Strolling through life’s garden,
shadows rain,
seeking shelter as winds whip,
danger hovers,
droplets spit and spatter ‘cross my cheek,
strength stings,
then clouds thin their thick blankets,
goodness yawns,
a beam of sun glides a light revealing,
warmth shines.
Tag: Write
Feed Your Creativity
What do we need for nourishment? Food. When we eat food, we feel better. Our body feels sustained. It might also depend on what you eat, but that is neither here nor there. Actually, I’m eating as I write this article (Hahaha, no really). But how do we feed our creativity when we’re trying to think of material for writing a story? I’m not talking about writer’s block. I’m talking about putting some oomph into your story, something that stands out to readers. The answer to this question will vary from individual to individual because we are all different. Below are some ideas on things you can do to wake up your creative mind.
- Read books.
- Listen to music (I hear classical music is good for this).
- Do a craft of some sort.
- Put a jigsaw puzzle together. You’d be surprised how much this works.
- Create ideas with some one else. Hey, two heads are better than one.
- Take a drive somewhere that appeals to your senses.
- Look at beautiful photos and imagine yourself inside the picture. Use your senses and describe it.
- Take a stroll through a cemetery.
- Cook/bake something.
- Go to the beach.
Tag Lines
In a story in order to determine who is speaking a piece of dialogue, tag lines are used. Notice in the following example the last two lines don’t have a tag line. That’s because one is not always needed once it’s been established who is talking. Generally, a person will do the speaking every other line. So, in this example, it is assumed that Tia is then doing the speaking in line 3 and Sarah is doing the speaking in line 4. If a tag line is added every time someone speaks, the flow of the dialogue sounds odd. BUT, every now and then, throw in a tag line so that readers can keep track of who is speaking. There’s nothing more irritating than having to go back through a long piece of dialogue in order to keep track of who is doing the speaking.
Example: “I don’t like it one bit. It won’t work,” said Tia.
“Sure it will,” replied Sarah. “Trust me.”
“That’s the problem. None of your ideas ever work.”
“They do too.”
Please keep in mind that you don’t always have to use the word ‘said’ when creating a tag line. Here are some options in the list below. There are many many more than what is here. This is just a taste.
- replied Tia
- responded Tia
- stated Tia
- whispered Tia
- answered Tia
- demanded Jack
- claimed Susan
- asked Bill
- agreed Susan
- added Susan
- admitted Jack
- fumed Bill
- feared Sally
- giggled Jane
- indicated Jack
- joked Tia
- decided Tia
Malice by L. M. Montes
Hardness hails the deepest creases
of tainted thoughts and goodness taken,
breaks the inside then snaps to pieces
the person meant to be forsaken.
Hurt abounds from one’s behavior
as meanness hurls from they to thee,
until karma returns the nasty favor,
blind to all and will not see.
Descriptive Words
Please note that some of the descriptive words in this table are found in more than one box. This is because they hold two different descriptive meanings.
Sometimes it’s nice to have many in one place rather than always resorting to look up single words at a time. When you are in the middle of writing a piece of fiction and you want a unique way to describe something, your mind can go blank. Here is a table to help you.
| Really Certainly Easily Genuinely Honestly Positively Precisely Truly Undoubtedly Unmistakably | Very Absolutely Acutely Decidedly Deeply Eminently Exceedingly Excessively Greatly Highly | Extremely Really Remarkably Seriously Significantly Singularly Supremely Terribly Terrifically Thoroughly | Normally Commonly Generally In general Mainly Most of the time Mostly Ordinarily Usually As a rule |
| Quickly Swiftly Rapidly Hurriedly Speedily Fast Quick Hastily Briskly At high speed | Seriously Passionately Earnestly Sincerely Vigorously Gravely All joking aside Cut the comedy Intently Resolutely | Kindly Genial Gentle Good-hearted Generous Humane Kind Mellow Merciful Pleasant | Finally Definitely Assuredly Once and for all Past regret Settled With conviction Determinately Beyond recall Lastly |
| Only Apart Individual Lone Matchless Once in a lifetime Sole Unaccompanied Unequaled Unique | Perfectly Altogether Completely Fully Quite Utterly Wholly Consummately Well Totally | Accidentally By chance Inadvertently Casually By accident Randomly Unconsciously Unintentionally Unexpectedly Unwittingly | Confused Bewildered Dazed Glassy-eyed Mixed up Not with it Addled Discombobulated Perplexed Puzzled |
Digging Deep
How often have you read a book with great mean hidden deep within its story? I truly believe anyone can find meaning in just about anything they read. We don’t always look for it though. Why? Because we are so engrossed with what is going on in the story that we aren’t focused on what we can learn from it. In these instances I think anything learned goes straight to our unconscious mind. Now, I’m not a psychiatrist or a psychologist or anything, but to me it’s only common sense.
As an author, I want my readers to gain meaning from what I write. As I mentioned above, not everyone will on the surface. This doesn’t mean we don’t create meaning in our stories. After all, the stories we write have to have some kind of meaning to them in order for there to be a story. Actually, we call it Theme. Finding a theme to center your story around can be daunting at times. Seriously, you can be sitting there in front of your computer wondering what theme to use. In the meantime your story is dying to be written.
The solution is simple. Just start writing your story. The theme will develop itself or will unfold in your mind, and you will have an “A-ha!” moment. This is how I write. I know that sounds backwards, but it works for me. Once you have your theme (a meaning your story centers around), put it down on paper. Yes, literally, write it down. Then go into more detail about it. For example, how can you develop your characters around your chosen theme? In which direction can you take your story now that you have your theme? Will your settings connect to it in any way? What about dialogue? How can you use your theme to increase tension?
Continue to ask yourself these questions. Then answer each of them. Again, do this on paper, not your computer. The act of writing helps it to stick in your brain better. At least it does for me. When you feel you’ve developed your theme enough, go back to your story and continue writing. All the while, you will be using what you wrote down about your theme in various parts of your story.
When I was half way finished with my second book, I realized I didn’t have a theme. As a result, it was becoming increasingly difficult to continue with the story. Then it dawned on me what the problem was. Lack of a theme. It didn’t take me long to figure out what it should be because I knew the direction I wanted my story to go. Plus I knew my main character well. All I had to do was go back and look at his character sketch. The answer was right there. It smacked me in the face, so to speak. Without that theme, the story fell flat.
Once I found it though, I had to go back to the beginning of what I had already written and insert story elements that developed that theme. It wasn’t hard to do. It was just time consuming. But I loved every minute.
Life Long Learning
The years spent writing my first novel weren’t just spent writing. What I discovered early on was that I didn’t understand how to put a book length story together. To be specific, I needed to learn story structure. Thus, great care was taken to spend time learning about the craft of writing a book. Much trial and error occurred, and through all of that I discovered what worked and what didn’t work for me.
Other story elements I had to brush up more on were story flow, word flow, grammar, plot, character development, dialogue, character emotions, the list goes on and on. This all takes time, yes, but it is well worth it. While I was learning and brushing up on these skills, I wrote as well. There were times of frustration, when I had to delete part of my story and start over. But the more I wrote and learned, the easier the whole process became.
You won’t be the best straight out of the gate. No one ever is. But the more you learn and learn continuously, and practice what you learned, the better and easier it will become. So where do you start? Start with your weakness. What areas of writing and grammar are you weak in? Start there and move forward.
Now, two books later, the ride has become more fluent. The words flow more, and I know way more about story structure than I did years ago when I first started. This doesn’t mean there isn’t anything else to learn. I still continue to learn. Learning is what keeps us going and maturing and moving to the next level.
Nature Speaks by L. M. Montes
Bells chime from afar,
the melody floats,
sitting upon clouds
embarking on a
journey, waving as
they saunter by me.
A cricket plays its
violin so sweet
as sun’s beams sink low,
waving goodbye until
tomorrow, yawning
as Mr. Moon glows.
Seagulls bob and weave,
waves stretch smooth fingers
along wet sand to kiss
my toes in loving
kindness, linger
for a bit then go.
The Keywyrd, or: Creativity forms verses
Sangeetha & David’s new poetry project Once upon a time, two poets who’d never met in person began writing verses back and forth over the Internet. Their first project took them some nine months: a 100 verse Hyakuin. Once they’d completed their first oeuvre, they continued their journey together; Sangeetha came up with a fun […]
The Keywyrd, or: Creativity forms verses
Story Knitting by L. M. Montes
Sew by weaving words,
knitting character, plot, and structure within
the fabric of emotions, habits, conflict,
bringing sparkle, glitz, pizzazz,
warming readers,
striking souls,
with words aplenty
of stories told.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 