Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 39
April 29, 2013
Ways to Create Multi-Dimensional Characters--Tip #1
Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:
To give characters depth, we have to be people-watchers. Study people. Know thyself. I strongly recommend reading books on psychology as part of research. For instance, I read a lot of FBI books on profiling.
As writers, characters need some amount of consistency without being predictable. If there is some deviation from the profile, there must be a good reason WHY, other than we need a character to act a certain way to move our story forward.
Another awesome post from writing coach Kristen Lamb. This is a must read!
As regular readers know, this blog passes on great resources for writers. Often I will reblog the very best content, as doing so gives the originating author and their blog more exposure. Their blog also receives the hits from my posts. Reblogs of CommuniCATE posts are always welcome (unless stated), as long as my Copyright remains in tact. Copyright of any reblogs strictly belongs to the originating author. Please, don't rip off their work!
You are welcome to use this reblog logo on your own blog to encourage sharing of your work.
April 28, 2013
Writing Rocket Fuel: Cinquains
Have you heard of a cinquain?
“At the most basic level a cinquain is a five line poem or stanza. The poem has one topic and the details describe the the topic’s actions and feelings. Here are two variations.
Method One
Line 1 - one word for the topic
Line 2 - 2 words to describes your topic
Line 3 - 3 words that describes the actions relating to your topic
Line 4 – 4 words that describes the feelings relating to your topic
Method Two
Line 1 – two syllables
Line 2 – four syllables
Line 3 – six syllables
Line 4 – eight syllables
Line 5 – two syllables
Line 5 – one word that is another name for your topic”
Source: http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hickey/coleres.htm
The best Cinquain poetry author is Adelaide Crapsey. Her biography can be found on the Poetry Foundation’s web site.
Adventure
Sun and wind and beat of sea,
Great lands stretching endlessly…
Where be bonds to bind the free?
All the world was made for me!
Blue Hyacinths
In your
Curled petals what ghosts
Of blue headlands and seas,
What perfumed immortal breath sighing
Of Greece.
Both poems are by Adelaide Crapsey
NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.
Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: NaPoWriMo, Writing Rocket Fuel
April 27, 2013
Editing your memoir, showing versus telling
Reblogged from moonbridgebooks:
All writers need an editor. Even editors need editors. Family-only writings can be held to looser standards, but have a few people read over the manuscript to look for typos and improper grammar and anything that does not make sense, is not clear, or is phrased awkwardly. Friends who don’t know your past very well would make good “beta readers.” After all, the great-great-great grandchildren may someday read your book and you want them—strangers—to understand everything you wrote and not stumble over twisted, rambling sentences.
If you write and love memoir, this is a must follow blog! Please visit and have a good look around, there are plenty of treasures waiting for you. Enjoy...
April 25, 2013
Coping with a Cynical Critique, by Sandra Nikolai
Like any writer who wants to succeed, I spent years learning about the profession and refining my skills. I attended writers’ conferences, studied how-to books on writing and publishing, and read piles of novels in a variety of genres.
Armed with a draft of my first mystery novel, I took the next step in the process: I found a mentor through a writers’ group I’d joined. My mentor offered to review the first and last thirty pages of my novel and email her comments to me after a month’s time.
At the end of the session, her email arrived and I was eager to read it. As my eyes flew over the words, disbelief stifled enthusiasm. Her remarks were sarcastic and stung as much on screen as if she’d read them out loud in a room full of people. She proposed drastic changes to the characters, settings, and plot. She even advised me to re-write the entire story in the third person. (I’d written it in the first person.) In closing, she defended her position as a “tough editor” and hoped her comments would help me write a better book.
You’ve got to be kidding!
My next reaction was to send “Miss Sarcastic” a nasty email but I decided against it. It wasn’t worth the time or energy to respond to someone who was inconsiderate and rude. I’d just file a complaint against her on the evaluation form I had to complete and send it off to the writers’ group headquarters. And yet…
Available from Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Impressions-Michael-Elliott-mystery-ebook/dp/B0086WMMZ0/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338295012&sr=1-6
I read Miss Sarcastic’s comments again. Her mocking attitude had dealt a serious blow to my ego, but what if she was right and my story did need a revamp? After all, she had a handful of published mystery novels under her belt and had mentored other writers. I was…well…green. Surely she must know what she’s talking about. And so I conceded, knowing that the revisions to my manuscript would entail a major upheaval. In fact, the task proved a lot more difficult than writing the book in the first place and took months out of my life. After I’d finished, I put it aside. When I read it a week later, I was disheartened. It was no longer my story. The changes I’d made had sucked the life right out of it. I hated it.
Not one to accept defeat, I reviewed Miss Sarcastic’s comments again—this time from an unbiased perspective. I dug out my original manuscript and integrated the changes that I felt would benefit the story and ignored the rest. After I finished, I had to admit it was a stronger novel.
I recently heard that my mentor has abandoned her writing career. Her book sales weren’t doing well, so she accepted a job with a media firm. If anything, I owe her a modicum of gratitude. The experience inspired me to set up guidelines that I’ve since followed when reviewing critiques of my work. I’d like to share them with other writers in the hope they might find them useful too:
1. Take the time to review a critique. Let it ferment. You might interpret it differently later on.
2. Try not to take a negative critique as a personal insult but consider it with an open mind.
3. A negative critique gives you a choice: either fix the problem or ignore it. Consider how any change will affect your story. Will it strengthen or weaken it?
4. No one knows your characters or plot as well as you do. If a suggestion for a change doesn’t fit— no matter how good it might sound, don’t force it into the story.
5. Growing as a writer means heeding your inner voice or gut feelings. Trust your writer’s instincts more often. If you believe that a change will improve the story, do it. If not, move on.
Happy writing!
Meet Sandra Nikolai
Sandra was raised in Montreal, Québec, and graduated from McGill University. As a young girl, she loved reading the Nancy Drew mystery series and was determined to write her own stories one day. Her career choices didn’t exactly lead her along the “yellow brick road” to writing mystery novels—though working in a bank and experiencing a string of armed robberies did ingrain terrifying memories worthy of a story!
In 2002, Sandra won an Honorable Mention in Canadian Writer’s Journal short fiction competition. She has since published a dozen short stories online and in print. False Impressions is her first mystery novel in a series featuring ghostwriter Megan Scott and investigative reporter Michael Elliott. She is currently working on Fatal Whispers, book two in the series.
Sandra is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Capital Crime Writers.
You can catch up with Sandra at her beautiful website and blog:
http://sandranikolai.com/
http://sandranikolai.com/blog/
Buy False Impressions from Amazon Kindle
This blog post is Copyright Sandra Nikolai 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without the author’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-use if it is for a commercial venture.
Filed under: Guest Post, Writing Tagged: author, books, Capital Crime Writers, challenge, creativity, Crime Writers of Canada, critique, cynicism, discovery, editing, encouragement, failure, fiction, goals, growth, ideas, inspiration, learning, motivation, passion, plot, problem solving, resource, Sandra Nikolai, stress management, success, support, writer, writing
April 24, 2013
ANZAC Day in Australia
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
~ In memory of Robert Montgomery Kennedy, ANZAC, stationed in Egypt; then in the 53rd Battalion, B attle of the Somme, France. ~
In Australia on April 25th it’s Anzac Day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The day is held on the anniversary of a landing on the shores of Gallipoli, Turkey during World War I, 1915.
The Rising Sun Army Badge
Not only are our military forces from World War I remembered on ANZAC Day, we also remember all who have served and died for our country. As our Australian War Memorial says, “The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.”
There is a great deal of debate as to whether the ANZACS landed at the correct spot in Turkey. The terrain was almost impossible to scale; there was little shelter from enemy gunfire and the campaign ended in massacre. More than 87,000 Turkish soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers lost their lives; including 8,700 Australians and 2,721 New Zealanders. After ten months, retreat was ordered under the cover of night. Fortunately, no more soldiers were wounded or killed in during the evacuation.
From a soldier who landed at Gallipoli:
On Tuesday [27 April] the Turks made a very determined attack against our left flank and we were standing to arms all day with bayonets fixed awaiting the charge which never came. At night the Turks did everything imaginable to raise their courage, blowing bugles, shouting “Allah” and shooting like Hell. We naturally expected every minute to be called upon to get to work with the bayonet. Every few minutes the cry rang out “Supports ready to charge” and up we rush, revolvers drawn and bayonets gleaming in the moonlight and one continuous rattle of musketry and machine guns. It was a nerve-wracking night, the tension broken every now and then by the orders “Stretcher-bearers wanted on the right or left” or “Another machine gun wanted”. But the longest night must come to an end and every man seemed to heave a sigh of relief when the grey dawn spread over the sky and showed us that, although by a hot fire we had held our position, the still forms of Australia’s manhood and the stream of stretchers making towards the clearing hospital on the beach, our name had been made with heavy casualties. [Captain I S Margetts, Diary, 27 April 1915] Source: © 2012 Copyright Board of Studies NSW
I hate the idea of war of any kind, however, I am deeply grateful for and respectful of our military personnel who have always and still play, an important part in keeping our nation at peace.
This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.
Filed under: Personal Post Tagged: ANZAC Day, Australia, Heroes, Military, Simpson and the Donkey, Two Up
April 23, 2013
Yes, You Can Write Upside Down!
Calling all Aussies… and Kiwis who enjoy a paddle across the pond. These gems are coming up Down Under in May.
Worldwide festivals can be found on my Twitter festival list https://twitter.com/cateartios/writer-s-festivals
Sydney Writer’s Festival, May 14-20
Purchased from http://www.iStockphoto.com. You cannot use this image for any reason without buying it yourself.
“Sydney Writers’ Festival is Australia’s largest annual celebration of literature and ideas. Each year, we present over 300 events (half of them for free) and attract attendances of around 80,000 in venues that stretch from the Festival hub at Walsh Bay to the Blue Mountains. For one week every May we bring together authors of the very best contemporary fiction and writers of cutting edge nonfiction, including some of the world’s leading public intellectuals, scientists and journalists. With the finest literary writing at our core, our programming is driven by the ideas and issues that animate all forms of writing.”
Twitter: @SydWritersFest
The Emerging Writer’s Festival, May 23rd – June 2nd, Melbourne
This one is for writers and isn’t just reader based. “The Emerging Writers’ Festival is an independent arts organisation based in Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. We exist in order to promote the interests of emerging writers – to improve their opportunities for professional development as well as their engagement with the broader public. Each year the Emerging Writers’ Festival brings writers, editors, publishers and literary performers together with the reading public for a festival that is fast becoming an essential part of Australia’s literary calendar.”
http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/ewf-2013/
Twitter: @EmergingWriters
Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blogging, books, creativity, discovery, Emerging Writers Festival, encouragement, growth, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, Melbourne, resource, success, support, Sydney Writers Festival, writer, Writers Festivals, writing
Yes, You CAN Write Upside Down!
Calling all Aussies and Kiwis prepared to take flight across the pond. (Or paddle…) These gems are coming up in May.
Worldwide festivals can be found on my Twitter festival list https://twitter.com/cateartios/writer-s-festivals
Sydney Writer’s Festival, May 14-20
Purchased from http://www.iStockphoto.com. You cannot use this image for any reason without buying it yourself.
“Sydney Writers’ Festival is Australia’s largest annual celebration of literature and ideas. Each year, we present over 300 events (half of them for free) and attract attendances of around 80,000 in venues that stretch from the Festival hub at Walsh Bay to the Blue Mountains. For one week every May we bring together authors of the very best contemporary fiction and writers of cutting edge nonfiction, including some of the world’s leading public intellectuals, scientists and journalists. With the finest literary writing at our core, our programming is driven by the ideas and issues that animate all forms of writing.”
Twitter: @SydWritersFest
The Emerging Writer’s Festival, May 23rd – June 2nd, Melbourne
This one is for writers and isn’t just reader based. “The Emerging Writers’ Festival is an independent arts organisation based in Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. We exist in order to promote the interests of emerging writers – to improve their opportunities for professional development as well as their engagement with the broader public. Each year the Emerging Writers’ Festival brings writers, editors, publishers and literary performers together with the reading public for a festival that is fast becoming an essential part of Australia’s literary calendar.”
http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/ewf-2013/
Twitter: @EmergingWriters
Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blogging, books, creativity, discovery, Emerging Writers Festival, encouragement, growth, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, Melbourne, resource, success, support, Sydney Writers Festival, writer, Writers Festivals, writing
April 22, 2013
Telling Your Story in Pictures…
…without starting a family fight, getting too touchy-feely, or writing a massive autobiographical work! There are so many ways of writing down your experiences, if you feel bogged down by the slog of a book approach, please visit my guest post at Kathy Pooler’s inspiring blog “Memoir Writer’s Journey.” This technique has been a great inspiration to my local life story students, and it will help steer you past the pitfalls of wordiness and hurt feelings.
Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Writing Tagged: autobiography, blog, brevity, clarity, concise, conflict, guest post, ideas, inspiration, Kathy Pooler, life story, memoir, Memoir Writers Journey, originality, out of the frame, photography, resource, success, touchy-feely, William Yang, wordiness, writer, writing
April 21, 2013
Writing Rocket Fuel: Acrostic Poetry
Looking for a new creative challenge? Have you tried acrostic poetry?
“An acrostic poem is a cryptographic form in which the initial letter of each line spells out a word, often the subject of the poem or the name of the person to whom the poem is dedicated.”
This is an interactive web site which will help you write acrostic poetry. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/
NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.
Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: NaPoWriMo, Writing Rocket Fuel
A to Z Blog Challenge #18
Reblogged from My Rite of Passage:
RELATIONSHIPS: the sweetest side of marketing
So says Cate Russell-Cole, an experienced creativity teacher and author. She has been published in many local and Internet e-zines, magazines and newspapers; and she has researched, written and taught her own courses since 1990. Her most successful course to date is Write Your Life Story, which has a thriving community on Facebook.
While marketing has to sit near the top of my priorities, I often loathe it. It's a passionate love - hate relationship. However, it has a sweet side: the new friends, growth and serendipitous discoveries that promoting myself has tumbled me into. When Belinda invited me to write a guest post for her blog, My Rite of Passage, this is the topic I chose. So for those of you who are shy or battle with pushing your work forward, this post is especially for you.
