Posted in Craft of writing

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

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”

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, fiction, Travel Writing, Workshops, Writing exercises, Writing Workshops

Flash Fiction

The Story Behind the Story 

The story behind a story, I recently had published The City that Stole His Daughter, offers insight into the kind of an exercise that can stoke the imagination of a writer.

The Exercise 

In Rolf Potts‘ course, Travel Writing as Memoir, in October 2019 sponsored by Santa Fe Workshops, he set before us a “pyschogeography” exercise to prompt the imagination as a flaneur, wandering not so aimlessly through the streets of San Miguel de Allende.

We were to select a color — I picked blue. Wander the street to find the first instance of the color while walking the streets and follow it until it disappeared or ran out of sight. Then pick up the next element of blue and follow it until I walked past it or it fell out of sight. Again and again until a story or fragments came into being.

 The Outcome

This process led me to notice a man on a park bench with his hat tipped to shade the sun with a big fat yellow lab asleep underneath. I imagined he had come to the city to see an adult son or daughter who had left the countryside for a better way of life.

I sauntered to a yellow coffee shop with a lavender blue door and shutters, Lavanda, for lemonade and asked for the owner. The manager, Karla, came to visit me about where they purchased their lavender and leapt to the topic of “specialty” coffee.

I recall her excitement as she told me, “Our coffee is fair trade. It is good for the farmer, the roasters, the coffee shop, and our clients. It is a win-win for everyone. It makes a good economy for our community. When asked by customers if our coffee is organic, I must tell that that ‘Yes, it is farmed without pesticides and with the old ways of tilling the fields and harvesting, but sadly no, our government does not regulate for an organic label’.”

When I combined the image of the old man and my imagined story of him with the enthusiasm of Karla about speciality coffee, I had my story.

The Resulting Story

I have submitted the story to contests and for publication several times, revised it each time a bit, and then won honorable mention by WOW! Women on Writing in early 2020 but it was not published. I submitted it for review and feedback by Flash Fiction Magazine and then received substantial recommendations to make changes. They published my 1000-word flash fiction, The City that Stole His Daughter, this week, August 18, 2020. Thanks to Flash Fiction Magazine.

Posted in Craft of writing, fiction, Writing, Writing exercises

Revision: Ways to Improve my Writing

REVISION 

Editing a paragraph from my book-in-progress illustrates the kind of work entailed in revision. This is the “line edit” kind of editorial work that I do on an ongoing process with my writing partners and for myself.  Continue reading “Revision: Ways to Improve my Writing”

Posted in Craft of writing, journal writing, Travel Writing, Writing exercises

Revise a draft using the five senses.

Another way to revise our travel stories (or any story or scene) is to use the senses to describe the setting, the characters, and the action. Using the words “I smell…, we heard…, or you may taste…” is NOT the point. We can imply the senses by using rhythm with our words or utilizing descriptors that convey the sense itself.  Continue reading “Revise a draft using the five senses.”