Month: February 2014

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Kat: Swinging Wide

Teenage girl swinging on the ropeA few weeks ago, Jilly asked a great question on Argh that related to her final draft. Jenny Crusie’s answer was brilliant as always, but one particular passage made me sit up and take notice:

“The key is understanding the difference between the first draft and the next drafts. The first draft is the place where I swing wide. It’s the place where I go over the top, write all the stuff I want to write, explore any byway that seems attractive. I do not censor or edit myself in the first draft because that shuts down the Girls. So writing a first draft is Anything Goes, but rewriting the first draft is A Lot of This Is Going To Go.” Jennifer Crusie.

Hmm. Normally, I wouldn’t speak for my fellow McD alum, but right now I know at least three of us that have yet to finish writing that first “over the top” draft. A few of us have been having trouble finding our keyboards since winter began (maybe they’re buried in snow??), several of us continue to agonize over our first scene (hello, 3rd act anyone??), and at least one of us is trying to decide if her antagonist is really her protagonist.

Despite setting lofty goals and making public declarations many of us continue to struggle to get the first draft finished, and I have a theory that may explain why.  Since enrolling in the McD program, we’ve been writing with the door open. Most of us used our current WIP as a learning tool while at McD, sharing various scenes and providing feedback on different aspects of craft, which led to constant questioning, rewriting, and the ultimate devil: perfectionism.

Continue reading →

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Nancy: The Ever-Important Antagonist

Protagonist vs Antagonist Face-to-Face

I hate to break the streak Michaeline and Jilly started, but alas, I have no fun flash fiction to share. What I do have is a great big pile of scenes and sequences and chapters of my WIP in various stages of revision. And then there are the over-arching issues…oh, the overarching issues.

Recently, as I was pondering the varied and sundry ways my first act went off the rails, I read a post about protagonists over at 8LW mentor Jenny Crusie’s blog. Continue reading →

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Jilly: The Vampire Strikes Back – 500-word short story

The Witch's TowerIn last Sunday’s post I tried out Alphabot, the story word generator from this year’s 500 Words children’s writing competition. He offered me some interesting combinations, and I was tempted to have a go. Then Michaeline said she’d write one if I did, and the bet was on.

Michaeline chose wind, bunny, cheetah, hospital, relieved, and came up with something very fun and surprising. Read Bunny Blatavsky, Psychic Photographer, and the Cheetah Girl here.

I went for butterfly, vampire, witch, invaluable, tender.

Here goes:

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Michaeline: Motivation and Bunnies and Cheetahs

Well, first, I’d like to direct your attention to this article about writers and procrastination – particularly the part that hints that successful artists are ones whose “fears of turning in nothing eventually surpasses their fears of turning in something terrible.” A valuable distinction (-:. It helped jump-start me this weekend. Another form of motivation is that I’m writing this because I believe in the cause Jilly blogged about last week: encouraging kids to write. This post gives me a great excuse to plug the contest again. And the third form of motivation is that I made a deal with Jilly. (-: I can’t let her down! I’m sure you’ve heard of the buddy system for motivating you to exercise. Well, this is along the same lines. So, with no further ado, I present my story, such as it is. If you remember the rules, it has to be a short story, 500 words or less. And I decided to try to use the prompt words wind, bunny, cheetah, hospital and relieved. OK, really, seriously now, no further ado:

Bunny Blavatsky, Psychic Photographer, and the Cheetah Girl

Before Bunny Blavatsky could wind her way down the long row between the iron hospital bedsteads, she saw her quarry in the last bed sit up, the sheet slipping down to reveal the freckled angry flash powder burns on her neck. The girl pulled Continue reading →

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Justine: Valentine’s Day Around the World

valentine's day traditionsAs much as I could have really used a guest blogger this week (hint: don’t volunteer to do both of your childrens’ Valentine’s Parties in the same year), I have none, so in lieu of an original post, I thought I’d share some of the more interesting traditions for Valentine’s Day around the world (courtesy todayifoundout.com). Perhaps some of these may inspire you in your own writing! Continue reading →

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Michille: Writing the Dissed Book

frustrated author

Sometimes writing romance can be a hard thing to do, and not just because it’s hard to get words on the page, then edit them into a good cohesive, moving story. Sometimes it’s hard to write it due to the lack of respect for it. I don’t even tell my family I write romance. They are a scholarly bunch with multiple higher degrees scattered among the branches of the tree. They read lit-ra-toor instead of books, watch films versus movies, and restrict media exposure to PBS and NPR. My husband, the Ph.D., has never visited this website. I, on the other hand, read ‘trashy’ books, love a good (old) Sandra Bullock/Reese Witherspoon movie (Miss Congeniality/Legally Blond), and can spend an entire day watching Criminal Minds reruns. It was very refreshing and affirming to take 7 graduate level courses over the last year and  a half with other romance writers (or writers with a strong romantic element). Continue reading →

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Elizabeth: Don’t Give Up!

iStock_000023582367LargeThis past week, like millions of other viewers, I’ve been watching the Olympics.  I’ve been inspired by the personal stories and how the athletes haven’t allowed injuries or dramas get in the way of their dreams

Some of the competitors have prior Olympic gold medals but were drawn back by the desire to prove that they were still at the pinnacle of their sport.  Others were from a long line of former Olympians, keeping up family traditions.  Continue reading →

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Kat: Jeanne Estridge: Tearing Down Walls

This week I’m taking a break and turning my blog slot over to fellow  McD alumni and frequent commenter to Eight Ladies, Jeanne Estridge. Some of you may remember Jeanne from a series of postings I did some weeks back on brainstorming that featured Jeanne’s story, The Devil She Knows. She’s not only a great writer but a good friend and I’m honored to welcome her as a guest blogger at Eight Ladies.

Take it away, Jeanne:

In my writing process, I frequently start with Something From Real Life. Sometimes it’s a news story, sometimes it’s a tale told to me by a friend or relative. In a lot of ways, this works well, because it grounds my work in reality.  Where it can become a problem, though, is when it’s time to step away from “just the facts, ma’am” and into the realm of pure imagination.  My parents evidently did a bang-up job of teaching me to be truthful, because something in me rebels at the idea of altering facts. Usually, it’s not till I share a piece with my writing group, who point out that what I’ve written, while believable, isn’t as interesting as it could be, that I’m willing to step off the hard ledge of reality and into the free fall of imagination.

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Nancy: The Big Gesture

All_you_need_is_love_(The_Beatles_Story)

Several of us here at 8LW read and write romance, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought it would be a great time to talk a bit about writing love and romance. I also thought it would be a great idea to share something from my own WIP to demonstrate a point. The thing is, my current WIP isn’t a romance.  It’s a women’s fiction story and the main relationship developing is the friendship between the three protagonists. Still, I don’t think I could write a story with no romance in it, so there is something I can share after all. Continue reading →

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Jilly: 500 Words – Inspiring Children to Write

500 Words500 Words, the amazing Hay Festival/BBC children’s writing competition, is back for a fourth consecutive year. The competition itself is restricted to UK residents, but it comes with a raft of fantastic free online resources that are available to all and well worth sharing.

500 Words is a joint initiative between Hay Fever, part of the famous literary festival, and BBC Radio 2. Children aged 13 and under are encouraged to write an original short story of no more than 500 words and upload it to the competition’s website, for a chance to have their story read aloud by a celebrity at the grand final and to win a pile of books for their school.

This year’s tool-kit includes Continue reading →