some unexplained reason, he went rogue. I couldn’t understand his problem. I’d ask for my work list, he’d give me the program manager. “Open search results,” the click commanded, but he gave me the completion page. I spent twenty minutes building a complicated search of provision screens. When I hit print to attaché the screens to my proof package, “Abort Print” flashed on the screen and my twenty minutes of hard work disappeared into cyberspace.

His misdeeds continued when I read my email. I keep my inbox set to sort by date received. I’d open a new email and Mr. Mouse would resort my inbox. Not just once, mind you, but every time I opened a new item he’d jump in and move my purple flags to the bottom of the list, or put old emails on top. Deleting was a real trip. Highlight one item, delete three. I spent my time searching the deleted items folder for the emails I needed to keep. My patience with this rodent was wearing thin. The lyrics of a song from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast kept running through my head. I could hear Gaston inciting the crowd, “Kill the Beast!”

How appropriate.

My manager sensed my frustration. Thinking the problem was related to the mouse’s speed, we applied electronic Prozac in an attempt to slow him down. No luck, he became more diabolical. He attacked my quality review file.

Part of my job requires I review correspondence produced by other team members. The letter I was editing needed some additional information, but the mechanical rodent would not let me insert the phrases. I spent an hour editing a one page document because that hunk of junk kept jumping from one line to the next highlighting text I needed to keep. I had to adjust the margins on this document. Piece of cake. Yeah, right. I could read his mind. “Oh, you want to reduce the top margin to .9. You really want a .7 margin. And the side margins, let’s make those .6. I had to battle the gadget to reset margins.

Fed up with the tomfoolery, I place a call to our help desk. The technician searched for possible solutions, but she couldn’t even find a problem. So she called in a Dell technician. He arrived about 15 minutes later with a new mouse.

“I hear you are threatening to smash your mouse.”

“No, I said I was going to put a bullet in it.”

“You’re not the first person to say that. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll fix the problem.”

Seconds later, Mr. Mouse was dead. His lifeline disconnected from the energy giving electricity and programming my computer provided.  In his place was a docile, responsive instrument. I could work again.

I thanked the tech for arriving so quickly. He told me it was no problem. He’d take the offensive piece of trash and throw it away.

“You mean I can’t have that honor?”

He handed the mouse to me. “Have at it.”

Kerthunk! My enemy landed in the bottom of my trash can. Throughout the day, I buried that monster under my empty coffee cup, the wrappings from my lunch, and my empty bottle of green tea. How satisfying. We had finally killed the beast.

WRITING CONTESTS BENEFITS

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Announcing

2013 Frontiers in Writing Contest

Now open for entries

 For one low entry fee you can now enter multiple categories

Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in EVERY category.

Go to:

www.Panhandleprowriters.org

Entry rules, procedures and format regulations are listed on the FiW Writing Contest page

Download FiW entry Application and mail along with your entry.

Entry fees can be check or Money order, or pay online using “Payments” on the PPW website.

Sponsored by the Panhandle Professional Writers

Writing Contests Benefits

By Rory C. Keel

It cost money; why should I enter? What benefit will a contest be for my writing and me? I’m not good enough so I’ll never win.

Those who are looking at entering writing contests frequently express these statements and questions. I know, I’ve asked most of them myself.

Having entered my share of writing contests, let me offer some positive benefits from my personal experience.

  1. Training for working with deadlines – Writing contests give a writer the opportunity to work under a deadline. Most contests will have strict dates for submitting an entry. This is good conditioning for working with agents, editors, and publishers who will place deadlines on your writing.
  2. Provides automatic platform – A platform is your audience, those who will read your writing. While your mother and “BFF” will gladly volunteer readership, contest judges can provide you with an unbiased and anonymous audience for your writing. And who knows, the judge may be an agent, editor or publisher.
  3. Gain feedback – One of the most valuable benefits of a writing contest is the critique. To have the judge’s comments noting any mistakes, suggestions for improvement and yes, even praise can help improve your writing.
  4. Build your portfolio – Writing contests are a perfect why to build your portfolio. When seeking an agent or publisher, a few writing clips, accomplishments and certificates may be the edge you need to sell the deal.
  5. Increase your confidence – Entering a contest gives a writer the opportunity to gain confidence in their writing. Have you ever written something only to tear it up or hide it in a drawer? Have you ever said, “I could never write good enough to be published!” A writing contest provides an inexpensive way to test the waters of being an author.
  6. Avoid scam contests – As with most everything, there are people who take advantage of others. Before entering a contest, research the person or organization holding the contest and make sure they are legitimate. There are a few contests that are no more than book selling scams. When your entry wins, it is accepted for publication in an anthology, with all of the other first place winners, then you must pay an outrageous price to obtain a copy. Winningwriters.com lists a few of these writing contests to avoid. To help find your next contest check out www.placesforwriters.com or www.fundsforwriters.com

Characterization Part 5

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Characterization Part 5

By Natalie Bright

 

I’m reviewing my notes from past conferences and blogging about characterization. Please feel free to comment on any tips you’ve learned on developing believable and likable characters. The past few blogs have been a hodge-podge on all concepts of developing characters. We’re digging deeper again this week, because really, you just can’t know enough about your characters.

Have you completed a character questionnaire yet? There are tons of great examples on the web.

Keep Digging Deeper

What is the one unique component of literature that humans enjoy? The key that all writers strive for? The take-away that readers can take pleasure in?

The answer: emotion.

We can read a story and find joy or fear. We can laugh out loud at the antics of a main character, or we can weep for concern at their plight. The power of the written word is an amazing thing.

As a writer, we must dig deeper. You have your character’s profile and you know their attitudes. As Steven James said, “What are your characters passionate about, desire, most ashamed about, afraid to pursue? Now give them what they want the most and snatch it away. Dangle her heart’s desire in front of her and never let her have it.”

Finding Emotion

We’re just human, with human emotions and life experiences. Real life events of experiencing or observing provides the basis from which our characters emerge.

How can your character respond to death unless you draw upon your experiences in being at someone’s bedside when they passed? How can your character experience love lost unless you weep as you write it? How can you write about the power of indifference without drawing upon your own past? Even if you haven’t experienced the emotion, then you can probably find someone who has.

Authors can’t be sissy’s about this. We have to go there. We have to revisit those painful experiences again and convey them to our readers through the fictional characters we create. I’m not saying it has to be the exact same experience, but you can apply the emotions you’ve felt to fictional situations. As your heroine meets those challenges and overcomes the obstacles, this becomes the character arc.

Developing the Character Arc

Character arc is defined as the emotional problems through which the protagonist (and antagonist and sometimes secondary characters) must face to achieve their goal. 

As bestselling author Steven James points out, “At the heart of every story is tension, and tension is that unmet desire which includes both external and internal.” As your character tries to achieve that desire and overcomes the antagonist, they change, they grow, they become better for their experiences. You must dig past the surface elements of your story and determine the why. 

Some of the most common arcs are: going from emotionally dead to being emotionally alive, learn to accept other’s faults, overcome a fear, learn to take risks, overcome guilt, learn to accept his own faults; and the list can go on and on. These are most obvious in movie screenplays where characters struggle with some emotional dilemma that is resolved at the end regardless of the action going on around them.

More Conflict Please

In order to dig deeper, Jodi Thomas suggests all dialogue reflect some type of conflict. “It’s not necessarily a conflict between the two characters speaking. One could be having internal conflict while they’re saying something else,” Thomas says.

Author Jennifer Talty explained that, “conflict is the fuel that starts your story. The internal motivation of your character is the fuel that drives your story.” 

As the core conflict between the protag and antag increases, the internal emotional conflict escalates and becomes your character’s arc.

For more information, Goal Motivation Conflict by Deb Dixon is an excellent addition for your writer’s reference library.

Have fun and keep writing!

Nat

 

A Pinch of Rodeo – Dismount

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A Pinch of Rodeo

Dismount

By Joe R. Nichols

My dismount in bull riding was terrible. A guy should pull the tail of the rope through his hand, pick a spot to land, and bail off trying to land on his feet. This will keep you healthy. What did I do? Well, if I was fortunate enough to make the whistle, I just quit trying to stay on. Sometimes they would fling me, sometimes they would slam me, but it was never pretty.

Tabasco, of the C-T Rodeo Company, was a small red motley-faced bull with no horns. He would have to hurry to weigh 1100 pounds. What he lacked in size, he made up for in effort. He never went in the same pattern twice, always bucked hard, and kicked high. They didn’t ride him very often.

The other characteristic of this bull; he was extremely hot headed. He was fast and very difficult to get away from. Pound for pound, he was a bad little cat.

Richard had been on this bull four times, and rode him every time, but he was missing four shirts as a result. Nobody was better at getting off than Richard, and even though he hit the ground running, Tabasco would mow him down and stomp the shirt off of him. His advice to me, “You might want to make an effort and pay attention to your get-off. He’s not going to let you get away with your usual flop routine.”

I got him twisted, and I was determined to make a good exit. I had the tail of my rope across my leg, but every time I went to step off the right side, he jumped to the right. I tried to wait him out, but after three attempts, he clicked my feet behind me, laid me down over his neck, and then lofted me in the air. After completing a somersault, I landed face up directly in front of him. I don’t know why he spared me, but he gave a snort and left. Never touched me.

This made my friend mad. “I can’t believe that,” he ranted. “I do everything right to get away from him, and he chases me down and hooks my clothes off. You just flop out there on your back like a fish out of water, and he don’t even look at you. I mean you were right there in front of him. That ain’t right.”

I laughed, although he never meant any of his words to be funny.

A short time later, I drew the bull again. Richard never said a word to me before the ride.

This time, Tabasco was spinning to the left when the buzzer sounded, and then he drained me off to the inside. I was on my feet with my hand still in the rope. I really wasn’t hung up, it was mostly a symptom of not being able to get any distance between us. He leaped and kicked and twisted, slung his head, and bucked all around me, but he never disturbed a single thread on my clothes. The bullfighter tried to get him to line out, but Tabasco payed him no mind. Finally, in desperation, the clown grabbed me around the neck and tipped over backwards, pulling me loose. There we were, laying side by side on our backs, with ol’ Tabasco breathing down on us. Never touched us.

When I saw Richard behind the chutes, he shook his head in disgust. “That proves it,” he said. “God takes care of children and idiots.”

The Gift Of An Author

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

The Gift Of An Author

By Nandy Ekle

 

Imagine walking down a hallway of closed doors. Each door has a plaque above it with the title of a story, and a few doors have plaques with no words on them as if waiting for a name. You hear voices behind every one and knocking comes from the other side of two or three at the same time. You’re standing in front of a door listening to loud, insistent pounding and a voice calling your name over and over. You reach out to turn the knob and realize it’s locked and you don’t have a key.

Where is the key? That door was just opened a few days ago and you visited with the voices behind it like gossiping neighbors. Why is it locked so tightly now?

This is how I imagine writer’s block. It’s frustrating and scary and can even be debilitating. It’s like losing eyesight or a hand. And I’ve been there lately.

These are the times I turn to my good friends Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and a myriad of other flourishing writers. I open a successful book written by one of these masters and beg them to instruct me once again about writing again. I get lost in their stories and feel them tug at the door with me.

Then the miracle happens. As I turn the page, enrapt in the worlds they created, I find the key to the door. I slip it into the keyhole and feel the lock turn, allowing the door to open. My characters run out and embrace me as my hands fly across the keyboard of my computer once more.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

PUDDING

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PUDDING

By Sharon Stevens

My husband was preparing supper on the stove. He does it all the time and I, for one, am so very proud that he does. But this is not what my blog is about this week.

I decided that I wanted to have a little sweetness after the meal and found packages of JELLO pudding up in the cabinet. After choosing “cheesecake”, my favorite, and reading the directions I gathered everything together and began to mix. One problem became apparent though. The instructions said to mix for two minutes. Well my husband was at the stove and the timer was on the microwave aboveYou may think this was no big deal. “Tell him to punch in the time” you say. “Yea right”, I say. By the time he turned from the stove to ask how many minutes, and then by the time he turned back around to set the timer, and then by the time he asked me again, “how many minutes?” the whole shebang would be over. I know this from past experience. Of course there is no way you can ever ruin JELLO pudding. They give so much leeway when you purchase the product. The directions are just guidelines not set in stone. The company just wants you to mix until everything is mixed together and a little more.

You see I can’t even bake bread, or a decent cake, or brownies. Just because the recipe says to cook in a 350-degree oven for thirty minutes this doesn’t mean MY oven or MY temperature or even MY minutes. And when they say cook until the surface springs back, or that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, well then Heaven help us! This just doesn’t apply to me.

So many times we have the same problem in our writing. How can we ever know it is done? We keep mixing and adding until the most basic recipe is lost in translation. Sometimes we step back to let it preheat or to stew just a little bit thinking this will fix it. Oftentimes the results are far worse. If I stirred the pudding mix for 1.35 minutes or 3.24 minutes I really don’t think it will ruin the final dish. What destroys the original is the distress we insert as we go. We may be mad or angry and our spoons become our weapon. We may be happy or sad and the same utensils we laid out in the very beginning become a symbol for our tears of joy or pain. Under mix or over mix, you just never know.

After we ate the “sloppy Joe’s” my husband made for supper, he dished himself up a bowl of desert. I didn’t tell him he was in the way so I couldn’t set the timer. I NEVER want to discourage his time at the stove. I hope when he tasted my contribution that he couldn’t tell that I didn’t mix it for the exact amount of time the instructions on the box called for.

My sweet husband told me he liked it and that’s all that matters.

Must be that the proof was in the pudding.