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Category: writing technique
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Horror writing #002: Miss you…!
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…
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Horror week #001: For a creepy effect in horror fiction, ZOOM IN!
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…
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Opening paragraphs #005: SUPER CHALLENGE!
Let’s do a quick review of our look at beginnings in the past four days: Day one: sharp contrast: tough, tough soft Day two: a bit of mystery Day three: 3-line description that ends with a powerful short line Day four: help NOT wanted; hesitation at interaction And now, on day five, we’re…
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Opening paragraphs #004: Help NOT wanted!
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…
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Opening paragraphs #003: Shake it up!
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…
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Opening paragraphs #002: Add a bit of mystery!
Let’s jump right into today’s opening paragraph by taking a look at the start of Allegra Goodman’s “La Vita Nuova”: The day her fiance left, Amanda went walking in the Colonial cemetery off Garden Street. The gravestones were so worn that she could hardly read them. They were melting away into the weedy grass.…
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Opening paragraphs #001: Strength AND vulnerability, at the same time!
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…
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Poetry from newspapers!
Well, after all our serious study of Cody Klippenstein’s amazing fiction, it’s time to take a bit of a break and take a lighter look at that daily newspaper that’s in your hands while you’re drinking your morning coffee… First, take a peek at what I did with one headline that I found…
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Cody Klippenstein #005: A gentle touch with personification…
Is it day five already? Our final day of looking at some of the writing technique Cody Klippenstein uses in “Case Studies in Ascension”? It’s gone by quickly. For today, I decided to end with a tool familiar to most every writer: personification. Let’s read the passage first: Neither Obaa-san nor I have been…
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Cody Klippenstein #004: Long sentences for description…
In the past three days, we’ve seen pathos, simplicity, soft sounds, euphony, hard sounds, cacophony, and connotation in Cody Klippenstein’s award-winning story, “Case Studies in Ascension.” Today, we’ll see another technique she makes use of that puts the reader THERE in the moment, visualizing what’s happening in the story. Here’s the example, first: I…