Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott

Can there be self-help books for writers? Sure, there's all kinds of books about craft, but what about a book to soothe the writer soul--one that tells the truth and ultimately motivates and inspires? For me, reading Bird By Bird fits the bill...or is it the beak? 

It's the equivalent of sitting down with a fellow writer friend to commiserate over the woe-is-me-how-do-I-get-words-down-on-the-page, a friend who gets it and isn't afraid to say out loud many of the things that the rest of us are thinking. Lamott's language may be a little (a lot) more colorful than mine, but her insights definitely resonate. 

Even if you aren't a tortured writer soul, but just someone like me trying to write a halfway decent story that people will enjoy reading on a lazy afternoon...and well into the night because YOU. CAN'T. PUT. IT. DOWN.--this book on writing will make you laugh and nod your head and get up tomorrow and begin again to get those words onto the page.

Happy Writing!

Start the New Year With a Little Zen by "Tidying Up"

by Valerie Ipson

What is it about this cover that just makes me so calm and happy? 

The restful clouds and peaceful blue sky...and the no-capital letters. 

I just want to open it and learn how decluttering will bring me all of those things. 

Of course, the red circle announcing it's a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER helps too. 

There is a place for ALL CAPS in our zen-world and that is it! Now on with my post...

"...do papers...accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?"

Um, yes. Have you seen my house? Clothes, actually, aren't so much of an issue now that all my children but one are out of the house, but PAPER? PAPER is driving me CRAZY.

The first line of this post is from a blurb about the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo. (We're giving it away this month! Details HERE.)

Here's what else you find in the blurb... 
"...Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again." Even though, surely, it was too good to be true, that's the line that sold me.

She has a method--an order of what to tidy first, second, third, etc. Easy, non-emotional stuff first, like clothing and books (okay, maybe semi-non-emotional when it comes to books). But just the idea that eventually I would un-bury myself from the piles (snowdrifts--except that they absolutely will not melt, dang it!) of paper in my office and possibly discover a computer waiting with my current WIP* on it sounds lovely.

I've konmari-ed my clothes, now I'm on to books and looking forward to a clutter-free space, and brain, to work with.

What about you? What can tidying up do for your writing life?

*Work-In-Progress, for the non-writerly among us

WEEK 50: Know Your Options For Comic Effect

Humor is serious work...by Valerie Ipson

So much can be said about humor and its value not just to comedic writing, but to ALL writing. 

Wilbers says it this way, "...to tell a joke is to declare your humanity... To appeal to another person's sense of humor is to affirm a common bond."1 And, "Humor reduces the distance between writer and reader (and between speaker and listener)."2 

Even the writer of drama should employ a bit of humor here and there, not only to give the reader or audience a break, but to offer insights about the realities of life that can best be understand through comedy. Maybe kind of like, 'I can either laugh or cry, and laughing's more fun,' when faced with difficulties in our lives. 

In chapter 50 of Mastering the Craft, ten types (tropes) of humor are discussed. You're probably already using many of them without realizing it... paradox, situational irony, sarcasm, overstatement, wit...pick something new and try it in your current manuscript!

Mastering the Craft, p 278
Mastering the Craft, p 279

WEEK 47: AVOID VOGUE WORDS AND CLICHES

by Valerie Ipson

By Week 47 we have learned a variety of techniques that can make our words dance and sing on the page. Tired, oft-used cliches, though, have the opposite effect. They can bore the reader, or show our laziness as a writer. 

"According to Donald Hall, relying on the easy choices, on trendy words and cliches, causes us to end our search for more precise language..."1 

Stephen Wilbers says, "The first time it rained cats and dogs was brilliant, now it's a cliche."2

It's not that we have to avoid all cliches. They can be useful because their very commonality means they're easily understood. But a well-crafted phrase, even an old cliche twisted into something new, freshens our writing and delights the reader.  

Like this one: An apple a day still can't beat pizza.

I think we all understand that.


1 Mastering the Craft, p 261
2 Mastering the Craft, p 264

WEEK 44: LAY DOWN A BEAT...AND THEN BREAK THE RHYTHM

Easy Peasy
by Valerie Ipson

This might be the easiest lesson to blog about. Basically, it reminds us of what we learned about rhythm over the last several lessons (all those interesting Greek words known as schemes)and then says, don't overdo it. Whether you're using epistrophe,anaphora, or anadiplosis a little goes a long way.

Here's an example from the book, actually one taken from another book, Flood: A Romance of Our Time:

"The big sycamore by the creek was gone. The willow tangle was gone. The little enclave of untrodden bluegrass was gone. The clump of dogwood on the little rise across the creek--now that, too, was gone,"1

Here the author, Robert Penn Warren, uses epistrophe (repetition) to create a rhythm and then alters the beat at the end for a pleasing effect.

So, the moral of this blog post is: Establish a rhythm in your writing, then vary it because too much of a good thing is, well, too much.

1 MTC, pg 248

WEEK 41: CROSS THINGS UP WITH ANTIMETABOLE AND CHIASMUS

Improve Your Writing, You Will 

by Valerie Ipson

If you thought your high school English teacher taught you everything you need to know about good writing, think again. Have you considered employing the use of antimetabole, chiasmus, anaphora, epistrophe, anadiplosis, and isocolon? 

Apparently these are real things...called tropes and schemes. They're techniques used in writing to create a particular cadence or rhythm. (The names are Greek.)

Some definitions: "Departures from literal meaning such as metaphor and simile are called tropes." (Who knew?) "Departures from normal word order are called schemes."1

We've all imitated Yoda's speech pattern a time or two. He employed a "scheme of inversion." 

There are also schemes of repetition and two of these are discussed in this week's lesson. I've actually heard of the second one, chiasmus: "the repetition of grammatical structure without repetition of the same words or phrases, as in 'It's hard to make time, but to waste it is easy.'"2 

I've seen poems that are written in this form, and I know there are articles written about how chiasmus is used in the Bible, and how the Book of Mormon is one big chiasmus. Another example of a line of chiasmus: "What is stolen without remorse, with guilt must be repaid."3

Now what in the world is ANTIMETABOLE? It's similar...it's the repetition of words in reverse order. Example: "Everyone who loves his country is a patriot, but not every patriot loves his country."4

There you can see repeated words on each side of the comma.

1 Wilbers, Stephen, Mastering the Craft of Writing, pg 228

2 Wilbers, Stephen, Mastering the Craft of Writing, pg 228

3 Wilbers, Stephen, Mastering the Craft of Writing, pg 229

4 Wilbers, Stephen, Mastering the Craft of Writing, pg 228

Week 38 Conclude your Paragraphs with a Click

All About the Rhythm!
by Valerie Ipson

"Take special care with the last sentence of each paragraph," William Zinser advises in On Writing Well. "It is the crucial springboard to the next paragraph ... Make the reader smile and you've got him for at least one paragraph more"...as quoted in Wilbers Mastering the Craft.

So just as we've practiced ending a sentence with a bit of a punch, we can, and should, do the same with our paragraphs.

Wilbers teaches that this technique is more than paragraph structure, more than figuring out beats, and more than putting your best line at the end. It involves RHYTHM. 

Your homework, should you choose to accept it, is to check out chapter 38 and read the examples included. Read the concluding sentences of each paragraph by Eudora Welty, Kevin Kling, and Stephen King out loud and listen to the rhythm of the lines leading up to the pause. See how the concluding sentences create an impact.

WeeK 35 Use Paragraphs To Frame Your Thought and Set Your Pace

Point & Shoot
by Valerie Ipson

You may have noticed that the 52 weeks of lessons found in Mastering the Craft began with the basics...first, choosing your words wisely, and then on to constructing powerful sentences. Now we're experts (right?) so we're ready to tackle the almighty PARAGRAPH.

Wilbers compares it to taking a picture. We "decide what to place inside the frame and what to leave out" MTC, 194. In putting together a paragraph, it's the same...you choose the words and sentences and where to place them.

Our manuscripts are not emails where we might wander from thought to thought randomly. Instead, we use paragraphs crafted with a purpose. In fiction, they introduce and develop a thought, but also "mark shifts in scene and dialogue" MTC, 194. They compel a reader from thought to thought at a pace we as the author decides. Longer paragraphs slow the pace, while the short, choppy paragraph steps it up.

Often we take a photo that has too much sky or too much going on in the background and we have to crop it. Cropping is a great tool for writers, too. Give readers some white space around your paragraphs!

Week 32 Use Sentence Fragments To Punctuate Your Writing

This is not your English teacher's novel
by Valerie Ipson

Think for a minute what your manuscript would look and sound like if you followed all the rules you were taught in 8th grade English. 

(I hope you're shuddering just a little bit.)

If you're strict with the rules, you'll be writing without the benefit of the fast-paced, efficient fragment. I know. I know. Your teacher marked all over your papers in red ink because of sentences that were missing subjects and verbs. Well, it's revenge time. 

In our fast-paced world, people are moving more and more to short, quick forms of communication. And that's what fragments do for a novel. Set the pace. Move thought quickly. And efficiently.

"In the hands of a skilled writer (like you), fragments can underscore a point or advance a plot with remarkable precision and brevity...Their clipped, staccato cadence varies the rhythm from the flow of complete sentences. They add contrast and energy. They create pauses, and as you know, pauses create emphasis." 1

And truth be told, don't we often live life in fragments?
Yes. Yes we do.


1 MTC, P 175

WEEK 30 Expand Your Sentence Repertoire by Adding Trailing Elements

How Not To Be Boring
by Valerie Ipson


The basic premise of this week's lesson is that readers crave variety. If an entire novel was just one long string of subject-verb-complement-period sentences, it would be soooo monotonous. Truth be told, the reader wouldn't even make it past the first chapter, maybe not even the first page.


Stephen Wilbers advises choosing a paragraph from your manuscript at random and counting the commas. "If you're writing without commas--or without dashes, colons, and semicolons--you're probably writing without variety" MTC, p 162. He calls these extra add-ins "trailing elements." Find his exercises on p. 164-165 of Mastering the Craft.


I've found that for me the best tool is reading my work out loud. It's then that I see how the rhythm of varying sentence structure is working...or not.


So, basically, don't be boring! Change things up. Keep the reader engaged through variety.

WEEK 27 TRIM SENTENCE ENDINGS FOR CLOSING EMPHASIS

Give your writing some OOMPH!
by Valerie Ipson



                                            


We probably take periods for granted, but they are important. They create pauses. Use them wisely to end your sentence with some OOMPH!

Let's zoom straight to Stephen Wilber's analogy on flying an airplane: "As you take off, you should be concentrating on getting off the ground. Once aloft, you should be thinking about where to land." (MTC, p 147)

He's talking about sentence construction and the need to trim wordiness "so that the emphasis falls where it does the most good." Just like with airplanes, it matters where a sentence lands. In most cases it should end with the most important word or thought to place the focus right where you want it to be.

Chapter 27 gives some great examples of how to trim sentence endings, you should totally check it out. Here's an obvious one for effect: "So, don't let your sentences ramble on and on past the point where they really should stop, if you catch my drift." (MTC, p 147) Can you reduce this sentence to 6 words?

So, don't let your sentences, and blog posts, ramble. That means my work here is done!

But first a hint: When your editor says trim a thousand bajillion words from your manuscript, sentence endings are a great place to look.

WEEK 24 DELIGHT YOUR READER WITH THE CLASSIC SETUP

PARALLEL STRUCTURE by Valerie Ipson

Here's an exercise to illustrate this week's lesson (adapted from Mastering the Craft by Stephen Wilbers, p 134):

Match the first part of the following famous two-part quotes with the second part (answers below):

FIRST PART:
A. Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.
B. To be a novelist or short story writer,
C. The literary gift is a mere accident--
D. There are three rules for writing a novel.

SECOND PART:
1. you have to first pretend to be a novelist or short story writer. (Charles Baxter)
2. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are. (W. Somerset Maugham)
3. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. (E.L. Doctrow)
4. [it] is as often bestowed upon idiots who have nothing to say worth hearing as it is denied to strenuous sages. (Max Beerbohm)

You've just had a lesson in parallel structure. It's like a one-two punch which, admittedly, is not that pleasant if you're on the receiving end, but when it's found in literature (or great quotes) it's very appealing and satisfying. As Wilbers says, "The first sentence makes a statement; the second sentence undercuts it. It's the ironic twist that surprises the reader and makes the quip memorable."

This kind of structure can be used in our fiction from description to dialogue. Look for it in your manuscript or find places where you can add it for a surprising punch.


ANSWERS:  A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2

Week 21 Use Dashes For Dashing Effect

The Dash is Brash by Valerie Ipson

It's only May, but the only dash-- references I can come up with are Christmas-related...Now Dasher! Now Dancer!..." or "Dashing through the snow..."

I think that means we need to jump right into the lesson.

I love WEEK 21! Maybe because I love dashes. (Have you read IDEAL HIGH? Yep! Full of dashes.)

Dashes were mentioned last week in the lesson on punctuation: "Use dashes to mark abrupt changes in thought or the flow of a sentence," then Stephen Wilbers gives them an entire lesson of their own. He begins with a simple definition as found in Strunk & White's Elements of Style: "A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parenthesis."

I just want to focus on the first part. Commas do their thing by causing a slight hesitation, but a dash? It makes you take some notice.

EXAMPLE: Authors write for the time in which they live, and for the ages. Exchange the comma for a dash and see if it changes the sentence for you: Authors write for the time in which they live--and for the ages. It adds just a nice amount of emphasis, doesn't it?

Check your writing to see if you are using dashes correctly--to mark abrupt changes in thought or for added emphasis.

[Apologies! Apparently, I don't know how to make an em dash in Blogger. :/]

WEEK 18 KEEP YOUR VERBS NEAR THEIR SUBJECTS

by Valerie Ipson

There's a simple equation for today's lesson: "Distance determines effort. The longer the distance between subject and verb, the harder your reader must work." MTC 1 italics added

You're right, the lesson is kind of a no-brainer. Readers won't get the meaning of your sentence until they make a subject-verb connection. They want/need to know who is doing something and what they're doing. Throw in all the fluff and puff you want (within reason), but it's the subject/verb that gives the meat...gives you something to sink your teeth into. [I could type out some very, extremely-lengthy examples, but I won't. Check out mastering the Craft's Lesson 18 and you'll find some.]

But as with any writing rule, RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN! EVEN THIS ONE! Consider that sometimes an INTENTIONAL delay works because it creates emphasis. Example: "The tall, skinny man, who had just polished off three double cheeseburgers, two large fries, and a super-sized soda, ordered another round." MTC 2

That's a whole lot of fast-food calories in between man and ordered, but the sentence works.

MTC, 1: p.97
MTC 2: p. 98

Tamara: And I thought I was the only one that included food pictures in my posts. I have no idea why this analogy popped into my head as I read your post, but I thought of couples ice skating in the Olympics, where they have strict rules about how far away from each other they can be. Maybe I need to start thinking of my verbs and subjects that way. Except for the allowable, dramatic moves of course!

WEEK 15 KNOW WHEN TO VERB YOUR NOUNS

BY VALERIE IPSON

Read the title of this post again.

Have you ever seen the word "verb" actually used as a verb? 

A verb is a noun!

Well, this is not your high school English class, kids. Strap yourselves in and hang on, we're about to verb us some nouns and it's going to be a fun ride.

Last week Peggy talked about the danger of wordiness (and guys hiding in trees) when writers turn their verbs into nouns [She made a recommendation... versus She recommended...], but when you switch and go the other way, the results can make for some strong writing.

We actually do it all the time...as an example, Stephen Wilbers quotes Richard Nordquist's post at grammar.about.com: "In a single work day, we might head a task force, eye an opportunity, nose around for good ideas, mouth a greeting, elbow an opponent, strong-arm a colleague, shoulder the blame, stomach a loss, and finally hand in our resignation." (1)

These are all pretty commonplace examples, but it's when we get creative that the fun begins..."the roof...hinged open," "ducks winged through the island," "sailboats breezed along." (2)

I love this tip from Wilbers: "In each case the verb is made from a noun associated (or...loosely associated) with the object. These associated objects are a good place to look for nouns that might be verbed into action." (3)

So the walleye finned instead of swam, the tulips stemmed instead of grew...you get the idea. Look for them in your own writing. I bet you have some. And I also bet there are a lot of sentences that can be made stronger by using this fun technique.

(1) MTC, p. 80
(2) MTC, p. 80-81
(3) MTC, p. 83

And check out the new book in our line-up!!! 

Congratulations, Tamara on your new nonfiction release: 

Mothering Through the Whirlwind.

Week 12 Don't Trust Modifiers

by Valerie Ipson

We love modifiers...and what's not to love? They make flowers beautiful. They make mountains majestic. They make chocolate delicious...oops, no chocolate in the picture.

Anyway, I'm here to tell you via Steve Wilbers' Chapter 12 that we need to be careful, and a little wary of the mighty modifier.

Try these phrases from Mastering the Craft:

true fact
general consensus
very excellent writer
past history
final outcome
future goal
basic essence
immediate vicinity

See how the first word of each can be deleted without losing any of the meaning? We use these in speech all the time just out of habit, but in our writing we need to cut, cut, cut. Only use modifiers that add meaning.

Exercise #1 (on page 66 of MTC) says to open [your manuscript] and search "end result." How many times does it appear and how many times would "result" be the better choice? 

EDITING TIP: Try this exercise with other common modifier redundancies such as those found on the list above. If an editor is telling you to cut a few thousand words, this is an easy place to start.

TAMARA: These phrases are like optical illusions. When I read them in a list form they jump off the page at me--so obvious! But when they are hard at work in my writing, I read right over them, hardly able to notice they are doing double duty!! Good idea to do a search to take them out of context.

PEGGY: It's never good when you take something out of context. :-) It would be truly great if you could remove words from text you wrote, aiming for a simple understatement of all that is absolutely necessary. At least I think that's the general consensus. I love this lesson. It's a lot of work to clean up our writing.  

Week 9 Avoid Indirect and Indefinite Negatives

Not Using "Not"
by Valerie Ipson

Week 9's lesson is another one of those topics you don't often think about, but when it's pointed out, you go, "Ahhhh, yes." It's all about negatives and making them stronger...basically not using NOT when a negative word is available. As an example: "His campaign tactics were not excusable" becomes "His campaign tactics were inexcusable." See how the sentence is stronger the second time around? Direct negatives make the point more emphatically.

More examples:
instead of not agree, write disagree
instead of not supportive, write unsupportive
instead of not sincere, write insincere

You get the idea.

But beware, some words will fool you... "Our boss's contribution was not valuable," changed to..."Our boss's contribution was invaluable." Oops. That doesn't mean the same thing.

The second part of the lesson explains indefinite negatives, like pairing not with an indefinite pronoun. Often this makes for a weak sentence, such as, "I didn't find anything" versus "I found nothing. The second sentence is stronger.

As always, there are exceptions to these "rules." Keep in mind context. "I'm unhappy you're late" comes across a a little stronger when you say, "I'm not happy you're late." Depends on how you want to come across when your teenager walks in the door past midnight....well, maybe this is more like it: "I'M SO NOT HAPPY YOU'RE LATE AGAIN...YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!!!

Like I said, it's all about context.

Week 6 Use the Appropriate Level of Formality

Your word, Sir
by Valerie Ipson

"Have you dined this evening?" or Didja eat yet?"(1) Week 6 of Mastering the Craft of Writing is about using "appropriate levels of formality"--or not. If our words are delivered on silver platters we can bet that we are being way too formal. Obviously, this kind of tone can seem "stiff, stilted," Wilbers says, "even arrogant" to our reader. The opposite is when we're way too informal, too familiar.

Generally we should fall somewhere in the middle, but knowing your audience is key. Adapting to the occasion and to your subject matter is important as well. A speech presented at a business awards dinner will be different in tone than one given at a frat party. (Just guessing here.) A novel written for teens will be different in tone than one for adults.

I think the trend toward INFORMAL-ity in our society because of texting, email, social media (and other factors) makes even the slightest occasion for FORMALITY in writing or speech-giving seem almost awkward, but maybe that's a topic for another day.

Here's some homework for you: Make this sentence found in Chapter 6 less formal, but not too informal. Give it a medium range.

Until such time as the luminescence of the setting summer sun was at last extinguished from the western sky, people remained stationary, a community amalgamated by their adoration of the beauty that emanates from nature.(2)

It probably goes without saying, but for you fiction-writers, you may have the occasional character who actually is arrogant and speaks in a stuffy, stilted way. His/her dialogue should mirror their personality, but your narrative shouldn't...unless your narrator is the arrogant one.


1. Mastering the Craft of Writing, page 33
2. Mastering the Craft of Writing, page 34

TAMARA: So I wonder, is there also a psychology to the formality of language with our characters? Aren't there some we like because they have a perfectly formal way of saying things and then others that use that two-bit word at the right time? Or the hilarity when a conversation ensues between the two...

Peggy: Or status/posturing that, used correctly, can effectively show your characters in relation to each other. 

One thing Valerie and Wilbers touch on is that remembering your subject, audience, and occasion will help to achieve the right formality level.

People came together to enjoy one of nature's grand displays, the sun disappearing beyond the western horizon. (note to readers: Check out the answers in the book, they're much better...)

Week 3 Appeal to the Senses

It's in the details!
by Valerie

As I write this post, sunlight is peeking through the blinds, the scent of morning rain is in the air, the backyard rooster is crowing way past sunrise, the rich creaminess of hot chocolate warms me to the core, and our cat Ollie, in all his winter-coat furriness, is rubbing up against my feet. You guessed it. The lesson this week is about adding sensory details to our writing.

I don't need a sixth sense to tell me (and neither do you) that my sensory examples are not great ones, but they do illustrate the five basic senses we should be appealing to in our writing. If my main character is going to drink a hot chocolate, for example--and why wouldn't she, hot chocolate is delicious--then I want my reader to drink along with her.  

The purpose is to, as the lesson states, "evoke an active response" in the reader. This makes for more memorable writing. This also makes for very satisfied readers, and not just from the yummy hot chocolate that, really, exists only in the pages of my story.

My experience: Sensory details generally don't just roll off the pen or out our fingers when placed on the keyboard. They are most likely something we add in long after a first draft is written, often not until we get to the serious polishing stage of our manuscript.

Exercise:
What are your most enduring memories of childhood? This is the perfect sort of question to get a writer thinking about sensory details because it's almost a sure bet that our most vivid memories are based in one of the fives senses: the summer smell of fresh-cut grass, the neon lights of a weekend carnival, Grandma's pucker-sweet lemon squares, squishy, wet sand between toes, and mother singing hymns in her calming alto while I lay my head in her lap at church. 

These are a few of my favorites. What are yours?

TAMARA: You've distracted me with 'rich creaminess.' All I want now is my own cup of cocoa. Which I will probably need as I watch footage of the blizzard of 2015. This will date me, but here goes: I was six years old for the blizzard of 1978. My brothers had to clear a path from our front porch to the sidewalk just so my mother could ride the neighbor's snowmobile to the grocery store. When I peered outside into the blinding, white cold, I remember looking up to see the top of the snow. Four-feet high was over my head. Not to mention the snow drifts by the fence that looked like the whipped meringue on my mother's lemon pie. With school cancelled, we bundled into our snow-suits and waddled out to the backyard (where the brothers had cleared more paths) and built our very own igloo with snow-blocks, created rather ingeniously by one brother. (He used a wide shovel to cut blocks and stacked them by the side of the path.) I can still hear the crunch of the snow under my pint sized boots and see the deceptively warm sunlight reflecting off the snow blanket. 

PEGGY: One of my favorite childhood memories? 

I started young as an epicurean. Steaming carrots gleaming with melted butter may not seem luxurious to you, but wander with me to a time when I was young. 

My great-grandpa had a wonderful garden. He was lean and hardworking. Great-Grandma was warm and round with white curls all over her head. I loved visiting their tiny house. 

A trumpet vine, probably as old as they were, tossed out orange flowers like confetti in the back yard. For someone small, it seemed like Jack's Beanstalk: enormous and a challenge to climb. Just beyond that, Great-Grandpa had myriad rows of lush leaves, full of promise and perfectly aligned in the rich soil.  I don't think it gets much better than pulling a carrot straight from the garden. We would shake the dirt from them and take them to Great-Grandma. Those divine carrots may have actually come from Heaven. The savory sweetness delighted the tastebuds and cultivated a love of all things yummy.