Posts Tagged ‘fodder for fiction’
PACE YOURSELF
Ever heard the expression “pace yourself?” In my case, I truly needed to. Life was so busy. There wasn’t enough time for me to pursue my creative writing habit so I went for a weekend retreat with Nancy, a fellow writer.
We went for a few nights to The Pace House Inn, a bed and breakfast. The restful lodging was where history spoke volumes in the way of charming architecture and lovely antiques. I was inspired to the max. The result of the weekend was an ebook of romance and time travel. On first reaching my destination, I was immediately caught up in the stories of the family who built and owned the home a hundred years ago.
While staying at the B&B, I kept sensing the presence of someone named Ben. While I learned that none of the original inhabitants had that name, I came to realize that the Ben I was sensing was the character in the story I would ultimately write while there.
I found myself wondering what if… What if a guest at the bed and breakfast found herself in a relationship with someone from the property’s past who had come to visit contemporary times? Would he have a charm and sensitivity not possessed by guys of today?
The air and décor of the rooms where I stayed inspired me to write a story that showed that love can span generations or even a century. Inspiration can be intensified if a writer digs deeply enough or far enough in the past.
Cara Preston a.k.a. Phyllis Johnson (real name)
Cara Preston is the pen name for a writer whose work at Red Rose Publishing includes Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck and Another Place and Time (scheduled for Jan. 14, 2010 release at Red Rose) Her alter ego writes a weekly newspaper column, does restaurant reviews and writes for national magazines. She has also published three poetry books.
COLLECTIBLES AS QUIRK AND CATALYST
Do you collect something unusual? Is it your choice to collect it or have others thrust the collection upon you. My mother once bought a creamer shaped that looked like a purple cow, and everyone decided, “Oh! You like cows!” Now, due the generosity of friends and family, her house is filled to the brim with everything cow: magnets, pictures, coffee mugs, bath towels, mooing ice cream scoops, you name it-she’s got it.
In fiction, this kind of detail adds some quirky personality to a character. But what a character collects could be more than just a telling detail or character trait. Consider the following recount of the life of my personal collection of salt and pepper shakers, started when I was a little girl, it gave me something to search for as souvenirs and something special for my parents and friends to give as gifts.
Over the years, my collection of salt and pepper shakers grew. It included a zoo of animals, including trout, horses, monkeys, pigs, and even a kangaroo salt shaker whose Joey pepper shaker sat in her pouch. Toast and a toaster lined up next to replicas of landmarks like the Washington Monument, gardens of tiny, porcelain shakers of ears of corn, apples, and carrots. My collection was a sight to behold. I carried it with me from my childhood home, to dorm rooms, an apartment, and two houses. Finally, I displayed it on a mantle shelf hung above the kitchen sink. I loved admiring the shakers each day.
One day, I arrived home from work to the sound of running water. I walked into the kitchen to find that the shelf had fallen and hit the faucet turning it on, and worse, had left my cherished collection of salt and pepper shakers in shards all over the floor and counter. Ugh… I felt as if part of my childhood had been shattered along with my collection. I salvaged a few shakers. And, my mother – a very artistic and wonderful woman – took some of the broken pieces and glued them as a mosaic on a bulletin board frame, so I have the memory of my collection. However, I cannot bring myself to start anew.
If this were fiction, the build up and loss of this collection might be symbolic of the loss of innocence. Or, it might end up a catalyst to set the protagonist into action, sending him on a quest to find replacements, to seek revenge against whoever might have caused the shelf to fall, or to invent better wall anchors. It might also be an event that foreshadows disaster on a larger scale.
Use your imagination!
I’d love to hear about what you collect – be it stamps, beanie babies, antiques, or art! Share it here. It’s fodder for fiction.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
What Inspired Me to Write, Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever?
by Judith Marshall
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write about enduring female friendship. But it wasn’t until I read, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, that I was motivated to quit my job in corporate America and follow my dream. Reading about Vivi and her group of lifelong friends reminded me of how blessed I am to have a similar group of gal pals I’ve known since high school. They say, “write what you know,” so that’s what I did. I created six very diverse characters, placed them in a small California town in the 50s, and watched where they took me over the next forty years. It was a wild ride.
So inspiration can come from anywhere; from a book you read, a dream you have, or an accident you see on the way home from work. The idea from my second novel, Staying Afloat, came from observing an affair between the CEO and the Controller at my last company. Inspiration is everywhere. The key is to be open to it, to see it as impetus to write something, from beginning to end, not stopping until you’ve completed a first draft. And before you know it, you may have realized your dream of writing that novel.
For more information, go to www.judithmarshall.net
Judith Marshall is a author of Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever, winner of the Jack London Prize awarded by the California Writers Club. She is currently working on her second novel, Staying Afloat, the story of a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother who morphs into a sex-starved adulteress.
Fodder For Fiction First Friday Writing Exercise: January 2010
It’s the first monthly Fodder For Fiction First Friday Writing Exercise! Anyone who completes the assignment and posts it as a comment to this blog entry by 11:59 pm EST on January 31, 2010 will be entered into a drawing. January’s special winner will receive free download of the e-book version of Double Out and Back as well as a free special edition e-cookbook from the authors at Red Rose Publishing, Kissin’ Don’t Last, Cookin’ Does. The winner will be announced on the blog on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at midnight.
Look at the photograph below.
Write three short paragraphs about the photograph, one from woman’s point of view, one from the child’s, and the third from a third person not included in the picture. Have fun with this. Good Luck!
“Other People’s Conversations”
by Amber Leigh Williams
You know that scene in Becoming Jane in which Anne Hathaway stops everyone in the middle of a conversation to jot down a snippet of cynical dialogue? Austen fans remember it as a particularly snooty line of Lady Catherine de Bourg’s in Pride and Prejudice. Every author who watched this movie laughed and said, “I’ve so done that!”
It doesn’t matter where I am: eavesdropping in line at the post office, listening to the couple behind me while shelving books at my day job, catching up with family, getting the local dirt at the beauty shop…. Dialogue comes so easily to me because down here in the South, people like to talk about anything and everything—and oh so colorfully! It’s like a smorgasbord of dialogue possibilities! When writing my first western romance BLACKEST HEART, I referred to the more folksy snippets I’d filed away for such an occasion. For example, my father was raised in the country and he has so many wonderful rural southern sayings. While talking about my dance-happy grandparents, he said, “Those two have got more moves than a can of worms.” I got such a kick out of the phrase, when the heroine from BLACKEST HEART was sitting in a honky-tonk, I pasted it in to describe a young two-steppin’ couple. My grandmother has a funny habit of saying “Shut up!” in place of “No way!” And heavy on the “u.” It gets a laugh every time, especially this Christmas while inspecting her first digital camera. My uncle said, “And you can download the pictures directly into your digital photo frame.” She laughed and said, “Yeah right.” “No, no. I’m serious.” Her jaw drop and she blurted, “ShUt up!” We’re still laughing over it. And, yep, I can’t wait to find the perfect place to use it in my next WIP!
I loved writing BLACKEST HEART and its two sequels, BLUEST HEART (January 6), and BET IT ON MY HEART (Spring 2010) because the dialogue was so natural. The banter between the brothers, Keefe and Casey, sounded much like my brothers-in-law. By the time I took this device further in my paranormal series, it sounded downright authentic even though the scenery had flip-flopped to a more urban environment.
There’s tons of advice on writing dialogue out there. But the best way to make it sound authentic is to listen to the people around you. If you’re writing western, tune into John Wayne. If you’re writing urban, watch the Encourage crew from Queens. My personal favorite? British. This is exactly what my James Bond DVD collection is for. Dialogue doesn’t have to be a tricky thing. For me, it’s my favorite part of character development!
Amber Leigh Williams is a multi-published romance author, a member of Romance Writers of America, PRO Liaison and former Secretary of her local RWA chapter, and monthly contributor to Romance Writers United’s “Write Right” newsletter. Her western romance, BLACKEST HEART, is the 2009 1st Place More Than Magic Novella and her historical romance FOREVER AMORE is a top-rated LASR “Best Book.” She lives on the Gulf Coast with her husband and three labs. Visit her on the web at www.amberleighwilliams.com. She loves hearing from readers at amber@amberleighwilliams.com!
"How’s the Weather?" Precipitation and Chit Chat as Fodder for Fiction
One might think it cliché. Cliché or not, the weather sets the tone, mood, and can foreshadow what is to come. Even children know this. The other night while watching a movie with my family, I commented that the setting was Southern California and that it never rains in California, my son, Thing 1, pointed to the character on the screen and said, “Yes, but he’s sad now, it has to be raining.”
I guess I learned this at a young age, too. My days of reading the Sunday comics assisted with my education on the matter. When Charles Schultz’s Snoopy sat atop of his doghouse typing, “It was a dark and stormy night,” I knew something bad would happen next in the story he was writing.
The weather over the past two weeks has made me think of trying to use the change in weather as the framework for a story – only the opposite way I normally would. Often I think of the storm occurring during the greatest trouble – the story’s climax. However, two weeks ago, we had a blizzard – buried in 20 inches of snow. A few days later it warmed up and the rain fell, leaving us with nothing. This has my wheels turning. I’m not sure if the storm makes us start the story with trouble, or whether the snow will symbolize something clean, new, or abundant. But clearly, I could craft a plot that follows the fate of the snow. The protagonist will get played with, trampled on, pushed around, muddied, and then washed away to nothingness. It’s beginning to sound like a bleak tale.
Perhaps, instead, the blanket of snow can symbolize something hidden – a mystery, or a quest. As the frigid weather warms, our hero could discover additional clues or get closer to finding his treasure. The mud and dirty snow that the traffic, snow plows, and salt trucks carry can be in the background during some major obstacle the hero encounters while trying to solve his mystery or discover his fortune. Against the backdrop of snow all melted, roads and sidewalks clear of ice and slush, and bare ground revealed once again, our hero will solve the mystery or complete his quest.
As you see, I strive for ways to build a structure. I love to daydream, to ponder the world around me. There are ideas everywhere. So next time someone makes small talk and asks, “How’s the weather?” I’ll take special note of the current meteorological status. That rising barometric pressure could be the spark I need to write something great!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
http://www.llleibow.com/