Literary categories Archives - Writing Like a Dancer

WRITERS AND DOGS

Posted on March 2, 2016 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing about Dogs, Writing about Young Children, Writing Emotional Moments 1 Comment

Writing Practice and Meeting up with your MUSE

Writing Leap #64

Hi Writers,

People have unique relationships with their dogs. Digging deep in your stories and showing how that plays out can illuminate many layers of your character as well as the particular personality of the dog.

I will never forget the moment in the movie “Oliver” when the villain kicks his little dog hard because……who knows why? But in the story Dickens showed how desperate and disturbed the villain was just by that kick. And the reader cringes.

Here’s my dog story. The characters are real but the story is fiction.

Teddy and Murphy

Mom left me alone with my baby brother, Teddy, and now he’s lying in his crib screaming so hard his face is purple.

Annoying. Can’t I just snuggle with Murphy, my new puppy? Mom surprised me with Murphy in the hospital after my operation because I was brave.

Now Teddy’s crying in big gulps. Is he sick? Like I was in the hospital? Oh no.

I pried Murphy off my chest and lifted him into the crib. Teddy put his face next to Murphy’s and fell asleep. “Murphy will make sure you won’t go to the hospital,” I whispered.

Here’s to your wide-awake imaginations, Writers! Do you have a dog story?

LINKING THE ARTS

Teddy and Murphy

A Very Favorite Book about Dogs for children

WRITING AND VERBAL EXPRESSIONS

Posted on August 24, 2015 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing from a detail, Writing great dialogue, Writing Inspiration, Writing Muse 2 Comments

Writing Practice and Meeting up with your MUSE

Writing Leap #56

Hi Writers,

My sister, Laurie, and I were laughing recently and reminiscing about our late mother’s wonderful farm town expressions. They were part of her even after many years of living outside a big city. Mary Magriel was a country girl from upstate New York and her turns of phrase revealed so much about her nature, her background, her era and what tickled her.

What about giving your characters expressions that express their personalities, perhaps their biases or fears. Particular turns of phrase, either unique to your character or not, is one way to give readers a gateway into your character’s make-up and your fictional world.

So writers, listen to your characters! How do they express themselves? They may be telling you a lot.

Mary Magriel’s Expressions: What they reveal about her.

Some of these are doozies. Her word. Thank you to my sister for remembering so many and for enjoying them together all over again.

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

Our mother would persist until she figured out a solution. Nothing was too much for her. Fitting things in a tiny closet, dashing her famous tomato seedlings over to a friend right before it was time to prepare dinner.

“I like to trade at the local butcher.”

Does anybody today say, “trade at the “A &P?” No! Trade is a farm town term from an era gone by. I would think it came from the fact that farmers traded their crops for goods. Our mother “traded” with a sharp eye for quality.

“My heart is klopping.”

As in beating hard. She either made this up or it was some version of a Yiddish word. Our mother, a Protestant, adored Jewish expressions. Maybe it was an expression of her love for our father who was Jewish and who loved to joke around with old Yiddish sayings. She would laugh and laugh, pleasing our father no end.

“Slower than molasses in January.” This just sounds really small town.

“Your father took us all the way around Robinson’s barn.”

There was no Robinson’s barn. It was how she expressed getting lost. Barns evoke rural environments and that’s where she grew up.

I wish my sister and I could remember more. Her farm town-isms bring her back.

Happy Writing! May you create many perfect expressions for your characters.

LINKING THE ARTS

A Wonderful Book

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley: An authentic rural voice and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992

A Funny Word

Hayseed, as in country boy. Slightly insulting. My father occasionally teased my mother about her high school boyfriend. “Only a hayseed like Tommy would say, ‘No matter how thin you slice it, it’s still baloney,'” my father kidded.

“Robinson’s Barn”

Red Barn by Esther Marie Versch

WRITING THE MOMENT THAT TICKLES

Posted on January 11, 2015 by writ7707 Posted in Art and Writing, Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, writing funny, Writing Inspiration, Writing Muse Leave a comment

Writing Practice and the Muse who is ALWAYS THERE

Writing Leap #50

Happy Creative New Year Writers! May you have many spontaneous bursts of ideas for your writing. And the discipline (ah yes) to sit down and turn some of your sparklers into articles, stories, plays and poems.

An unexpected moment can tickle and delight us. Writing about it (as close to the moment it happens as possible—carry your notebook with you at all times) can be great practice in capturing a revealing aspect of you the writer or your characters. In fiction, the moment may not tickle you the author, but if it tickles your character the reader will get to know him better.

Here’s mine.

Teddy is almost five months old and he is going to Paris. What will his eager little face take in when we, his grandparents, send his parents off to a café and push him in the stroller down the Boulevard St. Germain? I can’t help the ripples of delight I feel each time I imagine it.

And the funniest thing? Teddy needs a passport! His mother texted me a picture of this passport. He is smiling one of his new grins and he’s all official now. I stared at the passport, shook my head, enjoying lots of tickles around my funny bone.

Here’s to your tickle moments writers! Maybe your own passport picture will inspire a funny story?

Warmly,

LINKING THE ARTS

An Old Master Painting

Franz Hals, Dutch, 1582-1666. Tickled by an owl?

Good Word. Delight As in the kind that bubbles up like a well.

WRITING HIGH EMOTIONS

Posted on October 8, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing High Emotions, Writing Inspiration, Writing Muse, Writing what you mean 3 Comments

Writing Practice and the Muse who is ALWAYS THERE

Writing Leap #46

Hi Writers,

Writing high emotions is tricky. Too much high drama and blatant telling and the emotion is lost in a superficial blur. But if the emotions are high and also deep and written with restraint the reader can feel the intensity as if it were his own.

Try this writers! Imagine or remember an intense experience and write it so that your reader believes you. I think it’s great practice for creating characters who demand empathy from the reader.

For me this requires many revisions. The right phrasing or word can be so elusive. But I find that if I just put myself back into the emotion and quietly breath it in over and over, the words will come.

Here’s mine.

When I hold my infant grandson, Teddy, the son of my much-loved son, next to my heart, his new little body nestled into mine, I close my eyes and an unbelievable tide of love for him flows through me, calm and peaceful. He chirps and I’m delighted. It’s almost like holding his father, when my son was an infant, all over again. Memories of those same, first bolts of love surge up once more.

And now, just a few weeks later and 24 hours ago, Layla and Sadie, my daughter’s twin bundles are here too. It’s hard to breath with so much happiness in my soul.

I put together a bunch of pink balloons, three dark pink and three light pink since my daughter wants her twins to be individuals, with lots of flowing ribbons and tiny white flowers.

“I’m sorry, you can’t bring those up to the room. They’re latex and not allowed in maternity.” The receptionist behind the front desk at the hospital was apologetic.

I looked at her. She couldn’t mean it. My daughter just gave birth to twins! I have to bring them up.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll keep them for you.”

No. My disappointment magnified inside me out of all proportion. But I want her to have them! I thought.

“Wait here,” her colleague said. She returned and gave me two non-latex balloons from the gift shop that said ‘It’s a girl.’ Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers. These balloons were not my lovely pink creation but they were filled with warmth and understanding from one woman to another.

What can I say about holding my little granddaughters two hours old? I can’t quite tell them apart yet. I just look at them and they blur into beauty, daughters of my much-loved and beautiful daughter. I snuggle them next to my heart, one at a time, and the profound love I feel is so deep and so magical that I close my eyes and feel sure that I am in heaven. My own baby daughter again times two.

Now I must figure out a way to hold all three little ones in my arms at once.

Many writerly blessings for your work,

LINKING THE ARTS

Elizabeth Gilbert in her new book, The Signature of all Things writes a scene of intense emotion for her main character, Alma. Alma learns that her secret and unsuspecting love is to marry a ninny. I felt the hurricane inside her so intensely I clutched the sides of the book, yet the author’s depiction was measured, albeit tense. Alma’s outward demeanor was a mask.

WRITING THE GESTURE

Posted on September 20, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing Muse, Writing the Gesture Leave a comment

Writing Practice and the Muse who is ALWAYS THERE

Writing Leap #45

WRITING THE GESTURE

Hi Writers Out There,

A small organic gesture can be a microscope into a character’s larger inner world. Like the guy who nudges you aside without looking at you so he can get on the elevator first. Or the child who fixes her grandpa’s crooked glasses. The reveal can be for those characters who observe the gesture, sometimes for those who make the gesture and always for the reader.

Here’s my gesture story.

I had never been 12,000 feet up in the Colorado Rockies where the air was thin and pure and the untouched alpine wildflower meadow stretched lavender in front of me. I wasn’t at home there yet. But I so wanted to be.

Hiking up the pass with two locals, Karen and Bruce, I could feel how familiar and bonded they were with the rocks, sparse grasses and shifting expanse of clouds and blue,blue sky. As we hiked higher I began to feel my fascination inspired by theirs.

A little brown bug landed on my shoulder. As Karen mused to us about the sunset, she flicked the tiny bug off my shirt into her hand with great tenderness, without appearing to notice it. It was like a reflex. Killing it was as odious an idea to her as eating it. She sent him off on his way and continued with her thoughts on the orange clouds.

A tiny unconscious gesture can be so full, so revealing. In that moment I saw into Karen’s soul. I understood that she revered everything that lived up in those mountains with a tenderness that spilled over to the rest of her life. Even a tiny bug.

This story took place a long time ago but I have never forgotten it. In one moment my pleasure in mountain spruce, red coyotes and purple columbine deepened into reverence and wonder and I have gratefully become over the years ever more intimate with the natural world around me wherever I am. It has been testimony to the strength of Karen’s gesture

So Writers, I find “gesture-observing” fun. Conversing casually with strangers, watching people interact in public places. Noticing something an actor does in a play or movie. Try it. See anything you can use for your characters? It’s great writing practice for revealing your character without his even knowing it!

Happy Writing and People Watching Everyone,

LINKING THE ARTS

About bugs, I find Charlotte the spider in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web irresistible.

WRITING AN ANECDOTE

Posted on July 23, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Anecdote, Literary categories, Literary Genres, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing Muse 1 Comment

Writing Practice and The Muse Who is Always There

Writing Leap #43

Hi Writers Out There,

An anecdote is a short piece, written or spoken. (Short except for those who go on and on. We writers, of course, feel for our readers and listeners and keep our anecdotes bared to the bones.)

The anecdote can portray a situation or something that happened. Fiction or non-fiction. Sometimes it’s funny or thought-provoking or scary. It’s meant to entertain or enlighten.

It usually starts off with “You won’t believe this.” Or, “The silliest (most terrifying, surprising, etc.) thing happened.

So writers, find your anecdote! I’ve discovered it’s great practice for writing prose that is clear, simple and evocative.

Here’s my attempt.

An Adventure in Another World

It was imperative to find a large, long watermelon. The smaller round ones available in the markets would not do at all for my project for my daughter’s baby shower. This entailed carving the watermelon into the shape of a cradle, scooping it out, making two baby grapefruit faces (she’s having twins) and filling it up with fruit salad.

My husband Garrett and I headed to Hunt’s Point Wholesale Market in the Bronx, despite warnings that it’s off limits to the general public. I was obsessed.

The Hunt’s Point Market is a huge complex of warehouses. We walked in-between the 18 wheelers lined up everywhere and found the watermelon people. Up a ramp and an outdoor staircase we came upon hundreds and hundreds of shiny, green watermelons. As well as crowds of strong, busy workers hauling them and calling to each other in Chinese, English, Spanish and maybe Russian.

A grouchy lot. All men. Were they all ex-longshoremen?

I felt a surprising flicker of fear. Me, the only woman.

Someone pointed to Freddy, the manager, who was occupied behind a counter. He barely lifted his head, true annoyance wafting in our direction. We begged. He jabbed his finger in the direction of a huge bin.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “It’s a party for my daughter. She’s having twins.”

What was wrong with me? He didn’t care a fig that my daughter was having twins.

A non-communicative worker climbed up into the high bin and brought down a lovely, huge watermelon.

Freddy wouldn’t accept any money. He waved us off. For a second he actually smiled at me.

Garrett clutched the heavy watermelon to his chest and we walked down the ramp. I held my breath. My muscles tightened too. If he dropped it? There was no way we could go back up there.

Happy Anecdotes Everyone,

LINKING THE ARTS

A Book I Like

A Good Word

Plop: As in finding oneself plopped in the middle of a new situation

The Photo, dedicated to Freddy

WRITING ABOUT YOUNG CHILDREN

Posted on June 25, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing about Young Children Leave a comment

Writing Practice and The Muse Who is Always There

Writing Leap #42 Writing About Young Children

Hi All You Writers Out There,

Young children love to look up to you and announce the most surprising things; little bursts of observation that can be funny, troublesome, endearing or savvy. We are often charmed because they are small and new to this world.

Capturing a ‘child moment’ is sometimes a challenge for writers. We are not three years old and unless we have young children around us we may harbor pre-conceived notions about what childhood feels like. Our memory may not be reliable and cliches about children like to insinuate themselves into our writing.

Cliche is a place we do not want to be. As much as possible I try to creep into the child’s experience and write that. With adults reacting to children I try for a spontaneous response.

Go ahead writers and create a story around a child. You may feel refreshed by this work, as I do.

Here’s my attempt.

The outdoor arbor of branches and twigs was bedecked with small flowers and ribbons. The light scent of roses wafted among the seated wedding guests and you could feel the buzz of anticipation and excitement in the small grassy meadow. The groom and minister were in place under the arbor and the processional was about to begin.

All eyes were turned to the back where Oliver, the five-year-old ring bearer, held fast to his satin pillow that cradled the two gold rings. He was standing with the groomsmen ready to walk down the aisle. Light music from the musicians’ violins began to fill the meadow.

Oliver pushed his round glasses higher on his nose, looked up at the best man and whispered, “Don’t you think this is so romantic?”

The whisper was a loud whisper and it floated down the aisle bringing on many soft chuckles.

Halfway through the service, during a relative’s recitation of “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways,” a small voice whispered to the best man, “I have to go to the bathroom. Badly.” It was again a loud whisper and again amused, delighted titters spread though the gathering.

The minister paused and grinned down at Oliver. The relative stopped reciting.

“Me too,” one of the little flower girls piped up.” “I have to, too.” The other flower girl, a toddler, stepped out of line.

Oliver’s mother rushed up and escorted the three to the house. They were squeezing their legs together.

There were only one or two “shouldn’t the mother have taken care of this beforehand?” Haven’t they ever had a similar emergency?

Happy Writing Everyone,

LINKING THE ARTS

A Huge Responsibility. Must arrive safely to the alter.

Children’s Writer’s Word Book by A. Mogilner and T. Mogilner

When writing from a child’s P.O.V. I really like to consult this vocabulary book organized by grade in school. If the child is a genius (and most mothers’ children are geniuses) you can skip a grade or two.

WRITING THE LITERARY SNIPPET

Posted on May 30, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing and Editing, Writing Muse, Writing the Snippet, Writing what you mean Leave a comment

Writing Practice and The Muse Who is Always There

Writing Leap #41 Writing the Literary Snippet

Hi Writers,

A literary snippet is just what it sounds like; a snip of a moment captured on the page. It’s immediate, just a few sentences and complete in and of itself.

Ideas for snippets can pop into your imagination from anywhere; a memory flash from your childhood, an observation on the train, a glimpse of something moving in the natural world.

Want to try it? Snippets challenge our ability to write what we really feel and what we really mean with no extra words. I think distilling thoughts is harder to do than it may seem. It takes deep pondering as we revise and delete in our heads. But it’s what we all must do in all our writing. Offer moments to our readers that toll like a steeple bell and appear effortless.

Here’s my attempt.

Once, when I was four, I held my mother’s hand and lifted one leg after the other up the high stairs to get on the bus. She let me reach up and put the change in the money collector.

I stared at a lady who sat up very straight, hands folded in her lap. There she was. Hair rolled up under a brimmed hat with flowers sticking up in back. A mouth that was a thin, straight line. An umbrella by her side. The lady frowned at me.

“Mommy.” I pulled my mother down and whispered loudly in her ear. “Is that Mary Poppins?”

My mother’s cheeks flushed. She directed an apologetic smile to the lady and led me to a seat. She winked at me and gave me a hug. Then she said, “Maybe.”

Happy snippet writing everyone and Happy Spring

LINKING THE ARTS

Original drawings by Mary Shepard for Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Comes Back, by P.L. Travers

A Book I Love

Recommending Again: Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg, former op-ed writer for the New York Times. I would sleep with this book under my pillow if I believed I would absorb all of his insights permanently in my creative unconscious. It’s about writing sentences that say what you want them to say.

A Word I Love

ponder, as in relaxing into finding the right tone, the right rhythm, the right word in your writing

WRITING FROM A DETAIL

Posted on March 15, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, Literary Genres, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing from a detail, Writing Inspiration, Writing Your Highlights Leave a comment

A Writing Blog About Playing Around with a Story Line in Different Literary Genres and Different Literary Techniques

Writing Leap #37

Hi Writers, O.K. You’ve created a list of highlights from an observation of yours. Or an event, movie or meeting you’ve attended. (www.writinglikeadancer.com/writingyourhighlights)

Is there one small detail from your list that intrigues you? Grab it! And create a story around it.

A detail can trigger your storytelling imagination and send you plots, characters and situations you had never thought of. This is great writing practice for putting a detail you have observed in one context into another context.

So what about the stranger’s large bow tie at the banquet table? What about the odd picture on your colleague’s desk? What about the sweet kiss a child plants on a flower in the park? Go!

Here’s mine inspired by the shower head in my hotel room.

The Storyline is: What I Noticed

This was fun. She was home. The back seat of Tommy’s old VW Beetle was packed high with stuffed duffles, laptops, Tommy’s sax, three pairs of ski boots. She laughed and laughed with her two best friends up front, Dan and Tommy. It was great to be driving back up north to college after winter break. Dan was turned sideways in his seat so he could talk to her.

The roads were slick with ice, but Tommy was a great driver, very cautious, and she knew she was safe driving with him.

The nightmare happened in a breath. A huge monster truck heading south careened over the snowy highway divider. The impact sent the Beetle spinning. A wail came out of her stomach up through her throat and out her mouth. It seemed distant. She managed to open the car door and fall out.

Sirens, an ambulance with the back doors open, clusters of police huddling around Tommy’s Beetle. She stumbled to the edge of a gathering crowd, grabbing on to a bush, trying to focus her eyes. Blurry, whirling red lights bombarded her from the tops of the police cars. Men in white pants carried a stretcher to the ambulance. She made out Tommy’s dirty sneakers sticking out from a sheet that covered his body and face. She felt herself floating. There was Dan on a stretcher too, touching his eye that was gushing blood.

Her head throbbed. Pounding against her eyes. She found herself wandering further away from the crowd. She clutched her throat, leaned over and threw up. She kept walking. A big hotel with lots of softly lit windows loomed ahead. She walked into the lobby, pulled out the credit card that was, thank god, in her pocket and booked a room.

“Mom, Dad.” She telephoned her parents and choked out what had happened. “I’m O.K. I promise.” Why did she say that? She wasn’t O.K.

“Lie down, darling, lie down,” her mother sobbed.

“We’ll drive up there as fast as we can, pumpkin. An hour and a half tops. We’ll be right there,” her father said.

The room tilted up and down. During the first five minutes in the warm shower she just shivered and clung to the towel bar. The shower head was huge, maybe ten inches square and she stuck her face right into it. As the warm water cascaded on her head it seemed to her she was in the middle of a light-filled waterfall spilling down all over her, slowly diminishing the throbbing pain. She took slow breaths. She turned her back into the deep permeating heat of her waterfall and turned again to let the caresses splash over her, drenching her hair, seeping into her eyes. Time disappeared. Why wasn’t she sobbing? Some dim voice in her brain said, “This is what shock is.”

When her parents let themselves into the hotel room she barely heard them. Her waterfall splashed on and on and she was rooted there. She didn’t want to leave her soothing friend.

Dressed and now sobbing, she said to her parents, “I want to go to the local police. They need to ask me questions about Tommy and Dan.”

“First we take you to the emergency room to be checked out,” her father said. Her mother couldn’t let go of her.

Happy Writing Everyone,

LINKING THE ARTS

A Favorite Quote: “To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees.” Paul Valéry

The Girl’s Shower Image

WRITING YOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Posted on February 26, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Literary categories, Literary Genres, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing Muse, Writing Your Highlights Leave a comment

A Writing Blog About Playing Around with a Story Line in Different Literary Genres and Categories

Writing Leap #36

Hi Writers,

Close your eyes and think of an event in your life. A visit with a friend, an outing, a dream or a daydream. If you focus on your highlights of the event, the moments that rush at you to be remembered, you may discover small gems that will inspire your writing. A feeling, a detail, a setting, a snippet of dialogue can all show up, transformed or not, in your writing projects.

So writers, if you like, list your highlights and let them set off some creative ideas.

The Story Line is: Moments that Stick

My highlights are from an SCBWI writing conference I attended this past weekend in New York. SCBWI is short for The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the international professional organization for writers and illustrators of children’s literature. I’m listing five highlights but I could have listed twenty-five.

1. Big Highlight. Co-founder of SCBWI Lin Oliver’s warmth. What is it about Lin’s heartfelt persona that creates an atmosphere where 1000 writers and illustrators can each feel encouraged, delighted and so happy to be sitting where they are? In a ballroom laughing (she’s very humorous) feeling grateful for her passion for our craft. Inside the cocoon of her savvy know-how I floated happily from author to illustrator, sharing writerly thoughts and experiences with my “writing tribe” as Lin calls us.

2. Little Highlight. The big nine inch square shower head in the hotel. Lovely, long delicious waterfall showers where I first imagined this blog post.

3. Big Highlight. Writer and speaker Kate Messner’s keynote. Oh the writer’s angst. “I’m not good enough. Everybody else is getting it right. Too many manuscript rejections. Failure.” No, No, she said. Showing up to write is an act of courage. “Fail fast” and dance on. Savor that private moment to celebrate finishing a sentence, a paragraph. I found myself wiping tears off my cheeks. Don’t be so emotional Cynthia. But to the left of me, the right of me, in front and behind me many creative souls were wiping tears too. Kate Messner touched a deep chord.

4. A Little Highlight but memorable. Mashed potatoes served in a martini glass. Who could resist that? Lots of toppings; gravy, bacon bits, cheese, something green. Like a mashed potato candy store. Would it be piggy of me to go back for seconds to try more toppings?

5. Near Disaster. Little Highlight but really Big. “Uuum, uh,” a fellow writer glanced at my dinner plate from the buffet. She looked at my decent sized scoop of brown rice next to my sliced turkey. “Do you realize that is hot, spicy mustard?” I saw myself sinking to the hotel lobby floor gasping for my life.

Happy Writing Everyone,

LINKING THE ARTS

Books

Another Highlight: The SCBWI Bookstore, tables piled high with books from members and presenters. Exciting browsing time. Scanning titles, flipping pages. Buying way too many books.

Little Poems for Tiny Ears by Lin Oliver and illustrated by the treasure Tomie de Paolo