by Susan Lovett | Oct 8, 2019 | Writing |
It’s October and writers everywhere are scrambling to prepare for NaNoWriMo—that one month when dreamers put pen to paper and write. Fifty thousand words in thirty days. It’s a glorious, exhausting plunge into writing that I highly recommend trying.
The trick to NaNoWriMo is to take the motivation you feel during November and experience it throughout the year when it’s back to just you and your words. No fellow writers feeling the pressure. No write-ins or all-nighters with like-minded folks. No common goal for the month.
by Susan Lovett | Aug 27, 2019 | Writing |
Taste is directly linked to smell. It, like smell, also happens within the body. We have to take in the food in order to taste it. Taste cannot happen passively. It is an active act, a decision. We drink the wine, eat the pizza, and savor the chocolate. As it’s linked to smell, I am going to limit my commentary, but I highly encourage you to include taste in your work.
by Susan Lovett | Aug 20, 2019 | Writing |
Experts say that smell is the sense most closely related to memory. The one that can transport us in time. It is also the sense I am least able to discuss. I was born without the sense of smell (congenital anosmia). I have not smelled anything in my life. Never will (so please do not ask me to smell things, especially things like ammonia. Been there—done that—can’t smell it).
by Susan Lovett | Aug 13, 2019 | Writing |
When we’re young, we learn about the world through touch. We put dirt in our mouths, Run our toes through the grass. Embed our hands into the dog’s shiny coat. As we grow, we learn not to touch dirty things and to keep our hands out of our mouths, but we never lose that desire to touch our world—to run our hands over objects of our desire.
by Susan Lovett | Aug 6, 2019 | Writing |
Hearing is a physical reaction within the eardrum. A vibration that carries meaning. Everything your character hears should do the same. It should resound within the story or characters.
by Susan Lovett | Jul 30, 2019 | Writing |
Welcome to the Sense Series. The first part was an overview of sensory writing. Now we’ll tackle one sense per week. First up: Sight.
Sight is the most common sense used in writing and the most important. Visual words and phrases bring that world to life. Through words, we recreate the world around us or invent an entirely new world for our reader.
by Susan Lovett | Jul 23, 2019 | Writing |
We experience the world through our senses, through what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell. It’s our senses that define our existence, which is why it is imperative to incorporate sensory writing into your work.
Senses take a flat world and transforms it into a fully realized one with depth, texture and vibrancy. All five senses should be integrated into your description somewhere. If your story takes place in the woods, you might talk about the dappled lighting, moist ground, and sounds of the birds and animals moving about. It might smell of wet Earth or decomposing leaves. If your story takes place in a bakery, I would hope there would be talk of scents and tastes—touches of vanilla and chocolate and the feel of warm cookies straight from the oven. The goal is to offer details about your world through the five senses, not just sight and sounds, which are the most easily accessed and obvious.
by Susan Lovett | Jul 9, 2019 | Fiction, Writing |
Setting is more than the broad location and time. It is everything contained within that space—the items and props that your characters handle and face.
by Susan Lovett | Jul 2, 2019 | Fiction, Writing |
Setting is an essential element in any story. It provides context and a space for your characters. When wielded properly, it can do more than simply list what your characters can see. It can support every other aspect of your writing.
The last blog covered the basics of setting. Now it’s time to explore ways to use setting to its best advantage.
by Susan Lovett | Jun 25, 2019 | Fiction, Writing |
Story requires place to make it come alive. Writing setting is much like the job of a set designer for the stage or screen. The trick is to discover ways to bring your setting to life. This may mean describing a building, a forest, a living room or some other place where your characters can move about their lives. This is setting. It includes everything from location to descriptions of the dishes on the kitchen table.
by Susan Lovett | Jun 11, 2019 | Writing |
Show versus Tell is an age old battle for writers. Deciding when to show your world to your readers and when to tell them facts is a balancing act. Good writing requires both styles. In the last blog, we covered when to tell. This blog focuses on showing—the powerhouse of writing.
Showing gives your reader a more immersive experience. It’s the difference between reading a newspaper article and a novel. One gives the facts with a sprinkling of details and description. The other invites the reader to experience the story along with the character. It’s engaging.
by Susan Lovett | Jun 4, 2019 | Writing |
Every writer has learned the first rule of writing: “Show don’t tell.” It is the preeminent bit of advice for writers of all levels and yet it remains one of the most misunderstood and confusing rules. Sure, it’s easy to understand why you shouldn’t tell your story from start to end like a person at the party who keeps saying, “…and then we…” with no end to the boredom. But it is not so easy to figure out what telling is versus showing. Sometimes they seem a lot alike. It all depends on how you write. The truth is good writing combines both showing and telling.
