Category: power punch

Nonfiction beginnings #004: When reality hits hard!

Aug 9, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

First, read… THE BITCH IS BACK, by Sandra Tsing Loh, from The Atlantic During menopause, a woman can feel like the only way she can continue to exist for ten more seconds inside her crawling, burning skin is to walk screaming into the sea—grandly, epically, and terrifyingly, like a fifteen-foot-tall Greek tragic figure wearing a…
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…
Horror week #004: VOICES make your horror fiction unsettling…

Aug 4, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

As writers, we all have those little voices in our heads; they’re called characters. But voices in the head of your character can be downright creepy. Look at how Ronald Kelly makes it even worse by making an INTERNAL voice EXTERNAL in his novel, Blood Kin: Dudley Craven stared at the piece of wood…
Horror week #001: For a creepy effect in horror fiction, ZOOM IN!

Aug 1, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, power punch, short stories, Uncategorized, writing technique

It’s cinematic, really. To add power to your descriptions and even create a bit of suspense through them, ZOOM IN! Here’s how horror writer Stephen Dobyns does it in his novel, The Church of Dead Girls: Three dead girls in three straight chairs, collapsed against the ropes, heads tilted, their skin papery, their…
Opening paragraphs #003: Shake it up!

Jul 27, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

For day three of our investigation of openings, I thought I’d show you one that is powerful, sarcastic, hilarious, and tragic–all at the same time! Check out the beginning to “Property,” by Elizabeth McCracken: The ad should have said, For rent, six-room hovel. Quarter-filled Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle in living room, sandy sheets throughout, lingering…
Opening paragraphs #001: Strength AND vulnerability, at the same time!

Jul 25, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

For today’s starting paragraph, I decided to go with one that packs quite a punch. First, read how Megan Mayhew Bergman begins “Housewifely Arts”: I am my own housewife, my own breadwinner. I make lunches and change light bulbs. I kiss bruises and kill copperheads from the backyard creek with a steel hoe. I change…
Cody Klippenstein #003: Connotation and cacophony!

Jul 21, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, novels, power punch, writing technique

Yesterday, we saw simplicity, softness, and single-syllable words in a romantic passage in Klippenstein’s “Case Studies in Ascension.” Today, we’re going to see the tougher side of this young, talented writer. While she may have used short, soft words to describe a loving moment, look what she does as we near the END…
Cody Klippenstein #001 VOICE through pathos!

Jul 19, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

If you want to add VOICE to your writing, Cody Klippenstein is the one to turn to. She has won many major writing awards for her short fiction, including “Case Studies for Ascension,” which won the Zoetrope All-Story Short Fiction Contest. It’ll be our study text for this week and it’s up on…
Poetry Week #002: Writing the Cascade Poem

Jul 15, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, knockout idea, poetry, power punch, writing technique

THE CASCADE First, in order for me to discuss what a cascade poem is, let me show you one. “Woman on a Swing: Lions Park” is one of three poems that helped me win the Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) poetry prize in 2012. It’s one I quickly showed poet Patricia Young over dinner…
Neil Gaiman #003: The DOUBLE DELAY

Jul 11, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, power punch, short stories, writing technique

Today, we’ll look at a very powerful technique Neil Gaiman makes use of in The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s one I call the DOUBLE DELAY. Now, even kids know what a cliff-hanger is if they’ve ever read a Hardy Boys or Goosebumps book. The idea that you end a chapter…