May Mania ~ Stretch #10

Dialogue is the main component that drives a story forward. It is also used to reveal character and unfurl conflicts. Yet writers are often guilty of talking -heads syndrome. This faux pas runs much deeper than simply having two people volley statements back and forth without actions; it's about the absence of true character. It's spoken words falling flat, going nowhere, revealing little.

I read a book recently and all the characters sounded the same and the dialogue ran in unnatural chunks rather than as seemingly true conversation. Don't let your dialogue smother itself with the deadweight of nothingness. Have a point. Sharpen those dialogue skills.

Write a story that is made up ENTIRELY OF DIALOGUE, in 500 words or less. Skip dialogue tags, actions and modifiers of any kind. Your dialogue-only piece must reveal something about the characters, the setting and the conflict/plot. Work hard at giving your characters distinct voices. You can express actions through dialoge too. "What are you doing? Put me down, John! I am not a child." Really stretch to express as much of the scene as possible.

This exercise will get you to think outside the box to expose a solid piece through tone and voice. I know a woman who wrote an entire novel this way, so a simple exercise could shift your experiment into a greater artisitc treasure.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #9

Ponder desire. Some wants are won, some lost. In real life many wars, arguments and wrestling matches arise because of opposing desires. One of the best aspects of any written work is conflict. It is the driving force, the hook that never loses its barb. So any exercise you can do to sharpen conflict-wielding skills, will improve your storytelling craft overall.

Think of something you once wanted so badly, food, love, sex, education, a peaceful morning, a raise, an answered prayer, a room for the night, $5 because you haven't had a meal in two days. Now imagine another character who could easily give it to you, but refuses for one reason or another. Delve into and expose that conflict. Consider the many ways to push and pull. Try to shift the conflict in a surprising direction, add a twist or an apparent misunderstanding in the end. For instance, maybe character 1 assumes character 2 is being stubborn and wretched, while he/she is actually doing a loving thing.

Dissecting and building conflict for even a small scene, will help you understand its importance and apply those battle skills to longer works.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #8

Sometimes one-way communication is a good place to find some inspiration. Journals, diaries, letters and one-way phone conversations can all expose so much character. In some of those mediums, characters can lay it all out there and get raw and honest.

Use some form of one-way communication to convey a character's circumstance and feelings. It can be parent to child, employee to boss, lover to lover, alien to home planet, whatever tickles your fancy.

If you're thinking that's a waste of energy that will amount to nothing, that's not true. Like with the Screwtape Letters or The Dairy of Anne Frank, sometimes entire works can be made from one-way communication. So pick a character and go. Get deep.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #7

Your writing drive can come and go. Sometimes all you need to get going again is a simple prompt. I recently did a writing prompt exercise that began, So there I was... For this next exercise, turn to a source that normally makes your brain go all mushy: the TV.

Flick through the channels on your television and stop long enough to hear a character in a TV show say a line of dialogue. Kick off a scene or a poem with this line.

Might as well get some brain-stimulating use out of the talking box, beyond a daily fix of Jeopardy. Get your pen twirling again.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #6

We often hear we should write what we know. Tapping into your own experiences can be a great way to expose emotions through words. It can even be cathartic. Actors learn to do a similar thing in drama, to get in touch with some past experience to help one identify with their character and bring that same emotion to the surface. We can also do the same thing with written words.

Write the story and expose the emotions in one of your earliest memories: scary, funny, traumatic, warm. Work at recapturing the moment and build it into a full scene. You can narrate from the POV of someone else while you are just a character, even an unseen being, like an angel or a ghost, observing the scene. Write in first or third, whatever you're most comfortable wielding.

Everyone has experinces to share. Discover the untold story in one of your own.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #5

Sometimes it's good to put yourself in a box. Not a literal cardboard box, but a word box. When you have a solid surround and some restrictions in which to confine and structure your jots of pen, you can often come up with something wonderful. It's great fun, like trying to make messages out of your alphabet soup. Yeah. I've done that. So what? Here's your next challenge. Get boxy.

For this exercise, choose fifteen random words that are completely unrelated and use them in a story of 1500 or less.

If you're too lazy to comprise a list, you can use mine: wicked, forest, obedient, prayer, quirky, dawn, brainteaser, birth, plow, virulence, zephyr, asunder, sprightly, riot, door.

Go find a creative burst in absolute randomness.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #4

Every writer has a preferred writing zone, a place where they can get the most accomplished. For some it's on the couch with the family all around, for others, it's being tucked in an office or den in complete silence or maybe just some creativity-inspiring tunes. But sometimes the walls of your workspace can close in on you and smother your drive. Here's a way to get some fresh air.

Go off someplace you don't normally write with a pad and a pen in hand. It can be a mall, a library, Barnes and Noble, a coffee shop, the beach, a subway, wherever your heart desires. Describe everything detected by your senses. Try and notice things you'd normally overlook: sounds in the distance, odors in the air, clothes people are wearing, mannerisms, bits of conversation, the different colors of blossoms and leaves emerging. Jot down everything in a stream of consciousness fashion. Your aim is not to go all poetic but to build your description skills, and that begins with attention to detail.

I'm pretty oblivious and miss a lot around me, so I need to make a conscious effort to pay attention and key in to my surroundings. Go find a new creative zone and let your senses come alive.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #3

Nearly every writer has heard that an overabundance of adjectives and adverbs pegs one as an amateur. They themselves are not ugly but using three modifiers again and again and again for noun after noun creates severe drag in your prose. While you can certainly use adjectives, use the most important ones or try to find strong nouns that speak for themselves: polo v. white, golf shirt; cardigan v. v-neck, button-down sweater; Corvette v. little, sporty hot rod; sunset v. streaky, orange sky; sundress v. flowy, summer dress with spaghetti straps. You don't need to get specific and provide colors and patterns for every little thing. Stick to the most important things. Then the adjectives you do use will pop.

And adverbs are lazy tags when you can often find stronger verbs that convey the same thing. Said angrily v. shouted. Verbs are fun. And some adverbs actually dull verbs instead like simply, mostly. I love hunting for strong verbs, and I use them whenever I can.

Describe an object, character or setting without direct modifiers.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #2

The elements of any great piece of fiction include a setting, a protagonist, an antagonist/obstacle, conflict and resolution. The smallest works fall under the category of flash fiction, which would be anything less than 1500 words. The word-specific forms are these: Micro fiction/250 words or less, Droubbles/200 words, Drabble/100 words, 69ers/69 words, and 55ers/55 words with 10 sentences, the first with ten words descending down to the last sentence with one. Generally flash fiction packs a punch in the end or has some kind of twist. Hit it.

Write a piece of flash fiction that includes all the key elements of a story in 250 words or less. You can do it! Go for the zing.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.

May Mania ~ Stretch #1

Spring is a time when my plume productivity drops off big time because sports is a huge distraction for me. After a long winter, it's difficult to ignore the call of the wild when the weather's so nice. I'm just getting back into a running routine, cuz I hibernate when it's bitter cold, and I want to be out, out, out, frolicking, hiking, playing flag football, running with my pack. Writing becomes a bit of chore in this welcoming season that promises fun times. But I need to write and finish my book.

If you're like me, you sometimes just need little nudges to get creative juices flowing and to make writing fun again. So, nearly every day in the month of May, I will give a writing exercise you can use to tickle your inner writer. Become a May Maniac and pen something beyond napkin scraps. As writers we need to pay attention to details. Here's an easy stretch to kick off a most productive May.

Eat something with multiple tastes like a chocolate covered cherry or strawberry, a slice of apple with peanut butter or a piece of steak drenched in your favorite sauce and describe everything about it from the appearance, colors, textures and flavors to the emotions and sensations it piques in your body.

You can do it. Be a May Maniac and get writing.

~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.