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
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 »
Story Bite 8: On Building Stakes
It’s fairly easy when you start a story or a novel to come up with a basic character and a goal. The next part of building a story—the conflict—is a little bit harder, but not bad. And then comes the hardest part: the stakes. This is what’s missing when a lot of people try to… Read more »
Story Bite 6: On Telling Your Own Story
This is an interesting time for me because I’m about to see my very first middle grade book reach the world. As a result of that, a lot of people are asking me questions about myself and how I came to write this book. Writing about yourself is rather different than writing about someone fictional…. Read more »
Story Bite 2: On Setting
I hope you enjoyed last month’s story bite writing prompt. For October, let’s talk about setting. The setting is where your story takes place, and it’s ultimately description, but there are a lot of ways to show it. Take this castle, for instance. The picture shows the wall that leads up to the inner courtyard… Read more »
I am so honored to be included among the authors featured at Cabin Reads! Check out the post below:
Posted @withregram • @cabin.reads 🐺 DIANE MAGRAS 🐺
I live in a land of stone and sea, woods and marshes, land that’s a companion and friend. It’s stolen Abenaki land. I often think about the people who cared for it hundreds of years ago. They knew that it was more than trees, rocks, and water but a community for all. I try to think about this land in that way.
As I'm thinking of the history of this land, I try to notice small beauties: tree roots bare against the soil, the sparkle of snow on branches, tenacious beech leaves unwilling to ever let go. I notice tracks—of fox and squirrel, deer and mouse—and imagine the animals. And the fog and mist—that's my favorite weather, so evocative and filled with atmosphere. All of this plays into my writing. In my books, I write what I’ve seen in woods or marsh or by the sea, as well as what I’ve imagined. These worlds beyond my window feed my mind.
I write from a desk that overlooks a patch of trees. In the morning especially, I often see crows, woodpeckers, deer, wild turkeys, and sometimes even a fox. My cat scopes out the wildlife and those trees by a window near my desk. She's often there or on my lap, my constant companion as I spin my stories.
I’m working on a manuscript right now, but when I next take a break, I'll be reading Melanie Conklin’s A Perfect Mistake.
Diane Magras (she/her) is the award-winning author of The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter, and the brand-new Secret of the Shadow Beasts. A big fan of tea, libraries, and history (especially from people who’ve rarely had their stories told), Diane lives in Maine with her husband and son. You can find her on Twitter and IG: @dianemagras.
#CabinReadsWV #kidlit #author #cabinreads61
I am a big fan of ferns (as readers of my first two books probably know, given the number of times ferns appear in the forest scenes!). I grew up with these lovelies: tall ones but also small, like these. (I think that's a long beech fern in the front, and without question a sensitive fern in the back to the right.) Ferns are so beautiful, a burst of green in the woods—or a lovely mix of different shades of green, mingling with moss and the other plants that grow, often unnoticed, in that beautiful liminal space beneath the speckled sunshine of branches and boughs.
#ferns #forest #woods