Online Writing – Page 3 – Write on the World

Story mirrors life

December 28, 2012 Mandy Webster

This morning, I came across a cute plot skeleton graphic on Pinterest, and I couldn’t help comparing it to my novel and my own personal life story. It’s funny how every good story seems to follow this same organizational pattern. Luckily, my novel so far has all of the basic parts. As does my life!

I am currently working my way up to the “bleakest moment” of my novel and am finding it harder and harder to write as I draw ever closer to doing some horrible things to my protagonist. I think part of the problem is that some of the horrors I am about to put her through are drawn from certain incidents in my own life. As I am writing these scenes, I’m personally transported to a time in my life that I’d rather not relive. Continue reading “Story mirrors life” →

Novel Writing, Writers on Writing

Discovering the names of novels

December 16, 2012 Mandy Webster

English: Statistic of titles the English Short... — But where did all of those titles come from? | English: Statistic of titles the English Short Title Catalogue categorised as “fiction”, 1600-1799. black line: yearly production, red line: ten year moving average (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Names and titles used to be the bane of my existence.

I can’t begin to tell you how much time I have wasted agonizing over names for characters and titles for stories. I have recently realized that those names and titles will eventually reveal themselves to you once you learn to listen for them.

I’ve had a name for my current novel-in-progress for some time, but I haven’t been entirely happy with it. It’s okay, but it doesn’t really sum up the novel in the way I want it to. But, I hate thinking about titles, so I just went with it and kept writing. After all, there’s no sense agonizing over a title at the expense of writing the story. Continue reading “Discovering the names of novels” →

Novel Writing, Writers on Writing

The ghosts of journals past

November 21, 2012November 21, 2012 Mandy Webster

Old journal full of freewrites — This is the pretty notebook that caught my eye the other day while I was digging around in a drawer. Who would have guessed the treasures this old journal would hold?

Do you remember a while back when I was talking about my new project and how it had just come to me out of the blue? At the time, I thought my new novel project was this fresh idea I had that just took off like I’d been mulling it over my entire life even though I just thought of it a couple of months ago. That was until this morning when I stumbled across an old journal.

I was digging around for a notebook I could use for freewrites and scene ideas so I could keep those separate from the chronological chapters I’ve been writing one after another in my current journal. I remembered seeing a pretty notebook in the bottom of a desk drawer the other day while digging around for something else I never found and figured that one would do the job.

So, I went back and dug this notebook out of the bottom of that drawer and flipped it open to see if it had enough empty pages in it for me to squeeze in some free writes. Imagine my surprise when I realized this notebook was full of old freewrites that turned out to be directly related to my current story! Continue reading “The ghosts of journals past” →

NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing

Help! My novel is running away with me!

September 21, 2012 Mandy Webster

Has this happened to you? You create a solid outline of your novel, and you think you have everything figured out, and then BAM! You realize your story has taken off and is completely running away with you. There is far more to your story than you previously thought. You realize you have more to figure out than you could have ever imagined, and it scares the shit out of you. This is where I’ve found myself this past week. Continue reading “Help! My novel is running away with me!” →

Novel Writing

Minor characters have major impact on story

September 20, 2012September 19, 2012 Mandy Webster

No matter how awesome your main characters are, your minor characters can give you a completely different perspective on the story. | Artwork of the main characters. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is your story making you angry? Maybe you’ve written several chapters, and each of them alone seem like a great start, but you’re having a hard time getting them to work together as a whole. What do you do when you hit these rough patches that make you feel like you will never be able to make your novel “work?”

One strategy I suggest to help you get over that rough patch is to take yourself out of the “official” story for a while, have a couple of glasses of wine (or a couple of beers,) and sit and do some free writes looking at the story from the point of view of the most minor character in the novel. Continue reading “Minor characters have major impact on story” →

Essays, Novel Writing

Reading and writing a new project

August 30, 2012 Mandy Webster

Patrick Rothfuss is a sweetheart — “The Name of the Wind,” a novel by Patrick Rothfuss, helped put me in the right frame of mind to get started on my latest writing project. (Photo credit: Rakka)

I can’t seem to write without reading. And when I do read, I always end up writing in the same genre I’ve been reading. When I read a lot of poetry, I find myself writing a lot of poetry. If I’ve read a couple of good YA novels in a row, my brain wants to write a YA novel. So, it was no surprise that an idea for a fantasy novel popped into my head right as I was finishing Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind a couple of weeks ago.

I was out for my almost-daily walk one morning when a couple of interesting characters began to have a conversation in my head. Normally when this happens, I reach for a pen and paper (or my laptop) and rush to capture these conversations word-for-word. What I usually end up with is a small bit of compelling dialogue that goes absolutely nowhere. Continue reading “Reading and writing a new project” →

Poetry, Poetry by Mandy Webster

Poetry Friday: Miss Kitty

August 10, 2012 Mandy Webster

A picture of my kitten, Zelda — This is Zelda. Don’t worry, I don’t let her roam about outside unsupervised. She just likes to hang out on the patio with me while I sit in my comfy chair and read.

It’s been some time since I’ve posted for Poetry Friday, but inspiration struck a moment ago, so I decided to pounce. Is it too soon to hope I’ve finally recovered from my bout with writer’s block?

Today’s poem is inspired by my kitten, Zelda, who is turning out to have quite the personality:

Miss Kitty

My cat thinks I’m her prey.

She stalks me through the house,
Crouching on the stairs
Or behind a curtain,
Just waiting for me to pass
So she can pounce.

~By Amanda L. Webster Continue reading “Poetry Friday: Miss Kitty” →

Writing Prompts

Themes and motifs in everyday life

May 9, 2012May 7, 2012 Mandy Webster

As a high school student, I always hated it when my literature teachers insisted that we identify the themes and motifs of the stories we read. However, as an adult, I have found that my life is laced with a few distinct recurring themes and motifs.

For today’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, I invite you to take a look at your own life and consider what themes and motifs seem to appear most frequently. Then choose one of these themes (and/or motifs) and write an essay, short story, or poem that explores the impact of this theme on your life.

You might also consider how the themes and motifs from your everyday life influence your writing in general. For example, do you often find yourself incorporating these same themes into each piece? Continue reading “Themes and motifs in everyday life” →

Poems by Corbin DesJardins, Poetry

Corbin’s poems about Far North

April 20, 2012April 20, 2012 Mandy Webster

Cover of "Far North" — Cover of Far North

Earlier this week, my 12-year-old came home from school with a booklet of poems he’d written for his English class. They’d read the book, Far North, by Will Hobbs, and had to write several poems about the book in a variety of forms.

I was more than just a little impressed with some of the poems my son had written, so I asked him if I could share one on my blog for Poetry Friday, which is sponsored this week by Random Noodling. This is the poem he chose for me to share:

Clint (a name poem)

Could you see that plane fly by
Like a bird
In the sky
Now the plane is going down
The bush pilot Clint was never found

~By Corbin DesJardins

And I wanted to share one more. This place poem was one of my favorites in Corbin’s collection: Continue reading “Corbin’s poems about Far North” →

Poetry, Poetry by Mandy Webster

April is National Poetry Month

April 13, 2012April 11, 2012 Mandy Webster

It’s April. The poetic vibes fill the air as our collective minds turn themselves to poetry for National Poetry Month. I haven’t shared anything for Poetry Friday in several weeks, but I’d like to get back in the habit, at least for this month.

I wrote a lot of poetry last fall while taking a course in writing poetry for children and young adults, but I haven’t written much since. I’ve noticed that if I’m reading poetry regularly, the poems flow from my pen (or keyboard) with little effort. But, when I’m not reading poetry regularly, I just get the occasional snippet. And if I don’t sit down right away and work that snippet into a full poem, it just sits in my pretty poetry notebook and goes to waste. Continue reading “April is National Poetry Month” →

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Miss Kitty

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Clint (a name poem)

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