Post-From-the-Past, June Archives

courtesy Google images

"In reading...stories, you can be many different people in many different places, doing things you would never have a chance to do in ordinary life. It's amazing that those twenty-six little marks of the alphabet can arrange themselves on the pages of a book and accomplish all that. Readers are lucky--they will never be bored or lonely." --Natalie Babbitt

Are you still amazed at what those twenty-six little marks of the alphabet can do? I am. It's an ongoing fascination, I think, no matter how old we writers--and readers--get. As Natalie Babbitt (award-winning author of the modern classic Tuck Everlasting) so aptly reminds us, those 26 little scratchings take us places we'd never have a chance of visiting in ordinary life and give opportunity for so many amazing encounters along the way. Boredom is not a word in our vocabulary!

Babbitt's quote is also an apt lead-in to the next repost in my post-from-the-past series, this one from June 2015: One Writer's Alphabet to Writing a Novel. Enjoy the travel back in time...

__________________↴

Saturday, June 6, 2015

One Writer's Alphabet Soup To Writing a Novel

by Kenda Turner

photo courtesy google.com/images

"When I was having that alphabet soup, I never thought that it would pay off." --Vanna White

A writer subconsciously develops her own alphabet soup when it comes to writing a novel--those key elements, basic rules, discoveries, weaknesses to watch for, areas to develop, exploratory tangents, and microscopic and telescopic revisions that take her to the finished product. I discovered this when I reviewed journal entries I recorded during the time I wrote my first book. I recently reviewed those notes while my current WIP simmered on the back burner for a few days. What an education--there was something for each letter of the alphabet!

One Writer's Alphabet Soup to Writing a Novel

A...active voice...action...action words...atmosphere

B...backstory (enough but not too much)...beginning (jump in)

C...causality...character development...clarity...clichés...complications...conflict...connections
...consistency...craft

D...description...detail...development...dialect...dialogue...discovery

E...edit...emotion...end linked to beginning...ending (satisfying)...energy...essence

F...flexibility...focus...foreshadowing...frame

G...genre...goals...grammar...growth (character and author!)

H...heart...historical accuracy...hook...human dignity

I...imagery...inciting incident...infinite-verb phrase openings (“Looking up slowly, she…”)

J...jell...journal...journey...joys

K...kaleidoscope...kernel...knead...knit

L...landscape...language..listen...location...loose ends (tied up)

M...magical...main character as problem solver (not bystander)...malleable...metaphor...middle slump...motivation...mystery

N...names...narration...narrative arc...narrator

O...obstacles...opening...overthinking (as in, don't!)

P...pace...page turners...patterns...pauses...place...placing character (where doesn’t want to be)...plot...plot holes...plot lines...plot points...plot twists...point of view...punch...punctuation

Q...quest...questions (and answers)...quotes

R...reading level...redundancy (check by using document's 'Find' feature)...resolution...revision

S...satisfying...scene...sensory details...sentences ending with prepositional phrase...sentence variety...serendipity...setting...show (don't tell)...sparkle...spelling...stakes...story structure... storytelling...style...subplot ...supporting characters...surprise...symbolism

T...tenses...tension...theme...threads...tightened form...title...timeline...tone...transitions...triggers

U...understandable...unexpected...unique

V...values...verb tense...viewpoint...vocabulary...voice

W...weak words (weed out)...wonder...word choice...word count...world building

X...(e)xact...(e)xtraordinary...X out the unnecessary

Y...yarn of a story...yawn (avoid)...yearnings...yes (or no)...yet (as in, doors haven’t opened yet)

Z...zenith...zest...zip

This is just a sample of one writer's alphabet soup--a savory mix to keep me going. Any ingredient you'd like to add? What does your writer's alphabet look like?

_____________↴

And upon coming back to present time, want to read interesting facts about the English alphabet? Check out this link: Interesting Facts About the English Alphabet, by Richard Nordquist.

And this fun quote by Douglas Adams: " 'Why' is the only question that bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it. The alphabet does not go 'A B C D What? When? How?' but it does go 'V W X Why? Z'." 

Creative, yes? Have a great week!

__________________________

August Musings

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning..." Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

This opening line to a beloved classic is one of my all-time favorites. A simile to savor. Each new August feels pretty much like that, doesn't it--the idea of the year hitting a peak and then descending? Babbitt's great image-provoking description can't be beat.

And yet, August does speak to each of us, don't you think? What images might we come up with if we tried our hand at similes and metaphors to describe summer's passing?

This idea struck me after my morning walk the other day. With camera in hand, and no specific plan in mind, I snapped a picture here, one there. Upon reviewing the shots, one particular thought came to mind. See what you think :-)

August fireworks exploding!

Sparkly light displays...

...fiery glows.

Color-bursts...

...ooohs...

...and ahhhs.

Yet quickly fading. 
Hold loosely. Release.

August: shooting off its own brand of fireworks in celebration of the passing of summer! May celebrations of your own kind be in store this month for you as well.

To what might you compare the month of August?

_______________________