Weekly Writing Memo: Setting Writing Prompt
Posted: July 21, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, creative process, Fiction, Screenwriting, Writing, Writing Process 1 Comment[Sorry for the delay this week, there was a glitch in posting yesterday.]
I’m off in Gunnison, Colorado this week for a writing conference at my old graduate school, Western State Colorado University. For me, a writing conference is a chance to talk writing and get inspired, so I thought I’d post a writing prompt this week to spread some of the inspiration.
Since I’m in a place that is known for its beautiful scenic views, I thought I’d go with a writing prompt that is all about starting with setting to find your story. Try to use the prompt to help visualize the setting, and see where it takes you for creating a story.
A Tree Grows in the Desert
A tree grows alone in the desert. What kind of tree is it? What does it look like?
Describe every detail you can think of. What do those details tell us about the tree?
How does it grow there?
Who discovers it? Someone has to come across it and be our narrator. So who? Why are they in the desert? How did they find the tree?
Who are they?
What does the tree mean to them? Do they interact with the tree somehow?
Is this all a dream?
Or a vision?
A miracle?
A mirage?
Don’t just have this character be at the tree, give them a reason, a purpose. Why are they there? Why is the tree there? How do the tree and the character impact each other? Where do they go once they part?
This prompt is about character and setting, since they are the two core parts of the prompt. It’s also about using mysterious elements to help draw the plot out. If there is a mystery element to be investigated, and a character to investigate it, then there is a plot in there somewhere. So explore the tree, develop the character who interacts with the tree, and see where the story takes you.
Next week I’ll be back with my usual post, but for now, happy writing! If you want to play with this prompt, you can try to set it in other unusual places if you want (the ocean, a grocery store, etc). The key is, that the tree is somewhere unusual, and the story comes from someone interacting and exploring the tree and why it is there. So explore, have fun, and get writing!
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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Who is Robin Conley?
Posted: July 18, 2016 Filed under: Author Profile, Books, Fiction, Screenwriting, Stories, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Critiques, project 365, Robin Conley, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, writing advice, Writing Tips 2 Comments
It occurred to me that although I introduced Robin Conley as my cohort in the M.F.A. program when she first began doing guest posts for Writing to be Read, I really didn’t give a lot of information about my friend and former cohort, who happens to be a very talented writer with a sharp eye for what does, or doesn’t, make a story work.
When she was introduced in my M.F.A. cohort at Western State of Colorado University, there was one amazing thing about her which stuck in my mind. She had challenged herself and her writing abilities by writing a short story a day for a year, and called it Project 365. Not only did she challenge herself, but she took it public. She got the idea as an undergraduate at Western Michigan University in 2010. Robin explains how Project 365 came about,
“ …we were reading a book of plays called 365 Plays/365 Days by Suzan-Lori Parks… her work inspired me to try something like it for myself to help me push myself to write every day, and to try new styles of writing. There weren’t any rules except that I had to write a complete story every day… as long or as short as necessary to tell the story, but the purpose… was trying something new. I played with genres, new characters, new styles (minimalism, surrealism, literary vs. genre, etc.) In order to keep myself on track, I started a twitter account (@Jminspirations) at the same time and a blog, and forced myself to post every story on the blog and then put a link on my twitter account.”
I found this to be amazing. Talk about inspirational. Wow!
At the time, that’s how I thought of her, the amazing girl who did the short story challenge. But over the past four years, I’ve gotten to know her better and she’s become a good friend to me, and in a way, she’s become my writing partner. We are working together in some of our writing endeavors, including her guest posts here. Through our Etsy store, Writing the World, we offer critiquing and proofreading services. Robin does guest posts for us, besides writing for her own blog. In addition to her own writing, she currently does writing for hire, volunteers as a script reader, and is teaching a couple of classes in screenwriting. (I think she may do some babysitting, too.) Besides being skilled at the craft, she’s smart and witty, and a she has a wonderful sense of humor.
I wanted my readers to know a little bit about Robin, so you’ll have a better idea of who you’re getting your weekly writing tips from. There’s no better way to tell you about her than to let her say it in her own words. The post runs a bit long, but Robin’s answers were so good, I couldn’t bring myself to cut much of them. I’m hoping after reading the following interview, you’ll be able to see a little bit of what I see in Robin, who I’ve come to know and consider a friend.
Kaye: We’ve already talked some about Project 365. How has that writing experience helped shape your writing career?
Robin: Project 365 was a strange part of my life that really pushed me to be a better writer. Every time I thought I wouldn’t be able to come up with a story idea, I somehow found one. It was stressful, and there were a lot of days where I wanted to do anything but write. Sticking with it taught me more about my writing than anything else I’ve done. By the final few months, I’d learned a lot about my process and my writing and I learned how to write no matter what else was going on.
So far, at least 2 of the stories have sprung into novels, and there are at least a dozen others that I also plan to turn into novels when I have the time. Many others I’ve revised and am working on sending out to publishers in hopes of finding a home for them. Of course, there are several that are just pretty crappy and probably won’t be used for anything other than as a “learn from my mistake” sort of thing, but that’s to be expected when doing so much in such a short time.
Kaye: What works have come out of the 365 stories?
Robin: One of my favorite stories that sprung from the 365 challenge is my Tour Guide that was part of my thesis novel, Labyrinth of the Dead, which I wrote for the MFA program. The world she is a part of was a pre-existing place I’d written about before, but the Tour Guide was a new character that I decided to play with while doing the challenge. She works in the underworld as a guide for the newly dead and leads them through the orientation process, so to speak.
Another story that came from the challenge has become a mystery novel, Indecision Killed the Cat. It’s about an anxiety-riddle woman who believes her troubled brother is missing, but no one believes her because of his past history of running off, and her irrational and unreliable way of thinking.
Kaye: In what way, if any has the challenge helped bring you to the point you’re at now?
Robin: Doing the challenge helped me grow more confident in my own writing. It let me explore genres and stories that I had been thinking about, but hadn’t tried writing in.
One of my main goals with the challenge was to help me focus. Before the challenge, I often found it hard to work on longer projects because I had so many ideas in my head and I felt overwhelmed by them or distracted… Now when I go to write I know exactly what I need to do in order to get started, where before I’d waste a lot of time. It really helped me be the writer I am today.
Kaye: What kinds of things influence your writing?
Robin: I’m influenced by everything. I love learning how things in the world work: people, jobs, cultures, nature… I love learning and I love watching how things are interconnected. When I write, it’s all about taking little details and connecting them in such a way that they tell a story. Every part of my life, every little thing I’ve interacted with every day, helps me tell stories.
Sometimes the smallest thing can inspire a story for me because it’s all about perspective. The way someone holds a beer bottle can be significant and inspiring. I know, it sounds silly and dramatic, but it’s true. It may inspire me because of the attitude, or the way the person is interacting with the bottle. Are they gesturing with it like it’s an extension of themselves? Or do they carry it like it’s nothing more than object? These kind of small details can make me start to wonder about a person, and before I know it, I’m no longer thinking about that person, I’m thinking about a character. Every character has a story, and I love finding out what it is. So once I have a glimmer, I have to delve deeper. Essentially, the answer to where stories come from for me, is simple: they come from curiosity. I want to know more, so I write until I find my answers.
Kaye: What’s your favorite genre to read? To write?
Robin: About 60% are books recommended to me by friends or family. I have several people who pretty much give me everything they read because they know I like to check out all types of stories as research for writing. If someone I know wanted to read it, I’m curious to see it for myself. My preferred genres are the classics, urban fantasy, horror, and anything involving zombies. In general, though, I’ll pick up any book that either has a character or plot that catches my attention, and I usually read several books at once. Right now I’m currently reading:
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
- 21st Century Dead Edited by Christopher Golden
- House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
- The Tools of Screenwriting by David Howard & Edward Mabley
In writing, I seem to lean toward telling stories that involve some form of fantasy, or something involving horror or supernatural elements. While these types of stories are my favorite, I end up writing in a wide variety of genres because what usually draws me to wanting to write a story is the character or a particular conflict. I like to follow the story and take it wherever it leads me instead of trying to focus too much on one genre or style.
Kaye: Like me, you hold a duel M.F.A. in Creative Writing, with emphasis in both genre fiction and screenwriting. What prompted you to spend the extra year to add that additional screenwriting emphasis?
Robin: I love telling stories, and I love absorbing stories in any form (movies, music, oral storytelling, plays, books, etc.) When I took my out of concentration course for the fiction program I decided to take Screenwriting because it would help me expand my ability to tell stories. The more mediums I am familiar with, the more options I have when I choose to tell a story. Plus, when I took the Screenwriting class I just really fell in love with the visual format and wanted to know more, so I decided to add the extra year in order to learn as much as I possibly could about screenwriting before I graduated.
Kaye: What is the biggest challenge for you when writing short fiction? Or when tackling a novel length work? • What is your biggest challenge when writing a screenplay? • Have you ever played with poetry?
Robin: Short Fiction – condensing the story. I love getting lost in characters and worlds, and finding a short story is often hard for me. I really have to force myself to focus on one small part of the story and make it matter, without getting lost in the bigger story.
Novels – I think I most struggle with the outlining and preparing to write stage. I hate the pre-writing stuff and always want to just get started, but I find that the pre-writing really helps me write faster and clearer so I force myself to do it.
Screenwriting – During my first drafts I really focus on the plot and getting that to work on the page first, which means my protagonist’s personality often gets lost even though I know it well. Future drafts are often all about bringing that personality out and fixing character stuff, which is a slow and tedious process for me.
Poetry – It was my first foray into writing. It was awful stuff that will hopefully never see the light of day again. These days I simply appreciate poetry and admire those who have the skill. It’s not my strong suit.
Kaye: Which is your favorite type of writing? Short fiction, genre fiction, or screenwriting?
Robin: I’m kind of torn on this these days, because I love the visual format of screenwriting, but I also adore getting lost in the world of a novel. I think for me, which is my favorite really depends on what story I’m working on at the given moment and which medium it seems to fit best.
Kaye: Is there anything unique or unusual about your writing process?
Robin: The main thing I can think of is that in my first draft I really focus on getting my plot down first and writing the motions of the story, while drawing character out comes second. I know my characters in advance before writing, but they don’t always come out on the page well in the first draft since I’m focused on plot. Doing it this way helps me write faster, and gets the plot all out on the page so I can look at it and see what is and isn’t working, because sometimes you can’t tell until it’s written.
I look at it as being similar to drawing. First you do a rough sketch to plan the drawing (outline), then maybe you do the structure of the drawing in black and white (plot), and then you go through and add color (character and finer details). Writing this way lets me really focus on my plots and make sure they are logically sound before I really delve into bringing out the character elements and some of the smaller details that help bring a story to life. The key, though, is knowing your characters really well first so they fit the plot.
Kaye: We’re offering some proofreading and critiquing through the Etsy store. What’s your worst pet peeve when reading or critiquing a book or story?
Robin: 1. When the author writes a character doing something for the sake of getting the plot to go where the author needs it to go, rather than staying true to the characters.
2. When critiquing and someone sends me something that is clearly a first draft and I can tell they haven’t read it over. It’s one thing if we’ve talked about sending the first draft for some specific reason, but it’s another to send something to someone asking for a critique when you haven’t even done a basic revision pass. You may only get one critique, so don’t waste it by sending something that is filled with mistakes you could catch on your own!
Kaye: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Robin: I have a lot of random hobbies and like learning new things, so what I’m up to is constantly changing. Lately I’ve been teaching myself to knit, and relearning some Spanish. In general, I love reading, movies, anything involving animals or nature, traveling, and photography.
That’s it, folks. I hope this interview has given you a better idea of who Robin Conley is, and instilled confidence when she offers writing advice. If you have questions for Robin, leave a comment to this post.
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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Weekly Writing Memo: When to Include Movement with Dialogue
Posted: July 13, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Screenwriting, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process 1 Comment
One thing I’ve noticed during my time reading and critique fiction, is that not everyone includes movement of characters, or actions, within the dialogue scenes. This is a pretty obvious thing, as not all scenes would call for it, but how do you know when you should or shouldn’t include movement with the dialogue?
Forward Momentum
One reason to include movement in dialogue is that it moves the story forward physically in a way that dialogue generally cannot. The exception to this is if you write like Shakespeare or other playwrights where they often imply or describe the movements in the speech. If a scene of dialogue goes on for a long while without any movement, it can make the reader feel like the story is standing still as two or more characters talk things out. Adding in the body movements can make the reader feel like the characters are actually doing something and that the story is still progressing forward, even if the characters are staying in one room.
Emphasis
Movement can also help emphasize certain words that are being said, as well as how they are being said, and can even be used to tell more about the character who is speaking. For example, if your character is trying to act tough but doesn’t feel very tough at all, you can give them strong words in the dialogue but have their body language be weak to show they’re not confident in the words. This can be a subtle way to show a lot about the character without telling.
Another example of this is if you want to emphasize a characters anger, you can have them throw something or slam something. Yes, these types of gestures can venture into cliché, but when done well they can also really highlight how a character is feeling and what they mean by their words.
Transition
Movement can also be used as a transition of subjects in dialogue. If you jump from one subject to another in dialogue without any sort of physical break on the page, the story can feel clunky or awkward, and sometimes throw the reader out of the story. Adding in the movement between a subject change can slow things down for the reader and make the transition smoother by helping the reader follow the speaker’s train of thought. An example:
“I want to go to the park,” Bobby said. He looked down the street as the milk truck drove by, then turned back to his brother. “Did mom go to grocery store yet? We should eat first.”
If you remove the dialogue tag and the action, the dialogue seems cluttered, rushed, and not necessarily cohesive: “I want to go to the park. Did mom go to the grocery store yet? We should eat first.” Written this way, the character seems almost like his has an attention disorder. By using movement, you can create a pause between the subject shifts if needed, or use the opportunity to help show the reader what is the cause of the subject shift as done above.
Exceptions
There are a few spots where movement should not be in dialogue, but really it should be judged on a scene-by-scene basis. If you are having an important conversation where the emphasis really needs to be on the words, then the focus should be the dialogue with movement only added in where an action is needed for the story.
If you have a long scene with a lot of movement and little dialogue, then keeping the dialogue sections movement free can help balance the chapter out. If you add more movements into a scenario such as this one, it can make the dialogue feel cluttered and buried in all the actions in the story.
Another exception is if you have a slower chapter and want to speed the dialogue up some, then you can take out the movement. A segment of dialogue with minimal movements or dialogue tags can really speed up a chapter because the reader can move through it quickly, focusing just on what is being said by the characters.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, each instance of where to put movement within the dialogue should depend on the scene and the writer’s goal for the scene. If you understand what the effect of the actions and movements in dialogue are, then you can understand how to use them in the strongest way for your story. If you really want to understand it, take some of your favorite novels and look at the scenes with dialogue. See how the author handles them and try to figure out the effect it has on the story. Really, when working on any aspect of writing, seeing how it has been done and then experimenting with it yourself is the ultimate way to understand it.
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What’s a Nice Girl Like Me Doing Writing in a Genre Like This?
Posted: July 11, 2016 Filed under: Books, Fiction, Stories, Western, Writing | Tags: Delilah, I Had to Do It, Kaye Lynne Booth, Western, Writing 2 Comments
I recently sold I Had to Do It, a flash fiction story of the western flavor, to Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry. And of course, my regular readers know I’ve written a western novel, Delilah, as well, for which I’m diligently seeking a publisher at present. It might seem that I am leaning toward becoming a western writer, and I’ll admit, I do enjoy writing western.
But I’m an eclectic kind of gal by nature. My palate savors many cuisines, although I’m partial to Oriental and Latino foods. I listen to various genres of music, being heavy on the rock, but also enjoying metal, hip hop, country, pop, and even classical. I watch a wide range of movie genres, as well. On that same note, I read most of the genres, and seek opportunities to try genres that are new to me, but horror has always been my favorite. In fact, in 2012, when I began my M.F.A. in Creative Writing program at Western State Colorado University, western was one of the few genres which I hadn’t read.
In that first class, the first thing my instructor asked was, “In what genre do you usually write?” I considered the short stories I had written to date, many of which, I wasn’t sure what genre they fell into. The only experience I’d had with western was 850 words worth, I Had to Do It, and it hadn’t sold. But the idea was for us to write outside of our comfort zones, and western was the genre I was assigned for my first excerpt.
I’m not sure why I didn’t think I would like writing westerns. I’m a native of Colorado and proud of that, but I’ve never been a cowgirl per se. I enjoy western films. Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns are the best, but Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Quick and the Dead are right up there, too. But as I said, I hadn’t really read much in the western genre. But then, I wrote the excerpt for Delilah. After that first semester, revising my excerpt according to the feedback from my instructor and my cohorts, I started thinking that I might not be too bad at writing in the western genre. Three years and several rewrites later, Delilah is a story I’m rather proud of. The rejections do sting a bit, but I’m confident that if I endeavor to persevere and keep submitting it, eventually it will land with the right publisher, and it will be accepted. And if not, well, there’s always independent publishing. Delilah is a good story, and it’s well written, and I want very much to be able to share it with the world. One way or another, I will get the book published.
And yes, there will probably be other westerns in my future. I seem to have a knack for it, at least, so I’ve been told. I already have an idea for a western romance, although romance is another genre I never thought I’d find myself writing. I guess we’ll see.
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Weekly Writing Memo: Building a Story
Posted: June 29, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Stories, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process Leave a comment
Stories are essentially a million little pieces intertwined in such a way that they relay a picture from the writer’s head into the mind of the reader. Specifically, every scene, and every story, is made up of a series of arcs (character arcs, plot arcs, genre arcs, etc) that combine to tell the story on various levels. In order for the arcs to work, they have to be carefully constructed and woven together so that they support each other and so the story forms a cohesive whole.
One of the most important parts of building a story is the construction. Each of the various arcs within the story have to start and end at the correct place, and have to be balanced with the other elements. If any arc or element is out of place, the entire story can falter or fail completely. There are dozens or more elements and arcs within a story to consider, but the main arcs I’m going to focus on are character, plot, and genre. These three are generally the core of every story, and if they’re right, the other elements are more likely to be right.
Character
The general rule in any story is that every character has to have an arc of their own, not just in the story as a whole, but in every single scene of the story. At the start of every scene, each character present should have two or more goals. The first goal is their overarching goal, and the second is their immediate goal. For example, in a scene where a man wants to get his daughter an ice cream, his first goal could be a larger goal that carries on throughout the story of trying to make his daughter happy, while his second goal is one that is the focus of the scene such as simply trying to buy an ice cream cone.
These goals are what drive each scene forward, and are what drive the character’s every action. A goal can change in the middle of the scene, but no matter what a character has to have a goal. The character arcs in every scene are generally caused by how they succeed or fail at achieving their goal. In the ice cream example, the character’s arc could be something like:
On the scene level: the character starts out hopeful that he will be able to buy the ice cream, he hits a peak in line when he is about to achieve his goal, but then when he gets to the front and finds out that they are out of the ice cream his daughter wants his hope disappears and he is in a much worse position than he started.
On the story level, this would be a minor arc in his larger development. This would be the arc where the father goes from trying to find his daughter’s happiness in material things to maybe looking deeper to find something more that can truly make her happy. The scene won’t resolve the problem, but it would be the first step of the father solving the problem and help him head toward the path where he will find the solution.
As shown above, by looking at and understanding the goals you can find the character’s arc of emotional and mental development in every scene, and in the story as a whole.
Plot
Each goal itself should be a part of the plot, and should have some form of arc as well. Some goals, like the larger story goals, will be made up of a bunch of mini-arcs, while the minor goals will just have a minor arc of their own. The goals make up the plot because they are what drive the action and create conflict within the story. They’re what the character wants and is constantly stopped from getting one way or another.
For each goal, there should be an arc of how it develops and changes throughout each scene and the story. Goals in general will be made up of some mix of the basic format of: conception of goal, plan to achieve the goal, enacting the plan, and failure or success. The outcome either leads to a new goal, or a new plan to achieve the new goal. Each arc of the plot can lead to new plots and goals depending on whether the character is successful or not, and whether the success/failure of the goal leads to new problems or new goals.
For example, in the ice cream story, the dad doesn’t get the ice cream so it leads to a new goal and new problem for the plot. He either has to find somewhere else to get the ice cream his daughter desperately wants, or he has to find a new way to make her happy.
Genre
Many people don’t consider that there are genre arcs within stories, but in there are almost always some form of genre arcs that happen in genre stories. For example, most romance stories involve some form of meeting of the potential couple, a period of interactions between the couple culminating in some form of acknowledgement of feelings, the breaking point where they are thrown apart, and then the reunion. This varies, of course, depending on the different types of romance stories, but being aware of the genre arc and knowing how to use them can help you create a certain flow within your story that readers find natural. It can also help you make sure your plots are working well for the genre you are using.
Even if you don’t go with a typical genre arc for your story, you should consider how the genre evolves throughout your story. For example, in horror there should be a general increase in the horror as the story develops, culminating in the final climactic moment toward the end of your story. If you don’t have an arc of the horror elements as well as the character and plot elements, then the horror part of your story could fall flat. So always consider the genre you are writing in, and think of how that influences your plot and character.
Whatever you are writing, there are many levels of story you are telling and each element should really have an arc of its own, even if it’s a minor one. Some arcs may not be super important or even that interesting, but it’s how they fit in with the other larger and more important elements that matter. Each element should be supporting the larger story as a whole. If you find a part of your story that isn’t doing its part to support the story, remove it. You’re building something where every part needs to do its job, so make every element count.
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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Chronology is full of surprises
Posted: June 24, 2016 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Stories | Tags: Anthology, Book Review, Books, Creative Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, horror, Review, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Writing 3 Comments
I’ve just had the pleasure of reviewing a new anthology of short fiction put out by Curiosity Quills Press. When asked if I’d like to review Chronology, I had the impression that it was a steampunk anthology, which is a genre I’m newly discovering. Some of the stories in this collection do have steampunk elements, such as Wind Up Hearts, the steampunk-ish romance that is sure to break readers’ hearts, by Bram Stoker Award finalist, Stan Swanson, or Flight of the Pegasus by Dr. Darin Kennedy. There’s also That Which is Hidden, a haunted steampunk-ish werewolf romance, by Julie Frost. But, I was pleasantly surprised to find the stories in Chronology to be a diverse mixture of speculative fiction.
Some are futuristic, leaning more toward science fiction, such as the apocalyptic Afterparty by Mark Woodring, Limited Liability, a futuristic outer space story by Matthew Graybosch or Gookie Visits Her Moma by G. Miki Hayden, an alternate universe science fiction story about a space bounty hunter whose current bounty takes her back to her home planet. Many others are more in the fantasy realm, such as Draconic King, by award winning author, James Wymore, or Yours Until the Ink Dries, a true faerie tale, as a young outcast girl discovers her true identity in her drawings, by Y.A. author Jordan Elizabeth. And then there are those stories that fall into the mythical realm, such as Strange Flesh, a well-crafted story of mythical creatures by Katie Young, or Wampus Cat, a tale of Appalachian legends come true by international bestselling author Scott Nicholson.
Still, others have a horror element or two, such as The Lair, a story of a cursed treasure hunt in jungle swamps, by best-selling independent author, Tony Healey, or Lava, a spectral love story by New York Times bestselling author, Piers Anthony, or In the Clutches of the Mummy Prince, by B.C. Johnson, which was not very scary. Also I had trouble relating with the main character in Johnson’s story, who wasn’t very likeable. There is also The Comeback, the weirdest zombie romance I’ve ever heard of, told from the zombie’s POV, by techno-thriller and MG fantasy author, Tara Tyler, and Inmate #85298, a chilling death row tale, by author and screenwriter, Andy Rausch.
Of course, there are also those stories that weren’t so easy to classify, including White Chapel, which sheds new light on the story of Jack the Ripper, by author, editor and podcast co-host, Andrew Buckley, or Signs Unseen, the story of a small town race war, by J.P. Moyahan, or Bait and Witch, a troublesome witch story by speculative fiction author, J.P. Sloan. There is also The Bull, by novelist and short story writer, J.R. Rain, which turns a Minotaur into a superhero, and The Unattended Life, a reminder to stop and smell the roses by J.E. Anckorn, and an intriguing airship romance, Above the Clouds, by Richard Roberts.
Yes, it is a big book, about 530 pages, but it is definitely a good read. In addition to the stories mentioned above there are the three I enjoyed the most, which I saved to tell you about in more detail. The following stories stuck out in my mind the most, but not in any particular order.
The Room Below, by novelist Wilbert Stanton is a horror story worthy of Lovecraft, or King. This story about a stay in a mental institution that puts One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to shame. It held my attention and kept me on the edge of my seat, and had a surprising, yet satisfying ending.
The Colorado King, by Nathan Yocum is a story in which survival is the name of the game as a father and daughter travel over post-apocalyptic badlands in search of kin and refuge, bringing with it some very hard lessons. This well-crafted tale grabs readers’ attention and doesn’t let go, yet it leaves readers feeling like there should be more, probably due to the fact that it is an excerpt. I’m guessing that it is from Yocum’s novel, The Zona.
And finally, Innocent Deception, by Matthew Cox is a well-crafted story which has a surprising reveal in its final pages. The daughter of a pharmaceutical company’s CEO is kidnapped and held for ransom, but the plan falls apart when the mother doesn’t want the kid back.
Overall, I give Chronology 3 Quills. 
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Weekly Writing Memo: Going Through the Motions
Posted: June 15, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, creative process, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process 1 Comment
Lately I’ve been coming across a lot of writing where the emotional connection has been lacking. If your audience isn’t invested or connecting with your story somehow, they will not want to stick around to finish it. There are a lot of ways your writing could lack an emotional connection, but the main one I find is when your characters or your plot aren’t ringing true to the audience. When it feels like the characters are just going through the motions of the story, rather than really living and breathing the story, then it starts to feel false. So how do you keep it feeling realistic so your audience is emotionally invested?
Actions and Words
One of the most important elements in a story to help it feel realistic is that your characters dialogue and their actions match up. To do this, make sure your character is behaving in a way that goes with their attitude and dialogue. If your character is angry, and is yelling, don’t have their body language be weak and cowering. If your character is shy and afraid, don’t have them adopting a dominant posture. These things are minor touches in your writing, but if your characters’ words aren’t backed up by their actions and body language, then their words won’t ring true and will make the audience feel as if something is off, even if they can’t put into words what exactly it is.
The exception, of course, is if the character is someone who says one thing and does another, or if your character is purposely behaving in a contradictory way because of anxiety, fear, or ulterior motives. In those cases, you still have to be consistent with that character and continue that behavior throughout the story. If they act irrationally when they’re afraid, then show the audience that and make them behave that way every time. If they are a perpetual liar, or manipulator, then again show that and make sure the audience understands the contradictions.
Sincerity
The second element that helps make your audience emotionally connect is to feel like your characters are behaving sincerely. I don’t mean they have to be telling the truth all the time or behaving kindly, they just have to be behaving true to who they (the characters) are. If a character isn’t behaving the way they would in reality, then the audience will pick up on that and feel like they’re being lied to and not connect with the story.
This comes down to one thing – you want your characters to be people, not actors. If it feels like they’re actors pretending to be someone, then it will create an unnecessary barrier between the story and your audience. You want your characters to always be themselves, and to behave in accordance to how they would naturally behave unless there is a significant reason for them not to.
Others
A lot of people think that the only characters the above stuff matters for is for the main characters, and maybe the secondary or even tertiary characters, but it’s more than that. Every single character in your story matters, and every single character should have a motive for their behavior that they drives their behavior. Without this, minor characters in stories will feel like placeholders and even disrupt the story.
If you have a ton of minor characters who just pass through the story without distinguishing them by giving them their motivations, it’ll be like placing a color photo on all gray background. While that can be pretty and help make the main photo pop, it’ll make the background uninteresting.
In a story, this kind of thing makes the story as a whole suffer because your character is living in this world, and if the world is boring and uninteresting, or unrealistic, then it’ll start to affect the main character. If you give your minor characters one thing, give them a motivation for being in the scene and every action they take. As long as they are clearly motivated, and stick true to these motivations, they’ll help give the scene more purpose and make the story more dynamic, which means it’ll be easier for your audience to get invested.
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Weekly Writing Memo: Parts of a Scene
Posted: June 8, 2016 Filed under: Fiction, Screenwriting, Uncategorized, Weekly Writing Memo, Writing, Writing Tips | Tags: Creative Fiction, Fiction, Screenwriting, Writing, writing advice, Writing Process Leave a comment
Whether you’re writing a novel or a screenplay, you are going to be writing scenes for your story. The breakdown of a scene for each is essentially the same, and requires that three things happen.
The Setting
The first thing that has to be established in almost any scene is where it is taking place. Sometimes this can be as simple as establishing that it’s a mysterious unknown place, that’s fine, but some form of setting has to be established. Showing the setting helps ground the audience and helps them visualize what is happening.
To do this in a screenplay, you use the scene heading and then give a brief description of the location in a line or two. Find a succinct way to set the tone and layout of the scene without giving long descriptions. Also, make sure to mention any elements of the setting that are vital to the action of the scene. Don’t wait to mention there is a newspaper on a chair if a few lines down that newspaper is going to be used to slap someone!
This is true for fiction as well. It’s best to set up details that will come into play early on so that way when they are used, the audience feels they have been established instead of feeling like they were just thrown in when the writer needed them. Unlike in screenplays, fiction can let the setting unfold a little more naturally as the character interacts with it. You’ll still want to mention key elements as soon as you can for the best effect, but you can let some details come out more fluidly as the scene develops.
The Character
The second thing to establish in any scene is who the scene is about, and who the protagonist and antagonist of the scene is. In every scene there is one of each, even if one is an inanimate object or something. Every scene is driven forward by a character wanting something, and whatever is getting in the character’s way at that moment is the antagonist for the scene. There can also be an antagonist that is not present in the scene as well, but do consider who the antagonist within the scene is.
You’ll also want to find a way to introduce other characters that are present for the scene as early as possible. If a character is in the room while something is happening, and the audience isn’t aware of it, it can be startling when that character finally “appears” to the audience. It can also change a scene completely. So make sure to find a way to introduce each character within a scene so the audience knows who the players are.
The Conflict
Every scene is about one thing – someone wants something, and something (or someone) is stopping them from getting it. If this isn’t happening in your scene, then your scene has no conflict or tension and really needs to be reconsidered unless you have strong motivations for it.
The other key thing to remember for every scene is that every single character in the scene has a want, and their behavior is going to be driven by whatever that want is. You want some of those character desires to conflict to create tension. If the conflicts are the same (like two characters want a sandwich) then find a way to make the wants conflicting. For example, maybe they both want a sandwich, but they want the other character to make it for them. Or they both want a sandwich, but there is only enough bread for one.
If you know what your characters want, then you know how they will behave in a scene. You also know what you need to keep them from getting it for as long as you naturally can within the scene. Don’t let them get what they want easily, unless what they want isn’t really what they need! If it isn’t what they need, then the moment they get what they want, it’ll create new conflict. The point of every scene is to create tension and conflict, and to drive the story forward.
Final Notes
The final thing to consider when writing a scene is that you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the beginning setting up what your character is doing or trying to achieve. If you find yourself doing this, try jumping forward in the scene and seeing how it reads without the introduction.
For example, if a neighbor wants to borrow a cup of sugar, but the other neighbor wants someone to talk to, try this: Instead of showing Person 1 knocking on the door, show them already in Person 2’s kitchen and show Person 2 blabbering on about some subject that Person 1 cares nothing about. Maybe show Person 1 with an empty measuring cup in their hand and have them eyeing the cupboard.
Doing that tells us everything we need to know without going through the motions of the knocking on the door and asking for the sugar. It jumps straight to the conflict. And you almost always want to cut to the conflict when you can do so without the story suffering.
Robin Conley offers great writing advice most Wednesdays on Writing to be Read. If you just can’t wait until next week to find out more, you can pop into her blog, Author the World, for more tips, or a weekly writing prompt.
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“Confessions of an Honest Man” plays a boogie on the heart strings of readers
Posted: June 3, 2016 Filed under: Book Review, Fiction | Tags: Arthur Rosch, Book Review, Books, Confessions of an Honest Man, Fiction 7 Comments
From the 1960’s to present day, Confessions of an Honest Man, by Arthur Rosch follows young jazz musician through the streets of New York and San Francisco through the jazz circuit of bars and clubs with famous musicians such as John “Avian” Coltrane and Zoot Prestige. It follows Aaron through the struggling childhood where he has to fight for anything that matters to him to become first, a mildly successful jazz musician, then a washed up heroin addict, into a recovering addict trying to straighten out the mess that his life had become, and miraculously overnight, a very successful jazz musician through a turn of fate. Aaron Kantro has some help along the way as he learns to love and be loved. He is guided by his mentor and fellow jazz musician, Zoot Prestige, then from a little dog, named Diz, who was for a while, his only friend and companion, as well as Zoot’s spirit once he passes and the spirits of others whom he has known in life.
It is a thought provoking story of a family afflicted by abuse, mental illness, depression and drug addiction. It’s the story of what can happen when we chose to defy the odds stacked against us and struggle to survive, and maybe even thrive, if we’re lucky. It is the story of Aaron Kantros, a boy who fell in love at a very young age, and his emotionally abusive mother, who was an abused child herself, his father, struggling to hold all of their lives together without a clue of how to achieve his goal, his younger brother, filled with anger and resentment, and his two sisters, illustrating their very different, individual methods of coping.
Confessions of an Honest Man is not just about the characters. It’s about a time, an era, where there is very little knowledge about, or help for dysfunctional families and doctors freely handed out whatever pills they thought might make your problem go away, and if those pills caused other problems? An era in which you looked after your own and people didn’t look too closely at one another. An era of racial biases, sexual biases, hypocrisies and prejudices. An era of jazz in its purest form.
Confessions of an Honest Man is written with compelling honesty and soul. He creates characters that are so real and relatable, that the disclaimer, “All characters are fictional”, is necessary because Rosch makes it easy for us to believe that they lived. He captures the essence of time and place, creating events with vivid clarity within the mind’s eye. This story will move readers with emotion, touching hearts and stirring the empathy in all of us. I give Confessions of an Honest Man five quills. 
Other books by Arthur Rosch include The Road Has Eyes – An RV, a Relationship and a Wild Ride, and The Gods of the Gift.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read, and she never charges for them. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
Acceptance or Rejection – Which do You Prefer?
Posted: June 27, 2016 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Commentary, Fiction, Opinion, Promotion, Publishing, Western, Writing | Tags: Acceptance, Creative Fiction, Fiction, Flash Fiction, I Had to Do It, Kaye Lynne Booth, Rejection, Western, Writing | 1 CommentI could go into another post about rejections. Lord knows, I’ve gotten plenty. But I’ve always been one to see the glass half-full side, rather than half-empty, focusing on the positive side to everything, so I think I’d rather talk today about acceptances. I don’t think anyone will disagree when I say acceptances are much better than rejections. You don’t have to be a writer to figure that one out.
You don’t get them as often as rejections, but they’re a lot more satisfying. But there’s a reason I want to write a post on acceptances. If you follow me on Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+, you may have seen my very recent post announcing that my flash fiction western story, I Had to Do It, has been picked up by Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry.
It’s true this isn’t a big paying publication. I’m certainly not going to get rich from this one little 850 word story. Flash fiction never pays a lot. There’s simply not enough words to make the pennies add up to much, even with higher paying publications. But, I was still elated when I received the acceptance, because my story found a home and people will now read it, and because it is still one more publishing credit for me. I can’t explain the rushing feeling of excitement and pride that small note from the editors brought me. I think most of all, it was thrilling to know that someone else really liked my writing. It was a affirmation of my own belief that my writing really is pretty good.
That probably sounds silly to those who have not yet received an acceptance. (Never fear. It will come.) But we writers are an odd lot, and we are filled with fears and self-doubt. Filled with it. Most of the time we can keep these elements of our inner beings at bay by simply pecking away at the keyboard or filling up sheets of notebook paper, but every once in a while we let our guards down and that’s when they strike. The fear and self-doubt simmer in us, just down below the surface, until they see an opportunity, a weakness, and then they reach up and grab a handful of us and don’t let go.
I think just about every writer worries that the only person in the whole world that really thinks their writing is good is themselves. Friends and family don’t count because they may be saying they like it so as not to hurt your feelings. When you receive an acceptance, any acceptance, it tells you other people do like your writing, and motivates you to get busy writing more.
It’s a good feeling. One I think every writer needs to experience. It can’t happen unless you submit relentlessly and write, write, write. That’s my advice. Write your heart out and then submit like crazy, and never, ever give up. The notes that say, “yes”, make it worth surviving all the ones that said, “no”. So what are you waiting for? Get writing!
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