Fresh Perspective: What Photography Can Teach You About Writing
Looking for a fresh perspective to start your week? Look no further. I’ve got one to offer.
What photography can teach you about writing
On the surface, photography and writing have little in common. If you dig a little deeper, the commonalities become plain. Photographers frame life with their camera lens and capture those images in pixels or film. Writer also frame life–be it every day reality or a slice from their fantasy world–in words. A photographer’s frame is the limit of his/her lens; A writer’s is his or her imagination.
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Sound off: Advice from the Web
While you relax and enjoy your well-deserved Sunday morning rituals, here’s some advice culled from the internet on a writing, creativity, motivation and process. While your sipping orange juice, some exotic tea, a coffee confection or plain old milk, let your mind consider these tidbits and store them away for future reference.
Here’s a new way to look at your writing from The New Yorker, a piece entitled, Omission: Choosing What to Leave out:
Selling books and eBooks with a Dash of Inspiration
A recent Publisher’s Weekly article, How To Succeed at Self-Publishing, zeroed in on self-published author, Victorine Lieske. Her ebook romance, Not What She Seems, sold 150,000 copies and blew up the best seller lists. She talked to Publisher’s Weekly about the secret of her success.
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Hypocrite? Who me? Say it isn’t so!
Yesterday I posted a rambling review of The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Sharp readers no doubt noticed at the end of the post that I contradicted myself. I talked about avoiding the fourth installment of the Millenium series initially just because Stieg Larsson, the series’ creator, passed on and a new author picked up the thread of the story.
I mentioned a thing called author loyalty. Then I ended the post speaking about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Mycroft Holmes and my enthusiasm for reading it. That got me thinking about the whole issue. How long does an author have to be dead before author loyalty erodes and readers flock in comfort to a new author’s continuation of the saga?
Caught in the Spider’s Web
![The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel - Millennium Series, Book 4 | [David Lagercrantz]](https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DdVWl9PlL._SL300_.jpg)
I just finished The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz, book 4 in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe you’ve decided to skip the book out of loyalty for Larsson. That was my plan but it went off the rails when my fellow audio book junkies (aka my IT office mates) decided to read the book.
Expand your horizons
When you left school, did you leave learning behind? Or like me, do you hunger for knowledge? Yes the internet is full of information but unless you find a site or sites that’s curated by someone that knows their shit, you could be surfing through a whole lot of crap. Don’t get me started on the emails targeted at professionals touting courses to learn PMP or other business skills with hefty price tags. My inbox is full of their ilk. One more certification on my wall is not what I need right now. Neither do I want to hit up the nearest … Continue reading Expand your horizons
Image
I dodge raindrops. Through the camera on my cellphone, I frame the world. Then I cut the it up. Pummel the image in photoshop and slap bleeding slivers of it on my blog. Smile for the camera, you’re up next on my digital dissection table. The crop tool will cut you now. Resize, sharpen, apply a bit of curve and only a fragment out of place and time remains. Reminders of a time lost, a scene never repeated. An image captured and then gone again in the space of a blink. I walk between raindrops. Their patter hides the click of my phone capturing the the girl with blue wings. Continue reading Image
Maintaining the Fictional Dream
As writers we’re charged with the responsibility of drawing the reader in, making him care about the character and identify with the characters. To do that, we must create and maintain the fictional dream. There’s an article on that on the website in the Writers’ Aids section, but let me say here that it is through the fictional dream that a reader is transported from reading words on a page to living the events of the novel. – Vicki Hinze I quoted the above text from Vicki Hinze’s article, The Reason Editors Reject Manuscripts. Since I am pursuing the e-book/self publishing route, I … Continue reading Maintaining the Fictional Dream
How much should you write every day?
“Write 10,000 Words Everyday is Terrible Advice” so says @virajpatel24 on Medium.com and I agree with him. I’ve seen a lot of posts lately here and on Medium.com about word counts mixed in with advice about how to write. These posts came up during a search for editing/revising advice and curiosity made me read them. Who doesn’t like free advice? Write 10,000 words in one day. I’ve actually blown past that limit in one twenty-four hour period but I couldn’t uncurl the fingers on my right hand at the end of that session. My hand had locked up from too much abuse. I had … Continue reading How much should you write every day?
For My Sister
Today you would have turned 31, but death cut you off at 29. Your last words still ring in my ears: Promise me that you’ll publish it–that you’ll publish all of it. I promised then and I promise it again now because you asked it off me. I will publish it–all of it. I had hoped to unleash the first installment of Sarn’s story as an ebook today, as a birthday present to you. I’m sorry sis. I tried. I have too much to do yet and I still have to go to work tomorrow. No, don’t shake your head. Don’t … Continue reading For My Sister
Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!
I’m taking a break from editing/rewriting today to attend the NY Renaissance Fair in Sterling Forest. I’m so excited! Having no running water Thursday night through this morning at my apartment, I feel like I’m halfway to the renaissance already. Losing power overnight added to the effect. I hope all is restored to normal by the time I return home from the fair tonight. Pictured with me above are the gals from Vixens en Garde, a show featuring bawdy jokes, bodices, Shakespeare and gratuitous sword play; and my cousin-in-law, the Rising Phoenixxx, the talented bath, body, lotions and notions innovator. … Continue reading Off to the NY Renaissance Fair!
Inspired
Jodi Taylor, author of the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, which I love by the way, got her start by self-publishing. She published the first Chronicles of St. Mary’s story as an ebook! (I love that book by the way: Just One Damned Thing After Another) If you like history, time travel and a lot of comedy, her Chronicles of St. Mary’s series will take you on quite a thrill ride. Her latest book, The Nothing Girl, is today’s daily deal on Audible. You can pick up a copy for $3.95. For nine hours of contemporary fiction mixed heavily with comedy in her skillful manner, that’s a bargain. Reading … Continue reading Inspired
Over Edited?
Is it possible to over edit a piece? If you removed all instances of the ‘to be’ verb, ‘ly’ words and filter words, are you left with an over edited piece? Or a polished gem? I ask because I wrote 1200 words last night without using a single ‘ly’ word, ‘to be’ verb or filter word. The scene has a tight grittiness that appeals to me but I can’t help wondering if I went too far. How can I tell if I went too far? Or is there no such thing as ‘over edited’? When does editing cease to be polishing what’s there … Continue reading Over Edited?
Eliminating Filter Words
There’s a great post about filter words penned by Cecilia Lewis that I found thanks to a comment Aeryn Rudel left on my previous blog entry. (Thank you Aeryn and thank you Celia!) I’m adding filter words to my list of words that need to be sought out and destroyed. I was dithering over a few of them yesterday. I thought it had something to do with the fact that I was reading the text aloud that made them sound jarring and out of place. Now I know why they bothered me. They pulled me out of the head of my character. I blame the … Continue reading Eliminating Filter Words
Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…
I have killed all three hundred and eighty words that end with ‘ly’. Yes those dreaded adverbs. In doing so, I found an alarming pattern. Here’s my top ‘ly’ offenders, in order of assassinations: suddenly, actually, exactly and finally. Now I know what to watch out for. What are yours top offenders? What ‘ly’ words sneak into your drafts while you’re typing? *** To reach the next level in my copyediting quest, I must now search out and destroy instances of ‘so’. This insidious word shows up too many times and I’m not going to take it anymore. I listened to … Continue reading Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…
Melinda Kucsera - USA Today Bestselling Author of Epic Fantasy Adventures 
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