As I’ve been sheltering in place to help keep my community safe, I’ve been thinking about what stories do for us during challenging times. They can help us look with new perspectives at what surrounds us, sometimes understanding it better or more deeply. They can also help us escape into worlds far from ours. Many… Read more »
Story Bites Writing Prompts
Story Bite 17: World Building and History (Today)
For this Story Bite in a time of global social isolation, I’m going to delve into one of my favorite parts of writing: research that helps a writer to understand a world. This post will also connect to the incredible historical situation we all find ourselves in today…but more on that in a bit. (By… Read more »
Story Bite 16: It’s All About Perspective
Perspective—the voice that tells a story—can entirely change a story’s meaning, purpose, and feel. Here’s an example: When I was four years old, I was invited to the birthday party of my older brother’s best friend, Aaron. There was a chocolate cake in the kitchen while activities went on outside. I grew bored with the… Read more »
Story Bite 15: Writing Action (Part 2)
In our last Story Bite, we wrote an action scene. We focused exclusively on the path and the obstacles facing our character, but mostly the journey itself. Those scenes are fun to write. For many authors, they just flow onto the page: We’re narrating what’s going on and that’s often not too hard to write… Read more »
Story Bite 14: Writing Action (Part 1)
Writing action scenes can be a lot of fun. They’re energetic and your character is truly doing something. They can move along the story, end or begin a page with power, and hook your reader. For a lot of people, they’re easy to write—because it’s just movement. And that’s a great place to start. For… Read more »
Story Bite 13: The Very Beginning (Part 2)
In the last story bite, we came up with an idea. Now we’re going to put that idea on the page. And what we’re looking for is…an opening line. First, I want everyone to know that it is extremely rare for a professional author to nail that opening line in the first writing of the… Read more »
Story Bite 12: The Very Beginning (Part 1)
One of the hardest parts of writing is getting started. This is true for a lot of students I speak with, but also for professional authors. This Story Bite (the first of two) will help you with one part of getting your work of fiction (or nonfiction, though my examples here are fiction) underway. This… Read more »
Story Bite 11: This Builds Character!
How many times have you been forced to do something that wasn’t a lot of fun and were told, “It’s good you did that! It builds character!” I think this is pretty common, whether it’s going for a hike in the pouring rain, going camping when the ground is frozen, having to speak in front… Read more »
Story Bite 10: On Finding Your Idea
At a school talk I gave last month, I asked students to tell me their thorniest writing problems. What made writing hard for them? Was there anything I could do to help? One student told me that she loved writing but always had trouble starting: She struggled to find what to write about. She had… Read more »
Story Bite 9: On Character-Driven Beginnings
Happy New Year! For this story bite at the start of the year, we’re going to talk about one of the most important—and the most challenging—aspects of writing creative fiction or nonfiction: the beginning. Here’s a pic to start us off: my cat Flora, who is beginning (LOL) to fall asleep. Beginnings need to hook… Read more »
The garden has been such a comfort during these rough times. I hope these pics—of a peony and wild phlox, lupine, and lady’s mantle—bring you a breath of peace as well.
#flowers #flowerstagram #gardenblooms #cottagegarden
For the last month or so, I've been buying a couple of pints of strawberries from my local organic farm. Each time, I've thought how lovely they'd be on a tart. Yesterday, I finally made one: with a pâte sucrée base, crème anglaise custard, and fresh strawberries. I also did a light layer of chocolate between the base and the crust; a technique I learned a long time ago when I made tarts a lot more often. With strawberries and a strongly vanilla custard, it's a nice additional touch.
#fruittart #summerbaking