ARE YOU DOING JUNE'S WEP?

http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/

That prompt opens up a lot of avenues

doesn't it?

I'm entering my friend, Denise's challenge.  

It is what friends do.  :-)

God loved birds 

and invented trees. 

Man loved birds 

and invented cages.

- Jacques Deval

My story begins in the Italian Alps

 the year following the sinking of the Titanic. 

ARE YOU THINKING

OF JOINING DENISE'S

CHALLENGE? 

ARE YOU LIVING A FULFILLED LIFE?

Living a fulfilling life 
seems a mocking concept for many 
these days.

Yet, it is not an impossible dream.

HOW TO START

1.) COME TO PEACE WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE

Animals in the wild endure bitter cold, injuries, and hunger without going IF ONLY. 

They accept life is what it is and adapt 

without the static of bemoaning that might keep them from finding another path.

2.) HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON LIFE TO ENJOY THE MOMENT

Not overlooking the beauty of the "mundane"world around you 

will open your eyes to countless epiphanies, enriching your life and broadening your horizons.

And you might even find a much-needed laugh.

3.) ARE YOU BECOMING A GROUCH?

Focusing on the negative a good part of the day may well be turning you into a toxic person.

Challenge yourself to look for the good in each hour, in each person you meet.

That person who is just sitting at the light turned green 

may well have received terrible news from the doctor or from a loved one.

Practice restraint and don't honk that horn.  

 4.) PRACTICE FORGIVENESS

Not just for others ... but for yourself.

You screwed up yesterday.  That just makes you human.  Today is a blank page.  

Don't smudge it with the guilt of the past.

5.) EXERCISE IS A PRIORITY NOT A "MAYBE"

Exercise, whether it be walking, running or biking, cleans out the cobwebs and tones the body.

It also releases endorphines for free.  A healthy body houses a happier spirit.

6.) STOP HANDING YOUR SELF-WORTH TO THE HANDS OF OTHERS

Those who focus on your flaws continually may do so to keep from seeing their own.

No one feels your pains, dreams your dreams, or lives your hours but you.

Each of us is composed of the very atoms first found in the hearts of stars.  

You are a sparkle of life from the heart of a sun.  You are special.  Let no one tell you otherwise.

7.) OUR FEARS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS WORSE THAN WHAT THE TRUTH IS

Hiding from our fears always magnifies them.  

Facing them gives us an idea of what to do next.

8.) CLING TO YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR

Laughter is one of the best forms of exercise.

It helps you live longer, reduces your blood pressure, and helps you enjoy your own company.

And since you are stuck with yourself  24/7, that is a good thing.

STEER CLEAR OF THESE WRITING MISTAKES

Don't you wish there was a map to follow to find success with your writing?

Each of us must chart our own course to our novel's successful end, but there are some shoals we should avoid:


1.) TOO MANY CHARACTERS

When more than just a few characters are introduced in the first few pages of a book, 

it’s difficult to keep their names and roles straight.

Have a literal boatload of characters?  

Filter them in slowly in the first few chapters, 

linking them in the mind of the readers with vivid sketches of their personalities.


2.) STERILE CHARACTERS

 If your characters are flat, if there’s nothing to set them and their struggles apart, we won’t want to cheer for them, and might not care enough to keep reading.


3.)  EXPERIMENTAL STYLE

When a writer experiments with style or structure, the result can be refreshing or irritating. 

Your ability to pull off something out-of-the-ordinary depends on your skill as a writer, 

and your ability to connect with readers despite your unusual style.

Anyone who has read my blog for long knows that I loved Roger Zelazny's books.  

But towards the end of his career, he experimented with strange formats to his books.

In DOORWAYS IN THE SANDS, he ended the chapters with cliffhangers, 

but then started the next chapter some time later, working back to the resolution of the crisis.  

VERY, VERY irritating!  

I only stayed because I liked him.  I don't think many other of his fans did. 


4.) UNCLEAR CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS

Have you ever read a book where a character does something, and you say, 

“Why on earth did she do that?? A mother would never do that!”

 Ensure your characters’ actions are in line with their motivations, 

and if they don’t appear to be on the surface, your reader must understand why not.

 Don't lift your readers out of your novel with characters you force to be stupid to get them to make mistakes to propel your story forward.


5.) HAZY STRUCTURE

  If all the good stuff happens at the beginning, or if nothing exciting happens until the end, your reader will be frustrated with the rest of the book.


6.) WRITE FOR THE MARKET ONLY

If you start by chasing the market, you study the bestseller lists and try to identify a trend, jumping on it.

Even if the trend is still hot by the time your novel comes out, the story will be lackluster, for it didn't come out of your dreams.


7.)  NULLIFY THE DANGER OR REACH THE GOAL TOO EARLY

The point is to raise the stakes so that the readers are not only cheering your protagonist on, 

but afraid that they may fail to save whatever it is that they are trying to keep.

 Regardless of your genre, 

every novel must have a protagonist trying to accomplish or reach some kind of goal. 

The plot itself is then the character’s journey to try to reach said goal.

 In some novels, that goal may evolve along the way, 

but the important thing is that whatever the goal is, it is out of reach throughout the large majority of the novel. 

By making your characters fail, often repeatedly, to reach that goal, 

you keep your readers hooked because they’ll want to find out how your character will manage to succeed.

What do you think are some deadly mistakes to avoid in our writing?

WHAT YOU SEE IN THE DARK_ Memorial Day Thoughts

"For myself and thousands of other veterans across this country, Memorial Day 
is every day."

– Air Force Captain Joshua Carroll

Hemingway with Col. Charles 'Buck' Lanham in Germany, 1944,

during the fighting in Hürtgenwald, after which he became ill with pneumonia.

“Death is the mother of beauty. Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers.”
― Wallace Stevens


No American writer is more associated with writing about war in the early 20th century than Ernest Hemingway.

He experienced it firsthand, wrote dispatches from innumerable frontlines, and used war as a backdrop for many of his most memorable works.


“Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.”
― Wallace Stevens


Researchers come to the Hemingway archives at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

primarily to examine Ernest Hemingway's original manuscripts and his correspondence with family, friends, and fellow writers.

One object on display is far more consequential:

a piece of shrapnel from the battlefield where Hemingway was wounded during World War I.

Had the enemy mortar attack been more successful that fateful night, the world may never have known one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

Conversely, had Hemingway not been injured in that attack, he not may have fallen in love with his Red Cross nurse,

a romance that served as the genesis of A Farewell to Arms, one of the century's most read war novels.

Hemingway kept the piece of shrapnel, along with a small handful of other "charms" including a ring set with a bullet fragment, in a small leather change purse.

Similarly he held his war experience close to his heart and demonstrated throughout his life

a keen interest in war and its effects on those who live through it.

War leaves no survivor untouched.

Data compiled from diaries and letters will affirm the presence of psychological disorders in soldiers who fought in the Civil War.

From this body of evidence,

it is clear that soldiers of the American Civil War did indeed suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological disorders.

Until the 20th century little was known about the emotional effects of war on soldiers

and it wasn't until soldiers were studied psychologically that we began to understand what had happened to them.

The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. 

-William Havard

It was due to soldiers of the Vietnam war that the disorder was discovered, yet their symptoms had been synonymous with war veterans from hundreds of years before.

Veterans of war find it hard to be the same, emotionally, ever again.

Some may say that their inability to form close bonds with loved ones is due to the experience of near death and the fear that they will leave someone behind.

The emotional effects of war on soldiers very often hinders their future achievements too as they find it impossible to imagine or plan.


“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton

Who are you remembering today?

That’s the question for Memorial Day,

the day set aside each spring to honor
the men and woman killed in our nation’s wars ...

Men and women who wanted
to see their loved ones again

But wanted them kept safe even more.

FATED TO JOURNEY_Part 2 of Writing Middle Grade Historical Fantasy

“I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes

to see the largeness of life,

to see it through the laughter that is clear to all

and

through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone.”
― Nikolai Gogol  

Nailing Middle Grade Voice

Is The Key

Remember that the Middle Grade Readers

and the characters in the books

they read

have a limited world view.

That is both good and bad.

 As by their short lives, they have thin back stories.

That also limits their perspectives and their grasp of the world around them.

Your Characters Will Not

Over-Think A Problem.

They tend to go for the most direct solution without mulling too much over the consequences.



The middle grade years are all about 

self-discovery.

Finding your voice.

Expanding your world view.

 Learning that adults aren’t always right

and

that they can make mistakes.

Knocking down pedestals

and building your own foundation.

To a Middle Grade Character,

There’s turmoil and excitement

and the chance to stretch your boundaries.

It’s a time to look inside yourself

and see what makes you tick.

To figure out who you are

 and where you fit in.

No matter the era in which

you choose to set your adventure,

Let the historical elements be the backdrop against which

 your young protagonists live ordinary days until the extraordinary

propels them into a journey of self and external exploration.

It will be the sense of wonder

and the

secret desire to be the protagonist

that will keep your

young reader glued to the pages

of your tale.

I HOPE THIS WILL HELP

YOU IN SOME 

SMALL WAY

TO WIN A SPOT

HERE:

 http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/the-2019-annual-iwsg-anthology-contest.html

How To Write MIDDLE GRADE HISTORICAL FANTASY

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/the-2019-annual-iwsg-anthology-contest.html

Are you entering this contest?

Writing Middle Grade Historical Fantasy

 is a bit of a challenge.

MAKE YOUR TALE FUN

See through a child's eyes.  

What would sweep today's Middle Grader away in a historical fantasy?  

What adventures would the squire of King Arthur be propelled into?  

Joan of Arc was a mere 15 when she began having her visions which birthed her legend.

But no matter your MC's plight, inject humor into the mix ... 

AND PLEASE NO PREACHING.

PUPPY LOVE IS REAL 

TO THE PUPPY

Adults see kids as small with small problems.  Not so.  They, like we, want to be heard, to be understood, to be treated with respect.

Children want to be talked to not at, especially in the books they read.

SANDPAPER YOUR 

COURSE LANGUAGE

Mark Twain could get away with it with HUCKLEBERRY FINN 

but he was writing for adults using a middle grader as protagonist.

DON'T BE AN IDIOM IDIOT

How many Spanish youngsters use "swell" or "golly" during the Spanish Inquisition?  

The same number of young cabin boys aboard the British Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars.

That's how many.

Do your research. Fine out the common words used during the time period and locale of your story.

DON'T GIVE YOUR YOUNG READERS HISTORY INDIGESTION

Make your history fun and new and brief.

KNOW YOUR READER

 During the middle grades, friends and school become more important 

than home and family as kids try to figure out their place in the social structure. 

In NANCY DREW, the parents all but disappeared from the pages.

No matter the time period or fantasy, 

make your MC take the reins of the adventure in his or her own hands.

HOW DID I GET INTO 

THIS MESS?

 If a character has no problem to solve, there is no point to the story. 

The story plot consists of an urgent problem confronting your main character 

and how he or she goes about solving it, against tremendous opposition. 

But when you are a child that becomes extraordinarily difficult.

Danger, mystery, and suspense are the undercurrents 

that will pull your young reader along the spinning of your tale. 

THE CLIFF NOTES VERSION 

OF THE SECRETS TO 

MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY

• Tight writing.
• Active and powerful verbs.
• A plot that’s cool and fast paced.
• Characters who are alive with authenticity.
• Dialogue that is true to the characters.
• A background rich with possibilities or mystery.
• Your own unique writing voice.
• Hints and clues that are woven into the fabric of the plot, and tell of past history and things yet to come

HAVE YOU DECIDED TO 

ENTER THIS CONTEST?

IF NOT, WHY NOT?

A CLUE TO MY OWN

SUBMISSION

My New FAVORITE MOVIE

No, not ENDGAME.  

Heresy, right?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGJVMG/

(Only $4.99 to rent on Amazon)

It is a rare Indy gem from Portland

Take a chance on it.

You will be glad you did.

It is a thoughtful, witty 

prize winning

Indie comedy 

about 
family, gender roles,

 and 

the importance of accepting 

each other for who we really are 

 

ZOE, future filmmaker

If the World Was Ending Tomorrow?

"If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day.

Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day."
- IF TODAY WERE YOUR LAST DAY; Nickelback

If you close your eyes tonight and never re-opened them, what kind of last day would you have had?

 The world will be gone.  Time is set to be an echo.  You have 24 hours left in which to exist. 

It could happen.   The funny thing about life is, trouble never comes from where you expect it. 

You spend two months worried about interviewing for that big job promotion, 

then on your way there, you die of a heart attack brought on by all that stress. 

That's just the way it goes.

Super-volcanoes, a Verne-Shot (which combines the super-volcano scenario with an asteroid strike, fun, right?), 

Gamma Ray Burst from our sun, 

engineered diseases or something totally out of left field could end life as we know it.

But for you ... for me ... the world could end tomorrow.

Heart attack, mugger, or drunk driver.  Any of those three could end your life suddenly.

"There is only one time that is important: NOW.  

It is the most important because it is the only one over which we have any control."
- Leo Tolstoy  


Appreciate your job if you can ...

If you just "Survive" your job, you are wasting 71% of your life. (5 out of the 7 days of the week.)


Forgive if you can ...

What someone did to hurt you was their fault.  Carrying it with you for each day afterwards is all on you.


Focus on the NOW ...

The Past and the Future are illusions.  NOW is the only reality.  

If you grasp after ghosts, you, yourself, are not living.  You are making of yourself a ghost.

Each moment matters for it may be our last.  

Think of all the shooting, bombing, or air crash victims.  They thought their lives would go on for years.

Appreciate what and who you have while you have it and them.

Here is Stephen King on my favorite novel of his, DUMA KEY