Posts Tagged ‘characterization’
Storytelling: A Few Lessons from Life to the Page
I’m snoozing for ten minutes before my alarm is set to go off when I hear my wife fall. Lesson 1: A story begins with an inciting incident. Said incident is the beginning of a chain of events, none of which can happen without something to put the narrative into motion. So I begin with…
Read MoreCuriosity and the Fiction Writer: Ten Questions
Last night at a gathering of folks from my MFA workshops, the talk turned to dating and the attempt to find a romantic connection. I listened to those who are using dating apps talk about how horrible it is to try to find a potential partner that way. I’ve known success stories from the…
Read MoreA Stranger Comes
When I got up this morning, Timmy, our neighborhood stray cat, was waiting on our patio. As is his custom, he sat very still, looking in through our window. He’s a very patient and persistent cat. He waits until someone comes out with a bit of food for him or fresh water for his bowl.…
Read MoreThe Last Time
‘Tis the season of transition. High school students are graduating and moving on to the next phases of their lives. My MFA students are doing the same. Friends are moving, some of them to distant places. Yesterday, Cathy and I hosted a “See You Later” party for one such friend. It’s a sad occasion for…
Read MoreStrategies for Finding Empathy for Our Characters
Last week, I posted about the importance of having empathy for our characters even those who are less that admirable. This week, I want to continue thinking about exactly how we can find that empathy. Here are a few strategies: Be a matchmaker. When I was just beginning to work on my novel, River of…
Read MoreSmall Moments of Joy
Here in central Ohio, we’re in the heart of winter. Snow on the ground. Cold temperatures. Fierce winds. Dark longer in the mornings. Gray days. Early nightfalls. It’s enough, at least for me, to invite despair. Especially at night, just before I close my eyes for sleep, I’m prone to wander into what I call…
Read MoreThe Importance of Silence in Narratives
My wife Cathy is in Chicago this week, visiting her sister, so, the house, without her to talk to, is filled with much more silence than usual. This has me thinking about how fiction writers sometimes rush to get the plot onto the page, neglecting the benefits of putting space around significant events through the…
Read MoreCreating Memorable Characters
Cathy and I spent last week cleaning some things out of what used to be her parents’ house in Illinois. In the process, we came upon several old family photos. I love looking at old photographs even if I don’t know the people in them. The photos take me into a time period in the…
Read MoreCharacters and Pressure
My wife Cathy has spent this weekend canning and freezing: blackberry jam, bread and butter pickles, and corn. I’ve lent a hand: toting, shucking, mashing, cleaning. My mother spent her summers preserving food, so it’s a nostalgic thing for me to listen to the jar lids popping as they seal, the hot jars cooling, the…
Read MoreMy Mother Gives Me a Writing Lesson
(In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m giving another life to this old post.) As I dream of spring on this cold January day, I’m reading through some old letters from my mother, written in her widowhood, and I’m struck by the sound of my own voice in hers and the lesson she offers the writer…
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