Tag: creative writing

Make your opening paragraph Google-worthy!

May 28, 2014

—

by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, starters, writing technique

Strange title for today’s post, I know. I’ll let you know in a minute or two what I mean by it, but in the meantime, read this short passage from “Man Changing into Thunderbird,” by Armand Garnet Ruffo(published in the summer 2013 edition of The Malahat Review): The room is cramped with people. an…
The lists go on… list openings, that is!

May 27, 2014

—

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

—

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…
8 ways to connect to your creativity , from The Portable MFA

Aug 19, 2013

—

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…
A real-life Indiana Jones? Long starter from nonfiction…

Jul 5, 2013

—

by

Ace Baker

in fiction, nonfiction, novels, poetry, short stories, starters

Talk about adventure! Here’s the beginning of a NONFICTION article, “The El Dorado Machine,” by Douglas Preston: The rainforests of Mosquitia, which span more than thirty-two thousand square miles of Honduras and Nicaragua, are among the densest and most inhospitable in the world. “It’s mountainous,” Chas Begley, an archaeologist and expert on Honduras, told me…
Starter from Margaret Talbot

Jul 3, 2013

—

by

Ace Baker

in fiction, nonfiction, novels, poetry, short stories, starters

Today’s line to get you started comes from Margaret Talbot’s “Shots in the Dark,” in the April 15th, 2013 edition of The New Yorker : What’s the worst that could happen? Try this: Who’s thinking this and why? Once you decide that, go write the scene. Coming tomorrow: A fighting 8 count that…

Tag: creative writing

Make your opening paragraph Google-worthy!

The lists go on… list openings, that is!

LIST OPENINGS…how they can help your fiction and nonfiction

8 ways to connect to your creativity , from The Portable MFA

A real-life Indiana Jones? Long starter from nonfiction…

Starter from Margaret Talbot