Tag Archives: nandyekle.com

Eyes On the Prize

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Eyes On the Prize

By Nandy Ekle

 

Your main character is the most important person in the story. Your readers immediately love him for good reason. He’s just a normal guy try to better himself in some way. Basically, he’s exactly like the person who’s reading your story, and that’s why they love him so much.

He’s average, he needs food, shelter, and love. And he will do anything in the world to get those needs met. Every action he takes, every word he speaks lead toward this goal. And, since those are the basic needs of every person who has ever lived, your readers are involved from the first word.

Now, there is a nemesis who, for whatever reason, wants to keep one, two, or even all three of these needs from your main character. This nemesis could be another person, a government, a circumstance, a situation, or mother nature. He could even be against himself.

But our readers want our character’s needs to be met. Remember, the reader loves the person in our story and their heart will be broken if the story ends without so much as a slight struggle. And our character has a strong will to have those needs met, which makes him that much more lovable to our readers.

So we much have struggle. The character is willing to give up nearly anything to get those needs met. In fact, he has to go so far as to give up his life to attain his goal. And this is when he becomes a hero to the reader. Even he doesn’t actually every receive his prize, the fact that he makes the sacrifice to get within arms reach will make the reader love him even more.

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

Fill In the Blank

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Fill In the Blank

By Nandy Ekle

 

Her first name is __________. Her hair is the color of __________ and her eyes look like __________. Her favorite hobby is __________. Her passion is __________, but more than anything in the world she wants __________, and she would be willing to give up __________ to get it.

His first name is __________. His hair is the color of __________ and his eyes look like __________. His favorite hobby is __________. His passion is __________, but more than anything in the world he wants __________, and he would be willing to give up __________ to get it.

One day they meet at __________ and they both know __________. They decide they should __________, each one thinking about that one thing they want so desperately. But when they begin to _________ they realize _________ all along. In the end they have __________ their goals to __________.

The End.

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

A Very Boring Life

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A Very Boring Life

By Nandy Ekle

There was a time when, as a younger woman with three brilliant and combative children, I was convinced my life was boring. I was a stay-at-home mom who literally stayed at home, except when I was driving kids to school, driving to the grocery store, picking up kids from school, and driving kids to appointments.

It seemed like nothing exciting ever happened. To and from the schools, groceries, doctors, library, vacuuming the floor, scrubbing the floor, washing clothes, cooking dinner, bathing kids, and then putting them to bed. Then I would get up late at night/early morning, fight zombies, spiders, and various other monsters that bothered my children at night. The same old day started at 6:00 the next morning.

Yes, I really thought I had a boring life.

Then I watched a movie about my life. The main character was a secret agent for the government and his wife, a plain, average woman just like me, had no idea what he actually did. He had her convinced he sold insurance. She felt like she had a very boring life. Then she had lunch with another man and her husband sees her. So he sets up a little adventure for her.

Anyway, watching this movie taught me some things about myself. In all my cleaning and driving and nurturing, it turns out I am one of the most adventurous women in the world. I realized that not only was I a chef and chauffeur, I was also a referee, a doctor/nurse, “office” manager, banker, bookkeeper, and so on. But that’s old news. Every stay-at-home mom realizes these titles eventually.

The other thing I discovered was that our family was prone to experiences that are, um, unique. Like the time a lizard tail fell out of the dryer. Or the time my dog started barking hysterically at 3:00 in the morning. And how could I ever forget the cars that stopped working while driving down the highway or stopped at a red light. Or the plumbing that backed up. The creative scheduling and emergency shopping for school.

Now, as a mature woman whose children have grown up and flown away, I remember those boring days and think about the tons of stories I lived through.

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

 

 

 

 

 

The Mighty Thesaurus

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The Mighty Thesaurus

By Nandy Ekle

Writing a story can be a little like playing chess. You want to be descriptive, but still allow the reader to imagine their own pictures. And you want your words to fit your characters.

One thing that can happen, and I’m the queen of this, is getting hung up on the same word. It’s the perfect word to describe what you’re talking about, it fits your character, and it sounds just great. However, it can become distracting to the story to hear the same word over and over. The best way to test your work for an “echo” is to read your story out loud.

When I discover this happening in my writing, I go to a thesaurus—a book of synonyms. It’s sort of like a dictionary. You type in the word that continues to show up on your pages and it gives you a list of words that mean the same thing. And sometimes there are some very interesting words in that list. Especially when you’re sitting at the desk in your office during lunch hour and people are walking around your desk.

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

 

 

 

Important Lesson

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Important Lesson

By Nandy Ekle

 

Writing courses. I’ve taken a few. Really and truly, I absolutely love writing courses. This girl begs for homework. Please, just give me an assignment, a work count limit, and a deadline. I guess that’s why I like prompts so much.

“Write a 50 word story it must be a formal gathering where a shocking announcement comes out.”

“Write a short story about a young man suffering from schizophrenia and he and his delusion are at war.”

“Start a story with this line: Looking back, he could not believe what had just happened.”

“Write a story in the form of a diary. Your main character, the diary writer, wakes up in a strange room with no idea how he/she got there.”

These are just a few I’ve used to help jumpstart myself when I get in a rut.

So now, I’m going to give you an assignment, and I really want to see your homework in the comments below. Ready?

Step 1:             Put your hands, palm side down, on the seat on which you sit.

Step 2:             Push yourself up to a standing position.

Step 3:             Walk across the room.

Step 4:             Raise your dominant hand and extend your pointer finger.

Step 5:             Take one or two steps forward.

Step 6:             Make contact with the on/off button on your television set.

Step 7:             Push that button.

Step 8:             Now listen to the silence that replaces the silliness of “the tube.”

Step 9:             Now, write what you hear.

 

Your characters don’t have to fight so hard for your attention without that blasted squawk box on.

And I write this with all the bravery in the world since I’m really aiming it toward myself.

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

 

The Wisdom of the Masters

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The Wisdom of the Masters

By Nandy Ekle

Quotationspage.com

  1. Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space –Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  1. You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve. –J.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Oder of the Phoenix
  1. That we see or seem is but a dream with a dream. –Edgar Allan Poe, Dream Within a Dream
  1. I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities. –Dr. Seuss
  1. There must be more to life than having everything. –Maurice Sendak
  1. Careful. We don’t want to learn from this. –Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
  1. Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. –Mark Twain
  1. The wit makes fun of other person; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people—that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature. –James Thurber
  1. The best time to plan a book is while you’re doing the dishes. –Agatha Christie
  1. A man who could build a church, as one may say, by squinting at a sheet of paper. –Charles Dickens

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

Dear Apostrophe

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Dear Apostrophe

By Nandy Ekle

Time for another lesson in the world of language – sort of.

We know and understand the rules of the apostrophe. (1) denotes ownership (you’re), (2) indicates missing letters (don’t), (3) stresses dialect (goin’), or (4) indicates emphasis within a word (resume’).

This week I learned about a different kind of apostrophe (shout out to a high school English teacher friend of mine J ).

A literary apostrophe is when the speaker, or narrator, detaches from reality and addresses an imaginary character. This tool has been used as a poetic device to illustrate the nature of emotions. It also helps the reader develop a fresh, creative perspective.

One of the rules is that the object is usually not present with the speaker/narrator. A woman goes to work early in the morning. She sits at her desk and yawns. “Dear bed, I’m sorry we had to break up this morning. I’ll see you again this evening.”

Another example would be something like, “Oh, Friday, we look forward to you all week long, but you really are the hardest day of the week.”

You could even do something like this: “Okay, Muse. Zap me with words.”

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

 

 

 

Independence Day

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Independence Day

By Nandy Ekle

The anniversary of the day this country declared its independence from England. The birthday of the United States of America, if you will. And history certainly shows how that turned out.

So I will take this opportunity to declare my independence from the writer’s block that has been crushing me for a while. My fans are calling for me and my stories are weeping for attention.

*raises right hand* I declare this day that I have returned to my passion. Taryn will learn her lesson. Gary and Gooley will come to an understanding. Mara will discover her past. And Suzie Carver will pay the price to get exactly what she wants.

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

Rejected

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Rejected

By Nandy Ekle

Crushed! How could they! I’ve never been so insulted in my life! I just don’t think I can go on.

The earth shattering thing that just happened was I received a rejection for my story. No explanation, just a form letter advising me my story does not fit their needs. They really had some nerve.

Okay, that may have been a little melodramatic. The truth was I probably didn’t send the right story to the right place. I should have done a little deeper research. And in this day and age, when research is just a tippity tap away on the internet, there really is no excuse for not researching the intended publisher.

But it does sting when we get the rejection letters. We tend to take it personally. We worked on this story, coaxing it to life, and working tirelessly on each and every word. We love the concept and believe the tale is as beautiful as our children. And the we’re told it’s not worthy for that particular publication.

But sometimes I think I just need an attitude adjustment. This is when I turn to the masters. It’s hard to believe that someone like Stephen King every had to endure the tragedy of rejection. In his book, On Writing, he reveals that as a teenager, he pounded a nail into the wall of his bedroom. Every rejection he received, he would impale the slip on the nail. He states that by the time he was fourteen he had so many rejections they would not all fit on the nail. And he was not even old enough to drive a car.

The other side of this confession is that by the time he was fourteen, he had submitted enough stories to receive more rejection slips than could fit on the nail.

The moral of the story is, rejections can be hard on your feelings, but they are also a sign that you’re writing and submitting your babies, which is what we are supposed to be doing.

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

 

The Click

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The Click

By Nandy Ekle

 

In my day job, I read a lot of contracts, and I read some court documents. I analyze these papers and put together letters to answer any question our customers feel like asking. Even though I am writing, it’s a very different kind of writing from that of story telling. And I would never use any facts from any contract or customer in my story, and I work very hard to keep the right side of my brain completely separate from the left side.

While these two types of writing are entire worlds apart, occasionally they do bump into one another. It just goes to show how pieces of stories are just laying around like grains of sand on the beach.

I’ve had this story in the back of my head for a while. I have my characters, setting, and the main points of the plot. I think I even started it a while back, but allowed it to rest long enough that I forgot to finish it.

So I was reading a court document concerning a lawsuit between two entities and found something very interesting that caused a clicking noise in my head. In fact, it was so interesting I immediately saw some things that could happen, and they were a little bit scary. The next thing that happened was the four characters from partially written story began to scream and jump up and down.

Immediately I saw how this new piece of information could be used to create the last few pieces I needed to finally put this story together.

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