Word by Word

Practical insights for writers from Jessica P Morrell

Archive for the 'Jessica Page Morrell' Category

the power of story lies in its ability to evoke emotions

Robust rain coming down in Oregon today.  As in noisy. I’m going to take a break from my editing project and concoct a hearty  batch of vegetable soup and create a handout for the Chicagoland Sisters in Crime. Tomorrow I’m going to be on a craft panel with thriller author Layne Fargo. And now that […]

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NaNoWriMo

I was cobbling together dinner earlier as rain fell against my porch’s tin roof and the news jabbed at me from the living room. And I looked out my window at the Douglas firs which seemed to have grown taller this past year, and wondered how it can possbily be November. And how the gloom […]

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November

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Evil Laughter

In honor of Halloween or Samhain, here’s a link to the PBS site and “The scary thing about evil laughs.”  Because evil laughter needs to be chilling, terrifying, and as this piece points out, recall childhood traumas.  

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Just. Show. Up.

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October

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According to Ansen Dibell

Make everybody fall out of the plane first, and then explain who they are and why they were on the plane to begin with.

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Unlike Nancy…..don’t eavesdrop

Mild weather here, thank goodness. Took yesterday off to go antiquing with a friend in Aurora, a small town nearby. Not all the stores were open because it was a Monday so I’m happy to report we’re returning.  Besides a pub lunch, buying old books, strolling around charming old neighborhoods, and a good, long catching-up […]

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Refuge

Here’s a question for fiction writers: Does your protagonist have a place of refuge? Will this space be available during the story events? Or inaccessible? How does he or she cope without refuge if it’s not available? Or does the character carry a sense of refuge within?  Or will your character ‘earn’ an inner refuge […]

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If you want to immediately improve…

If you want to immediately improve your fiction writing, inhabit your viewpoint character, breath by breath, bone by bone. The more dangerous, momentous, and dramatic the scene, the more readers need to see, hear, and feel what your character feels. Their thoughts should land directly with no filters like ‘she thought’ or ‘she wondered’ or  […]

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