I’m working on a new book idea. And this time, I’m doing more upfront planning such as outlining and character development. I’m also reading more craft books. In Lisa Cron’s excellent Story Genius, she includes a story about elementary schoolers trying to write stories by throwing everything they can think of into a single plot prompt. She refers to it as “drawing with every crayon in the box.”
Which got me thinking… Which crayons do my characters have to color with, and how does that affect the way I draw them in on the page?
Something Better: Corinne's Birthday (the original scene)
If you’ve known me awhile, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day. I’m not anti-love or romance, far from it (how could any Gen Xer raised on Lloyd Dobler standing outside with a boombox not be a little sappy about romance?). I just think love should be about the little things we do for one another daily, not all lumped into a once-a-year-gesture. Plus, I refuse to go out on Valentine’s Day because I think it’s entirely possible an employee, bitter at being scheduled on what has got to be the worst night of the year for servers, will spit in my mushroom risotto.
Some of my Valentine’s Day cynicism spilled over to Corinne, and the following is my original attempt to bring Corinne’s complicated relationship with love and romance to light. Enjoy!
What's your line?
I never realized how important first lines were until I started writing them.
Read moreLunchtime Poll with Elisa Lorello
Meet Elisa!
I can’t think of a better person with whom to introduce this segment than my friend, the amazing Elisa Lorello. Elisa is a GenXer with serious 80s credentials. Not only is she a bestselling author, she is also an educator and Duran Duran superfan.
Welcome to a new feature in which I ask an author a bunch of ridiculous questions and a few serious ones.
*Yes, just like Heathers, minus all the murder-y reindeer games
I can’t think of a better person with whom to introduce this segment than my friend, the amazing Elisa Lorello. Elisa is a GenXer with serious 80s credentials. Not only is she a bestselling author, she is also an educator and Duran Duran superfan.
Okay, Elisa, since ALL OF YOU is set in the music industry, today’s lunchtime poll is all about 80s music:
Read moreBeverly Cleary, Age 107
It is no April Fool’s joke when I say that the author that has most impacted my writing and reading life is Beverly Cleary. Yes, she’s a children’s book author and all her characters are, at the oldest, 13 or 14. But reading her books as a child was magical, and rereading them as an adult to my children, and often on my own just for fun, I realize that she had a gift of being able to distill important characteristics, emotional journeys and complicated plots down to their essence in such a succinct style that her books can be read and understood by her many readers. This doesn’t make the stories or the stakes childish. It makes them accessible to all ages, including 50 year olds.
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