POSTCARDS FROM THE MUSE
The King of Quotes
By Nandy Ekle
“A short story is a different thing altogether—a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger”
—Stephen King, Skeleton Crew
The King of Quotes
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I Write – Quote
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Writing Quotes
Writing Quotes
by Adam Huddleston
This month’s blog topic is “writing quotes”. While there are a multitude to choose from, here are some of my favorites:
“No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
– Ernest Hemingway
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
-Douglas Adams
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” – Robert Frost
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” –Stephen King
“Happy writing!” – Adam Huddleston
A Sneak Peek
POSTCARDS FROM THE MUSE
A Sneak Peek
By Nandy Ekle
A sneak peek from my story, Halloween Land, to be released later this year as an example of a hook.
8:00 pm
Made it home. I’m in my room now; wine glass on the bedside table and my book is on my lap. And you, dear journal are laying open on the bed next to me so I can document this experience.
As soon as I walked in the front door, I opened the bottle, slipped into my comfy pajamas, and turned out the lights. I pushed the button on my bedside lamp and propped my pillow up behind me. Rubbing the front cover of Halloween Land, I feel the anticipation stirring the adrenaline in my head. I take a sip of the luxurious Apothic Dark red wine and swallow it down. Now I’m opening the book.
Before I can even see any words, a breeze blows up from the pages and a faint eerie chuckle floats at me from the spine. A pair of icy-cold bone-white hands with fingernails sharpened to daggers and painted as black as sin, are reaching out of the pages——
The Bait
POSTCARDS FROM THE MUSE
The Bait
By Nandy Ekle
I am the daughter of a fisherman. My dad can catch anything that swims in the water. When I was a pre-teen, Daddy would plan family outings to the “barge”—a barn-type building that sits on the lake with big holes cut in the floor, rails around the holes, and chairs. We would sit in those chairs for hours with lines in the water, the line wrapped around our fingers, and books in our laps. He made his own homemade bait, and when that ran out, we would catch mayflies or other harmless bugs from the corners of the building to use as bait.
So, this is a blog about writing. Why am I talking about fishing?
Our readers are like fish deep in the water and our job is to catch as many as possible. But you absolutely cannot catch a fish without bait. If you drop a line with a bare hook into the water, it will hang there until you reel it up and go home.
In the writing world, this is called “THE HOOK.”
Another thing my dad would do is go out to the lake earlier in the week and drop a bucket full of “chum,” something to call his favorite kind of fish to the area so that when he showed up for the real action, the fish would be present looking for treats.
When you start a story, you need to feed the readers something to make them hungry for more. I’ve heard from successful writers to start your story the day something is different for your main character. For example, JK Rowling starts the entire Harry Potter series with a young orphan living with relatives who resent his presence. His life is not fun in the least. And what happens? He gets a letter delivered to him by an owl. In the world he grew up in, owls do not deliver mail. And even if they did, it wouldn’t be to him, a nobody. So the reader is immediately saying, “What?!” And they have to keep reading to find out why this little boy gets his first piece of mail ever, and it’s delivered by an owl.
She fed the readers just enough to make them hungry for more.
A Blast From the Past
A Blast From the Past
By Adam Huddleston
Several years ago, I entered a short story in a collection entitled “The Darwin Murders”. This week I just wanted to share this brief “blast from the past.”
A Beautiful Sunday Drive
By Adam Huddleston
Well hello Mr. I-refuse-to-move-over-and-allow-cars-to-enter-the-interstate-from-the-onramp. Yes, I realize that legally you have the right of way and I am sure that whoever you’re texting is anxiously awaiting your next dim-witted post. However, it would be nice if I didn’t have to slide around your car like a road ninja in order to match the speed of traffic.
Now that I’m behind you, filling up my lungs with the fumes from an exhaust that needs attention, I see that you’ve chosen to drive a safe ten miles an hour below the limit. Perhaps the mobile device in front of your face is affecting your vehicle’s RPMs.
I see that Murphy’s Law is well in affect as we are destined to take the same exit. I follow you to the next stoplight only to discover that both of our destinations are to the right. Another five miles reading your banal bumper stickers and I decide upon the most appropriate course of action.
I notice that for some odd reason, you have chosen to move the speedometer’s needle to ten miles over the speed limit in a school zone. As we leave said zone, I recall a car chase video I’d seen years ago. A slight tap of your right rear bumper with my vehicle sends your heap out of control.
My rearview mirror frames the accident nicely. A madman’s laugh escapes me as I watch your car first flip several times then burst into flames.
I hope you hit the “Send” button first.
Start with a Hook
Start with a Hook
Rory C. Keel
All of the exciting details, ports of call and the swashbuckling adventure of your story will mean nothing if the reader isn’t interested. To bring your reader along, you need to pique their interest, start with a hook.
Why would I go down this road?
Give me a reason to cross that line.
An image of a road to the horizon with text start
Narrative Fishing
Narrative Fishing
Rory C. Keel
Yes, we are writing about story hooks this month at Wordsmith Six. We are learning how to keep our readers turning the page. So, we start with an action that pulls the reader further into the story. Anything that causes curiosity and interest from your reader is a narrative hook. It should cause a sensation in the reader to keep reading and turn the next page without stopping.
HOOK ‘EM
HOOK ‘EM
Lynnette Jalufka
This month’s topic is about hooks. A hook is the opening of a story that captures the readers’ attention enough to keep them reading the rest of the book. It usually means the first sentence.
I have been to several writing workshops that have used the opening line of Ken Follett’s The Key to Rebecca to illustrate a good hook: “The last camel collapsed at noon.”
Here’s another example from one of my favorite novels, Tahn by L. A. Kelly: “Tahn crept up the stone wall like a reptile silent after its prey.”
Would either of these openings make you want to read the next sentence, the paragraph, the entire chapter? Maybe, even the whole book? I have never read past the first chapter of The Key to Rebecca, but I’ve read Tahn many times.
Take a look at your favorite books. Were you hooked from the first sentence? Why or why not? Seeing how other authors opened their novels is the best way to learn how to capture your readers.
Due to health issues, I will be taking a break from this blog and hope to return later this year. Thank you for following Wordsmith Six.
Another Cliche Book Review
POSTCARDS FROM THE MUSE
Another Cliche Book Review
By Nandy Ekle
Time for me to join in the ocean of reviews for the Harry Potter series, books one through seven. Yes, I love them as much as every other person in the world. As a reader, I have enjoyed every word of the epic hero on his journey to save his world. Bravo, Ms. Rowling!
As a reader, I followed this poor orphan from the time before he even knew he was special up to the moment when I closed the last book and the only words that crossed my mind were, “But of course! How could it have been anything different?” And I’ve loved the books so much that I re-read them all, in order, about every other year. And I never get tired of them.
As a reader.
As a writer, I have a completely different view. Oh, I still adore the stories, the words, and the tongue-in-cheek writing style. I love the world, and I love the emotions that develop when it all comes together in such a grandiose way. But as a writer, I see much more than a good story.
Character development. Each and every single character in all seven books has a distinct arc. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco, and the other kids/young adults have what any reader would expect. Growing up, maturing, becoming adults. And Ms. Rowling captures the stages of growth perfectly. One of my friends says The Order of the Phoenix is her least favorite because the characters all so angry all the time. But since they are all 15 years old, it wouldn’t be as real if they weren’t angry.
But that’s a rabbit hole I’m not going through. The point is that even Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Snape, Fudge, even Voldemort all have character arcs. In the first two books, Dumbledore seems a little distant, a little dodgy, maybe slightly off his rocker. He does show whisps of insight and wisdom, but this is something that doesn’t seem to actually come out until deeper into The Goblet of Fire. McGonagall, the stern, no-nonsense professor begins to show compassion and sympathy in The Order of the Phoenix. And I’ve always said I knew about Snape all along because of the energy Ms. Rowling used to make us hate him. There had to be a twist.
Consistency. Never have I read a series more consistent in voice, tone, world, and facts. I am in the middle of reading them all over again and as a writer I am picking up on things I missed the first couple of times I read them. One small item mentioned in the first book, then not again for two more books, suddenly appears in a later book and has become a cornerstone. And I can only ask how did Ms. Rowling do it? Amazing. Also, I’m discovering hints to the last pages of the last book in the first book that go completely undetected until BOOM! There it is.
Hooking her readers. Ms. Rowling is a master of this. The first words of each book are like glue. And the last line of each chapter causes gasps. And she has the incredible ability to retell parts of the story in a later book and it’s not an “info dump” at all. It’s perfect.
So, JK Rowling, your stories are destined to be considered as classics in the future. And I definitely look at them as learning tools for writers.
Wordsmith Six 