Monthly Archives: October 2019

Questions & Tension

Here are excerpts a Guild member shared from a presentation about writing at the Wisconsin Writers Association (WWA) 2019 fall conference.

Good vs. Bad questions to ask while writing.

Good questions keep your reader reading.

            Why is this happening?

            What will happen next?

            What needs to happen to my point-of-view (POV) character(s)?

            What do my characters need, desire, fear, or hope for?

Bad questions cause your reader to give up, especially if they are confused.

            What’s selling?

            Will this get published?

            Why do I suck at this? (Always a bad question)

            What if I get something wrong?

            How do I sell this to an agent?

Maintaining Tension and Conflict in Dialogue

When a conversation needs to indicate conflict, keep in mind that it usually involves one of these types of adversarial relationships:

            Power struggle

            Outright argument

            Head games

            Passive-Aggressive exchange

To enhance and maintain tension when characters are locked in a war of words, use:

Terse dialog (curt, abrasive language)

Short sentences and fragments

Pithy, to the point statements

To ease the tension and diffuse a situation, consider using:

            Idle chit chat

            Information dumps

            Lengthy speeches

Reading, Writing & Arithmetic

By Terry C. Misfeldt

This is about what is commonly known as the Three R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic but we’re not going to spend much time writing about Reading. We will cover how Writing can be improved with Arithmetic. It’s adapted from a Get Motivated Workshop presentation by Amy Jones.

One of my take-aways from the presentation was Amy’s comment that we all have 86,400 seconds in every day. There’s no excuse for anyone who complains they don’t have enough time in the day. It’s how you spend it that matters.

So let’s start with SUBTRACTION. Success as a writer is enhanced when you can subtract stuff from your life. Stuff like events, hindrances, and worry. Is it essential you attend a fundraising luncheon for a charity you’ve only a passing interest in supporting? There are things that may appear obvious for subtraction from your schedule–such as watching every baseball game of your favorite team on television–while others may be more subliminal like scrubbing the bathroom floor every day. Subtraction adds time to your writing itinerary.

Next is ADDITION. You may already have these in your regimen, but consider adding them if you don’t. Add things like Planning, Purpose, Passion, and Play. Yes, P words. Add some time for planning your projects…and your time for writing, re-writing, editing, marketing, and the business side of writing. Add more passion for what you’re working on because that gives you more purpose to accomplish your objectives. Add time for some recreation, too.

MULTIPLICATION. Multiply your expectations. If you can easily write 500 words a day, could you multiply that to reach 1,000 or 1,500 words with a bit more dedication to the keyboard?

DIVISION is important, too. You must be able to divide your writing time with your work, personal and family commitments. Relationships may falter if you lock yourself in your ivory writing tower 14 hours a day and neglect to feed the dog or spend time with your children.

Yes, writing involves arithmetic.

Overcoming Writer’s Block

By Terry Misfeldt

It’s been said the first step in resolving a problem is realizing you have a problem. When putting your fingers on the keyboard results in brain freeze, you are experiencing writer’s block. Ditto goes for picking up a pen, putting the tip on a piece of paper and it doesn’t move.

Even the most experienced writers encounter mental blocks and can’t seem to get a word out. Know that it’s okay when that happens; it’s just time to try a different strategy to get past it.

One of the more common antidotes for writer’s block is to step away and do something else for a time. Yes, that does not create any writing but unless you’re under a deadline, it shouldn’t matter if you’re more productive when you come back to the desk or keyboard. Go for a walk, ride your bike a few miles, take a nap, drink a glass of milk or undertake some other diversion to clear your head and get those brain synapses firing again.

Another method to get around writer’s block is to do some research. Concentrate on designing the scenes you want to create or figure out what one of your characters might do in certain situations. Dig into what the economy was like during the time period you’re writing about. You just may find inspiration in that research and start writing again. Voila!

The last suggestion: Power through! Just start writing when a block has you stymied. When your fingers start flying around the keyboard, you may find the creative juices flowing and words start filling the pages. Just write! You can always come back later and throw it out or edit what you’ve written. Remember you were attempting to get past the blockage.

If all else fails, walk away and wait a few days until motivation strikes you!