Pressure!

“I only write when I’m inspired. Fortunately, I’m inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.”

-- William Faulkner

Who am I?

• And more importantly, what business do I have teaching anyone anything?

Types of Pressure

• Go ahead, sound off

If you can’t beat it, work around it

Writing prompts, exercises, “freewriting”

• Get the juices flowing, your fingers used to the feel of the keys, into the writing mindset -- whatever you want to call it.

• Nothing you want to do less than the task at hand, so you may as well procrastinate and warm up at the same time.

Exercise: Seven Minutes in Heaven (or Hell)

• Write for seven minutes, incorporating a common proverb, adage or phrase (e.g. “between a rock and a hard place,” “good fences make good neighbors,” “the whole nine yards,” etc.), that you change in some way. To make it extra heavenly (or hellish), use seven of the following words.

Don’t worry about creating a story--write whatever comes to mind. No one will ever see it but you… except in seven minutes when I

make you share with with a room of stangers

• cliff• blackberry• needle• cloud• voice• mother• whir

• lick• course• hedge• mug• blank• snap• blanket

Set Parameters

• How many words to write at each sitting

• What those words will be about.

Go poll yourself…ask:

• Why am I writing whatever it is I’m writing?

• What do I hope to get out of it?

• Am I?

Every time you sit down to write, you’re playing the same game as [insert name here]

Work on more than one project at once

When stuck, do something comepletely unrelated to

writing, preferably as mindless as possible

(no TV, though; yes, YouTube on your laptop counts as TV)

Break a very large project into many smaller projects

• Make lists

• Generate questions you know you will need to answer at some point

• Individual exchanges

• Individual plot points

• Character sketches

Have a plan

Keep moving forward

Start in the middle of things, end in the middle of things

Ultimate question: Does your reader want to keep reading?

If yes, you pass. If not, well, you can an incomplete.

Exercise: The waiting is the hardest part…

• Turn one of the most tedious scenarios into something interesting. We are in an airport terminal, awaiting the arrival of a jet. Assembled are: a limousine driver, twin six-year-old boys, a doctor, an old woman in a wheelchair, a cab driver, a local politician, a soldier, some type of high school sports team or club, someone trying not to be recognized, a housewife, an animal in one of those animal carriers.

• Start writing a story involving at least two of the above characters. You have seven minutes.

Basic Elements of Fiction

• Character (and tension between characters)• Plot - “shape of the story” (beginning, middle,

end = introduction, rising action, denouement) • Setting/Place - description using all five

senses gives context; TAKES UP SPACE.• Theme - (e.g. “love conquers all”; “careful

what you wish for”; “money can’t buy happiness”)

Random Advice

in no particular order

Break it up

• Change tense, POV, location, time• Dialogue• Introduce a letter, diary passage, email,

text exchange, even a “honey do” list• Drop one story line, pick up another• Conjunctions between ideas should be

“but, therefore, meanwhile” as opposed to “and, and, and”

Be able to summarize your story in 1-3 sentences.

Write a tagline, like the one you see when you hit “info” on your TV

remote

Don’t seek validation of your writing from spouse, sig other,

and/or parents

Show, don’t tell

(except graphic sex scenes)

A good verb is worth 20 adjectives

Read

“Ass to chair.”

Books about writing (with prompts)

• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott• On Writing: A memoir of the Craft by Stephen King• Telling Stories by Joyce Carol Oates• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of

Screenwriting by Robert McKee• The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri

• Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician by Kenney Werner