Archive for the 'Jessica Page Morrell' Category
Deep PoV is like Method Acting
As a writer it’s your job to curate and guide your readers scene by scene through your story. Your narrator or viewpoint character is the conduit or lens through which the reader ‘sees’ the story. Scene building begins with defining the conflict and action of each scene and understanding your viewpoint character’s main feelings/emotions, how these […]
Read the rest of this entry »“To open our eyes, to see with our inner fire and light, is what saves us. Even if it makes us vulnerable. Opening the eyes is the job of storytellers, witnesses, and the keepers of accounts. The stories we know and tell are reservoirs of light and fire that brighten and illuminate the darkness of […]
Read the rest of this entry »“In the greatest confusion there is still an open channel to the soul. It may be difficult to find because by midlife it is overgrown and some of the wildest thickets that surround it grow out of what we describe as our education. But the channel is always there, and it is our business to […]
Read the rest of this entry »A Conflict-laden Plot Pattern that Works
Want a shorthand formula for a successful story? Start with a heroic protagonist who is sane and moral, but, of course, flawed. Then create the world he or she operates in as crazy, chaotic, askew. Stir in antagonists who are immoral. Create conflict that’s essentially a test. Mix in at least a few sympathetic supporting […]
Read the rest of this entry »Abandon Ship! Or why your readers might bail on you.
To name names or not to name names, that is the question? What the heck, the book is called Eeny Meeny by M.J. Aldridge. So far so clever, right? I recently abandoned this thriller about two-thirds of the way through. I know. It’s a weird place to stop reading. It felt spiteful, but was borne […]
Read the rest of this entry »Advice to Writers: Quit Whining
There’s a lot of whining among writers. I’ve never quite seen the like among other groups; say among plumbers or glass blowers or dentists. We seem to believe that kvetching is part of the writing lifestyle. We think wrong. And heaven knows there’s a lot of procrastinating and wasting time. Not to mention all the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Gather your support team
Writing, as we all know, is a sometimes glorious, but often lonely occupation. As if isolated on the raft of creativity amid a turbulent ocean, we struggle with words and ideas, plots and themes. Alone. At times this isolation makes us feel apart from the world, even abandoned. Sometimes our fight to bring a scene […]
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