Tag: writer

Poetry week #004: Crozier and symbolism

Jul 17, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, poetry, writing technique

First, read this poem by Lorna Crozier quickly: CROSSING WILLOW BRIDGE On the farm a willow bridge though this is Saltspring Island not Japan. Sometimes it crosses water, sometimes not. This morning after rain the ground slides into mud. My mother and I tread our way to see the baby llama in the far…
Poetry week #003: How does that SOUND to you?

Jul 16, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, poetry, writing technique

Important tools in the toolkit of any poet are devices involving SOUND. There are many to choose from, but let’s focus on a few today. I’ll get some quick definitions out of the way, then demonstrate what I mean by them with a poem. Alliteration–repeating of beginning sounds: “buckets of baseballs; killer choir; ten…
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…
Poetry Week #001: Poem within a poem!

Jul 14, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fancy footwork, knockout idea, poetry, writing technique

Time for some poetry! A poem can contain a great amount of meaning in a small space; it’s what separates us from the rest of the animals, someone once told me. And while I enjoy spoken word poetry, especially when it’s well done, there are some things you can do on a piece of…
Gaiman #005: Explore a difference

Jul 13, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

As I’ve said before, contrast makes writing interesting. But in a longer work of fiction, it’s possible to REVISIT the same contrast in different ways. Here’s how Neil Gaiman does that in The Ocean at the End of the Lane: “Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds…
Neil Gaiman #004: Hit ’em hard!

Jul 12, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

Take a look at how Neil Gaiman piles on the negatives at the beginning of chapter 7 of The Ocean at the End of the Lane: The next day was bad. My parents had both left the house before I woke. It had turned cold, and the sky was a bleak and charmless gray.…
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…
Neil Gaiman #002: Use THE ECHO as a voice!

Jul 10, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

in fiction, knockout idea, nonfiction, novels, short stories, writing technique

Let’s get right to it today and see an innovative way Neil Gaiman uses parentheses in The Ocean at the End of the Lane: I would talk to people whose existence I had forgotten years before and they would ask me about my marriage (failed a decade ago, a relationship that had slowly frayed…
Neil Gaiman: the clothes make the man!

Jul 9, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

I’ve just read Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and I highly recommend it. This week, I’ll be examining five techniques he makes use of, and the first is one he uses at the beginning of the prologue: I wore a black suit and a white shirt, a black tie…
Braunstein: Contrast and time shift

Jul 8, 2013

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by

Ace Baker

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

Check out a few interesting techniques that are being combined in Sarah Braunstein’s short story, “Marjorie Lemke.” The first is that it is like she’s holding a conversation…with herself. The second is a time shift: the “selves” who are talking with each other are the person she used to be and the person she…