Corn Picking, Afternoon Break I needed a heavy canvas jacket riding the cold red tractor, air like an ice cube on bare skin. Blue sky over the aspen grove I drove through on the way back to the field, throttle wide open, the empty wagon I pulled hitting all the bumps on the dirt road. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Jessica Page Morrell' Category
Thesaurus
{creator unknown}
Read the rest of this entry »Fiction = punishment
Fictional plots punish the protagonist. Again and again. Weaken him or her. Again and again. Force the protagonist into situations, alliances, and conflicts he or she would rather avoid. Plots are designed to whisper or shout ‘no’ or ‘get outta here,’ or ‘you’re not enough’ to the protagonist. These punishments are often tests. The outcome […]
Read the rest of this entry »Quick take: Descriptions work best when they stir readers’ emotions
This one is haunting. From Dorothy Allison’s Bastard out of Carolina: I stopped. The music coming through the cottonwoods was gospel. Gut-shaking, deep-bellied, powerful voices rolled through the dried leaves and hot air. This was the real stuff. I could feel the whiskey edge, the grief and holding on, the dark night terror and determination of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Don’t be Afraid to Pause or Slow Down
Good fiction pushes, propels, and prods characters along through twists, crises, and intriguing scenarios. A tricky part of writing fiction is determining when to speed up or slow down the pace. Drama contains high points, low points, and points in between. If you treat every moment in a story equally spending the same number of […]
Read the rest of this entry »Couldn’t agree more because verbs are the ENGINES of your sentences
“Most people use twenty verbs to describe everything from a run in their stocking to the explosion of an atomic bomb. You know the ones: was, did, had, made, went, looked….One size fits all looks like crap on anyone. Sew yourself a custom made suit. Pick a better verb. Challenge all those verbs to really […]
Read the rest of this entry »Quick Take: Stand Your Ground
Actually I’m talking about the people or story people in your stories. Readers need to know exactly where these folks are located. At all times. Is he or she standing on a dock watching a purple-hued sunset, or on a beach gazing in wonder at a forever sky, or a character waiting impatiently in a […]
Read the rest of this entry »
