Tag Archives: Writing Tip

Start Your Writer’s Day Right – Joy of Writing

Writers Life, , ,

Start Your Writer’s Day Right – Joy of Writing. “I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk and put down any word or series of words that happened along in my head.” This is what Ray Bradbury says in his Introduction to Dandelion Wine.

How I Learned to Follow Ray Bradbury’s Example. My husband Jonathan and I had returned the night before from our camp in the New Jersey Skylands. Ordinarily those Mondays began with a long list of city life things to do and stress barreling back big time. This particular Monday was different.

My Post-Weekend List Loomed Over Me as Usual. Each item was about keeping our weekday world on a smooth track rather than a bumpy one. In other words – crucial to the max. I had better get busy pronto. That was what I typically told myself anyway – until that day.

That Day I Ignored my To-Do List. I got out of bed and went to my desk. I took out my writing notebook. I put down the words that happened along in my imagination where they had actually happened to be for some time. Just like the words in your writer’s imagination right now.

How to Put Your Writer Psyche on Your Side - www.aliceorrbooks.com

That Day I Started a Book. Not an adaptation like my previous two books had been. The first – a novel that was orphaned when I decided to leave my agent. The second – a re-imagined story from a previous publishing period. This book was neither of those and nothing like them. Amazing things happen when you set yourself free. Start Your Writer’s Day Right – Joy of Writing.

This Book was a Brand-New Story. Fresh from my tiny gray cells it grew. Word after word into scene after scene. Appearing like a miracle on the page in front of me. It was magic and I was in its thrall. I had never experienced a day like that in my entire writing career. But by Monday evening I had convinced myself it was too good to be true.

Until Tuesday Morning when the Same Thing Happened Again. I was enthralled once more. Caught up in the world of my story. Following its fascinating trail. Idea by idea and image by image. Alive in a reality as real to me as my day-to-day down-to-earth one had ever been.

And Here is Something Else Equally Enthralling. After each of those writing sessions an aura of the magic remained. My mind felt less fettered. My worries pressed less heavily upon me and around me. The To-Do lists that dictated my days had lost a huge measure of their tyranny.

Life Changes When You Start Your Day Writing. I have to relearn this regularly. A lesson that actually is crucial to the max. Just like Ray Bradbury said. Bed. Desk. Notebook. Voila. Alice becomes Alice in Wonderland. Curiouser and curiouser. Try it. Start Your Writer’s Day Right – Joy of Writing.

You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur.  Alice Orr.  https://www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells.

Visit Alice’s Joy of Writing Blog. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not you have storytelling magic in you. Learn to shine in the light of that magic and make it your own at https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Alice’s novel. A Time of Fear & Loving. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Experience the joy of reading. Available HERE.

A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving. “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet!”

Alice’s Suspense Novel Series. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. Five intense stories of love and death and intrigue. Available HERE.

Praise for Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. “Romance and suspense at its best.” “I highly recommend this page-turner series.” “Twists and turns, strong characters, suspense and passionate love.” “The writing is exquisite.”

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know? About your writer experience. About telling your stories. Ask your question as a comment following this post.

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A Christmas Carol Sings to the Storyteller in You

Storytelling, ,

A Christmas Carol Sings to the Storyteller in You. Why? Because you must decode its secret. As a writer you need to know why it has remained a narrative star for so long with such an immense audience. What exactly did Charles Dickens create that keeps vast numbers of people worldwide coming back year after year to be absorbed yet again by his tale?

A Christmas Carol Sings to You because of its Main Character. What Charles Dickens created that holds us in his thrall is Ebenezer Scrooge. He commands us to revisit the dark environs of his “money-changing hole” with astonishingly universal regularity. We simply cannot seem to get enough of his story and the twisting trail it leads us along.

A Christmas Carol Sings to You because It is a Ghost Story. Readers love things that go bump in the night. And, for Scrooge, they literally do. My favorite film version is from 1951 and stars Alistair Sim. The gloomy atmosphere of black and white. The booming apocalyptic sound effects, Ebenezer’s dark scowl. The haunting mood draws me back year after “rolling year.”

A Christmas Carol Sings to Us because We are Scrooge. We are not Scrooge because we are misers hoarding our worldly goods while declaring “Humbug this” and “Humbug that.” We are Scrooge because of the wounds life causes many of us to carry at the essential center of our hearts. Ebenezer carries such wounds and that urges a great swath of readers to identify with him on some level. Which is why A Christmas Carol Sings to the Storyteller in You.

A Christmas Carol Sings to Me Personally. As a human being, I have suffered my own heart wounds. The kind that bore a hole the way hot coals might do when dropped in a sensitive spot at a young age. This hollow place begs to be filled and the only way to fill it is with love. But love must be received and absorbed. For me that fortunately happened. Scrooge has not been blessed in this manner. Which makes me care about him and my caring hooks me into his story.

A Christmas Carol Sings to Those of You who have been Similarly Singed. I am not asking anyone to admit this, because to do so makes you painfully vulnerable. Nor do you need to point out how you are not in the least wounded. If that is true, I rejoice for you and hope you will remain so always. I suspect, however, that, more often than not, you have carried your own wounds and can empathize with Ebenezer’s plight. Thus, you too are hooked into his story.

A Christmas Carol Sings to You because of its Very Dramatic Climax. Scrooge is confronted with the truth of his life in intense and powerful scenes one after another. The vividness of these scenes shakes him to the core of his being. They shake us too. He is additionally confronted with the inevitable outcome of such a life which scares him nearly to death. It scares us too. What will happen next? By now any reader with a beating heart is totally hooked into Dickens’ world.

A Christmas Carol Sings to You because of its Very Happy Ending. The morning dawns. The ghosts are gone. Ebenezer truly sees the light of day at last.  He is a new man. Reborn. Redeemed. He acts accordingly. From his heart and to the benefit of everyone – especially himself. This is popular storytelling at its best.

Finally – A Christmas Carol Sings because Dickens Offers an Answer. He points us toward possible healing. Action will be required as is true of all Redemption Stories. A Christmas Carol is a Redemption Story. Scrooge must redeem himself. The spirits help but he takes the crucial action. He learns to love and performs loving deeds. This is Scrooge’s answer and everyone else’s. Millions of readers and watchers are drawn to that message. Whatever your beliefs about Christmas it might be wise to listen when A Christmas Carol Sings to the Storyteller in You.

Alice Orr Says – You Possess Storytelling Magic. Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

 Alice Orr – Teacher. Storyteller. Former Literary Agent. Blogs for Writers. Author of 14 novels, 2 novellas and a memoir so far. Wrote No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves.

Alice’s Holiday Novel – A Vacancy at the Inn – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 3 – is available HERE. Celebrate the Season!

Praise for A Vacancy at the Inn. “Grabbed me right away and swept me up in the lives of Bethany and Luke.” “Undercurrents of suspense move the story along at an irresistible pace.” “The Miller family is rife with personality quirks, an authentic touch that demonstrates Alice Orr’s skill as a writer.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.”

All of Alice’s Books are HERE.

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http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

It’s a Wonderful Writer’s Life

Writer Inspiration, ,

It’s a Wonderful Writer’s Life. The holiday season is filled with fullness. Days full of activities. To-Do lists full of responsibilities. Hearts full of feeling. Heads full of memories. And – for the storyteller in you – a house full of fabulous secondary characters. Whether they are in your actual residence or not, they are there. Eager to enrich your pages.

 Think of Yourself as the Hostess at a Party of Fiction Inspiration. These are your honored guests, ready to be honored further by your imagination. You are the creative force and they are the raw material for your creations. Each one is wrapped up bright and sparkly. Each one is a gift waiting to be opened by you and invited into the world of your story.

Think of Frank Kapra and It’s a Wonderful Life. He and his co-writers adapted an obscure short story into a classic. In Philip Van Doren Stern’s The Greatest Gift, the main character witnesses his world as it would be if he had never existed. Kapra and company changed his name from George Pratt to George Bailey, and the saga of a 75-year-old holiday hit began.

 Think of How They Populated George’s World. Henry Potter, the villain we love to hate.  Mary Bailey, the steadfast mate. Uncle Billy, the family screwup. Clarence, the angel second class. Who fails to smile when he appears on screen? Plus – Bert, Ernie, Violet, brother Harry, friend Sam. And Bedford falls – a town full of unforgettable secondary characters.

Each of Them is a Character Type. Each type is defined by a dominating character trait. Greed. Loyalty. Forgetfulness. Optimism. Each behaves according to the dictates of this personality definition. They do not step beyond its bounds. Their job is to maintain that predictability. Significantly, because of them, It’s a Wonderful Writer’s Life.

Recollect a Holiday Gathering from Your Personal Past or Present. A family fixture. An office party. A community event. Imagine yourself there and look around you. In your mind’s eye, tag each person with their dominant character trait. Feel free to take creative license with the portrayal. This is your Bedford Falls. Populate it with whomever you prefer.

Remember these are Secondaries – Not Your Hero. But each of them is connected to your hero and affects her life in some way that benefits your story. Find the villain first. There he is in a corner making somebody uncomfortable. Find your hero’s mate or best friend next. Smiling and taking care of things and people because that is what he or she does.

Continue this Exercise by Identifying One Character Type After Another. These folks fill the streets of your Bedford Falls. They surround your hero and move her story forward – or backward – as your storyline requires. They expand your fictional world and give it real life dimensions. They are the people of your plot and their roles are anything but secondary.

Without these Characters Your Story is a Hollow Shell. Your hero’s world is hollow also. These characters give your reader a sense of your hero’s community. They give your reader individuals to identify with, to root for or rally against. These characters make your work resonate on the page. They cause you to rejoice that It’s a Wonderful Writer’s Life.

Alice Orr Says – You Possess Storytelling Magic. Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask your question in the Comments section at the end of this post.

 Alice Orr – Teacher. Storyteller. Former Literary Agent. Blogs for Writers. Author of 14 novels, 2 novellas and a memoir so far. Wrote No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community she loves.

Alice’s Holiday Novel – A Vacancy at the Inn – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 3 – is available HERE. Celebrate the Season!

How to Put Your Writer Psyche on Your Side - www.aliceorrbooks.com

Praise for A Vacancy at the Inn. “Grabbed me right away and swept me up in the lives of Bethany and Luke.” “Undercurrents of suspense move the story along at an irresistible pace.” “The Miller family is rife with personality quirks, an authentic touch that demonstrates Alice Orr’s skill as a writer.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.”

 All of Alice’s Books are HERE.

http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/