Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Writing”
“When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate.” – John Steinbeck. Well, there you go. 2020 has been a lesson in, …
February blogging is focused on writing tips. And I’m back to blogging once a week (thankfully, I have two guest blogs-yea!). If you’ve followed my writing journey in January, I thought it fitting to give you an update especially since I vowed to be accountable to you. My goals and the deadline. Work on my fiction for two hours a day, …
How are you doing? Specifically on your writing goals? Have you made any? Or considered sharing your story (even in a different format such as blogging, vlogging, on social?) I’m like a little child playing in the backyard from morning to dusk and doesn’t want to come inside for dinner. I’m enjoying writing, crafting, and reading, assimilating myself into the …
Happy New Year! My husband and I are back in Tulsa, after spending the holidays in northern Michigan with family. My husband, a native of Oklahoma, was like a little kid because he got to experience a white Christmas! We went sledding, snowmobiling, and snowshoeing. We tapped into our inner child as we sled down the snow hills. I laughed …
The Bible provides a wealth of villains, some more memorable than others (Satan), but most commit heinous acts of destruction. One such antagonist is Haman, the Agagite. He follows the classic traits from raising up the ranks of power, plotting not only the destruction of one righteous man but a whole ethnic group. But, like many classic stories, his bloodlust …
Happy Christmas! Hope you’re enjoying Christmas Eve! I’m in northern Michigan where it’s in the twenties with light carpet of snow. My mom’s house is festive with Christmas trees, nativity scenes, Christmas villages, snowman figurines in every room. (Yes, including the bathrooms.) And we’ve watched a few Christmas movies. This week, we watched It’s a Wonderful Life. I couldn’t imagine …
What if what an antagonist wants causes them to lose everything truly important? This narrative is explored in The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Her antagonist, Andrea Smith, is obsessed with living in the Dutch House, owned by Cyril Conroy. She’s a single mother of two young daughters, and you get an impression she’s lower middle class. She’s younger than …
What if you’ve returned from a two-week business trip in London, England (pre-Covid), and your live-in girlfriend has moved out, only leaving a note? Would you feel betrayed? Angry? Hurt? All of the above? Reading about this scenario, do you feel angry or sorry for this ex-boyfriend? Wondering how his ex could be so callous, as to only leave a …
Last month we explored what a protagonist wants, and this month, we’ll dive into the mentality of an antagonist. While I enjoy reading an antagonist who’s sole focus in life is to destroy the protagonist’s life, I’d prefer to read how external and internal forces affect their conflict. For instance, what happens when… Characters compete for the same desire but …
What happens when a character’s desire conflicts with a moral code, personal need, or lofter cause? You’ve got the potential for an intriguing story! Going in a slightly different direction, I’m doing a case study of the movie Casablanca instead of a novel. The main protagonist, Rick Blaine, owns a thriving nightclub in Casablanca, during World War II. The city …
