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Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

My Favorite Creative Writing Books - by Lorilyn Roberts



From time to time, people ask me what my favorite books are to learn how to write. Of course, it depends on what kind of story you want to tell. There are hundreds of creative writing books penned by excellent authors, and some of those books may be better than the ones I’m going to recommend here.

That said, every author has his or her favorites.

Most of these I’m listing are books I read when I earned my Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Considering how many awards I’ve won, I believe they've helped me and would also help others.

If you have any favorites, please add them in the comments section below, and I can do an addendum later.

First, I want to add a few insights on writing (I can’t help myself). 

1.  Good writing is rewriting. 

2.  No matter how many books you write, writing is hard. You might learn a few things to improve your craft along the way, but it takes persistence. Don’t give up. Just keep working at it. Those paragraphs eventually turn into chapters, and those chapters eventually turn into a book.

3.  After writing your first draft, that’s when the real work begins—editing. I’ve heard many newbies say they hate editing. Learn to love editing. You will edit many more hours than writing your first draft.

4.  If you are writing to make a lot of money, you might be disappointed. If you are writing because you can’t help but write, you are a writer.

5.  Read a lot, and those books that stick with you forever, ask why. Writing is more than just a mental activity. Writing involves the heart, the emotions, the senses, and the intellect. Think about what made those books special—and there is no right or wrong answer. Books are a work of art.

6.  Be willing to take constructive suggestions. In the end, it’s up to you what you do with that “criticism.” Don’t be defensive. Just say “thank you” and move on.

7.  If you write something that changes the world or improves people’s lives, relationships, or perspective, thank God He used you to make the world a better place, and give Him the glory. 


Here goes my list of books in no particular order linked to Amazon:


Writing to Change the World, by Mary Pipher

The Elements of Style, By William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White

How to Write Killer Fiction, by Carolyn Wheat

Writing for Story by Jon Franklin

On Moral Fiction by John Gardner

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham (important for fiction)

If you are interested in writing a memoir, here is a link to an award-winning article I wrote:

"Writing a Memoir in Twelve Easy Steps"

I would also recommend you find a writer's group in your area and start attending. I lead the local Word Weavers International in Gainesville, Florida, so if you live near me, you are welcome to join us. There are also many other chapters across the United States as well as some online critique groups. Click on this link to learn more.

If you have any specific writing questions, post them in the comments below and I will reply as time permits. 

If you would like to check out my latest book, Tails and Purrs for the Heart and Soul, click here.

In the meantime, happy writing!





Monday, September 16, 2013

A Memoir or a Novel - How Does One Decide Which Way to Craft a Story Based on Real-Life Events


by Lorilyn Roberts

 

 


Recently on a Linked-In discussion group, someone made this comment:  I’m strongly biased toward fiction unless you are trading on celebrity or some highly publicized event. Memoirs put out as imparting the wisdom of the elders or holding up your past mistakes as object lessons turn me off. The fact you were a moron yesterday doesn’t make you a genius today. Journals and memoirs may be great for family but most are less attractive to a general audience and often convey the message of pleading to be loved or admired. Make it fiction and you can be more candid and the reader can decide whether your experience was informative, moving or amusing based on its own merits.” 

I strongly disagree with his statement and share the following thoughts:

Memoirs are some of the most powerful pieces written today, but people are shortsighted. They don’t always see the value of first-hand accounts in the present. Without memoirs, we have history written by partial observers who bring their own worldview into play—maybe at the expense of writing with accuracy the way the events actually happened. Second-hand accounts are never as factual as first-hand stories and never as valuable for historical purposes.

Many people love reading memoirs and will look for them in libraries and bookstores. Life experiences written by people reveal more about society than any history book or journalist covering a story. I am thankful for all the memoirs written today by all sorts of people to give us a peek into the present and the past.

For example, the world never would have known of Anne Frank if she had not written her diary. She was an unknown 13-year-old kid before her father published her diary.

If you have a compelling story to tell, tell it with passion, revealing your innermost struggles and thoughts. Being “real” with the reader will make your story come alive. In my memoir
Children of Dreams about the international adoption of my daughters, I was open and vulnerable. That was the right way to tell that story. I could never have fictionalized it.

I just wrote another book and this one is fiction,
Seventh Dimension - The Door. In contrast to Children of Dreams, I took certain events from my own life and turned them into fantasy. I had a story to tell and the only way to tell it was as allegory and to fictionalize it. The point being, do what the story calls for and write it. Don’t let naysayers talk you out of writing your story the way you feel it needs to be told. At the end of the day, you have to live with the result and be happy with the story and the way you wrote it.

These are some thoughts I would consider:  Who is your target audience? What is your purpose in writing your story? Can anyone be hurt or impacted negatively if you write your book as a memoir? If you write your story as a memoir in hopes of making money, you need to write your book as “creative nonfiction,” using fictional techniques.

For example, you need a beginning, a middle, and an end. You need to think in terms of “scenes” and “plot” and “problems” that need to be solved. The reader needs a takeaway—what can he learn from your memoir that would be meaningful or cathartic? No one wants to read someone’s boring biography.

If you decide to write your book as fiction, you will have more options and won’t run the risk of being sued or worried about divulging something you might regret later.
 
However, you need the skills to write fiction. Writing fiction is harder than writing a memoir because you have to create “story” out of fiction and make the plot enticing to read. In a future piece, I will suggest some books for writing fiction that I used in my Masters in Creative Writing that I found helpful.

I have written an award-winning piece on writing memoir that is posted on my website. Here is the link for anyone interested. Some might find it helpful. http://lorilynroberts.com/memoir.html

The most important thing as a writer is to keep writing and to keep learning—whether your write fiction, nonfiction, or memoir, and enjoy the journey.

 





 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Guest Post by Dianna T. Benson -- A Writer's Journey


Dianna T. Benson






When U.S. DEA Special Agent Lelisa Desmond refuses to follow an order to bury evidence in a high profile case, her superior hires a hit man to kill her deep in the ocean off Grand Cayman Island. Lelisa survives the first attempt on her life, but someone close to her is mistakenly murdered in her place.

With no one to trust, Lelisa enlists Inspector Alec Dyer for help but learns she's his number one suspect in the scuba diving homicide. She sets off on a daring mission to bring down the man who ordered her execution. A man in a high position, with power friends. A man who will stop at nothing to silence her forever in order to hide his son’s crimes. 



A Writer's Journey



In 1993, I started writing my first suspense novel. After completing five novels, I signed with an agent in 2007. Six agents offered me representation that spring; it was difficult to turn down the other five since all of them are top-notch agents. In the fall of 2007, a film agent requested a screenplay of The Hidden Son after reading the book. Just days before I completed the script, I learned the film agent suddenly and recently retired due to health issues. I never pursued anything further with the script.

In 2009 I was offered a four-book publishing contract in mainstream, but soon after that my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I turned that contract down to focus on our young family of five, and God carried all five of us through the surgeries and radiation treatments.  

I finaled in the Golden Palm in 2007, finaled in the Daphne in 2010, double semi-finaled in the Genesis in spring 2011, and won the Genesis September 2011. I switched agents January 2012. I signed a nine-book publishing contract July 2012. My first book, The Hidden Son, released in print world-wide on March 1, 2013.

Starting in February 2012, for thirteen weeks I had a pending contract offer from one of the largest traditional print publishing houses. They made me an offer only three days after my new agent submitted my work out. The entire editorial staff and the entire leadership team loved my writing, but the business team was concerned their suspense list is already too full.

The senior acquisitions editor drew up a matrix broken down by genre of their release list for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 (my books included in it), proving to them they have room and finances for one more suspense writer (me). Much to that editor's stunned shock, after thirteen weeks the business team decided they can’t add another suspense author.

During this thirteen week timeframe, the senior acquisitions editor thought it was just a matter of time before my contract finalized, so my agent understandably let go of all the other interest in my writing. Soon after those thirteen weeks with that publishing house, Ellechor Publishing House, a small traditional print house, contacted me and asked me to submit my 2011 Genesis Winner, Illusion of Safety. A few days after I did so, they offered me a nine-book contract.

The publishing industry today is not just about the writing (not even close). A reputable agent won’t offer representation unless he/she truly believes the writer has potential in today's market. Your marketing platform needs to be an absolute stand-out. Example: I’m an EMT and a Haz-Mat and FEMA Operative; I write suspense and medical thrillers.

However, even if you have a solid marketing platform, there are other obstacles.

Two other large traditional print houses loved my writing as well, but neither could offer me a contract only because they can’t have me competing with their current authors who write the same genre I do.

A limited number of books every month are print-published worldwide. Every traditional print house nowadays (large and small) is fighting to stay in business, and it takes a ton of money to publish and market a book, so the business team of any traditional print house needs to be convinced spending tons of money on a debut author is profitable for them without hindering any of their current authors.

Contest wins look great on a proposal, but in the end the business side of a publishing house makes the final decision on contract offers, and reality is unpublished writing contests have no relation to their current lists, their financials, the market, sales, a writer’s platform, or what constitutes as excellent and high profitable writing.

A little discouraging, but my hope here is to inform (not discourage) as well as to focus on the positive.
The publishing industry is rough, but I think stand up comedy is way harsher. When a comedian gets rejected (their act isn't going well), they're on stage in front of a live audience—yikes.

Keep in mind, if you’re unable to land an agent and/or a traditional print publishing contract, it doesn’t prove your writing is the problem, so continue to believe in yourself as a writer.

Above all, if you love to write, then never stop writing. God gave you a passion, so spend time on your passion and enjoy yourself! It may not be all about the writing anymore in the industry, but it will always be all about the writing to us writers.



*****

Dianna T. Benson is a 2011 Genesis Winner, a 2011 Genesis double Semi-Finalist, a 2010 Daphne de Maurier Finalist, and a 2007 Golden Palm Finalist. In 2012, she signed a nine-book contract with Ellechor Publishing House. Her first book, The Hidden Son, released in print world-wide March 1, 2013.

After majoring in communications and a ten-year career as a travel agent, Dianna left the travel industry to earn her EMS degree. An EMT and a Haz-Mat and FEMA Operative since 2005, she loves the adrenaline rush of responding to medical emergencies and helping people in need. Her suspense novels about adventurous characters thrown into tremendous circumstances provide readers with a similar kind of rush.

Dianna lives in North Carolina with her husband and their three athletic children.



Friday, June 17, 2011

More Thoughts on Creative Writing - Freedom of Chaos

by Lorilyn Roberts
We want freedom in writing within a framework of orderliness. A house can have many different looks, but without a solid foundation, it won’t stand. I home school my younger daughter Joy and the first chapter in her English book is about how to construct a sentence. The topic is covered in detail, beginning with the definition


of a subject and a predicate.


The foundation of a good story must have good sentence structure. The sentences need to be woven together to form a well-written paragraph with a main idea. The paragraphs build over a page, and eventually the pages come together to make chapters. An entire book emerges from one sentence. But if you don’t have structure, usually built from the skeleton of good grammar and an outline, you will end up with chaos.


God is a God of order. But we don’t need to be legalistic or rigid. Once we understand structure, we have the freedom to build on that structure and create fabulous stories.

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Art of Conflict in Writing Conflict

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The Art of Conflict in Writing Conflict
By Lorilyn Roberts


I should be an expert in writing conflict. After all, I was on the debate team in high school, and a seventh grade boy wrote in my yearbook, "You would argue with a sign post if you could." I've had my share of personal conflict--family problems, ex-husband, relationship disappointments, and yes, my own report card of failures.

As if that wasn't enough, I've had a first-class seat to some of the most spectacular conflicts on the planet. I worked for twenty years as a court reporter. The adversarial nature of the job left me exhausted. I would sit at my stenograph machine for long hours each day, between attorneys and hostile witnesses, recording the barrage of questions about lost reputations, cheating husbands, financial ruin, and hearts broken--high-powered lawyers bent on winning at all cost.

Conflict raged within me as I hated being at the center of it all. The louder they argued, the more nervous I became. Please don't ask me to read this back. It's hard to write well when everyone is yelling at each other. If I could count the number of strokes hit on my stenograph machine, the amount would not be measurable. Conflict abounds and sometimes borders on murder in a courtroom, where truth isn't always the ultimate goal. Because experience and memories shape our worldview, to this day I cringe at the thought of going back to that life--please God, never again. I don't want that conflict.

Today I work as a broadcast captioner for television and write as little news as possible. Very few upbeat stories get reported and I have grown weary of captioning sensational beats about kidnapped children, victims of abuse, Washington bureaucracy, and a world at war--at the gas pump, in the Middle East, and a host of ideologies that scare me. I cherish my freedom and don't want it taken from me. (Yes, I do feel much of what I love about my country is eroding). But most of all, I hate captioning tragedies that could have been avoided. Life can be very depressing and steeped in conflict.

As much as I hate conflict, as an author, how do I use it in fiction? Or do I even want to create painful conflict for my protagonist? Do I shy away from building a story that needs high-stakes conflict to create a fabulous, climatic ending? Or can I use conflict to remind me of a nobler purpose in God's eternal plan?

Put into the context of life, is there a reason behind the conflict which we encounter every single waking moment of our lives? Is it not the result of the stinking sin in myself and others? How do I resolve this paradox in my writing?

Fortunately, as writers, we have the freedom to go where our heart and art takes us. Unless I write poetry, however, I won't have a story without conflict. Acknowledging that the dénouement is what makes a story remarkable, I can set the scene for redemption before I begin the first page.

In the 1990's, Hollywood released a lot of box-office films that had downer endings; the bad guy won, the problem wasn't resolved the way I wanted, or the main character died. I quit going to the movies.

My mantra now is I refuse to write, read, or see movies where there is no redemption. If I feel stuck without a good moral choice in life, I will search for it. God can bring redemption out of the worst possible circumstance. There is good in the world if we look for it.

In writing a great book, there should be something in the dénouement that causes the reader to grapple with the story's action-idea. The unraveling of the conflict must result in a satisfying conclusion.  I don't want the reader to feel as though he has been cheated by mediocre creativity or immorality that wins.

While our stories imitate life, the climax needs to reach a higher level of "being." When I read a story, give me more. Give me excitement worth remembering, knowledge extraordinaire, and thought-provoking ideas. I want to relate to a protagonist that overcomes incredible odds and wins. Beauty, love, peace--we are not sufficiently redeemed to appreciate this trilogy of goodness in all its meaning, but because writing imitates life, we can catch glimpses of it in a redemptive ending.

As an author, my passion is to bring a "taste of heaven" to this earthly kingdom inhabited by kings and peasants, and all of us in between. That means what I write must linger. I must create meaningful connections in the reader's mind after his eyes have read the last page. I wield incredible power--to bless or curse. As a Christian, I want to captivate the reader with words that are uplifting, powerful, thought-provoking, and life-changing. That might seem impossible, but the greatest stories ever written have those qualities; unique characters engaged in mortal conflict, either internal, physical, or both.

I write where my heart takes me, digging into my past, and seeing what God stirs up from within. I write for myself first and then for others. It's up to each of us to decide how we use the "rules of writing," acknowledging that those words will live on long after we are gone--for good or evil. History is replete with both.

I can't dilute the plot to avoid conflict. I want redemption to reign supreme in the last chapter. I must weave the nature of fallen man into the story through conflict, knowing that I have the answers that a sinful world craves. I can do it subtly or not so subtly, but if I compromise on either, I will weaken the story that God has given me. Great conflict deserves great redemption.

How does conflict work in writing? The conflict must propel the story forward and relate in some way to the protagonist's nearly unreachable goal. There must be clear turning points (three-act structure works well), and there should be a main goal and at least one minor goal. Often the minor goal relates to character development (so the protagonist can reach his main goal).

With "up" endings, the protagonist wildly succeeds and goes through a metamorphosis in the process. He is not the same at the end as he was in the beginning. Despite his character flaws and numerous obstacles, he overcomes the odds and achieves his dream or even something better. Surprise endings are always the best

I have wondered if there is a higher standard for writing novels than the Aristotle tradition of dealing with conflict, but for a different reason. I want to write great stories in heaven, and in heaven, there is no conflict. What shall I write? Maybe I will become a poet. If you are one of those saints, pursue your calling with passion; keep writing those beautiful sonnets and songs. When my world becomes steeped in shadows, I turn to the Psalms and relish those soothing words of comfort and security.

In the Bible, Jesus knew the evil tentacles of life would strangle his listeners if they succumbed to their base nature, so he told amazing, redemptive stories, steeped in conflict, to reveal profound truths. If I follow that example, perhaps I can conquer my inner conflict of wanting to avoid conflict and write a great redemptive story--which must abound in conflict to end in perfect redemption.