Category Archives: Nandy Ekle

Writing Z’s

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Writing Z’s

By Nandy Ekle

Sitting in my usual spot on the couch, I stared at the blank screen with my fingers hovering over the keyboard. C’mon, words. Let’s get this going. Still, no letters appeared. I looked at the show playing on the TV. I couldn’t even concentrate on that. My cross-stitch project sat next to me untouched. Even my dinner had not inspired me.

Suddenly I blinked. I had fallen asleep again and been that way for an undetermined amount of time. I yawned, stretched my fingers and cracked my one crackable knuckle. Okay. I’m awake. Let’s write something.

Once again I stared at the blank computer screen demanding words to jump from my head to the keyboard. A sweet stillness covered me and I rode it like a wave of comfort, not thinking, not moving, only darkness and ease.

I heard a strange noise as I snored and immediately my eyes opened again. Still no words on the screen. Anger flashed through me because where I had been was so comforting and I wanted to go back.

But I had writing to do. I stared at the blank computer, the opened soda next to me, the idle craft kit on the table. In my mind I walked the hall of my mental dictionary and realized all the doors were shut tight, even barred.

There would be no words tonight. Not even a tiny “the.”

Wondering why I was torturing myself when I really should be in bed, I snapped the lid of my computer closed and stood up. I didn’t want to move too quickly because then I wouldn’t sleep when I found my pillow. I would only fume that I was in bed wide-awake when I had been sleeping so soundly on the couch.

The sandman had his way with me and the next thing I knew, a story was playing out on my internal television. Details are gone, but the situation, a few faces and an incredible atmosphere remain.

Sometimes you just need to go to bed and sleep.

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

D’Wannas

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D’Wannas

 By Nandy Ekle

The alarm rings and my eyes open long enough to turn it off, then they close again. I turn over and force my eyes open and feel the sand under my lids pull my eyes closed again. I roll out of bed, stumble into clothes and start my day. I look at the stove and the breakfast foods and all I can think is, “I d’wanna.”

I get to my desk at the office, turn on the computer and look at my tasks. The voice inside my head speaks up again. “I d’wanna.”

“What does that mean?” I ask the voice.

“This is not what I wanna do today,” it answers back.

“I wanna sit on the couch and play games.”

“We can’t do that,” I say. “We have things to do.”

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” The voice is insistent.

“We have to make our living, then we have stories to write.”

“D’wanna.” It stamps its foot like a toddler.

“Here. I’ll show you how fun is it.” The voice turns its head with mild interest. I put my hands on the computer and mentally open a door inside my head. A third voice joins the conversation as my character steps out of the room and begins to tell me her story. I type as fast as I can to keep up as the character’s voice gets louder and faster and pretty soon I’m having a ball.

Suddenly I realize the toddler’s voice, the one with the d’wannas is gone and my story is written and I feel satisfied.

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

Filet Mignon

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Filet Mignon 

By Nandy Ekle

In the bible Jesus tells a story about a rich man who fares sumptuously every day.

Several years ago my husband and I bought a side of beef to feed our children and any visitors who happened to grace our home. Our beef came in the form of roasts, hamburger meat and steaks. We ate steak and ate steak and ate steak until I finally thought if I ate one more bite of steak I would be sick. That’s when I thought about the story from the bible about the rich man who fared sumptuously.

The thought of the bible story has come back to me recently because of my reading list. My favorite author has numerous books published, a lot of which I have read, some of which I have not. The ones I’ve read instantly become my some of my favorite stories of all time. Suddenly it seems that every book I have, audio, virtual or paper, is by him, and I love them all. In fact he has two new books coming out this year that make me feel like a starving person with a blank check walking into a restaurant.

But the other day I looked at my stack of books waiting to be read and thought, “I’m tired of steak. I need different flavor.” So I’ve been shopping for new authors. This is sometimes a difficult thing to do, but can turn up some surprising finds.

Once I discovered a book written by a British author. It was her first novel and was so amazing that it pole-vaulted to the top of my favorites list. To this day, I don’t think she has another book out, but if she did, I would be first in line for it.

Writers write, but writers also read. And sometimes what we read inspires what we write. Add some variety to your reading diet and new ideas and styles will pop up all around you.

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

Thank You For Your Submission

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Thank You For Your Submission

 

By Nandy Ekle

 

Thank you for your submission to our publication. We are sorry but your story “Once Upon a Time” does not fit our needs at this time. 

Contest winners announced!

1st Place – NOT YOU

2nd Place – NOT YOU

3rd Place – NOT YOU

Now what do we do? The story we thought would take the world by storm, be made into a block buster movie and start a whole pop culture revolution has been rejected—more than once. You bang your tear-stained face on your keyboard and promise you’ll never write again.

Rejection can be tough. It’s never fun to hear that your creation is not wanted. However some rejection is necessary for our growth. From rejection we learn how to improve our work. When we’re lucky enough to get a critique, we can read their suggestions and make our stories better.

We also learn to write to a specific audience. We may need to change one small aspect to fit in with the publication.

Make your edits and send the story in again.

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

I Want To Be

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I Want To Be

By Nandy Ekle

When I grow up, I want to be a teacher. I want to be a nurse. I want to be a ballerina. I want to be an astronaut. I want to be a policeman. I want to be a mommy. I want to be a singer, an actor, president, race car driver . . .

I want to be a writer. I have heard this one a lot lately. You want to be a writer. You gluttonously gobble up other writers’ stories. You add millions of words to your vocabulary. You learn spelling, grammar and punctuation. You take literature and psychology classes. You take every writing class that teaches any kind of reading and writing you can get into. And all the while, your mantra is, “I want to be a writer.”

So you begin to think in terms of plots and you meet characters. You take photos of settings and think of interesting situations and horrible things to put your characters through. You put your words on paper and build stories that you’re convinced would make Oscar-winning movies. You join critique groups and writing groups and nurture your platform and fan base.

The only thing you need to do now is stop trying to be a writer.

A very talented and successful writer once said, “Writers write.” Stop wanting to be a writer and just write.

Here’s a perfect first step. Get a chair from your dining room and place it in your front yard. Climb up and stand on the chair. Raise your face to the sky and shout, “ I AM A WRITER.”

Now, go back in your house, open your computer and write your story.

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

Negative Spaces

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Negative Spaces

By Nandy Ekle

Negative space is a compositional tool used in both two- and three-dimensional work. The simplest way to describe it is as: “space where other things are not present.”

A famous picture that uses negative space effectively is the famous Rubin’s Vase. This is the vase that could also be two faces. The focus of the picture is the vase, but the space around it becomes its own picture.

Writing also has negative spaces. If you write a story about a certain subject, you might actually be writing about several things, simply by the words you don’t use. Suppose I tell you a story about two soldiers in a war who are in the middle of hot combat. On the surface you might see a story of action, courage and stamina. However, what you might not see right away is the story of their families back home, how the man in the red uniform has a wife, three kids, and two parents waiting for him to return.  On the other side of the vase is the other man’s story of an empty car, empty head, empty home.

Read some stories and see if you can find the negative in yours.

Let’s Talk

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Let’s Talk

By Nandy Ekle

“Hi. My name is Main Character.” He raised his hand in a wave.

“Hi, Main Character. My name is Nemesis.” He nodded toward Main Character.

Main Character smiled. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Thank you. It’s good to meet you too.”

Main Character looked past Nemesis’ shoulder and Nemesis looked down at the floor. The clock ticked an awkward moment.

Main Character jerked his face back to Nemesis’ face as a flash of thought passed through his mind. “We’re supposed to inspire writers to write a believable dialogue.”

A light snapped on in Nemesis’ eyes. “Oh. Do you mean, like, actually sounding like two people having a conversation instead of sounding like two sides of the same person?”

“Yes. That’s right.” Main Character smiled while his head moved up and down.

“I see.  How do you think a good writer does that?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Main Character said, “Well, I think they have to just almost actually hear two different people speaking and write what they say exactly the way it’s said.”

Nemesis’ eyes darken slightly. “Ya’ know, Mainy, I do b’lieve you jes’ hit da nail rat own its big ol’ head.”

“Yes. And that means the writer needs to know his characters very well.” He took a coupe of steps backward.

“Yore galdern rat ‘bout dat dar rule.” Nemesis took a couple of steps forward toward Main Character.

Main Character turned his head and looked over his shoulder for the door behind him, then he looked back at Nemesis. His brow was lined with worry. “So, do you have any advice to add to that?”

Nemesis stopped moving and lookd up into space as if an idea would appear like a light bulb. “Well . . . yeah. They prolly need to make shore dem readers know who’s tawkin’ when. ‘Cause, like us? We ain’t just standing still flappin’ our gums. We’re acchully doing’ sumpin’”

“That’s right,” Main Character said.

Nemesis grinned a dark toothy grin. Yeah.” He turned to look at the person reading their dialogue. “Got that, reader? Now.” He paused and leaned forward until his nose nearly touched the reader’s nose. The dark light came back to his eyes. “Go do it!”

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

Lost

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Lost

By Nandy Ekle

Okay. You’ve got a concept and you sort of have a plot—at least, you know where you want to the concept to go. You’ve got a theme and a great opening that reaches out and grabs your readers by the throat. This is going to be a great story! You can’t write it fast enough. Your characters are telling all the right things and you are humming along telling your tale and feeling wonderful.

Until a giant wall of Nothing hits you in the face. You stare at he computer screen for days and no new words appear. You re-read everything you’ve written up to this point, still nothing. You know exactly what happens next and how it happens, why, and even what comes after that. But when you type a word, it sounds like a toddler just learning to talk. You have come to *cues Psycho Shower Scene Music* Writer’s Block.

I don’t know how to cure Writer’s Block or even how to avoid it. Stephen King says the cure is to write through it. But it is debilitating enough to make you want to stick your tongue out at Mr. King.

So I tried something this week. I thought to myself, I love the challenge of being able to write anything. So I wrote to my critique partners (you’ve really got to get some of those—they’re wonderful) and asked them to assign me something to write about, just to see if I could do it. They suggested I take the main character of my story and write a characterization for her. So I did.

And I learned a million and one things about, not just a paperdoll I had made up, but a person that lives and breathes. She’s more than just a vehicle to tell my story, she’s living it. I already knew her name and things like that. I knew what she wants and why she wants it and how she’s going to try to get it and what’s going to happen when she does. What I didn’t know is what her favorite color is, what her hobbies are and why she wants what she does, other than the obvious. I needed more than just to hear her voice, I needed to feel her breath on my ear when she speaks.

In learning these things, I could see the deeper layers of my story. I can see that it’s not just the story of what and where she is now, but where and what she will be in the future and why. I learned that the little adventure she’s having now is actually just the beginning of her story, because what she wants deep down is way more than one book can handle.

In short, I now see exactly where she’s going for at least two more books.

Dear Critique Group, Thank You.

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

Scavenger Hunt

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 Scavenger Hunt

 By Nandy Ekle

1.         Horrible divorce

2.         A new apartment

3.         A short round woman

4.         i-phone with Siri

5.         A mom with tons of tough love

This is your list of things to find for our scavenger hunt. These are a few fairly common nouns that you need to find for your new story.

1.         Very shy

2.         Colorless

3.         Depressed

4.         Unbalanced

5.         Lonely

This are the adjectives you need to find. Again, fairly common, not too hard to find.

1.         Hides

2.         Questions

3.         Sneaks

4.         Screams

5.         Moves

And these are your verbs.

Now. Go write your story.

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

The Grail

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The Grail

By Nandy Ekle

I found it on line, filled out the order form and typed in my payment information. Then I sat back and waited. I didn’t have to wait long. It came in the mail this week; I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get home from work and open my package. And I was not disappointed.

Of course, it’s nothing more than a plain, simple coffee cup. It has the name of my favorite author printed around the cup and a print of his signature. That’s all it is. But to me, it might as well be the Holy Grail. It looks really cool in my hands, the coffee tastes better, and suddenly my words flow much better.

There is an old story about a child who wants to learn to do something, but they have no self-confidence. They are given some little trinket and told that it has magic powers and they are immediately able to do the thing they want to do and believe it’s because of the magical object they hold. Then, in the middle of a very intense moment, they lose their magical possession, but are able to continue what they’re doing.

The intelligent side of my brain knows this story and laughs at the creative side for believing it. But I guarantee that since receiving my new cup in the mail, I have been able to write again.

Sometimes we just have to do whatever it takes to get the words on the paper.

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