WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

Writing Fun

Posted on June 27, 2021June 27, 2021 by L. M. Montes

When I was in high school, I went to the Rueben Daniels Center of the Arts and Sciences. In my dance class we learned about theme and variation. What we had to do was choreograph a dance routine that was about one minute in length. Once we had our routine down, we had to choreograph two more dance routines based on the first one. More precisely, they had to be variations of the first by modifying it somehow without changing it completely. With writing this can also be done. Create a scene. Then, create two more scenes by varying the first scene. But, don’t vary things too drastically. It needs to be clear that your varied scenes are essentially the first scene but with slight differences.

What does this do? It works at developing creativity. It’s like a brain workout except its “bench pressing” words instead. So…have fun with it and think outside the box.

Writing

Personification

Posted on June 27, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Personification–Giving inanimate objects human qualities.

Examples
- The flowers danced in the wind.
- The wind reached its fingers inland, grabbing those it could at high rates of speed.
- The sun smiled down as it lit up the day.

As you can see, giving human qualities to inanimate objects goes a long way when it comes to putting emphasis on various aspects of what you’re writing. Doing so also makes your writing stand out in way of creating better visuals for your reader.

Tip: Give yourself an arsenal of ideas to pull from by brainstorming examples of personification (and other literary/poetic devices) and writing them in your writing journal.

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Uniqueness

Posted on June 25, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Uniqueness

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A Dove Greeting the Day with a Morning Coo

Posted on June 24, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Writing

Assonance and Alliteration

Posted on June 23, 2021June 22, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Assonance–The repetition of vowel sounds across a line of poetry or text
- Sweep the tree needles near me.
- Stinker Tinker shuffled his feet along the rough ground.
- The knife caught and left me wrought.
- Smoke grabbed hold and I choked.

Alliteration–Words in a line of text that all begin with the same letter or sound.
- The wind whipped across the plains.
- Thick thistles picked my fingers.
- Sally sat on the large log.

Writing

Words As Clay

Posted on June 22, 2021 by L. M. Montes

You’re in the middle of writing a story. You are at a point in your creation where you need to add some friction or a tense moment. You know what needs to go into the scene. You can see it in front of you (so to speak). But, what can you do to intensify the suspense? Yes, you know what will cause it, but how can you bring it more to life and jump off the page? Word choice. Not just any choice of words either. You need words with certain sounds that, when put together, bring about a certain feeling or whatever feeling you’re trying to convey.

What sounds in the following sentences add to the intended feeling?

Tension–The stranger’s body thunked to the ground, when the knife pierced his chest.
Eerie–The air’s cold finger touched the back of my neck in spite of the warm breeze coming in off the lake. The shadow wafted over the sand, paused, then glided onward.
Joy–The shiny bells glistened in the candlelight, as the children opened their presents.
Sadness–Tears formed in the corner of her eyes then trickled down her cheeks as she gazed into the casket that contained the mother she never got to know.

Whichever sounds you use in your writing is up to you, but using various literary devices can certainly help with this. Some of them are listed below.

Assonance
Alliteration
Personification
Metaphor
Simile
Allusion
Onomatopoeia
Imagery
Foreshadowing

In future posts I will cover each of these more in depth. In this post I just wanted to bring them to the surface. I know though that we use these devices regularly in our writing without thinking about them. But, when you are writing a particular scene and need to create a certain feeling and nothing is coming to you, then the above devices are a great arsenal to draw from.

Fiction

The Middle Pieces

Posted on June 20, 2021 by L. M. Montes

Have you ever put together a jigsaw puzzle? What do you start with? The side pieces? The middle pieces? Usually one works with the edges first, then the middle, and the center (or near there) is the ending where the last and final piece of the puzzle gets put down and it all comes together. Usually, that is. Maybe you’re the kind of puzzler that works from the center to the outer edges (shoulder shrug here). It really is what you’re comfortable with. I like putting the edges together first and work my way to the center.

I write much the same way. I start with the beginning (edges) and work my way to the center (ending). (Laughing here) Sometimes I have my beginning and ending and work the middle last to bring it all together. But…what if your middle is in pieces. You have lots of ideas but you just are not able to bring them together and make them fit so that there’s a flow to your story. What are you going to make them fit?

IDEA BOARD

Go back to your writing journal if you have one (or whatever you use to write your ideas in/on) and read through what you have in way of ideas. Write each one on a separate note card.
Get a bulletin board, a white board, or your floor if that’s what you prefer.
Lay out your ideas in an order to your liking.
Now, play connect the dots. How do these ideas connect to each other? Many scenarios will jump into your head as far as connections go. Why? Because here you’re taking a step back and looking at the big picture. If you’re an auditory learner, read each idea a loud off the board as you are trying to come up with a way to connect them.

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Thank You

Posted on June 19, 2021 by L. M. Montes

I want to thank all of my followers and guests for stopping by my blog. I enjoy creating posts for the world to read. It’s also been fun “meeting” people from all over the world as they/you stop by. It’s a sincere pleasure. Please continue coming on by and making yourselves home😀😊.