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Tag Archives: writing in different literary genres

WRITING THE VIGNETTE FURTHER THOUGHTS

Posted on January 16, 2014 by writ7707 Posted in Uncategorized 2 Comments

A WRITING BLOG About Playing Around with a Story Line in Different Literary Genres and Different Literary Categories

Writing Leap #34

Hi Writers,

Are you ever walking or talking or sitting on a train and your mind alights on a writing idea?  It hovers there, a sparrow touching down on a telephone line, apt to fly off at any moment.  Grab it! (Apologies and gratitude to the wonderful former U.S Poet Laureate Billy Collins whose metaphor this is.  I’m so sorry I can’t find the poem for an exact quote.)

But the essence of the poem is a part of my writing self.  Write down your impressions and reactions as they are happening.  Otherwise as Billy Collins implies the sparrow will probably fly away forever.  Gone, swoosh.

Later the spontaneity of the thought will have vanished.  Or you will be growling because you can’t remember any of it.  Just that it was great.

I carry a small journal and my cell phone to jot down ideas.  Later these small jottings can turn into vignettes.  Writing vignettes is great writing practice.  Just for the sake of writing them.  Writers write and edit.  As much as possible.

From The Book of Literary Terms by Lewis Turco.  “The vignette is a finely written literary sketch emphasizing character, situation or scene.”

So writers, tackle the vignette!  

The story line is:  What does chocolate evoke in you?  Fiction or Non-fiction.

images-2

Here’s mine.  A vignette inspired by the painting below and something I jotted down.  While eating a chocolate truffle as pictured above.   Let’s watch Becca.

     Oh, how Becca loved chocolate bars.  The extra dark velvet kind.  Thick and smooth in her mouth.  Just sweet enough. 

     “Afternoon Becca,”

     Becca nodded at the old lady, bundled up in three threadbare coats.  Her legs were wrapped in scarves and she was settled on a broken chair outside the door of Mr. Palkowski’s newspaper shop.     

     Becca pushed open the door to the shop.  The loud bell on the door made a jangly, jarring noise .  She jerked back.  She always did.

     “Hi there Becca.  What can I do for you today?” Mr. Palkowski said.

     “Um, not sure.  Just want to look, thank you,” she said.

     “Right,” he said, and turned his back to fuss with something behind the counter.

     Becca grabbed a small chocolate bar from a box on the shelf opposite the counter and slipped it in her pocket.

     “Bye Mr. Palkowski.  Nothing today.”

     There was no avoiding nodding again at the old lady outside. 

     “You take care now, Becca,” she said.

     Becca started to hurry home.

     “Wait,” the old lady called.  “Think about this.  What are you really hungry for?  It’s not chocolate dearie.”

     Becca kept walking.  That lady was crazy.

     Mr. Palkowski stepped outside his store.  He watched Becca turn the corner.

     “Well Minna.  That’s about the tenth time now.  I haven’t got the heart to say something to her, poor child.”

     “You want my opinion?” Minna said.  “You are doing her no favors letting her get away with stealing.  No favors at all.”

     “Hmmmmm,” he said and went back inside.

     When Becca reached her stoop she peeled the paper off the chocolate bar and ate the whole thing.  She made sure to put the wrappings in the trashcan in front of her building.  She wasn’t going to add to the garbage on the sidewalk.

     Becca really did know what she was hungry for.  She was hungry for her mama’s chocolate cookies.  Her mama used to make them for her a lot.  Mama didn’t make them now.  If she did, Becca thought, the cookie dough would be full of Mama’s tears. 

     Next afternoon after school Becca pushed open the  door to the news shop.  Jangle, jangle.  Her heart began to flutter in her chest.

     “Afternoon Becca,” Mr. Palkowski said.  “Ummmm, now look here.  I’ve been thinking.  I could use a little help around here, straightening up the stock and such.  Would your mother let you do that for about an hour after school?  I could pay you a little or you could take it out in merchandise.  Like chocolate bars.”

     Becca stared.  He knew.  He knew and he was still being nice to her.  She fought back tears and let herself hug him.

Here’s to vignettes and your jottings!  

Autograph

LINKING THE ARTS

A Painting

Homeless

unsold-roses-best-for-webMy inspiration for Minna

A Poem

  “Lines Lost Among Trees,” in Billy Collins collection, Picnic, Lightning

A Good Word

Jot     As in to write quickly in the moment

WRITING CHILDREN’S BOOK REVIEWS

Posted on June 5, 2013 by writ7707 Posted in Uncategorized 4 Comments

A WRITING BLOG About Playing Around with a Storyline in Different Literary Genres and Literary Modes

Writing Leap #22   Writing Children’s Book Reviews

Hi Writers,

I can’t stop writing about Paris.  This time it’s a children’s picture book review.  I found this book hustling around the Book Expo in New York last week.  Two days of books here, books there, books books everywhere.  For writers, readers, booksellers and bookbuyers it’s exciting if not exhausting.

A few thoughts on writing children’s book reviews.  First of all, for writers it’s good practice in putting yourself in the sensibilities of a child as well as the sensibilities of a parent.  Will children enjoy this and understand it?  Will their moms enjoy this and approve of it?  Do the illustrations and the text enhance each other?  And then just write what you think and feel about the book.  No giving away the endings!  If there is one.

Story Line

Discovery!

So writers go ahead and try a book review.  It’s a great way to analyze what you are reading.

Here’s mine.

Bella and Harry

What could be more fun than dashing around Paris on the heels of two little Chihuahuas?  Bella and her younger brother Harry lead the picture book crowd from the Eiffel Tower to a bistro where they dive into baguettes and crêpes and all the way to the Champs Elysées and the crazy traffic around the Arc de Triomphe.

In Bella and Harry  Let’s Visit Paris, written by Lisa Manzione and illustrated by Kristine Lucco, Bella, a Chihuahua authority on all things Parisian, tells Harry the Eiffel Tower is 986 feet high–as high as fifty giraffes stacked on each other.  The illustration of the tall tower and the high stretch of giraffes blends seamlessly with the text, as do all the lively illustrations.

Harry gets lost in the Louvre Museum and fears the eyes of Rembrandt’s Mona Lisa are surely following him around.

Finding themselves in a dark tunnel Bella and Harry emerge under the Arc de Triomphe and wonder at the fast, whizzing traffic surrounding them.  Bella informs Harry (who is always eager to be informed) that the Arc de Triomphe was built “to welcome soldiers home from long journeys and thank them for a job well done!”

Bella and Harry  Let’s Visit Paris is part of a picture book series of ten “Let’s Visit” books with more to come.   The Chihuahuas (and their author) travel to such places as Rome, London, Istanbul and Jerusalem.

This award winning series will please all parents who would like their children to become aware of differences in cultures.  And children will surely love traveling with two irresistible Chihuahuas.  Where else will they learn that Parisians dunk their bread in their hot chocolate?

More information:  BellaAndHarry.com

**

Enjoy your creativity writers,

Autograph

LINKING THE ARTS

A Good Word      

Wonder     As in a child’s fresh sense of his world

homeCovers.120514_01da48d5f0382311e19e4a12313813ffc0_7

                                         Another way to dunk bread into hot chocolate

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