Write On! Crafting the Novel, Creating Imaginary Lives

Let’s start at the beginning, in that place From Where You Dream, at the first flash of a place, a line or a face.  Start, precisely, there, Creating Characters as you continue to construct, in your mind, the Architecture of the Novel you will write.

Ok, maybe, you have to start at that other beginning. Perhaps, you’ll  take the time to learn How Fiction Works and discover How Not to Write a Novel. Prepare yourself to go through multiple Beginnings, Middles & Ends before, really, coming to The End (it will be worth the trip)!

You may have to go through Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel before you discover you need to  Get Your Mind & Life Ready for Writing a Book.  Writing Great Fiction means staying in it for The Long Haul from the first to The Last Draft until you find yourself Mastering the Process.

You’re not alone. All those voices in your head are clamoring to have their story told and only you can tell their story. Tell it! They’ll be peering over your shoulder, too, staring at the screen and taking in the sage advice offered in the resource list:  Write On!: Crafting the Novel, Creating Imaginary Lives. Get real busy, make it so that This Year You Write Your Novel so your characters can live the lives they dream of.

     ~ Chris

Write On!: A Story Only You Can Tell, Writing a Memoir

Your Life is a Book. The very act of writing the story of your life whether for yourself, your family and friends or for any reading eye, is significant.

Where to begin? How will you capture those Shimmering Images in words that evoke the feelings, the meaning and importance of long ago moments? How do you go about Handling the Truth as you see it? What key elements of The Situation and the Story of your life do you write in or cross out?

Considerable thought is required in deciding how you will approach the writing of your memoir. Of course, you intend to share your life experiences, your personal history and leave a record for future generations. What is most important to say? That’s just the beginning, however. What “voice” or voices will carry the story from beginning to end? What tone, like an undercurrent will carry a reader from page to page? Your words will live long after you’re gone. You want them to have a lasting effect. Your life has had a lasting effect on you.

Writing reveals. Writing provides an excellent opportunity for gaining understanding and insight into your life journey. Maybe no one else will read what you have written but you and a select few.

Write On!: Nonfiction Writing Informs the World

Do you have an investigative mind? Is sussing out the “true story” something that intrigues you? Does researching a topic or an issue give you a thrill? How many times has someone said, “You should write about that!” If you have, ever, dashed off a letter to the editor, why did you stop there?

Why not put all that good thinking on a page or screen? Send it out into the world and see what happens.Writing a strong nonfiction piece that informs, educates and provides an insightful perspective on a topic contributes to the greater good of society and is rewarding, in its own right.

Maybe you will, eventually, get paid for all of your hard work. Before that can happen, however, you need to get busy. This is a perfect time to get busy!

Write on!: The Very Personal Journey of Keeping a Journal

You can travel any day at any time, circle back and revisit the past in the present or venture far into the future. Moments are remembered, ideas may be realized or not, a memory cherished, a day best left forgotten is there on the page and, now, you realize something you could not have understood, then. One thing, for sure, is that keeping a journal is a journey unlike any other.

Your singular view of life is captured in a journal. You are Writing Your Authentic Self and how you respond to events, people and the world can make for the most interesting reading. Your initial observations are immediate then comes the day when you observe yourself from afar. Time provides perspective and distance for the diarist to measure their hopes and dreams, complaints and arguments against their past and their present.

The Last Note Begins with See Sharp: On Transforming Your Thoughts into Poetry

In the first four weeks of April, Shelf Talk published the series An April Quartet in honor of National Poetry Month.

Each blog post was centered around an accompanying resource list, An April Quartet: In Alto, Poets Face that Discordant Sound, An April Quartet:  Some Soprano Sops Up a Poem’s Bread (the Rising), An April Quartet: Bass Note of Blue, the Flowering and An April Quartet: Tenor, in the Tenor of these Times, Raise Your Voice High. While framed in music, the posts highlight the unique voice and range of expression each poet brings to their work as they “talk back” to life in all of its moments.

You can experience these poems in several ways. They can be read and heard. You can, also, watch poets read their work.

What if someone, perhaps you, wants to do more than read, listen and watch? What if you are so inspired that you want to take the next step and begin to write your own poems?

It happens! Some people are happy to just to relish the reading, not only the content, but are keen on the myriad forms and techniques by which poets write a poem into the world. Others, respond by beginning to compose a few words in their minds eye. Maybe they’ll write them down. Many people become overwhelmed at the idea of trying to figure out the rest of their fledgling poem and abandon it.