Monthly Archives: June 2020
Make Every Word Count #AuthorToolboxBlogHop #amwriting
The Author Toolbox Blog Hop is “a monthly blog hop on the theme of resources/learning for authors: posts related to the craft of writing, editing, querying, marketing, publishing, blogging tips for authors, reviews of author-related products, anything that an author would find helpful.” Want to jump into the writing tool box? Search #AuthorToolboxBlogHop or to join via blog, click here.
This month, I have to be brief. Daylight hours have slipped through my paint stained fingers. I’ve been doing so many projects around my home. I wish I had more time. I don’t.
Today, I’m thinking about writing tight action scenes, a skill I’ve recently become comfortable doing. The important thing as you write action is to write, then cut. Read, and cut some more. I found a great article to get my thoughts rolling by Write it Side Ways and feel free to visit it for more details.
What are the tips I’ve learned?
There are three I can think of:
1. Pick strong verbs.
2. Write quickly, pointedly.
3. Imagine the stress, the out of breath state your character(s) might be in, and make the dialogue or internal reflections brief to reflect this realist situation.
An example using all three points from my favorite book, A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer (page 60):
It takes me another second for the pain to register. Blood is in my mouth. His hand draws back to hit me again.
I jab my arm down against his back. He jerks a little and his hand falls.
I stabbed him. I stabbed him.
Part of me wants to burst into tears.
A darker part of me wants to celebrate.
A personal example in the moment, using all three, and not quite as sharp.
Cautiously, I step through a darkened doorway. My heart hammers so loud, the pound of it echoes in my ears. I don’t see her. She’s here. I feel it in my blood. I can’t explain it. A sister knows a sister.
“Fight me!” Her scream echoes through the warehouse. Overhead, the metal ducts rattle with the fire in her voice. I shirk forward—turn.
A shadow shifts side to side. I hold my breath, waiting. My eyes adjust to the dark. It’s a bag. My shoulders release. A stupid boxing bag.
“Come on then.” I ready my hands, knowing she’s back there, somewhere. “Come get me if you want me.”
Happy Writing!
Writer’s Secrets Make Great Scenes #IWSG #AMWRITING
[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here
Thank you to our awesome co-hosts this month: Pat Garcia, J.Q. Rose, and Natalie Aguirre!
Check out our IWSG homepage for recent news and events. And as always, thank you to founder Alex J. Cavaugh 🙂
***
When I think of writing secrets, I always wonder about current authors and how their first book was discovered. I think of J.K. Rowling’s interesting story, how she faced countless rejections until a publisher handed her first draft over to his eight year-old daughter who immediately demanded the rest of the book. I think of secrets in general, and how we all have them, because our scars and our inadequacies about ourselves make character development in writing feel so real.
June 3 question asks – “Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work?”
I couldn’t decide what would be interesting to reveal about myself, tripped up over countless dark closets I’d like not to think about, so I turned to my daughter and I asked her, “what secrets do I have?”
She gave me two great ones from this past year:
- Last fall, while riding on my son’s blue Razor Scooter with my daughter riding hers, she pulls into the driveway and breaks it way ahead of me. From behind her down the street, I decide to pick up the pace and coast freely down the hill—after a rain with countless puddles in the street (of course I wasn’t wearing a helmet) and guess what I did? I hit a hidden pothole filled with rain water and flew into a face plant. I jumped up, panicked someone saw me. Not a soul was outside. Not a single window curtain was drawn. I think I bowed, bloody hands and ripped jeans and all.
- During this whole cloudy COVID time, I decided to take my artist endeavors to a new level and buy my own nail dip kit. I have a Fine Arts degree and enjoy painting and designing things. I thought I could surely figure it out. The first time I attempted to remove the polish on my nails, I did the unthinkable. I reached for the remover and missed the bottle, sending it flying across my dining room table. It works! It removed the finish off my table in a very creative splat across the center. Thank goodness for table runners 🙂
I know my secrets aren’t writing related, though they may make some really fun scenes if they relate to the theme. I also know several of my writing secrets have been talked about in other posts. So here are my human mishaps. My children will always remember them fondly, and I love that. Happy IWSG every one. Keep your faith and courage alive. Spread kindness. We all could use it.
Cloud Nine Girl 