(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Going Backward in Order to Go Forward · "422 to 409." "409, go ahead." "If you want to stop by, you can take some more photographs for us." "No thanks, I've got other plans. Do you have enough help without me?" "10-4." I should have been thankful for the offer, instead it only reinforced my unwillingness to be a part of one more grisly scene of death. My shift was over. I had paid my … [Read more...] about Back Story
fiction
Mix Things Up: Braiding
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Braiding · Braiding means weaving information into the story, especially characters, like a hairdresser weaving strands of hair into one strong braid. In my novel, Taking Back the Bullet, I focus on three main characters and their families. Out of thirty-four chapters in the book, I use the first nine chapters introducing the fictional characters. The first two chapters are set in Prairie Grove, … [Read more...] about Mix Things Up: Braiding
Getting to Know Your Characters
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Who Are These People and What Are They Doing In My Head? · I'm having so much fun thinking about the fictional characters coming alive since the last blog! In the blog titled "More Seeds to Sow," I introduced you to a veteran with PTSD who relied on a flock of ducks to help keep him calm; a woman who was nearly evicted from her home but was able to adopt out her two dozen beardless dragons in time; and a … [Read more...] about Getting to Know Your Characters
More Seeds to Sow
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Fourteen Therapeutic Pet Ducks, 24 Bearded Dragons, and a Masked Batman Caper · "You can't make this stuff up!" I tell other writers. We're all in agreement. If you want any ideas for your writing, you don't need to read fake news online. Just take a few "real" headlines and start writing. Free-writing is one form used by writers to get started. You just take a topic, start writing, and see where it … [Read more...] about More Seeds to Sow
Seeds to Sow: Questions to Ask
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Questions to Ask · Recently, in a Hutchinson News article, there was a story about a long-time bar being forced to close due to dwindling customer support. The owner was sharing a lot of memories with the reporter, but there was one that I knew immediately would fit into many a novel, maybe one of mine. Surprise! It's not a drunken fight scene. The owner recalled how when she and all her female employees … [Read more...] about Seeds to Sow: Questions to Ask
Seeds to a Story: Listen, Read, Write, Repeat
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Listen, Read, Write, Repeat · If you're a writer, or want to be a writer, do you save story-starters? Do you file newspaper clippings, save Pinterest images, or write down bits of overheard conversations, certain you'll use the comments or pictures in future dialogue? Maybe your file is labeled, "Save - to Use Later." I'm reading the Hutchinson News, and I glance at the obituaries and see the name, "Billy … [Read more...] about Seeds to a Story: Listen, Read, Write, Repeat
Creative Writing: Fake News
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Fake News · 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 … [Read more...] about Creative Writing: Fake News
Research in Writing: Read and Travel
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Read and Travel · If you write fiction, have you created a place for your characters to hang out? Writing is a combination of reading, travel, and imagination. Research and fact-checking are crucial. If you've used a travel guide or app, then your readers depend on you, the writer, to be accurate with locations and recommendations. If you write non-fiction, then consider the impact on others if … [Read more...] about Research in Writing: Read and Travel
Welcome!
(To listen to the audio of this blog post, use the purple play button.) · Welcome to my blog! · I'm writing from south-central Kansas. For those of you more familiar with our geography, my wife and I live outside of Hutchinson. It's known as "the Salt City" for the many salt mines that were once active. Kansans know it as the home of the State Fair, the National Junior College Basketball Tournament, and the Cosmosphere & Space Museum. But, I'm not trying to recruit … [Read more...] about Welcome!
