• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sandhenge Publications

Jim Potter, Author

  • About the Author
  • Author Blog
    • Sign Up for Jim’s Posts
  • Blog Podcasts
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact the Author
  • Read the Behind the Books Blog
    • Listen to the Audio Blog
  • Check Book Reviews
  • Sign Up to Receive Blog Posts
  • All Books

Creative Writing

August 23, 2017 by Jim Potter Leave a Comment

Share this blog post

Email
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
https://jimpotterauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Creative-Writing.m4a

·  Fake News  ·

By Coles Studio, 1937, Glasgow, Montana

Today the media talks about the alarming impact of “fake news.” No doubt that in our instant, mass communication world, one fraudulent or deceptive story can cause massive confusion with grave consequences.

Check out this “exaggeration” post card from 1937 showing a rather large grasshopper that died of lead poisoning.

Similar manipulated, tall-tale images had been in circulation since the early 1900’s, the Golden Age of Postcards. The popularity of early cards was due to the ability of photographers like William H. Martin (he was the best) to prove a point by producing a picture worth a thousand words.

Farmers especially enjoyed postcards displaying over-sized produce because they could send the cards to family back East as humorous, visual proof of their rich agricultural land keeping them busy and wealthy while harvesting all year round.

One day during my Master Gardener training (K-State Research & Extension), on the topic of entomology, I was surprised, really shocked, to see “my” grasshopper photo-postcard included in the presenter’s power point presentation!

For fun, the bug expert had included a newspaper headline and story beside the grasshopper photo. In bold print the news flashed: “FARMER SHOOTS 23-LB. GRASSHOPPER!” Reported by Steve Dunlop of Weekly World News, this fabricated story was supposedly from New Zealand.

Photo by F. D. Conard, 1937, Garden City, KS

The opening line is superb! I love this writing! “A 48-inch grasshopper chewed its way through an acre of corn before farmer Barry Gissler drew a bead on the creature with his 30-30 rifle–and shot it dead!”

In contrast, I share my subdued introduction in my character-driven novel, Taking Back the Bullet. “By two in the morning, Jailer Jennings had booked in three DUIs. Eight hours down and four to go before he could go home, catch some z‘s, then return to do it all over again.”

Granted, there is a difference between shock news and literary fiction, but they certainly have one thing in common: There must be a hook, a grabber, a reason for the reader to continue.

At home, on the Internet, I continued reading the supermarket tabloid’s bizarre article about this once ravenous creature. The second paragraph stated: “Now university experts are studying the 23-pound insect’s carcass in hopes of finding out where it came from and why it grew so big.”

I compared my second paragraph to Dunlop’s: “After two years working the jail, Jennings viewed most drunks as clones to their intoxicated peers. He’d heard, ‘I only had two beers,’ so often that he no longer shook his head in disbelief or judged them as desperate liars. Instead, he smiled. It was a joke. Police humor.”

One thing I take from this comparative exercise, is that the writing is similar though the genre is different. In both stories, the writers have created a setting and invite the reader to accept it as real, to enter and continue into a fantasy world.

Photo by F. D. Conard

If the reader is curious, then they will read the next sentence, maybe the next paragraph. They will decide if this is where they wish to spend their time, hoping they can catch a break from the speeding world around them and be entertained for a few hours.

I don’t know if the “reporter” from Weekly World News used a fictitious name, but I know I’d be interested in learning if he, or she, had tips on creative writing or wrote any novels.

I’ll bet they’re really good.

Until next time, happy writing and reading!

Share this blog post

Email
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin

Related

Filed Under: Blog posts Tagged With: creative writing, exaggeration postcards, fake news, fiction, literary fiction, postcards, tall tales, writing

Sign Up for the Blog

You will never have to check this site for the latest blog post, and you’ll get the latest and the greatest first! You will receive a confirmation email that you must respond to in order to be officially subscribed.

IMPORTANT! Check your Junk and Spam folders as needed!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Jim Potter, Author

author

Recent Blog Posts

  • Publishing My Children’s Book in Six Months: Choosing a Title January 26, 2023
  • Publishing My Children’s Book in Six Months: Multitasking January 19, 2023
  • Publishing My Children’s Book in Six Months: Networking January 12, 2023
  • Publishing My Children’s Book in Six Months: Introduction January 5, 2023
  • Charles Collins: First Reno County Sheriff September 30, 2022

If you prefer to listen . . .

If you prefer to listen to my blog posts, you can do so … List of podcasts about Podcasts

Post Archives

  • January 2023
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017

What People Are Saying

Footer

Follow Jim on Facebook

Follow Jim on Facebook

Interviews with Jim Potter

Video interview with James Lowe outside Bookends Bookstore July 21, 2022

Print interview with author Bill Bush September 1, 2022

Print interview with author Cheryl Unruh February 28, 2019

Hutchinson Magazine Article

Copyright © 2023 Sandhenge Publications · Website by Rosemary Miller