This week: Writer's Toolbox Edited by: fyn  
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If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.~~Stephen King
We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.~~Anaïs Nin
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.~~Robert Frost
Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.~~William Faulkner
I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.~~Robert Louis Stevenson
You can make anything by writing.~~C.S. Lewis
A word after a word after a word is power.~~Margaret Atwood
You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.~~Annie Proulx
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.~~Albert Camus
I write to discover what I know.~~Flannery O'Connor
A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time--proof that humans can work magic.~~Carl Sagan
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No Mastercraftsman is without his tools: electrician, plumber, butcher, doctor, jeweler, surgeon, welder, wordsmith. Each has a toolbox of the devices he needs to succeed, without which he cannot do his job.
We are no different. We can't write from a vacuum. Our number one tool is our brain. Healthy brains need more than air, food, water, and blood. They need a constant influx of thoughts. Living, the sheer act of it is one source. Reading is another. Faulkner had it right! Read! We tend to think of reading as entertainment or research. Truth is, all reading should be both! We never know what we don't know until we read something and learn that we just learned something new! We gain perspective from reading. Alternate viewpoints. Isolated facts like, for example, where we get the name of the month January from. (Do you know?) Reading anything, everything helps us learn what works and what doesn't. (On numerous levels!)
While I will never recommend a thesaurus as a 100% go-to, when you just can't find the right word or you want to mix things up or you simply do not want to repeat a word, they can come in very handy. They can, on occasion send you off in a slightly different direction, opening a new door to where you didn't know was the direction to go!
Old stand by- a dictionary! Does that word really mean what you think it means? Does it have multiple meanings so that it can add an additional level of meaning to your sentence or might that word confuse what you are trying to say?
Google can be your best friend or your worst enemy! This is a tool to be used with discretion! Often the library is still the best place for research!
Elements of Style by Strunk and White is and will, I think, forever be the cheapest and most thorough handbook for grammar, punctuation and the like. Indispensible!
When thinking about what, where and when to submit things out in the world, A Writer's Marketplace for the current year can offer so many options and suggestions! Absolutely worth it!
A handy-dandy notebook. With you. Always! And several pens.Random idea? Jot it down. A cool combination of words overheard? Write it down. A new word to you? Log it and look it up! Don't think, Oh, I'll remember that... because chances are, you will not! Meet someone interesting that is very knowledgeable about anything from Absynian crypts to Zelondonii mother totems. Write down their information so you can contact them. lip their card in your notebook with a few words as to why you have their card.
Your phone. Diary, journal, and CAMERA! You may see something that reminds you of a scene you've written or need to write. What could be better than a sight reference to keep it fresh? Want to remember exactly what the corner of 12th and Bennington looks like at 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon? Take a picture. Want to know what she sees sitting at the coffee shop, bar, or restaurant whiles she's bored awaiting her date or what she's staring mindlessly at while slurping her latte, beer or old-fashioned after he dumps her? Take a picture! Do all the dogs seamlessly frolic at the dog park or is there that one mean one or silly-looking one that creates a ruckus? Is life all happy giggles at the kid park or is there a mom going off her nut because her darling is standing on the top bar of the jungle gym? Discrete picture. How many petals does a black-eyed Susan have? What grew next to what in that garden? What is that sculpture actually of? Pictures. Pictures, Pictures.
Google-Earth set on street view is awesome for making a street scene realistic. Seeing what stores are actually there or the types of houses on Storybrook Lane. Don't want to venture into the seamier side of Detroit or Chicago? Street version lets you get up close and personal. Is there street parking on Such'nSuch Drive? A light at the intersection of Hamilton Way and Main Street? Can you see the ocean from Front Street in Bermuda? Having correct info when you are writing about a place that you may not know well, serves only to add a level of realism, especially, should you have that reader from any of those places who will only be either too happy to point out how wrong you were or, be trilled that you nailed it!
Favorite musical writing playlist. For those who write with music playing, take the time to set up that list of great writing music that appeals to you! Is it just music? Do lyrics sidetrack you? Anything that gets your head in that right space, mode or mood is helpful!
Similarly, that favorite coffee mug or beverage or munchy! One does need to feed their soul!
Carving out the time to write is hard enough these days. Having your bag of tricks ... um ... tools nearby can only help!
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Elisa the Bunny Stik  writes: The first idea that sprung into my head is almost the exact opposite of this newsletter's topic. I'd like to see an issue devoted to knowing when and how to push back on feedback you don't agree with. I think we've all received that one bit of advice that if followed would change a piece of writing...in a really bad way. What are some constructive ways to address this?
Covered this is Aug 22 Poetry Newslatter! Thanks for the idea! :)
Osirantinous  asks: HI Fyn - not sure if this is possible, but what about mentioning other sites or places or help people can go outside of WDC? WDC is absolutely fabulous for reviews and contest entries etc but there are others that can help with other, random things, even a weird list of 'best pens to write with' or something like that?
At least I went looking onsite and there are some useful lists within the editor's picks for this week!
Kåre Enga in Udon Thani  comments: they will sit in their writerly little rut until the end of time Say it again! I immediately thought of Cher, an artist who reinvents herself every decade. Picasso was like that.
Maybe you could do an article on reinventing oneself or how an artist can be thought of in different ways. Poe comes to mind. Was he a story-teller or poet? What did he consider himself?
Many artists morph from one art to another or within an art form from one genre to another. Some don't come to their art until they are elderly. Those who ultimately succeed never give up, even if they are only acknowledged after death.
Super idea for next month's newsie! Thank You! :)
TIP of the Week: When writing on WDC, I suggest using a 4 for font size and putting a line between lines of dialog. Makes it easier to read! |
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For Authors: September 14, 2022 Issue [#11558]
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