Category: starters

The lists go on… list openings, that is!

May 27, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

in nonfiction, power punch, starters, writing technique

Yesterday, I posted a blog about list openings by a few writers who use the technique well to create a mood early. If you haven’t made your way through that blog yet, go back and treat yourself! Today, there is no new “Try this.” Today, I want to show you another LONG list example…
LIST OPENINGS…how they can help your fiction and nonfiction

May 27, 2014

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, fiction, nonfiction, power punch, starters, writing technique

There is a power to momentum that is undeniable and unstoppable. Many writers have learned to benefit from the energy of a LIST early in a piece of creative fiction or nonfiction. Let me SHOW you what I mean . . . Here’s a beginning paragraph from Gordon Grice’s “The Black Widow” in High…
STARTERS : Great opening lines from 2013 BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS

Nov 19, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in nonfiction, starters

I picked up a copy of the 2013 BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, edited by Cheryl Strayed. Here are a few of the best opening lines: On Thanksgiving my father asked me if I wanted to visit the Nazi. –“Keeper of the Flame,” by Matthew Vollmer The first time I heard her I didn’t hear her at…
4 Days to SIWC… 4 Writing Prompts from the 4 A.M. Breakthrough

Oct 22, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in starters

4 Prompts from one of my favorite prompt books, The 4 A.M. Breakthrough, by Brian Kiteley 1. Write about a shopping list, as if this shopping list had much more meaning than it could possibly hold. Imagine this list found hundreds of years later and analyzed for hidden meaning (or perhaps without understanding of its…
Writing scale from The Pocket Muse

Sep 6, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, short stories, starters

Just like musicians believe in practicing scales as a way of preparing, staying in tune with the music, and connecting to something familiar, I’m a firm believer that writers can get going and create new work, even when they feel blocked, by using a writing scale, or prompt. I call them starters, and…
8 ways to connect to your creativity , from The Portable MFA

Aug 19, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in knockout idea, standing 8 count, starters

The following 8 ways to connect to your creativity come from The Portable MFA in Creative Writing, by The New York Writers Workshop (pp. 204-205): 1. Read a newspaper and free-write about something you find there. 2. Write a letter to an old lover. (Don’t send it.) 3. Do a physical activity you’ve never…
Starter for you and your writing: Take it from here!

Aug 18, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, short stories, starters

Ok, I’ve had a marvelous time in Phuket, Thailand, and soon I’ll be off to Malacca, Malaysia. In the meantime, it’s time to get back to the writing. Here’s a starter to get us going this week… First, read this beginning from “River of Toys,” by Edward Allen: I love to walk with my…
July 31st post comes early: A Starter for You from Rachael Frey

Jul 31, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, short stories, starters

Ok, I’m getting ready to embark on a 17-HOUR flight to Singapore, so tomorrow’s post is coming, well…tonight. As in just before I leave. As in now. It’ll be short and sweet (maybe not so sweet, but short) because of that, too. Here’s the beginning line to Rachael Frey’s “The Lost Twice Legend,”…
A Starter for You from the January, 1921 National Geographic

Jul 30, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, novels, short stories, starters

One of my favorite writing exercises is to take a piece of writing I like, clip a piece of it, and try to continue writing in that author’s style. I also love making something nonfiction into fiction. The selection I’ll ask you to try this with today comes from “The Dream Ship,” a January,…
Bullying, adult style… writing idea!

Jul 6, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, knockout idea, novels, poetry, short stories, starters

Bullying is bad enough when it happens on a playground, but when it involves ADULTS, it can get downright nasty. Take a look at this piece of Nicholas Schmidle’s article, “Bring Up the Bodies”: According to an internal I.C.T.Y. document from 2004, Limaj’s relatives and associates launched a campaign of ‘serious intimidation of and…