Category: fancy footwork

Jennifer Manuel #002: Pathos and simile in SILENT E !

Nov 13, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in choose your weapon, fancy footwork, fiction, knockout idea, power punch, short stories, Uncategorized, writing technique

After my analysis of Jennifer Manuel’s award-winning story, “The Woman in the Box with the Baby,” Jennifer wrote and tweeted to tell me she was pleased with what I had to say about her work –whew! She also e-mailed me a copy of another award-winning tale of hers, “Silent E,” a story that earned…
6 days until SIWC… 6 sentence styles to test out in your writing

Oct 20, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in choose your weapon, fancy footwork, fiction, writing technique

6 days until SIWC, so here are six styles of sentences (found in recent readings!) for you to take a peek at. Thanks Shan, Katie, Aaron, and Lena for chasing these down in your reading: 1. The Interrupted Sentence Maybe he should have stopped—showed them that he wasn’t afraid—but the muscles in his legs…
SIWC Countdown: 10 openings you’ll love!

Oct 15, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork

Ok, it is officially 10 days until SIWC, so I’m beginning a countdown on fighttowrite. Today, here are 10 openings I hope you’ll love: From “Ceiling,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie When Obinze first saw her e-mail, he was sitting in the back of his Land Rover in still Lagos traffic, his jacket slung over the…
Nonfiction openings #005: Life bites back!

Aug 10, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

First, read the following opening: KILLING MY BODY TO SAVE MY MIND, by Lauren Slater, from Elle My blood is in a blender. It’s just about the only bit of brightness in this drab office of a life insurance company that, before betting on my body, wants to sample its various fluids. First, it…
Nonfiction beginnings #003: Sarcasm to the ultimate!

Aug 9, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

In the following passage, watch how Mark Edmundson creates a long buildup, lulls us into what we expect to hear–and then snaps us out of it in an instant! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? by Mark Edmundson, in The Oxford American Welcome and congratulations: getting to the first day of college…
Nonfiction openings #002: “The Good Short Life” by Dudley Clendinen

Aug 7, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

As you read the following introduction, keep in mind that it is NONFICTION: THE GOOD SHORT LIFE, by Dudley Clendinen, from The New York Times Sunday Review I have wonderful friends. In this last year, one took me to Istanbul. One gave me a box of handcrafted chocolates. Fifteen of them held two rousing, pre-posthumous…
Nonfiction openings #001: “You Owe Me,” by Miah Arnold

Aug 6, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

I’ll begin this week’s look at nonfiction openings with a tear-jerker from Miah Arnold: YOU OWE ME, by Miah, Arnold, from Michigan Quarterly Review The children I write with die, no matter how much I love them, no matter how creative they are, no matter how many poems they have written or how much they…
Horror week #003: Exaggerate in your writing to grab your readers!

Aug 3, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

Exaggeration (hyperbole and understatement) is a tool often used in horror fiction. Stating that things are the absolute worst (hyperbole) sends a clear message to the reader: this character doesn’t want to be here right now–and neither would YOU! Look at how Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie use it immediately…
Horror writing #002: Miss you…!

Aug 2, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

If you want to create some mystery, right out of the gate, then have something missing that really ought to be there. Look at how horror writer Patricia Windsor manages that in The Blooding: They were found in the woods, curiously and awkwardly lying in the first leaves of autumn. The girl had fallen…
Opening paragraphs #004: Help NOT wanted!

Jul 28, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

Have you ever been in a situation where you want to help someone, but they don’t want to be helped? Take a look at this opening by Jess Row in “The Call of Blood“: Mornings he finds Mrs. Kang upright in bed, peeling invisible ginger with an invisible knife. She watches her hands with…