Choose Writing Words Wisely Your parents or grandparents might have learned to read using primers featuring characters named Dick, Jane, Sally, Puff and Spot. (Puff and Spot were the cat and dog.) These stories used very basic vocabulary, lots of repetition and some colorful pastel pictures to teach young children how to read. The Dick […]
Archives for September 2009
Writing Lesson 4 – Building Beginnings
Start Your Story with a Writing Hook “Where do I begin…?” That’s the opening line of a famous song. It’s also a big question we face every time we sit down to write. It doesn’t matter if it’s a story, play, poem, essay, or a letter to a friend. Whatever the case, beginnings matter, and […]
Writing Lesson 3 – More than Skin Deep
Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 1 Our first impression of a person may come from the way they look. We form an idea of who they are by their style of dress, hair, or the shoes on their feet. We size them up as a homeless person, businessman, common laborer, dumb, smart, fat, thin, wealthy, poor, […]
Writing Lesson 2 – Where In the World?
Planning Your Story’s Setting The Importance of Your Story World If you’ve finished Lesson 1 and discovered the goal, motivation and conflict for your story, you need to think about the setting. The setting plays an important role in the story since it anchors the reader in a time and place and provides a foundation. Several […]