Thank you for listening to my rant yesterday. It’s a subject that’s very near and dear to
my heart, and I’m sure I’ll be talking about it again.
But, for now, let’s talk about your weekend writing
assignment.
You didn’t forget it, did you?
Non-fiction would-be writers among you were assigned to
write a step-by-step instruction list for making coffee in a coffeemaker, and
your first sentence should have been, “Start with a clean coffee pot.”
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on that subject,
because you shouldn’t have been able to mess that up very much. I do hope you remembered to say, “Make
certain that the coffeemaker is plugged in to a 110-volt outlet.”
Congratulate yourself.
You just wrote a how-to.
Now, the fiction part of your assignment…you were supposed
to write 2,000 words, beginning with the sentence, “She watched as he came
closer.”
The beauty of fiction is that no two ideas are the
same. I would possibly have continued
with, “Her eyes flickered between his blank face and the butcher knife in his
right hand.”
You might have continued with, “She smiled, and moved to
embrace him.”
Different authors approach fiction with completely different
attitudes. I lean toward thrillers,
suspense, mystery, and a touch of horror and sci-fi. Occasionally, I throw more romance into the
mix than I usually do – case in point will be the upcoming Junior’s Farm – A Tale Of Sardis County. However, an author with a lean toward the
romantic, like Nicholas Sparks, would approach things with a completely different
take on a given situation.
There are no “wrong” fiction ideas. There are no “wrong” ways to direct your
story. Some authors write in the first
person, as in “I did this” or “I walked to the store”. Others are storytellers that use the third person,
as in “She did this” or “He walked to the store”.
Fiction doesn’t even have to be linear. It can tell several different stories that
just happen to link together, or touch each other in some way.
But, it is a good idea to write coherently. Use complete sentences. Use adjectives to describe things or people
or places or situations. Don’t be afraid
to use however many words it takes to build a picture of your story in someone’s
mind. Your reader should be able to see
and hear everything in your story.
It makes the reading of your story pleasant, and engrossing.
Keeping those things in mind as you create your story makes
people want to…
Keep reading!
https://www.change.org/petitions/hachette-stop-fighting-low-prices-and-fair-wages
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