Tag Archives: WORDSMITH SIX

Say It Better

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Outtakes 146

 

Say It Better

By Cait Collins

 

I love finding snappy phrases. They make the author and the story really stand out. One I read recently got to me. “The memory was frozen in amber.” What a picture. I could imagine the image of the man she loved encased forever in the translucent stone. My niece gave me another wonderful image in describing a teenage facial expression. “Her eyes rolled so far back in her head she could see her brain.” I will find a place in a story for that one.

So many times we fall back on the same old phrases instead of looking for the unique. A writer should go for something different. Instead of referring to a kiss as hotter than a fire cracker on the fourth of July, why not say it was hotter than Mt. Etna in full eruption? Better yet, replace those trite statements with bold action verbs. Strong verbs replace adverbs and adverb phrases. They make the story tighter, crisper.

Just for the fun of it, come up with a list of well used phrases and rewrite them. For example, find another way to say “fit to be tied, at wits end, and chomping at the bit”. Romance writers should come up with new phrases for “melted at his touch, set afire by the smoldering look in his eyes, and drawn like a moth to a flame.”

Stephen King is a master with description. Read his depiction of the cellar in IT. I could smell it, taste it, and feel it. It terrified me to the point I could not enter a basement for months. Good descriptive phrases, strong verbs, and catchy sayings only enhance the story we are telling. It’s worth the extra effort to say it better.

Why Would Anyone Read My Writing?

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Why Would Anyone Read My Writing?

By Rory C. Keel

 

Why would anyone read my writing? This is a question beginning writers often ask themselves. It’s a normal question to ask. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve asked it of myself.

How do I deal with it? I learned not to make it personal. Many experienced writers ask the same question when they find themselves struggling to put something on the page.

The simple answer is that people want to read your writing because it’s entertaining, interesting, funny or emotional. These are the same reasons people read anything written by any author. The characteristics that make other authors worth reading are the things that will make your writing worth reading.

Don’t take it so personal

Most readers don’t determine what books they read by the personality of the author who wrote it. Many times the attributes of authors aren’t known until they reach some measure of fame. A person reads what they are interested in based on the content and writing, and then the reader may choose to learn about the personal traits of the author he or she likes. This shows that the writing is important.

Improve your writing

If your work isn’t interesting, entertaining, funny or emotional people probably won’t read it. Nothing personal about you as a human being, just improve your writing. To do this study the craft of writing, seek help from a critique group or a writing association.

As your writing improves, so will the number of readers.

Roryckeel.com

Whodunit?

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Whodunit?

www.roryckeel.com

The scene, a story with a murder in the first chapter and a trail of vague clues scattered like glass from a shattered vase dropped on a cement floor. It’s a Mystery, the genre where no one knows who did it.

Your assignment is to read along with the protagonist through the complex descriptions and help solve the puzzle. As you unravel the case step by step, you will need to avoid multiple misdirections to succeed and reveal the truth.

This genre is full of detectives both highly intelligent, or those who seem to be bumbling idiots. Amateur investigators who stumble onto the clues and those who are highly experienced and always get their man.

Rory C. Keel

Three Tenses

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Three Tenses

By Rory C. Keel

 

Here is a reminder of the common tenses in writing.

Past Tense

The most common tense used in most writing.

Example: “I was late.” “Carol jumped when she saw the rat.”

Present Tense

Used occasionally in prose but more common in poetry.

Example: “She is very busy.”

Future Tense

Less often used in fiction and poetry, however it is permissible.

Example: “The dog will stand on its hind legs.” “You are going to be hungry.”

 roryckeel.com

Why Would Anyone Read My Writing?

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Why Would Anyone Read My Writing?

By Rory C. Keel

 

Why would anyone read my writing? This is a question beginning writers often ask themselves. It’s a normal question to ask. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve asked it of myself.

How do I deal with it? I learned not to make it personal. Many experienced writers ask the same question when they find themselves struggling to put something on the page.

The simple answer is that people want to read your writing because it’s entertaining, interesting, funny or emotional. These are the same reasons people read anything written by any author. The characteristics that make other authors worth reading are the things that will make your writing worth reading.

Don’t take it so personal

Most readers don’t determine what books they read by the personality of the author who wrote it. Many times the attributes of authors aren’t known until they reach some measure of fame. A person reads what they are interested in based on the content and writing, and then the reader may choose to learn about the personal traits of the author he or she likes. This shows that the writing is important.

Improve your writing

If your work isn’t interesting, entertaining, funny or emotional people probably won’t read it. Nothing personal about you as a human being, just improve your writing. To do this study the craft of writing, seek help from a critique group or a writing association.

As your writing improves, so will the number of readers.

Roryckeel.com

Giveaway Winners Announcement!

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Giveaway Winners Announcement!

We had two comments on what inspires you to write, and I have to say that both were excellent.

“Connection” from Richard.  I think this is so true. When a writer pours their heart and soul into the words, its obvious they have a connection to the characters, the story line, and the setting, and that in turn makes the reader care as well. We can find the connection too.

“The only way it will get told is if I am to tell it” from Gaye. This is very inspiring for me in particular. Thanks so much, Gaye, for posting a comment.

I love both of those!  So Richard and Gaye, if you’ll email me privately with your mailing address, I’ll split the Texas related prizes and others goodies between you. 

Email me at natalie@nataliebright.com.

Thanks for being an active part of Wordsmith Six!

BATTLING THE BEAST

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BATTLING THE BEAST

I gaze into the eyes of the beast searching to find its soul. I am caught in the childhood game of “the first one who blinks looses,” yet he shows no emotion, no rising of brow, no blinking or shedding of tears, just a long menacing stare.

The creature’s leering eye grows brighter with every passing moment, seemingly intent on seeing the space of my existence. My vision is full of his sight, yet I see nothing.

I study his unrelenting look, my mind searching the far corners and deep recesses, constantly swirling, struggling to find some strategy, or weapon or even one simple word that might defeat my enemy and win this mind-numbing battle.

The desire to close my eyes tugs at the lids. The moisture surrounding my orbs in their sockets has become dry and I struggle against the urge to rub them. The creature shows no signs of weakening and continues to counter every glance.

Without my consent, sudden darkness is all I see. I blink. I am immediately torn between two emotions. First, relief. Moist droplets flood my eyes like waters of the sea crashing onto the shore. The fetters that once restrained the rubbing of my eyelids have now been unfastened.

And second, In the darkness of my blink, dread fills my mind as I wait for the wrath of my opponent to be unleashed. Or perhaps he has already struck with such a swift penalty that I didn’t feel the pain. In the deafening silence I dare to open my eyes. To my surprise I find that it was not I who blinked first, but the computer screen upon which I placed these words.

Rory C. Keel

Frontiers in Writing 2012

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2012 Frontiers in Writing Conference

By Natalie Bright

Ladies and gentlemen,

The 2012 Frontiers in Writing Conference is finished, wrapped up, sealed in a box. And what a conference it was! We were graced by such huge names as Phyliss Miranda, Hilary Sares, Candace Havens and Jodi Thomas, as well as local PPW talents such as Jeff Campbell, Joe Trent, and Mary Lou Cheatham. If you missed it, you missed a treasure trove of information, support and inspiration.

It is with great pleasure that we declare the 2012 FiW Conference an absolute success.

Watch panhandleprowriters.org for more information.

BATTLING THE BEAST

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BATTLING THE BEAST

I gaze into the eyes of the beast searching to find its soul. I am caught in the childhood game of “the first one who blinks looses,” yet he shows no emotion, no rising of brow, no blinking or shedding of tears, just a long menacing stare.

The creature’s leering eye grows brighter with every passing moment, seemingly intent on seeing the space of my existence. My vision is full of his sight, yet I see nothing.

I study his unrelenting look, my mind searching the far corners and deep recesses, constantly swirling, struggling to find some strategy, or weapon or even one simple word that might defeat my enemy and win this mind-numbing battle.

The desire to close my eyes tugs at the lids. The moisture surrounding my orbs in their sockets has become dry and I struggle against the urge to rub them. The creature shows no signs of weakening and continues to counter every glance.

Without my consent, sudden darkness is all I see. I blink. I am immediately torn between two emotions. First, relief. Moist droplets flood my eyes like waters of the sea crashing onto the shore. The fetters that once restrained the rubbing of my eyelids have now been unfastened.

And second, In the darkness of my blink, dread fills my mind as I wait for the wrath of my opponent to be unleashed. Or perhaps he has already struck with such a swift penalty that I didn’t feel the pain. In the deafening silence I dare to open my eyes. To my surprise I find that it was not I who blinked first, but the computer screen upon which I placed these words.

Rory C. Keel

Author Platform

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Author Platform

By Natalie Bright

You’ve heard the term author platform many times. For most people in

business, it takes years to build connections. Many of the vast
opportunities in social media are free, allowing you to build your platform
before you need to be known as a public person.

Writing is the hardest thing you’ll ever do and marketing yourself is even
more difficult. The writing part, you probably can’t help. The marketing
part can be learned and you can work on promotion at the pace you feel
comfortable with.

Fame before the Pub Credit

While you’re working on that great novel, have you considered some of the
other things you can do that will create a fan base and a professional name
for yourself? Every one of the connections you make now equals potential
customers in years to come.

The key to remember is that social media is “social”. You can promote
yourself certainly, and more importantly you can network with other
professionals, discover new favorite authors, communicate with people all
over the world, and find endless knowledge by reading blogs on a array of
topics. It’s an information overload!

Wordsmith Six Blog

The members of my writers critique group started a blog in August of last
year.  To be honest, I held out as long as I could on the blogging and
tweeting. In my mind, it made more sense to use every spare second writing
my stories. I was worried that I might have just so many words in me.

Jumping In to Blogging

Today, I have a totally different opinion. Within my writers critique group,
we decided to  make a concentrated effort to join the social world out there
and start a blog. We didn’t want to be just one in a zillion. First we did
some homework.

Successful Bloggers

After much discussion over the course of several meetings we came to the
following conclusions:

1) most high traffic sites have a specific theme whether it be political,
mommy bloggers, marketing, crafts, etc.
2) we picked a theme: writing and our journey to publication
3) good bloggers, who have lots of followers, are consistent
4) high traffic blogs have interesting information, and since the members of
our critique group write in many different genres, we felt it would lend a
variety and uniqueness to our posts.
5) the numbers are important, but not something to obsess over. The main
thing you can learn from the statistical analysis is the best times to post
and what topics generate the most hits. Interestingly enough, our highest
traffic seems to be around 2:00 PM in the afternoon.
6) the most popular

Based on the results, we’re doing good and we hope to do better.  Every day
we gain more followers.  Thanks for following us!

www.nataliebright.com

Natalie Bright