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“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner
New Workbook series launches this week.
Looking to make your settings memorable?
In Eight Strategies for Writing Innovative
Settings, we’ll examine key strategies to create impact for the settings of
our novels regardless of genre. Each section focuses on one strategy with three
or four applications and creative writing prompts to customize to your work.
Whether you are just beginning a project or ready to revise, these suggestions
will give you critical perspective.
In
addition, we will look at novel excerpts from a variety of genres to see how
authors have built unique settings—and how we can apply these techniques to our
own work.
Build Your Story: What questions do you want answered for your specific
setting?
 Write with Impact workshops are a compilation of techniques, exercises, and observations
that will give your writing a fresh slant, prompt your creativity, and take
your writing to a deeper level.
What exactly does it mean to
write with impact? When we go deeper into our stories with heart-to-heart
connections and associations, we can write stories that make an impact on our
readers.
Read deep, Marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Attack
(4)
Narah
crawled toward their hut. More horses galloped to the channel’s edge, reared
and turned back. She flattened herself against the bank, sobbing. Two people
struggled above her. Narah gasped. Iscah was desperately clinging to a large
water basket. The soldier wrenched it from her grasp and flung it into the
stream. Iscah let out a piercing wail and collapsed into a heap. Narah slid
down the bank toward the water. The basket had lodged between two boulders and
was rocking back and forth. Jael! Jael must be hidden inside. Trembling, Narah
looked up. Black smoke billowed over the bank. She dashed into the water,
grabbed off the lid. Jael was crouched inside choking on sobs. Narah pulled her
out and kicked the basket loose to drift.
“Come,
Jael, come.”
Narah
hugged Jael tight and ran as fast as she could back down the channel around the
bend. She stopped at the cave to push Jael in.
“Go,
Jael, go to the back.”
Jael
whimpered and clung to Narah. Narah took deep, gasping breaths. “Narah is
coming too.” Narah crawled into the narrow opening. Jael buried her face in
Narah’s lap. “Big sister,” she cried, then sobbed silently.
Narah
stiffened at the sound of splashing in the water. She edged backwards and lay
on her stomach, eyes hidden behind the grass window. She froze. Their
footprints were scattered all over the damp bank. A large, burly man rushed
from the bend. Balak! Narah shook as Jael continued to cling, whimpering. Balak
stopped for a moment and tilted his head as if listening. Then he strode
upstream.
Narah
reached for a branch. Leaning forward as far as possible, she brushed their
footprints, smearing them, but couldn’t reach the ones near the water. The
ground shook again. The horses were in the stream. Narah pulled Jael to the
back of the cave. The thunder grew closer. Her eyes fixed on the grass curtain,
Narah rocked herself and Jael back and forth like Betta did when she sang to
her after a bad dream.
Share: In what way do you connect to
Narah emotionally in this scene? Or not? What makes the difference?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Attack
(3)
Narah
slid down the steep slope to the waterbed. The channel was low today. She waded
a few yards to a thick patch of tall grass her grandmother needed. With swift
expertise Narah examined and picked the best pieces. Wrapping them together
carefully, she laid them on the bank while searching out a special bouquet for
Timon. Her hair kept falling in her face, slowing her progress. The narrow
channel wound a jagged path through the rolling brown hills down from the
mountains. Not many miles past their village towards the grasslands, it became
a trickle and went underground.
“I
wonder if the tiny, blue flowers are open yet?” Narah’s voice rippled in the
silence.
She
walked along the river’s edge to the far end of the village land, then into the
water to round the narrow bend. The flowers glistened in the hot sun, their
deep, dark blue a contrast to the pale sky. She bent low under a canopy of
shiny leaves. The shallow stream had exposed Narah’s special hiding cave. She
started to clear the debris from its entrance. A few feet into the cave the mud
walls turned to rock and opened into a small tunnel. Narah liked to crawl
inside to cool off on hot summer days. Although the other village children
seldom came past the bend, Narah had often fashioned a grass overhang to hide
the entrance.
Narah
hummed as she worked. Flies joined her, buzzing back and forth over her head.
Hot sun warmed her back. A donkey brayed in the village, followed by muffled
voices scolding.
Bits
of twigs, grass and mud covered Narah’s arms. She slid down to the stream to
wash, then she lay in the sun. Above her an eagle swooped, diving and soaring.
“How
far to the next village, eagle? Can you see it?” Narah closed her eyes. “I will
fix Betta a bed of our pillows,” she yawned, “to ease the shaking and the bumps
of the cart tomorrow. Are you, too, going to hear the prophet? My uncle Timon
is with him,” she mumbled drowsily.
Screams
pierced Narah’s dreams. She sat up, startled, not sure where she was. The
ground shook like a thunderstorm. Dust and smoke filled the air. Fire! A fire
in the village. Narah ran through the stream, heedless of the rocks cutting
into her feet.
“Betta,
Betta,” she sobbed.
She
scrambled up the steep bank, and ducked instinctively as a huge, black horse
reared, narrowly missing Narah’s head. Horses? Narah cowered in the grass.
Through the smoke she could barely make out figures. Soldiers and horses were
dragging women and children into carts, and then setting the huts on fire.
Narah choked. “Grandmother!”
Share: In what way do the sensory
details strengthen or weaken the setting? How?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Attack
(2)
“Are you not
afraid of Balak? Sometimes I think he makes the boys throw things at me. No one
tries to hurt me except when he is there.” She felt a thin line of moisture
form along her forehead. Drops glistened against the thick, black hair pulled
back from her face exposing her hairline scar. She continued to tremble and her
hands shook.
Betta rested
her hand on Narah’s shoulder. Betta hesitated. “Narah, you have not fainted for
several months now.”
Narah’s
slight body still shook. “Will there…..will there be many people tomorrow,
Betta?”
“Yes,
but you need not speak to anyone, Narah, if you do not wish to. You can stay by
my side at all times. You may find that your fear of people has left you now
that you are eleven and there no one will know you. No one will bother to tease
you or try to frighten you. We are all going to hear the prophet. That is on
everyone’s mind. Remember we will spend time with Timon, too.” Betta chuckled.
“Won’t he be surprised to see us!”
Narah
clasped her hands together. “Oh Betta, I can’t wait to see his face. I shall
fix him his favorite flowers from the stream. Will there be room in the cart?”
“I’m
sure we can fit them in. Be careful, the bank is slippery.”
“How
do you know?” Narah asked. Then she pointed at her grandmother’s canes.
“There’s bits of mud on the bottoms. Betta, you are not supposed to go to the
stream without me.”
“I did not,”
Betta smiled. “I just hobbled along the top edge. It is such a pretty day. I do
need some of the tall willow grass near rock point. The large basket still has
to be edged, and if I can finish today, it will dry tomorrow while we are
gone.”
Narah
smiled and Elizabeth murmured a prayer of thanksgiving for protection, then she
hugged Narah. “Go now to pick your flowers for Timon and a handful of grass for
me.”
Narah
blinked at the bright sun as she stepped outside. First she looked toward the
village, but the pathway was empty. She glanced at the only other hut set apart
with theirs from the other villagers. Iscah, their friend, dozed in the shade
rocking her new baby. Her three year old, Jael, sucking her thumb, slept beside
her. Narah smiled. Even when asleep, Jael must dream of food.
Share: What positive or negative
personality trigger points do you identify for each character? Why?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Revising requires re-seeing.” Jack Hodgins
What kind of feedback will you need? Each of
us has personal strengths and weaknesses. And we all need at least one or two
critical readers for our projects. One of the most important skills a writer
can develop, says Hodgins, is to develop the ability to read your own work as if it had been written by another, and
learn to listen to your story.
Since Betta’s Song is now published, I’m
hoping that its feedback has passed the test. And yet, each reader has
different criteria regarding whether they want to read on or not.
Attack
(1)
“Narah, stop fidgeting!”
Narah,
face flushed, turned around to face her grandmother. Twinkling blue eyes softened
the old woman’s words.
“Child, you
are too restless, you will become feverish.”
Narah
crossed the small room to lean against her grandmother. Stroking the weathered
cheek, Narah breathed deeply, sighing. “It is such a long wait, Betta.”
“Is
your wait one of excitement, child, or are you nervous?” Betta tilted Narah’s
face upward.
Before she
could reply a muffled curse sounded outside their door and Narah dodged behind
her grandmother. Betta motioned to a thin basket in the dim corner and Narah yanked
it next to them.
“Good
day, Balak.” Betta nodded as he stomped through the doorway. “Your basket is
ready but still damp. Narah was to deliver it to your wife by the supper hour.”
“Your
stupid brat should be working the fields, Elizabeth.” Balak wove unsteadily,
peering around the room. “Instead she hides behind you. The wife needs extra
help. I will take her.”
Betta
grasped Narah’s shaking body. “I am sorry to hear your wife is in need, Balak,
but as I cannot walk today, Narah will stay with me. Some families are bringing
their babies to us while they work the fields this afternoon.”
Balak
snarled and threw a small pouch in Betta’s lap. A trickle of flour seeped
through. “You and your brat would starve if not for us, Elizabeth.” He leaned
into Elizabeth’s face. “You need to be more grateful.”
Elizabeth
gripped her canes as she rose. Balak stepped backward. “Thank your wife for the
flour, Balak. I hope your work in the fields goes well today.”
Balak’s
face reddened, then he turned abruptly, snatching the basket as he left. Narah
eased her grandmother back into her seat and scooped the spilled flour into a
wooden bowl.
“He
was angry, Betta, when you mentioned the fields.”
“Of
course, child. Do you see other men standing around the village mid-day? They
are all hard at work.”
Share: What is your immediate first
impression of these three characters? Why? What one word might you choose for
each?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Beowulf
This is one of the oldest written legends
still being explored, perhaps not with the same intensity as Cinderella, but
also is known just because of its name. The following three authors kept to the
truth of the legend itself, but at the same time approached it from a different
story within the legend.
They tell the age-old tale of Beowulf using
the same content, almost word for word in the description of Beowulf’s battles
with Grendel, and his mother, yet by their style, they depict three different
heroes in the person of Beowulf himself.
Rosemary Sutcliff tells her version of
Beowulf in prose, but retains the poetic language throughout. She uses the age-old story opening,
‘once upon a time’, to hook her readers to the tale in Beowulf.
“In the great hall of Hygelac, King of the Geats, supper was over
and the mead horns going round …..And their Captain sat in the Guest Seat that
faced the High Seat of the King, midway up the hall, and told the news of the
coasts and islands and the northern seas.”
By beginning the tale through a narrator, she
sets up a mystery. “And he drank deep
from the mead horn as it was handed to him, and shook his head, and waited to
be asked why.”
Without losing the poetic sense, Sutcliff
gives background to Beowulf himself. “To
the other men in Hygelac’s hall that night the seafarer’s story had been no
more than a far-off tale, though one to raise the neck-hair and set one
glancing into the shadows; but to Beowulf it was word of a friend in dire
trouble, and an old debt waiting to be paid.”
She begins the poem by setting it in an
historical content before the legend, establishing tone, setting, character,
and conflict. Her style adds
poignancy to Beowulf’s heroism, by giving the readers a sense of his character
before we see him as the warrior. He is both heart and duty bound to commit
aid.
In Beowulf the Warrior, by Ian
Serraillier, the story begins with the description of Heorot, the huge hall,
and the night Grendel first attacked, setting a scene of terror. Serraillier retains the poetic form of
the story and heightens the tension by focusing on visual images.
“A hideous monster lurked, fiend from hell,
Misbegotten
son of a foul mother,
Grendel
his name,…
He,
one night, when the warriors of Hrothgar lay
Slumbering
after banquet, came to Heorot,
Broke
down the door, seized in his fell grip
A
score and more of sleeping sons of men
And
carried them home for meat.”
By setting the story with a larger-than-life
threat, the author prepares for the arrival of a larger-than-life hero in
Beowulf. He comes with warriors, but fights both Grendel and mother alone,
since no one else is strong enough to overpower them. He is a hero of immense abilities.
Robert Nye, in Beowulf A New Telling,
uses prose and begins his story with the legend behind the first king of the
Danes, Scyld Scefing, a giant man, whose descendant is Hrothgar who builds
Heorot.
“Hrothgar had a backbone that would bend to no man.”
Hrothgar grimly takes on the battle against
Grendel, almost losing his own life. It is these battles that the poets spread
wherever they go, one of which is told in the court of Hygelac, king of the
Geats, uncle of Beowulf.
Nye goes on to describe Beowulf as young,
below average height, disproportionate body, and weak eyes. “He had been badly stung by bees as a boy.”
Beowulf had made the best of all he had, putting each imperfection to work in
the service of his integrity. Thus, his real strength lay in the balance of his
person—which is, perhaps, another way of saying “that he was strong because he
was good, and good because he had the strength to accept things in him that
were bad.”
In this version it is Beowulf’s wits and
inner sight that prevail. In the finale Beowulf uses bees to stop the dragon,
leaving the reader with a sense of humorous irony. As he dies Beowulf gives his
own instructions: “Tell them what you like, the ones out
there, but remember the world will need to be a little older before it
understands this last exploit of Beowulf. Yes, and all the others too!
Meanwhile, it must have an ordinary kind of hero to believe in. Make sure you
give them that, Wiglaf.’”
Each version by each author gives the same
exploits of Beowulf, but with a different kind of hero in each. One is a hero
of dedication and compassion, one almost superhuman—seemingly invincible, and
one an ordinary man, who recognizes his own strengths and weaknesses. Each hero
is brought to life by the author’s style, choice of their story, and of their
curiosity into the legend.
Action Steps:
In
what ways do you think the authors’ decisions re voice and point of view
contributed to their individual styles?
Share: Which version interested you the
most? Why?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
In the book Writing for Children and Young Adults, Lee Wyndham reminds writers
that the viewpoint is not “which person
(author, hero, onlooker) tells the story, but through whose eyes and heart the story is told.” With that distinction
understood then the choices the writer selects will thread throughout the
storyline with consistency and clarity.
This then links your point of view back to
your plot, your theme, and your conflict.
I think that heart becomes the key factor
that will connect with your readers. For example, the classic line from Oliver
Twist “please, sir I want some more,” has been said in several ways from the
original sentence to movie and play adaptations. But the core viewpoint is the
very hungry young orphan Oliver mustering up the courage to ask for more watery
gruel. The viewpoint decision is timeless as any child can relate to being
hungry and so, regardless of the way the story is retold, it instinctively
connects heart to heart.
So what emotional link do you most want your
readers to respond to?
Sometimes you may know from before your begin
your story and sometimes the choices and decisions will change and surprise you
as you write your first draft and see your own ideas from a different
perspective.
One resource I highly recommend for YA
authors in particular is Wild Ink, by
Victoria Hanley.
There are two invaluable reasons to read Wild Ink’s second edition. First, it
encompasses a thorough introduction to the diverse YA market. Second it
demonstrates an excellent understanding of voice from which all writers can
adapt her principles to their own audiences. The wide range of possible topics,
styles and content Hanley supplies are also shown by the interviews she
includes from several YA authors in fiction and non-fiction. I found it
interesting that one common thread amongst everyone was the repeated need to be
true to the voice of the story.
Hanley gives an outstanding Your Inner Teen Exercise to help
identify where you have strengths or weaknesses identifying with the emotional
range necessary for honest character development, voice, and dialogue.
Action Steps:
1.
Choose
an important episode for your character from your story brainstorming. Make it
one that you either plan to incorporate in this story or one that has a major
influence on back history for her personally.
2.
Write
the scene up from each of the three viewpoints: omniscient, third person, or
first person.
Share: Which one is the most effective
to connect your reader to your character’s heart?
Read deep, marcy
White
Stone Series Special Free Giveaway. Last day Today
Invisible Light
Meet
Ashia, a teenager uprooted from her home and family battles against depression
and hopelessness to find God’s light.
When seventeen-year-old Ashia abruptly moves to San
Francisco five months before her graduation, she is propelled into isolation
both at home, and school, where she is seen as an intruder. When she uncovers a
web of deceit exposing a counterfeit principal manipulating the school system
for personal gain, her emotional darkness begins to close around her. Ashia
attempts to battle depression and hopelessness. She searches for the Lord’s
light and finds refuge in her poetry.
Book Two in the White Stone
Series: Hope, Faith, Heart
Six
young women face life transitions that create tense relationships and struggles
of faith. Will they have the courage to challenge their personal fears and
experience new beginnings that stretch their hearts into hope?
Click
on the cover and go straight to Amazon. Hope you enjoy her story. If so, please
take a few minutes to post a review, or a star rating, or both. Thanks!
Read Deep
Marcy
White Stone Series Special Giveaway Day Three Free
Invisible Light
Meet Ashia, a teenager uprooted from her home and family battles against depression and hopelessness to find God’s light.
When seventeen-year-old Ashia abruptly moves to San Francisco five months before her graduation, she is propelled into isolation both at home, and school, where she is seen as an intruder. When she uncovers a web of deceit exposing a counterfeit principal manipulating the school system for personal gain, her emotional darkness begins to close around her. Ashia attempts to battle depression and hopelessness. She searches for the Lord’s light and finds refuge in her poetry.
Book Two in the White Stone Series: Hope, Faith, Heart
Six young women face life transitions that create tense relationships and struggles of faith. Will they have the courage to challenge their personal fears and experience new beginnings that stretch their hearts into hope?
Click on the cover and go straight to Amazon. Hope you enjoy her story. If so, please take a few minutes to post a review, or a star rating, or both. Thanks!
Read Deep
Marcy
White Stone Series Special Giveaway Free Day One Today.
Invisible Light
Meet Ashia, a teenager uprooted from her home and family battles against depression and hopelessness to find God’s light.
When seventeen-year-old Ashia abruptly moves to San Francisco five months before her graduation, she is propelled into isolation both at home, and school, where she is seen as an intruder. When she uncovers a web of deceit exposing a counterfeit principal manipulating the school system for personal gain, her emotional darkness begins to close around her. Ashia attempts to battle depression and hopelessness. She searches for the Lord’s light and finds refuge in her poetry.
Book Two in the White Stone Series: Hope, Faith, Heart
Six young women face life transitions that create tense relationships and struggles of faith. Will they have the courage to challenge their personal fears and experience new beginnings that stretch their hearts into hope?
Click on the cover and go straight to Amazon. Hope you enjoy her story. If so, please take a few minutes to post a review, or a star rating, or both. Thanks!
Read Deep
Marcy
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