Tag: Craft of writing

Rhonda writing an exercise a Story Circle Network writing retreat.
Posted in Craft of writing, Fiction & Nonfiction Writing, Revision, Scene Craft

Two Types of Writing Research & Two examples of each

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

INTRODUCTION
Discovery in writing happens in so many ways. All the different ways can be enlightening to the writer and in turn for the reader. Discovery may happen before, during or after writing a chapter, scene, or essay. Some are technical such as dialogue that’s culturally relevant or time frame that matches with the attire of characters, while others are artistic, such as voice, rhythm, pacing, or description.

TECHNICAL RESEARCH
Example #1: I love working with all of these means of discovery. Research to know what is happening in a particular time will create interest and/or relevance. For example, when I write about the 1970s I need to know the pop culture of the time. Through music, world events like Vietnam War, social events of protests.

Example #2: When I write about Cuba, I need to know about the cars that line the streets. Writing about a Ford Bel Air, instead of accurately a Chevy Bel Air, will make my writing suspect. And what if only a few know the difference? They may be the ones who tell others every chance they get that I don’t know what I’m writing about. Therefore telling potential readers not to bother with my work. That’s a marketing blunder.

ARTISTIC RESEARCH
Example #1: On the other hand, discovering how I develop my voice on the page, how I pace different stories based on the demands of the story to be a slow burn or a rapid-melt conclusion, require learning from my own mistakes. Paying attention to what works with my writers’ community or beta readers is key to building my confidence and adherence to using my own voice in my work.

Example #2: Artistically as writers, we need to spend time reading great works and even not such great works to see what doesn’t measure up. We read to “feel” when a writer’s pacing reflects what is actually happening in the story. We read to “hear” how the words fall on the page and in our ears. Do they fit the era? Do they fit the timing of the story? Do they reflect emotions being expressed?

SUMMARY
Our lives as writers are always at work in our heads as to how to write. We can learn from overheard conversations, jokes, google searches, or library digging. What a wonderful job (full of wonder) we get to enjoy. But we must also do our own due diligence, to ensure that are work is relevant, inspiring, and culturally, technically, and scientifically accurate. Our work is never done and that’s the fun of it.

See my latest work: Song of Herself.

Fiona Weston, an Iowa horsewoman in work boots and trousers, sails to India in 1906 to discover her journey is not the quest for which she had yearned, nor the escape from those who ridicule her unconventional ways. Fiona experiences a journey fraught with obstacles that creates a sturdy sense of self in which she learns to accept irreconcilable differences and still sing her song of self.

It’s available on Amazon and Bookshop.

Posted in Revision, Solas Travel Writing Awards, Writers' Groups, Writing Partners

3 Reasons to Join Writing Groups

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

Without the persistent support and serious critique of writing groups and partners throughout my writing career, starting in the early 1990s, I likely would not be a published author or had the success I’ve had to date. Groups and partners are necessary to the revision process of writing.

Let’s look at three reasons for getting feedback from other writers so we can revise with input and confidence.

Three Purposes of Receiving Feedback from Fellow Writers

ONE. Writing partners and groups offer support to the fragile souls of writers. Positive feedback is just as important as negative, if not more so. Partners and groups answering , “What do you like or what works for you as the reader?” lets the writer know what already enhances their piece.

Examples of feedback:

  • “The author’s work is paced so that it heightens the tension.”
  • “The audience is kept informed of details that keep the reader from stopping to ask ‘huh?’”
  • “The essay on forgiveness is a difficult and humbling topic, one needed in our public and private lives today. I commend the author for tackling the topic.”

TWO. Members of a writing group give brutally honest responses to another’s writing product — called constructive feedback. This gives the author a chance to listen and determine if the review feels on target or is deemed unimportant to their work.

Examples of feedback:

  • “The dialogue on pages 3-4 is clunky and extraneous and could be deleted without loss to the story.”
  • “The use of the adjective ‘really’ adds no value to a sentence, is overused, so can be eliminated throughout the story.”
  • “The sequence of events feels out of order. Perhaps placing the second event as the fourth will improve the logical occurrences of the scene.”

THREE. When a writer hears group members express what they are curious about or what they want more of in the story, it opens up possibilities. This often lets the writer find new scene-worthy material.

Examples of feedback:

  • “When the writer mentions rubies being found, is there a chance of other jewels being discovered in the treasure hunt?”
  • “As the author describes Hemingway’s life, what role do his four wives play in his literary career? ”
  • “When the protagonist fades from the scene, what is her emotional state? What physical ways can you show that?”

Writing Success through Publications and Awards

My most recent achievement was winning a bronze Solas travel writing award in “Elders” category for my story, “From the Back of the Van,” when traveling in Chiapas, Mexico with two friends.

My travel writing group is the backbone of my success. We take classes together and review each others’ work, going on about three years now. The group expands and contracts over time, but there are eight to fifteen of us, Zooming from San Diego to New York and all in between.

What’s remarkable is that ten of us placed in the Solas awards this year; last year, six of us. Solid proof that writing partners and groups work.

The Travelers’ Tales editors and this year’s guest judge Scott Dominic Carpenter announced the winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year on March 15, 2023. Scores of entries in 21 categories kept the judges busy. As usual, not every story that deserved an award received one. Here’s the complete list of winners. 

Winning stories will be posted on the Great Stories page and as Editors’ Choice stories on TravelersTales.com, and may appear in future Travelers’ Tales books. (Taken from the 17th Solas Awards Announcement page)

Travel is the Subject of my Two Books

Travel writing was not just aspirational, but a driving feature of my life and my work. At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up and Growing Away was my coming-of-age, travel memoir that follows me from a girl of ten to a young woman of twenty-seven. Travel experiences helped me grow up with a nuanced view of the world and a telling tale to gain self-confidence and agency as a result of my travels.

Novel writing grew from a dream one morning of a woman in a salwar kameez. It became the inspiration for Song of Myself, an historical novel, set in 1906 about a young horsewoman that traveled to India to sell her uncle’s quarter horses to the British Indian army for breeding.

Both book themes assert the transformative nature of building agency during travel, especially for women.

You can purchase each at Amazon as a paperback or an eBook.

Posted in Craft of writing

Join the Story Circle Network Class, “What Lurks Beneath: Finding the Emotional Current Beneath the Story Events”

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

Invitation to Join the Class

For my writing friends, this is an invitation to join me and others to write a personal essay (travel writing perhaps?), then search for the emotional currents that lurk just beneath the events of the story. Learning how to express the emotional beats or currents in your story (whether fiction or nonfiction) challenges most of us as writers.

Class Description in a Nutshell

This class will explore the uniqueness of travel writing and how to revise and edit your work for publication word count limitations. Once the personal essay is drafted then you will learn how to discover the emotional current or force of you story, where to add emotional content, and different ways to express an emotional beat, like peeling an onion.

Learn More Here

I’d enjoy having you join us. You will find the class summary and outline with dates and costs, along with how to register for the class on the Story Circle Network’s class website.

Posted in Craft of writing

Join the Story Circle Network Class, “What Lurks Beneath: Finding the Emotional Current Beneath the Story Events”

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

Invitation to Join the Class

For my writing friends, this is an invitation to join me and others to write a personal essay (travel writing perhaps?), then search for the emotional currents that lurk just beneath the events of the story. Learning how to express the emotional beats or currents in your story (whether fiction or nonfiction) challenges most of us as writers.

Class Description in a Nutshell

This class will explore the uniqueness of travel writing and how to revise and edit your work for publication word count limitations. Once the personal essay is drafted then you will learn how to discover the emotional current or force of you story, where to add emotional content, and different ways to express an emotional beat, like peeling an onion.

Learn More Here

Please join us. You will find the class summary and outline with dates and costs, along with how to register for the class on the Story Circle Network’s class website.

Posted in Craft of writing, Description, Details in Writing, Editing & Revision, Pacing, Travel Writing

Description, Detail, and Pacing

Posted on by Rhonda Wiley-Jones

Research that Serves the Story

In my last post, I illustrated three places in my recent novel, Song of Herself, where research served the story well. Without it, there would not have been sufficient particulars to give credibility to the characters.

As writers, we must search for and offer just enough details to render the character believable, but not so much that it bogs down the pace of the story. That’s a fine line.

Four friends have commented on that fine line and how my story achieved that for them as readers.  Here are their words.

Rhonda has taken years to craft this story and the work shows. One of the best books that I’ve read. The image of “monkeys swinging from thought…” sticks with me the most. (George H.)

You captured me with including wonderful information about things outside my world. The vocabulary of the ship and the special “horse words” are a bonus, but not ones that get in the way. (Jane W.)

Calcutta, I was there fifty years ago. You nailed it. The story flowed—made it easy to read. (Bruce B.)

The horses, you got it just right, but not too much. (Lenell D. )

Tips for Writers

  1. As writers, we must remember that readers want a fast-paced story with specifics that tell the story without slowing it down. Two to three targeted details usually get the job done.
  2. Presenting them in the context of an appropriate environment helps, as well. To find how much time is spent in a scene and then match it to how the reader experiences the story is critical. This is called pacing.
  3. Writers develop the skill of pacing over time from experience and feedback by beta-readers or writing group members helps.

If you haven’t already ordered my book, Song of Herself, see below

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639885501

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDK7Q54J/

If you read the book, please leave a short review of two or three sentences on Amazon, what you liked, what you found intriguing, or what you discovered about yourself in reading the book. Thanks, so much!!!