Writing from the Soul

Children's Book Writing Class #1: Complete!

2011-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, my friends, I have actually done some writing in the past month. Not nearly as much as I should have, but I wrote 11 all-new pages (shhhh, it's a lot for me!) and have been doing some good brainstorming. I'm also preparing to do a character tree/bio for Anna, the protagonist of my work in progress. My momentum may not be as quick as I'd like but it's getting there slowly.

I also began my writing class this week. It was all too terrifying and anxiety-ridden but the first session went pretty well nonetheless. (I also seem to have acquired some sort of ability to act the class clown, breaking the ice with silly jokes and comments. Who knew?)

My instructor is a children's book writer and freelance editor--very nice, very smart, and clearly very creative. I'm looking forward to getting to know her a bit, hear about her process and get some advice. As I kind of expected I didn't necessarily learn much that I didn't already know as an editor, but it's always good to recap and remember the basics. Plus, in a lot of ways, children's books are horses of a different color than the adult fiction I'm most familiar with, so I'm more than willing to listen and learn the specifics of that particular publishing branch.

Teach (as I will refer to her from now on) gave us several writing exercises, spattered throughout the class. I'd never really had that in a creative writing class before but I guess that's the whole "writing workshop" bit--you actually have to write off the cuff on occasion. It was scary for me, putting words down like that without having sufficient time to think them through and edit them again and again, but it's good practice. I'm just grateful she didn't force us all to read them aloud. I'm definitely of the mind that "writers write so readers can read." :-p

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the exercises with you all, start getting back up on this strangely colored horse and what not. You're welcome to do them along with me if you'd like!

Writing Exercise #1: Write down two statements--one true and one false, in no particular order, regarding something extraordinary that happened to you or you did as a child. The class (or I guess, bloggers :-p) then must guess which of the two statements is the true one. This short practice gets you focused on writing believably.

1. I spoke my first full sentence when I was nine months old.

2. By the age of seven, I could do a back handspring in a balance beam.

Writing Exercise #2: Teach asked up to write about something frightening that happened to us in first elementary school, and then middle school/junior high. We had about five minutes per "story." She told us afterwards that this exercise is to practice writing for different age groups--mine kind of sound the same LOL

The wind slapped my skin as we sat underneath the enormous pine tree in Abigail's front yard. Sneaking out of the house at night was always a little exhilarating but with a storm coming and only a single flashlight and a book of ghost stories between us, it was beyond "exhilarating." As Abigail took her turn, reading aloud about the girl who heard noises in her attic, I felt for a moment like I was that girl, but I was lost in a forest of my own making. Footsteps lightly padded outside our evergreen hideout. Surely Abigail's dad would make more noise with his 200-pound frame barreling toward us. I expected him to push through the branches any second, my heart racing faster the longer he didn't appear. And then, a groan. And silence. Before my brother screamed and shook the tree, scaring me out of my wind-slapped skin.

As I swung back and forth on my makeshift parallel bar, I felt like I was flying. I was something I did often, practicing for my next meet or just driving my mother crazy. A tension rod chin-up bar was not the safest substitute for gymnastics equipment. Nor was a cement floor appropriate in place of a padded mat. But I swung anyway, enjoying the rhythm and imagining myself soaring from bar to bar. At least until the bar began to slip, that is. In that brief moment, I remembered my mother's warning: "You'll break your neck!" and I instantly pictured myself twisted on the hard floor, unable to move, neck disfigured, paralyzed forever. As my back hit the cement, my head following it in a quick staccato, I exhaled. Phew. My neck was in tact. My head, however? Not so much.

Writing Exercise #3: This one was our first real children's fiction writing exercise to practice laying out the plot skeleton. Teach asked us for plot components in quick succession and we had to write down the first thing that came to our minds.

Name of protagonist: Sally

Name of antagonist:Paul

Relationship between protag and antag: classmates

What does the protag want?: for Paul to stop teasing her

What are two things the protag tries to do (and fails at) to get what he/she wants?: Sally bakes Paul cookies. Sally hides from Paul.

How does the antag respond to protag efforts?: Paul takes a bite and spits out the cookie. Paul looks for her and waits till she comes out so he can tease her.

What does the protag do to finally achieve his/her goal?: Sally kisses Paul on the cheek.

How does the antag respond?: Paul blushes and is left speechless.

What happens at the end of the story to indicate a change?: Paul waves to her the next day from across the playground.

It's silly, I know. It just sort of popped out. And then more had to pop out because Teach asked us to write one of the scenes we just described. Eek.

With a play of cookies balanced in her hands, Sally walked over to Paul.

"What's that small?" Paul asked his friends. "It's like a skunk!"

The boys snickered, pointing at Sally as she approached.

"I thought you might want a cookie," Sally said to Paul. She held out the plate.

Paul paused, rolling his eyes, but then reached out to pluck one away.

Sally smiled, sure she'd made a successful peace offering. But Paul caught a glimpse of her joy and the yummy sound he was ready to make turned into a sputter.

"Yuck!" he spat out along with the half-chewed cookie. "That's the grossest thing ever!"

Sally's face fell, he eyes cast down toward her toes as the boys laughed and ran away. Sally couldn't see though that Paul had popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, a little grin spreading across his lips.

BLECH. So bad. But I did it. I wrote something. Homework for the week includes coming up with three story ideas (protag, goal/desire, and three sources of conflict that will get in the way of the goal), picking one of our ideas, and writing the beginning to the story (about 500 words) up to and including the inciting incident. Story ideas are not my forte, but I'll give it a whirl.

We also have to read a practice piece to workshop next week, a middle-grade short story written by a friend of Teach's. That part should be easy. I'm good at giving feedback...I did it for a meager living for three years, after all. ;)

And the final assignment? I have to bring in pages to be workshopped in class #3. Lucky me, I get to be one of the first three writers on the chopping block. Double eek.

Ready for Round Two

2010-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a while my friends, but I am back. For months there I was inundated with work, life and everything that goes with it went by the wayside. But now I have a new job and a new work-life balance that is much healthier. Yay!

One thing this means? That I get to write again--well, I get to force myself to write again LOL In fact, I've been thinking about writing so much that with the help of some friends' encouragement I signed up for a writing class at Gotham Writer's Workshop here in NYC *gasp!*

So, starting the week of January 17th, I'll be taking a 10-week long, once weekly 3-hour workshop on children's book writing, getting a jumpstart on the YA novel I began when I was 16 years old. With 88 typed pages written it feels like a waste not to finish it, even if it bites. My super-strong "writer's block," however, has been a bit of a deterrent for me and my silly book for years--why should now be any different?

This is a question I've asked myself for a long time, trying to figure out what would get me motivated, attempting to understand what's so massively missing from the old draft that I can't overcome it. I was clueless for the past, umm, decade *blush* but it finally hit me.

I'd started with an idea at 16 that I ran with for a couple months. Then, some time later,I came up with a new twist to the idea and went back and added in a parallel storyline for a couple months. Then, I put it down again, only looking at it every once and a while, ready to type but unable to get over the immaturity of my work, unable to determine where the story was even going. (The end goal is, of course, still up for grabs--I haven't a clue what's going to happen at the close of the story.) But that initial change in the story--the birth of a new storyline to be interwoven--is what got me stuck.

At the time, I was obsessed with writing in the third person, so that's what I did. Storyline 1 is in first person, storyline 2 is in third. But a third person POV isn't the easiest thing to use in a YA novel where you need to get inside your character's head. It seems so simple, so miniscule, but when I realized that this was holding me back, it was like a firecracker went off in my head. I have to rewrite the entire storyline in first person. Then I'll be able to move forward.

So, with that realization in mind, I'm not going on a bit of a journey to get back in touch with my story and its characters, to reinvent the book from page one. My friend Allison has given me until my class starts to rework what I want to rework, and then I'm supposed to go full-steam-ahead.

It's off to a good start though, or a start of some kind at least! Last night, I wrote 650 words. Not a lot to many of you, I'm sure, but to someone who hasn't written a word of anything in months, it's pretty damn good. The work itself isn't great, but hey, I'm doin' it!

Now here's hoping the POV is actually the issue LOL

First three chapters, revised (well, kind of)

2010-06-30T11:33:00.001-07:00

Once more I have been slacking in the writing department. I figured, as a means of inspiration, I'd post the (almost) most recent version of Cara's work-in-progress. I went back the other day and fleshed a little bit of chapter 1 out and still have to work through chaps 2-4. This version doesn't have the flesh-out, but it's different than the previous postings.

So, if this is your first time joining us and you're interested in meeting Cara and crew, take a look at this version, rather than the previous two ;)

HERE IT IS!

A new poem

2010-06-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

180

The pounding of my heart

Echoing in my mind

The thrill of moments

Full of starlight

Hopeful hours and beams of promise

The warmth of what's to come

Sweeping through my soul.

A tiny crack slinking through my resolve

Climbing the crumbling walls of fear

Primed with empty sunrises

Oceans of tumult and vanishing shadows

The melting sinews of what could have been

Freezing in my memory.

A really bad poem, but a poem nonetheless

2010-05-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was not a good day. But as a result, I spouted out a poem in my broken down, teary, and disheveled state. It's not anything I'm proud of but figured I'd share just because I actually wrote something haha

I can still hear your laugh
Echoing in my heart
I can still feel your kiss
Aching in my soul
A shattered piece of heaven
Thrust into my core
Bleeding out
Spinning away
Fading into oblivion
Nothing I can do
To stop the spiral
From swallowing me whole
If only I could stop the sirens
If only I could turn off the sting
Maybe then I could stand still.

Meet Cara Anne :)

2010-04-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been slowly progressing with my story (which needs a working title by the way). But I've hit a pretty big wall seeing as I only very very vaguely know where it's going. I also don't know my characters quite well enough yet. So, last night, I did part of a character tree. I still have some more areas of her personality to outline, but this was a good start.

Meet Cara HERE

2010-03-17T06:12:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, I have actually been writing lately. Not as much as I would like, but I am making progress. I'm using my third writing prompt as a jumping off point for a novel. I have 20 pages so far, which I know doesn't sound like a lot, but for me it really is! I'm hoping to get some more done in the next few days too. I have a little fleshing out I want to do of one scene and then I'd like to write a few more before I try to work out some sort of outline.

I'm not exactly sure where the story's going though. At writing group last weekend (three friends of mine and I have created a little group that meets every 3 weeks and we read each other's work and get feedback and discuss anything the writer might be stuck on) we talked a little about the possible arc for my story. My fellow writers had some great ideas, one of which I'm really considering taking, though I want to do something a little different with it. So, we'll see. I need to do more brainstorming, of course :)

But for now, I'd like to share with you the pages I have thus far. I probably won't post the material from here on out, at least not more than a scene here and there, as I don't want to give you the whole thing now or you won't want to read the finished product! :-p But here's a little taste...

What I've been working on...very slowly

2010-01-18T19:59:00.001-08:00

So, since I haven't completed anything recently, and don't really think I will, I thought I'd share with you all the next writing exercise I started working on a little while ago. I don't have very much at all yet and I have some ideas for where it's going, but I'm not sure when I'll be ready to keep working on this one. It's a little too emotionally intense for me to handle right now with so much real emotional intensity is going on in my life. But who knows. Maybe I'll end up writing more tomorrow.

Let me know what you think! (And if you think I should continue on this one!)

Ridiculous

2009-12-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

I know. This is absolutely ridiculous. I haven't written in ages. I've been writing posts for my books blog (http://readingbtwthelines.blogspot.com), but I have been totally neglecting my fiction. I miss it so much, but I struggle to get back into it. And no one on here has been yelling at me to post more! haha my motivational plan FAILED!

If anyone's reading this, please urge me to write! If I know someone wants to read it, then maybe, just maybe, I can force it out :)

xoxo

Danielle

Writing Prompt #2

2009-08-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

I've finally completed my second writing exercise. I was stuck on it for a while, so this past weekend I just forced myself to finish it, writing half the story in an hour (if only I could write that fast on a regular basis). It's not much of anything, just a silly story that had no direction to begin with and just kind of needed to end so I can move on to a new project.

Anyway, here it is--I hope you enjoy it to some extent!

ON ICE

sigh

2009-06-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Oh life. How I wish there were more time in you to write. I must make more.

Story hopefully on the way soon! I'm sorry :(

I know, I know

2009-05-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

I suck. I missed my deadline. Again. But I promise, I have an excuse. Things have been too crazy for me to write--work's been insane, my new kitty has been very sick and causing drama, settling into the new apt, etc. etc. :(

I have worked on my next story a little bit more though! And I'm going to try to get a ton done in the next couple weeks and get it out to you by the 15th!

Update

2009-03-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends :) This March has been insane for me. I'm in the process of moving, have had a lot of health issues, etc. etc. So, this is unfortunately an update to say I'm giving myself an extension deadline on the next story. It has been started and I'm working on it, but I haven't had much time, as much as I would love to work on it! So, I will try to finish it before the end of April, though that will be my official deadline. Till then, happy reading!

Fallen Hero (new ending!)

2009-03-01T14:03:00.001-08:00

Hello, my friends :) I've completed my first short story (entirely on my own) in four years! I expected it to go a very different way than it did, so I'll be interested to see what you all think. Please be kind though haha this one is particularly close to my heart, as those of you who actually know me will understand as soon as you read the first paragraph.

I haven't edited the story yet, but I fixed the ending. Yesterday I had a different one posted because it's what came out but it didn't feel right to me. When I woke up this morning, however, I had it :) So I hope you enjoy this first draft!

Fallen Hero

RR#1: "Untitled" by LG and DP

2009-02-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

Story prompt: "My plant surprisingly hadn't died yet."

Click on the link below to read the pdf! Enjoy! =)

"Untitled" by LG and DP

"Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie." -Stephen King

2009-02-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

I've recently started writing again on a regular basis. I've given myself deadlines for short story writing exercises (one of which is coming up in less than a week!), and I have been collaborating with friends on Round Robins, flexing my creative muscles both independently and through the challenges my co-writers throw at me. I've been enjoying writing more than I expected to. I've always loved it, yes, but I've been so inconsistent with it for so long that a part of me forgot what it felt like. And it feels gooooood! =)

I've decided to start digging a little deeper, though, by sucking it up and sharing my writing with you all. Some of the stories I will share will be Round Robins written alternatively with other people and will be completely unedited (unless otherwise noted). The others will be stories I wrote on my own each month (a countdown to the next story is on the left--if I don't meet my deadline, please nudge me!). These stories will mostly be using sentence prompts written for me by my dear friend LG to help me get the creative juices and motivation flowing again. I may toss in some other projects here and there as they come about: poems, prose, etc. So, be on the lookout! ;)

Please feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism after reading each story. It has always been very difficult for me to share my writing. It's a little piece of my soul in one way or another and showing that to people can be terrifying for me. So, naturally please be sensitive and respectful while you help me improve! =)

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

P.S. Some of the projects will be in link formats to a pdf, others will be in the blog content, depending on size. If you have any trouble viewing the pdfs, please let me know! I'm new to this embedding them in the blog thing so I might mess up now and again haha