Penelope Baldwin's Blog, page 4
March 15, 2016
Picture Someone Famous: When you have someone in mind For Your Characters
I was asked the question that if I had anyone famous in mind when I wrote the characters for A House Made of Bricks. But even though I had a definite picture of what the characters looked like in my...
The post Picture Someone Famous: When you have someone in mind For Your Characters appeared first on Penelope Baldwin.
March 12, 2016
Writer’s Block- Stop the Block in it’s Tracks
Writer’s Block. Ugh. We’ve all been there. Sometimes half the battle of writing is coming up with what to write. All you need is that one great idea to jump-start your brain and writer’s block is history. For me, those ideas almost always come while I’m in the shower. I...
The post Writer’s Block- Stop the Block in it’s Tracks appeared first on Penelope Baldwin.
Writer’s Block- Ideas To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
Writer’s Block. Ugh. We’ve all been there. Sometimes half the battle of writing is coming up with what to write. All you need is that one great idea to jump start your brain and writer’s block is history. For...
The post Writer’s Block- Ideas To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing appeared first on Penelope Baldwin.
Novel Ideas- Ideas For Your Next Great Book
See what I did there? You need ideas for your next novel, and you want them to be fresh, new, NOVEL ideas. (If you’re groaning, you have no soul.) Sometimes half the battle of writing is coming up with...
The post Novel Ideas- Ideas For Your Next Great Book appeared first on Penelope Baldwin.
February 13, 2016
Interview with Penelope Baldwin (By Her Kids)
(From Penelope Baldwin: I agreed to my first hard-hitting interview with the three toughest reporters in my family room: S (my daughter, 12) A (my daughter, 10) and J (my son, 7) I have to say, I was impressed! I didn’t give them any prompting. I just told them to ask...
The post Interview with Penelope Baldwin (By Her Kids) appeared first on Penelope Baldwin.
Penelope Baldwin’s Interview- With Her Kids
To celebrate the release of her book, A House Made of Bricks, the three of us sat down with Penelope Baldwin to interview her about her book. Since she’s our mom, we went easy on...
The post Penelope Baldwin’s Interview- With Her Kids appeared first on Adventures From the Underground.
February 10, 2016
A Culture Addicted to FREE—How FREE is Poisoning the Internet & Killing the Creatives
Very interesting article about how we’ve become a culture where everything is free from warriorwriters.wordpress.com I hadn’t thought about this before, but it makes sense. Exposure used to be the treatment/cure, but the world...
The post A Culture Addicted to FREE—How FREE is Poisoning the Internet & Killing the Creatives appeared first on Adventures From the Underground.
A Culture Addicted to FREE—How FREE is Poisoning the Internet & Killing the Creatives
Very interesting article about how we’ve become a culture where everything is free from warriorwriters.wordpress.com
I hadn’t thought about this before, but it makes sense.
Exposure used to be the treatment/cure, but the world has evolved to be exposure-resistent. Exposure is like tossing regular penicillin at flesh-eating MRSA and expecting it to work.
Source: A Culture Addicted to FREE—How FREE is Poisoning the Internet & Killing the Creatives
February 7, 2016
Brevity: Why Say It In Ten words?
I’m not going to lie, brevity isn’t my strong suit. My first instinct is to always say more than I need to. Details are my comfort zone; I know if I use descriptive words,...
The post Brevity: Why Say It In Ten words? appeared first on Adventures From the Underground.
Adventures in Brevity: Why Say It In Ten Words When I Can Say It In Five (even though I really want to say it in ten)
I’m not going to lie. My first instinct is to always say more than I need to. Details are my comfort zone; I know if I use descriptive words, and site several examples, I have a better chance of being understood.
Apparently, not everyone feels that way.
In the first years of my marriage, my conversations with my husband sometimes baffled me. Usually, they went a little something like this:
My husband (KB): Guess, what? My friend’s wife is having a baby!
Me: Wow! When did they find out?
KB: I don’t know.
Me: Was she really excited when they found out?
KB: I don’t know.
Me: Did she tell your friend in a really cute way?
KB: This is the extent of our conversation: “My wife’s having a baby.” Me: “Cool.”
What??
Over the years, I’ve learned to ask less questions. And for his part, my hubby’s announcements go a little more like this:
“Guess what? Jim’s wife is having a baby. They’ve been trying for a few months, they found out two weeks ago when she took a test, she told him right away and they’re not going to find out if it’s a boy or girl. Better?”
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson
I love adjectives… and descriptions… and for everyone who reads my book to know everything that’s inside my characters heads. So I write it… But I know better, so I delete most of it.
As a reader, there have been times I’ve read a book and thought, “Yes. I get it. He’s mad at her. Can we move on now?” But yet, in my own stories, I’ll give out words like it’s Halloween and they’re candy. I had to learn to treat my writing like I’m in the desert and my words are the last sips of water left- and only use what’s necessary.
I started small. The adjectives were the first to go. Then all the unnecessary thoughts that ran through my characters’ heads. By the time I finished, I’d deleted two complete chapters and narrowed my book down by thousands of words.
I reread it and shook my head. Then I sliced and diced until only the story remained.
My main character, Miller, taught me a lot. His story was the focal point of my book, and I wanted to give him a real voice. Each time I wrote his dialog and read it back to myself the first time I’d think, “he wouldn’t say that.” Then in the next edit, “he’d say it that in fewer words. Then in the final edit, I’d delete everything he said and write, “He shrugged.”
It wasn’t just about deleting words either. It was about finding better words- the right word. It was about a nod or a smile. A glance. One smirk that melts her heart. A single gasp to let you know her heart’s now broken.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Sometimes, I miss my extra words. I think about the birthday chapter that never happened, the funny quip I trashed four edits before, a character that no longer even exits. But then I remember how unnecessary they were. How they brought the rest of the words down. How they talked a lot but said nothing.
My story deserves more.
So, before this blog post becomes too long and becomes ironic, I’ll end with this.
“The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.” Robert Cormier.
How about you? Do you fall into the less is more category? Or are you like me- the only thing missing from your stories are the illustrations? Let me know in 500 words or less. :)
