Archive for February, 2009

Crafting your words

No Comments »9th February, 2009; Category: Poetry, Quotes, Writing Hints

“Words need to be crafted, not sprayed. They need
to be fitted together with infinite care.”

~ Norman Cousins

When I am writing a short story, novel or blog post I generally just blaze away with the writing, trying to get down the ideas or story before it escapes.

After finishing, I go back over the text and edit, edit, edit until I’ve ironed out all of the spelling mistakes, typos, grammatical blunders and missing or wrongly used punctuation. All in a day’s work.

Then starts the interesting stage: rewriting.

Some sentences or even whole paragraphs or passages just don’t work, they don’t sing, they lack sparkle. They are limping along barely able to support themselves, let alone adding to the story. (Notice that last sentence? Originally I had ‘dead in the water.’ Shoot those over worked cliches. )

I used to hate rewriting. Now I look forward to the process because I know that it will certainly add so much to my writing.

Writing poetry

When writing poetry you are faced with a totally different world.

Poetry is concise; there is no room for waffle.
Poetry is precise; it has to use the exact right word in the right place.
Poetry is concentrated language; every word must count.
Poetry must be ‘carefully crafted’ and not words sprayed at random.
Poetry must consist of words ‘fitted together with infinite care.’

To approach poetry in any other way is not only careless, it is laziness.

Good writing.

Wild firestorms in Victoria

No Comments »8th February, 2009; Category: General

My condolences to all the people of the Australian state of Victoria who have lost family members or friends in the wild firestorms that have devastated many areas of the state over the last 48 hours.

At the time of writing at least 76 people have died and 700 homes have been destroyed.

You can read more details on my birding blog here.

Short Story Starters

2 Comments »6th February, 2009; Category: Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, Writer's block

It has been far too long since my last set of short story starters was published here. Entries in this series of articles have proved very popular with my readers for several years now.

Use them

I invite you to look through this latest list of short story starters. If anything grabs your imagination, run with it. Borrow my idea and use it for a short story (or even a novel).

Writer’s block

If you are suffering from the dreaded Writer’s Block, these ideas are the ideal way to write yourself out of that slump. Take one of the ideas and just write – anything that comes to mind. Don’t worry if it seems like rubbish. Just write – and soon the words will be flowing again.

New writers

If you are new to writing, here you will find some great ideas to get you going. Don’t worry too much about the technicalities of spelling, punctuation and grammar on your first, rough draft. You can go back over those things later, once you have the main bulk of the story written.

Here they are – more Short Story Starters:

As Alice rounded the corner she could hear the train coming. She…
Before I had a chance to fully grasp what was happening, Ben had whipped out his knife. Seconds later he…
Considering his past record, this latest move was sure to create a new round of controversy. Peter knew this, but he was adamant that he must go on. He…
‘Don’t come in here!’ she shouted. ‘After what you’ve done I don’t want to see you again. Get lost.’
Even as I entered the room I could tell that she was not happy. She had that certain look that spoke volumes. I knew…
‘Fine! You just go ahead and leave – tonight! Good riddance, I say. And don’t think I’ll come running after you.’
Getting over the party was the least of my worries. The cleanup could wait; that mess wasn’t going anywhere. I had to find George and explain. He was probably wondering…

Show – don’t tell

Notice that I start in the middle of the story. Many short stories start in the wrong place. Beginner writers tend to give far too much background detail and the real story starts part way through.

In the example above I have tried to get the action going immediately. Pages of background information is fine if you are writing a novel. Short stories are just that – short. They are tiny glimpses into one scene, two at most.

Beginner and inexperienced writers want to tell everything, going into the minutest of details and their short stories have nothing interesting happening in them. ‘Show – don’t tell’ is a mantra repeated endlessly by teachers of writing. Show the character’s motives through what she does. Show your character’s emotions through what he says (see example 6 above). Notice that I’ve broken my own rule in number 5 above. Sometimes telling is needed; you have to know the rules before you know when to break them.

Good writing.

For more short story starters click here.

Conditions of use:

Feel free to use any of the story starters listed above. Change anything to suit your needs.

Give it your best shot.

Edit your work carefully before sending it off to a publisher or posting it on your blog.

Let me know in the comments section how it went.

If you publish your story on your web site or on your blog let me know so I can make a link to it for others to read.

The secret of becoming a published writer

1 Comment »4th February, 2009; Category: The Writer's Life

If you want to be a published author here’s the secret. Walk over to your desk. Sit on your seat. Now write. And write some more. And keep writing.

I’m not sure where I found this quote but there is quite a large dollop of truth in that quote. You see, it takes persistence to become a published writer. Hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year. There are no short cuts.

Many people are in enchanted with the idea of being a writer, but faced with the sheer effort of writing day after day until they have 50, 100 or 200 thousand words, their dreams fade.

As in many pursuits, there is no secret to success. Hard work, persistence and never giving up are all ingredients to becoming a published writer.

Now – if the dream to be a published writer is still burning brightly, go over to your desk, sit down and start writing.

Good writing – and I guarantee that your hard work and persistence will see you become a published writer.

Australian Children’s author Ivan Southall

No Comments »2nd February, 2009; Category: Authors, Novels, Writing for Children, Young Readers

One of the most influential and respected authors in Australia is Ivan Southall. He was a prolific writer whose main works, mostly for children and teenagers, were published in the 1960s and 70s. He had a profound influence upon me as a teacher and writer. I think I’ve read most of his books; it’s about time I revisit the best of them as I haven’t read any of them in many years, despite taking up space on my bookshelves.

I was saddened to hear late last year that Ivan Southall had died, aged 87 after a short battle with cancer. He is best known for his novels Hills End, Ash Road, Josh and To the Wild Sky. He wrote 30 novels and many other books, some for adults. He was a four time winner of the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award, just four of many awards in his lifetime. His works have been translated into at least 20 languages.

Southall’s writing was exciting and he often put his characters in difficult and dangerous situations, often without adult help. I found his writing to be very lyrical, pushing the boundaries of what many regarded as good literature for children.

Before his writing career began he was a pilot in the RAAF during WW2, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross in the process. His early books draw heavily on his war time experiences.

Vale Ivan Southall, 1921 – 2008.