Tag: amwriting

MWW17

Loretta Polaski1 Comment

MWW 2017 ad for Writers Digest.inddMWW 2017 is in just two weeks and I’m totally stoked! If you haven’t heard of Midwest Writers Workshop, you’re in for a treat! Each July it is held on the Ball State Campus in Muncie, Indiana. This is the 44th year! It is three days PACKED with classes for all genres and topics, social activities, social media mentoring, tax info, a Scrivener class, pitch sessions, query critiques, manuscript evaluations, professional headshots. I cannot name it all but if you are a writer or know of a writer in the Midwest, this is the place to be! There will be top-notch editors, agents, and authors there- Jane Friedman (publisher and writing guru), Jessica Stawser (editor for Writer’s Digest magazine and author), and author John Gilstrap. Just to name a few! I’m proud to be a charter member of MWW. Check out the website to learn more!

 

#amwriting, #jane-friedman, #jessica-strawser, #mww17, #writing, #writing-conferences

Writing Voice

Loretta PolaskiLeave a comment

writing voice WDI really like to read. Not only fiction, but all things on writing. Ask anyone, especially fellow writer, Delilah Jones Brown. I have nearly every book on writing! I’m a junkie! Some books are okay, some basic, some are outstanding. I just read one of the latter ones. Writing Voice: The Complete Guide to Creating a Presence on the Page and Engaging Readers (Creative Writing Essentials) by Writer’s Digest. I read another book in the series, Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction (Creative Writing Essentials), and have previously posted on it. I thought that book was a winner as well. The thing I really like about both these books is that the chapters are written by different authors. Everyone learns differently and having all these writers explain writing voice is enjoyable! Some chapters are good, some are amazing! As mentioned several times in this book, understanding voice is elusive. This book really helps you to understand what it is that you are trying to achieve. It’s not as hard as it seems!

It’s more than just voice though, the book also covers POV, tone, style and genres. It explains narrator voice thoroughly. It covers your character’s inner voice: what he thinks is different than what he says. We all have a public face and a private face. So do your characters. There are so many facets to writing effectively. There are plenty of exercises in this book to let you practice what you’re learning too! I have highlighted nearly the whole book and have notes in the margins as I see how these tips relate to certain characters in my own novel.

So you tell me, did you like this post more than prior ones? Did you feel like you knew me as an author a little bit better for it? I followed one of the repeated rules in the book: write fast so your inner voice comes through, not the sterilized, overwritten draft! This book needs to be on your to-read list!

#amwriting, #delilah-jones-brown, #writers-digest, #writing-voice

Finding Your Novel’s Point of View

Loretta PolaskiLeave a comment

The point of view of a story can change the tone entirely. First person is intimate. The reader is reading the story as if it was written to them but it is limited to that character’s POV only. Third person is not as intimate and can offer multiple POVs. But for sake of argument and to keep this article on target, let’s say we are just writing from a single POV.

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I’m going to use this big cat to demonstrate the importance of POV. A tale told from his POV would likely be one of cunning, stealth, wisdom, and strength. He is king of his domain. The same story told from the POV of his prey, say a rabbit, would be one perhaps of alertness, fear, and camouflage. The rabbit would always be wary of the big cat, always on the run. The leopard basks in the sun without worry. Where you are on the food chain influences how you see the world.

There’s yet another POV: The bird that sits in the tree day in and day out, observing the dance between the two animals. That POV offers yet a different tone. The bird obviously doesn’t know what the leopard or the rabbit are thinking and can only surmise. That POV takes us further away from the thoughts of the two characters. We become spectators instead of participants in the cat and rabbit game.

There may be challenges the big cat is facing- starvation, injury, exile from his pride. The rabbit could be suffering the same. Each may have something they need to prove to themselves or others. Every character in your book has goals, problems, and challenges. Everything is not as it appears.

Are you telling your story from the right POV? Are you getting the most bang? Are you close enough to the key issues in your story and able to unlock the intimacy of the plot to keep your reader on the edge of the chair? If you’re not sure, try writing it from another character’s POV to see how it changes the tone of your story and your message to your reader. Exercising your authorial right to put certain characters center stage and in the reader’s mind and heart is key to good storytelling. You may find pleasant surprises when you explore all characters for your lead.

For more information on choosing the right POV for your story, check out K.M. Weiland’s blog post How to Choose the Right POV.