Category: Other Cool Blogs

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words November 27, 2012

Erin Penn

Child Coloring Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Tuomas_Lehtinen at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Perfection Myth

“I have to get this right.” How many times you have told yourself this as you revise your manuscript the 15th hundredth time? And we are just talking about the first page. You still haven’t written the second page.

Lucienne Diver gives some excellent advice on Magical Words of “Giving up on Perfect”.

Me. I like things right. A lot.

Learning having a thing “good enough to be right” does not mean “perfection” is still an ongoing lesson for me to master. As in perfect. Sigh.

At some point during our childhood we learn to color only inside the lines. Maybe Ms. Diver’s words can help you learn this lesson a bit faster than my long-time struggle. Link here: http://www.magicalwords.net/lucienne-diver/giving-up-on-perfect/

Other Cool Blogs: SFWA April 19, 2016

Erin Penn

Steam On Pan In Kitchen Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Toa55 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Synopsis

I admit it. I’ve been avoiding posting anything on the subject of Synopsis creation. I think partially from the subconscious avoidance of the subject. But also because I haven’t found a good set of instructions I identified with. Sure, taking my outline (since I am a pantser I got outlines galore) and turning it into a couple pages of prose seems straight forward but it really doesn’t explain why I am doing it, how I am doing it. It doesn’t explain the ART.

For a  Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) post, Curtis C. Chen masters the dilemma by comparing the process of paring a novel down to a synopsis to the cooking process of reducing a soup to gravy in “Special Synopsis Sauce“. This is exactly what I have been looking for. I actually “get” his explanation.

You can find the full recipe here: http://www.sfwa.org/2016/04/special-synopsis-sauce/

Another “Write-by-number” recipe has been created by Kalayna and posted at the Magical Word website on 5/11/2011 here: http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/write-by-number-synopsis-recipe/

WRITING EXERCISE: For your present WIP, write a three-paragraph synopsis (if a novel) or three-sentence synopsis (if a short story). Remember this is different from an elevator pitch where you are selling your product; this is the synopsis to show an agent or publisher who is already interested in the product. … Next the hard part, … show it to someone and ask if it could be shorter or if it needs to be more active.

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words May 1, 2012

Erin Penn
Mannequin Head Stock PhotoImage Courtesy of siraphat FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lazy Writing

Another treasure from the Magical Words trove, this time written by Carrie Ryan, a blog entry she entitled” The Difference between faux and real mysteries”. What struck me once she defined faux and real mysteries, is faux mysteries are just lazy writing. Basically I, as the lazy writer, don’t want to take the time to craft tension and suspense into the plot so I am just going to just not tell the reader the information needed until later.

What do you think? Does Ms. Ryan’s definition of a faux mystery hit home to you? It defined something I knew deep down I didn’t like, but never put my finger on. An epiphany or a whatever?

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a scene (500 words or less) with a faux mystery as defined by Ms. Ryan. Rewrite the scene this time without the faux mystery; how does the tension change?

READING EXERCISE: Think about a previous Read which had a faux mystery. Did it bother you? Was it necessary for the tension in the book to keep you reading or could the Reveal have happened sooner?

(PS I love the comments where one of the blog readers says she wrote a story where the POV character is deliberately not thinking about something very important and asks the MagicalWords hive mind what they thought. One response, two sentence change later, and the faux mystery goes away. Cool comment exchange from Laura.)

Other Cool Blogs: Science Daily May 5, 2015

Erin Penn

Hand Written Text In A Letter Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Words, Those Things, I Used Them

Sometimes the most experienced writer sounds like … well … like an idiot, when talking. How come these masters of words stumble and search for words? With many writers either returning to school or sighing relief as their children return to school, let’s look at what a John Hopkins University study discovered about how the brain processes words when writing and speaking. You would think the brain is sorted like a filing cabinet or library with a section marked dictionary and another Freshman English Sentence Construction and these sections get activated any time language is used. Well “Say What? How the brain separates our ability to talk and write” from May 5, 2015 in Science Daily indicates something a little different.

Thinking about using Dragon Voice Recognition Software? Maybe it won’t work exactly the way you think it should.

Go here for more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150505112216.htm

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a flash (50 to 500 words) illustrating the disconnect between speaking and writing. Could it be someone can only write “I love you” but not say it aloud? Maybe the person has a brain dysfunction in the language area. How about someone is talking on the phone but writing a message down and something crosses?