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Generating good, usable ideas can be difficult for any writer, new or established. While John Steinbeck may have been exempt (he famously compared ideas to rabbits, saying “You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”), we are not all on Steinbeck’s level. To those of you who can come up with something new and interesting at will, I commend you. For the rest of us, here are 31 prompts for the month of August.

Interpret these in whatever way works best for you. Do each one, or two per week, or five per month, or any number that feels productive for you. If you’d like to, share your links or short-short stories in the comments.

1. You have two characters. One is trying to convince the other that he is telling the truth, but the second character knows the first character is lying. How does this scene play out?

2. Write a short story in which a pill is an object of importance.

3. Tell a story using only letters your characters have written to each other.

4. Use these words: spider, lump, magazine, bread box, asbestos.

5. Sylvia Plath once write that “everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it.” Use your outgoing guts to tell a difficult story.

6. A local woman has just had her first baby. She is on the news because her baby is __________. Fill in the blank and then tell this story.

7. Your first line is: “In this town, everyone is named after an object.”

8. You’ve inherited enough money to retire. What do you do now?

9. A group of friends are walking down the street. They see something unexpected.

10. Your new neighbor introduces himself as La Bamba Flambeau. He is a mild-mannered, middle-aged man.

11. Fill in the blanks to create a piece of dialogue; then, use the dialogue in a short story: “If it weren’t for _________, I would never have _________.”

12. Your character wakes up very late. He thinks it is Monday, but it is only Sunday.

13. Write an optimistic character who is placed in a hopeless, unfixable situation.

14. Two characters discuss their hobbies. Neither is comfortable being friends afterward.

15. Use these words: frenetic, business card, notepad, bagel, walrus.

16. It is 10 years in the future. Write a scene about your character’s everyday life.

17. A poet is in his car when he realizes the lyrics of the song on the radio match the piece he wrote last night.

18. Winston Churchill said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” Write a kind history for a no good, very bad character.

19. A spaceship has landed safely in the Pacific Ocean and the beings that step out look exactly like all humans… except for one disturbing difference.

20. 100 years ago, medical science eradicated all virulent disease. What is the world like now?

21. In this scene, a phone call derails a quiet dinner at home.

22. You’re a contestant on Jeopardy! Write the scene in which you win the game. Include the topic, answer and question.

23. Write a short story in which a painting is an object of importance.

24. Your theme: Nothing is free.

25. Your character must mail something today, but the universe is conspiring against his success.

26. Use these words: tin, monkey wrench, banner, water damage, award.

27. Your character did something embarrassing in college that her family does not know about. What happens when her teenage daughter finds out years later? When her husband finds out? When the local gossip hears about it?

28. A character is caught stealing. a) Make your reader feel sorry for the thief. b) Make your reader angry at the victim.

29. “This is not what I ordered. It’s moving.”

30. Today is someone’s birthday, but you forgot until just now. This person is very important to you.

31. Write a survival story.

Adrienne Crezo is the managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @a_crezo.

Image by ppdigital via morguefile.

The only way to be a writer is to write, right? This is the advice we give at WD, online and in the magazine. If you want to write, you must write. But sometimes getting started is difficult. Perhaps you have a fully-formed character but no idea what to do with him. Maybe your idea is a great plot, but you don’t know who the woman who must live it will be. I would argue that getting started—the actual act of sitting down and beginning something new—is the most difficult part of writing. (Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me, this is the hard part.)

Imagine my excitement this morning when I encountered the following paragraph as I read That Would Make a Good Novel by Lily King on The New York Times:

When I teach fiction I often start a workshop with one of my favorite exercises called Two Truths and a Lie. I tell my students to write the first paragraph of a short story. The first sentence of the paragraph must be true (My sister has brown hair.), the second sentence must be true (Her name is Lisa.), but the third sentence must be a lie (Yesterday she went to prison.). … The lie is the steering wheel, the gearshift and the engine. The lie takes your two true sentences and makes a left turn off road and straight into the woods. It slams the story into fifth gear and guns it.

Although this extremely useful exercise is not at all the point of King’s article, I think it deserves its own post here for those of you who, like me, have trouble with beginnings. So let’s do an exercise! This one is three-pronged:

1. Write the beginning of a story—three full sentences—using the Two Truths and a Lie method. The first two sentences must be true, and the third sentence must be a lie.

2. Carry that story out to at least 500 words. Write more if you’d like. Go wherever your lie takes you. Be ridiculous or be introspective. Whatever suits you.

3. Post your story on your blog, and leave a link here (with a title and your first three sentences to avoid being trapped in our spam filters) so that the rest of us can read it. 

BONUS: Tweet a link to your story, too! Use the hashtag #WD2Truths1Lie so we can all see your efforts.

Adrienne Crezo is the managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @a_crezo.

After years of crisscrossing the country by car, plane, train, bus, and even on foot for stretches, one of my favorite modes of transportation remains the railroad. Yes, it can be a little shabby, but not nearly as bad as some bus stations I’ve seen. Plus, it has a great literary history: Jack Kerouac and his Beat buddy Neal Cassady were both railroad employees, and numerous works taking place on the rails continue to thrill us, such as Christie’s Murder on The Orient Express, Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar, and Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Hunter S. Thompson once amusingly wrote, “Many fine books have been written in prison,” and I believe that many fine books, stories, poems, and articles have been written on the gently rocking cars of the railway. I’ve enjoyed some excellent writing sessions during my railway jaunts from New York City to destinations far and wide (mostly New England, but I’ve traveled as far as Texas by train), and I’ve picked up a few pointers that might make your own writing-on-the-rails experience a little more enjoyable. Some of these are common sense tips, but hopefully you find one or two items below that help make your trip more productive.

Have a “Bug-Out Bag”

Like most travelers, I stow my non-essential luggage overhead or leave it in the good hands of the porter (if there is one) and I keep my writerly items nearby in my “Bug-Out Bag”: a laptop with power cable, notepad, pens, a couple of books, iPod, phone, phone charger, and any research materials (if needed). I’ll talk food/drinks later, but these are the basics if you’re going to be traveling for more than an hour or two. If you bring just a laptop, you may find yourself in a romper-room of a train unable to concentrate, or if you bring just a book and notepad, you may find yourself in a nice quiet car with all the time in the world to tinker with your novel. Be prepared and bring enough tools and entertainment for any situation.

I try to keep this bag as small and light as possible because it’s going to take up lap or foot space when you’re sitting for hours on end, and it’s going to be the thing you grab first if you need to get off the train in an emergency. Yes, I know they say leave everything behind, but I assure you, I’m not the only writer who would fight flame, flood, war, and famine to rescue an unfinished manuscript.

And make sure your phone and laptop are charged up because not all trains have power outlets. I primarily ride NYC’s Metro-North railway and Amtrak, the former lacking outlets in every seat, the latter having them only by the window seat. Which leads me to…

Seat Selection

When selecting a seat, be aware of where the sun will fall as you travel. Example: If you’re heading due north in the morning, you might want to sit on the left side of the train to avoid the glaring morning light coming through the right side. Traveling due west? Sit on the right side to avoid the southern sun as much as possible. Almost no trains I’ve used in my 34 years have had curtains or draw-down shades like an airplane, so be prepared for sunlight.

As for where on a car to sit…I’d suggest avoiding the bathroom, for obvious reasons.

I always aim for the window seat, and I pick this seat for very specific reasons. The aforementioned power outlet location is one. Nothing is more awkward than having to reach over or around someone to plug in your dying laptop, although you should be prepared for someone to do the same to you when you’ve nabbed the window seat.

Second, the view can be inspiring. Need to describe a town or countryside in your story? Keep your pen handy and take notes. I love all of the little towns along the Hudson River, and you get an up-close view of each station and their waterfront areas on the line between New York City and Albany.

Third, when you’re in the window seat, you only (in theory) have one person you might have to deal with directly—the person beside you. If you’re in the aisle seat, you have the person next to you, the person across the aisle, people walking past you over and over, and those kitty-corner ahead and behind chatting and fumbling and distracting you. This may also happen by the window in a particularly noisy car, but you have a better chance of avoiding most direct contact when you’re by the window. And speaking of noise…

Noise Pollution

Fair warning: I am a childless writer, so I’m a bit biased and narrow-minded when it comes to traveling in the presence of children. I’m not a fan, and I cannot count the number of crying babies and inattentive parents I have imagined exiling from the train in various creative ways. Granted, yes, some poor little kids are starving or sick or frightened, and I sometimes think of my nieces and nephews and take pity, but other cookie crunchers can shout and scream for hours on end for no discernable reason and they will destroy your creative output.

It’s in your best interest to not blow your top and end up serving a nickel in the county pen, so I suggest you:

• Move your seat to a quieter car, which is possible on many trains, but you may not find an ideal seat once things begin filling up. Some trains, though, have cars specifically designated as no talking/no noise cars. This is also referred to as Heaven.
• Plug in those ear-buds and play some soothing instrumental music, the sounds of a rainstorm, or heck, even some AC/DC to drown out the noise and crying around you. Remember, “Rock & Roll ain’t noise pollution…”
• Apply duct-tape to their…no, wait, that’s a surefire way to end up in jail (DON’T do that, although you may want to apply the tape to your own ears…might not be a bad idea). Instead, and if you have a heart of gold, you might want to ask if the parent struggling with the child needs a hand. They may say no, but they might need just a few minutes of help to get things in order, and doing so might rescue them and save the day for everyone else within earshot. You never know.

Usually, when things are too loud for writing, I stick with my iPod, filled to the brim with music and podcasts to get through those bouts of crying kids, young hedge-fund analysts talking to everyone they can about their salary (this happens more than you’d imagine), or people who cannot pry their cell phone from their ear. What, afraid to be alone with your thoughts for more than 10 minutes? Seems like it. Music has brought down my blood pressure more times than I can count, so don’t leave home without it.

Creature Comforts

Some of you may not want to leave home without water and at least one snack. I left this out of my Bug-Out Bag only because many long-distance trains have snack cars with very basic selections of sandwiches and drinks, but not all do (short runs almost never do). Find out ahead of time, because if the train does offer food, that’s one less thing to pack beforehand. And even though it may be more expensive, I’m a buy-on-the-go kind of traveler. I think it adds to the adventure to scrounge from whatever’s available aboard the train (usually meager…this isn’t The Darjeeling Limited) or at the station, but some of you may want to be a little more prepared. Probably wise.

Sleeping on a noisy train may also be impossible, but I find sleeping in a quiet train relaxing and easy to do. Yes, my parents had to drive me around the block to get me to sleep—I was that kid. If it moves, I can sleep in it, but if you have trouble, bring a pillow (most trains do not have them), inflatable neck brace, eye mask, etc. Of course, if you’re sleeping, you’re not writing…then again, on a five-hour trip, you may want a nap. Do what you need to do to get comfy.

I suggested bringing two books because if there are delays and you burn through one, you don’t want to look down and realize you only have the greasy, dog-eared travel magazine to read and re-read over the next three hours when you’re taking a break from your writing. I shiver at the thought.

And if you want to watch a movie, please plug in a headset. Parents, ditto for your kids. No one wants to hear your tots watch Frozen five times in a row from Boston to Chi-Town.

Writing Effectively

Here’s where the wheel meets the rail, so to speak. When the stars align and you get a relatively quiet car, a long stretch of straight track, and you know just what you want to say, you can get a ton of inspired writing done. One of the biggest questions at this point is: How do you prefer to write? I work from a laptop, but the real-world application of writing on one’s lap can get unrealistic really fast. My laptop gets scalding hot over a five-hour trip. Heck, it’s gets toasty after a 90-minute jaunt, too.

Pull down the folding tray, you say? Good idea, but I’ve encountered many a rail rider who plopped down (some quite literally throwing themselves into the seat) and cranked back the seat to recline as if they were trying to tackle the game winner in their glory days back in Pop Warner football. This sends the fold-down tray right into your solar plexus, or at least it does when I ride Amtrak. And I’m not a big dude, just your average-joe-waist-size writer, so if you come in the extra-lovin’ size, this could be a very big problem. I’d move seats if you can. Otherwise, I’d use a pillow, scarf, your Bug-Out Bag, or a jacket so you can to rest the laptop on your lap. It may not be perfect, but if you’re on a roll, don’t stop just because someone needs that 14% more recline in order to catch some Z’s.

You can also find a seat at the end of the car, that area that has two rows facing each other. Those often have fold-out trays that come out of the armrest and no one can shove it around on you. But then you have to stare someone in the face the whole ride. This could either be the most beautiful person in the world or the most frightening, and either could be a distraction.

Also note that you won’t have a lot of extra space no matter where you sit, so if you have a bunch of folders with research papers and notepads, outlines and character studies, you might find yourself juggling a pile of paper while also typing. It can get frustrating. You could stick them in the seat pocket ahead of you, but learn from my mistake: I have twice, TWICE, left a manuscript I printed out to proof or a folder of notes for a novel in the pocket, and Amtrak wasn’t able to find either lost item. No amount Alka-Seltzer (or as book-lover Bernard Black calls them, “Fizzy-Good, Make Feel Nice”) is going to cure that heartburn and heartache. Use those pockets if you must, but be careful.

I also find that if you plan ahead and you know exactly what you want to work on before you fold down that tray and begin typing, it will help you stay productive. Writing on a train can often come in bursts due to distractions, so if you’re going to wing it, you may just get warmed up when you have to stop and start all over again. Be prepared going in and fire away the first chance you get.

You can find more effective writing tips for authors on the go in You’ve Got a Book In You by Elizabeth Sims and Writer With a Day Job by Aine Greaney. Check them out! They’re both chock full of quick tips and inspirational write-wherever-you-can ideas.

Amtrak Residency

And finally, the Amtrak Writer’s Residency. Most of you have likely heard of this by now, but Amtrak has a program for authors who want to work on the go. I have yet to apply for this, and I don’t know all of the finer points of the residency, but I have friends on both sides of the fence concerning the quality of the program, some saying it’s a wonderful option for the traveling writer, and others telling me that they think it’s a scam and falls well short of promises. I don’t know which is true, but I may yet apply. Two writer friends who applied and were rejected received a 15% discount coupon toward their next ticket. Not a bad consolation prize, considering the price of a ticket isn’t getting any cheaper. I cannot say that will happen every time, though, and I highly advise you to read the fine print. Don’t allow anyone to take advantage of your work just for a free ride to Detroit.

Have any of you participated in the Amtrak Residency? If so, feel free to leave your opinions below, along with any other writing tips you might have for authors on the go!

–

James Duncan is a content editor for Writer’s Digest Books, and is the founding editor of Hobo Camp Review: Poetry & Prose from the Road. A lover of all things noir, James resides in New York City, dreams of the days of Humphrey Bogart and Edward Hopper, and is the author of the short story collection The Cards We Keep and the upcoming poetry collection Berlin. For more, visit www.jameshduncan.com.

BY SHENNANDOAH DIAZ

Backstory is crucial to the novel writing process. It gives your character substance and drive while adding depth, history and realism to your fiction.  It takes a great deal of hard work to develop your character’s backstory. Unfortunately for the sake of the novel, much of that hard work ends up on the cutting room floor.

That doesn’t mean all that hard work has gone to waste. There are many ways for you to repurpose those backstories into moneymaking and author platform building opportunities.

Shennandoah Diaz is a writer and freelance Branding and Communications expert based out of Austin, Texas. Diaz works with independent publishers, small businesses, experts, and authors to build killer brands and engaging content. Passionate about education, Diaz teaches workshops for the Writer’s League of Texas and other professional organizations that empower writers to take charge of their brand and their writing career. Learn more by visiting shennandoahdiaz.com or follow her on Twitter (@shennandoahdiaz). 

1. Short Stories for Submission

Often our character backstory is centered on a core event that changes the character’s life in a big way. That dramatic event is a great point of focus for a short story. Short stories can range from flash fiction as short as six words to works as long as 5,000–20,000 words. There are dozens of contests and outlets, both paying and non-paying, that publish short stories on a continual basis. Some outlets that post these opportunities include Duotrope, local writing groups, area universities, and of course there are several competitions throughout the year hosted by Writer’s Digest. Duotrope also allows you to create an account to track submissions so you know what you sent, where, and when.

Each published piece is more than just a feather in your cap. It helps you prove your characters’ appeal and story premise in a paying market, demonstrates that you are a writer who can deliver, and helps you start getting paid for the work you’re already doing.

2. Website Freebies

It is crucial for an author to invest in building his or her platform on an ongoing basis. Digital media requires regular content to attract attention and followers. Backstories packaged as short stories, blog posts and vignettes make great content for author websites and fans. You can wait until after you’ve tried publishing through a paying outlet, or go ahead and offer it as a free download on your website as a way to attract readers and thank your existing fans.

Just remember to edit carefully, and if possible, get a second pair of eyes on your work before you post it for the world to see. There are many freelance editors available who can provide a professional critique of your work for a nominal fee. The expense is worth it when it comes to your website and author platform development. You want to make sure you’re always putting your best foot forward, and don’t want to get caught posting a story that doesn’t flow or that contains improper grammar.

The nonfiction research you did for your story is also great to share. The nonfiction or “truth” side to every story is a major contributor to creating interest for your book. Did you research vintage balloons for your story? Write a blog post about it. Did you visit an old ghost town for the setting of your novel? Share the pictures you took.  Maps, historical information, how-tos, diagrams and other informative pieces bring life and context to your work. Most of all, they draw in readers. Share your research as blog posts, downloads, and images. You’ll be surprised how many people you reach that might not have connected with you otherwise.

3. Multimedia

Stories are told through many media, not just the written word. Video, music, photography, and other art forms are also great ways to convey and share your character’s backstory. Pair up with a local aspiring film director to turn your backstory into a screenplay for a short filmt, or take a cue from Scott Sigler and post the screenplay as a competition for your followers. You can even take it a step further and use your backstories for a series of podcasts to drum up interest in your work.

If you have a pile of nonfiction research on a historic place, profession, or some other aspect of your story, you can turn those into interesting how-to videos and informative podcasts. Many fiction authors have become subject matter experts on things like espionage and dead presidents by employing practices such as these. There are several inexpensive tools available.

Camtasia is great for doing professional looking videos that capture images and presentations on your computer screen. The interface is very simple and easy to use, and there are dozens of tutorials available to get you started. Animoto is great for making mini-videos using photos and stock clips, and requires little to no technical expertise. Their existing storehouse of images and music make it easy to create and share book trailers and mini informative videos in a matter of minutes.

Podcasts have become increasingly popular due to iTunes and online media such as BlogTalk Radio. There are several Podcast tools that let you record right from your computer. You can offer podcasts directly on your website or use mass distributors like iTunes and BlogTalk Radio to reach a wider audience based on topics of interests.

Really there are no limits as to how you can repackage your stories and research. You already did the work. Now it’s time to make it work for you.

On Wednesday, bestselling authors (and recent coauthors) M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner held a session on creating compelling characters and suspenseful narratives at ITW’s ThillerFest. Here are some takeaways from their advice, and some excellent quotes from the Q&A that followed.

LISA GARDNER

On perfect heroes: “A character needs flaws to seem real. Without them, a reader can’t connect.” These don’t have to be faults; weaknesses are just as effective, she explains: “It’s like Indiana Jones … It all seems impossible but somehow he manages to get an edge, [and then there’s] this pit of snakes, and of course Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes.”

Also effective: Inserting “a moment of humor after a moment of intensity and suspense gives your character depth.” Think about Die Hard’s John McClane. the entire movie is interspersed with moments of humor between the action sequences. “It gives the reader some room to breathe, and makes that character seem a lot more human.”

This column by Adrienne Crezo, managing editor of Writer’s Digest
magazine. You can find her on Twitter as @a_crezo.

On hapless good guys: “No one wants the police to miss [a clue]. That’s what suspense readers are really looking for at the end of the day–you want to see everyone doing their best and still the tension is rising.”

On showing your hand: “One of the things to think about in your [characters’] epic battle of wits is that the tension builds as the cards are revealed, and every character–your villain, your hero, your police, everyone–every character at the end is revealed to the others. All the weak spots are showing, and that creates tension.”

On pace: “Our literature is becoming much more like our screenplays because that’s the pace [thriller] readers are becoming accustomed to, because of TV and movies. It’s all very quick, very fast-paced now.”

On outlining: “I don’t need to know the ending before I start. I’m a very character-based writer. … Every day is very fearful: I stare at the screen and hope something happens.”

On writing: “I write a lot [of drafts]. I’m not a writer. I don’t consider myself a good writer. I’m a great rewriter. I take the advice from Anne Lamott in Bird By Bird, and give myself permission to write sh*tty first drafts. And it’s like Nora Roberts says: ‘I can’t fix a blank page.’ So I write what I can, and it’s bad, and then I rewrite it and rewrite it and rewrite it [until] it’s not bad.”

M.J. ROSE

On definitions: “A mystery is a whodunit. You know what happened, but not how or who’s behind it. A thriller, or a suspense, is a howdunit. You know what happened, and you usually know who did it, but you keep reading because you want to know how they pulled it off.”

On building tension: “As your antagonist is cleverly planning to wreak havoc, your protagonist is cleverly planning to thwart him. In a thriller, you don’t have to outsmart your reader [as you do in a mystery]–you have to have your characters outsmart each other.”

On outlining: “I do a 10- to 20-point outline before I start, and a lot of research ahead.  A lot of it. I research everything very thoroughly, outline it briefly, and get to work.”

On the perks of all the research: “When I sit down to write, I know everything I need to know… I start writing and within 30 seconds or 60 seconds, I’m watching a movie. I’m not making this stuff up; the characters are acting it out and I’m just writing it down.”

On writing: “I’m not a good writer. It takes me a long time to get there. I write and then rewrite and revise and do it over and over until I’m satisfied.”

Looking to attend a writers’ conference? Writer’s Digest has 2 conferences
coming up fast — Aug. 1-3, 2014 in New York City, and Aug. 15-17, 2014
in Los Angeles. Find more details here.

On Wednesday afternoon, legal thriller author and writing instructor William Bernhardt (the Ben Kincaid series) outlined the 7 elements he says make for an unputdownable novel–be it thriller, mystery, suspense or other. Here are his his guidelines for crafting a blockbuster.

1. Readability

All authors should strive for clarity, but bestselling authors go beyond simply getting the point across by creating a narrative that’s “unputdownable.” Extreme readability is the result of writing, rewriting, editing and rewriting again. That hard work and “multiple drafts and revisions … create smooth, engaging novels.” Don’t skimp on the revision process: It may be the one step that separates the hopefuls from the headliners.

This column by Adrienne Crezo, managing editor of Writer’s Digest
magazine. You can find her on Twitter as @a_crezo.

2. Strangeness

“You don’t need fantastical elements” to create a “strange new world” for your protagonist. Introducing your lead character to something wholly unfamiliar to his daily life “adds tension and introduces intrigue” to your story. Secret societies, family secrets, clandestine goings-on in the office–these are all realistic “strange worlds” that can build a reader’s (and character’s!) curiosity.

3. Controversy

Many writers shy from controversy to avoid alienating or offending readers. Bernhardt, however, suggests going all-in: “For every protester, you’ll find five new readers who want to know what the fuss is about.” And don’t think that controversy is limited to plotlines featuring current events or divisive ideas, because your characters can be controversial, too. Bernhardt cites Margaret Mitchell’s most famous character, Scarlett O’Hara of Gone With the Wind, as an example: “[She was] spoiled, manipulative and generally unlikable” until readers “connected with her hardships.” If you envision a lead character who isn’t the nicest guy ever, that’s ok; your readers can find “a point of relatability [through] struggle,” even if your hero is kind of a jerk.

4. Big Actions with Big Consequences

If your lead misses her bus but then gets right on the next without incident, you’ll lose a reader’s attention pretty quickly. But if she misses the bus and then ends up on the one being hijacked by militant bakers angry about a local buttercream frosting shortage, you can spin a (relatively) riveting tale that requires characters to make big choices, face big fears, and undergo big changes. “If the consequences aren’t difficult or the choices aren’t hard, no [reader] is going to care. And if no one cares, then it doesn’t matter what happens in your story.”

5. Nuanced Uniqueness

One could argue that all legal thrillers are inherently similar. The key to producing one that stands out, says Bernhardt, is writing something that’s “the same, but different.” Sticking to one genre is fine–some might even say preferred–but each story must have “its own unique elements [or a] new spin” to appeal to readers. If your world-saving lawyer seems to similar to other characters like him in the same genre, give him some “interesting backstory, personality traits, hardships” or even a disability. There’s infinite room for variation within a theme, so find one you’ve never seen and run with it.

6. Extreme Situations

Thrillers are especially reliant on full-throttle plots and high-stakes games. When it comes to inserting your character into sticky situations, “do not be afraid to go extreme.” Pit your character “against every odd.” There’s no real limit except your own creativity; get your characters as deeply in trouble as you can, and then figure out what they would do when “it’s make or break, do or die.”

7. Reasons to Care

“Your readers need reasons to care about your characters–that’s why they’ll care about your story.” Ensure that your characters have genuine emotions, are in emotional distress or uncertainty, and that “that hardship is relatable” to your readers. “People talk about the things they care about; if they care about your book, they’ll tell other people about it.” And we all know word of mouth is the most effective selling tool.

Looking to attend a writers’ conference? Writer’s Digest has 2 conferences
coming up fast — Aug. 1-3, 2014 in New York City, and Aug. 15-17, 2014
in Los Angeles. Find more details here.

As poet and Pulitzer nominee Clifford Brooks states below, “…just as it is crucial that a writer creates his or her own voice, the way we edit is also a matter of self-discovery.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m a true believer in the idea that no two poets create or edit the same way, nor should they, but here Clifford Brooks explains why the process of editing is as vital as getting the words down in the first place.

* * * * *

The process of editing poetry is a bare-knuckle brawl between good grammar and bad habits. Ham-fisting through my first book of verse (two volumes in one) The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics was a hard introduction into the relentless expectations of a poetic Fight Club. It was necessarily brutal, but like any art that requires intense, singular, obsessive attention to detail—be it heart surgery, classical guitar, a gun fight set dead-bang, or architecture—this is a process that gets into your DNA. The only other result is failure.

As I write my new book of poetry, Athena Departs, the process is less maddening. It’s still work—hard work—but where there were open wounds the first go-‘round, now it’s iron, intellectual musculature. I flex my whole self tense and then use my previous experience to write more deliberate, self-aware poetry.

I will not quote other writers, artists, or musicians concerning their editing wisdom. If you take this science of poetry seriously, you know all the famous quotes. I got into this turf war late in my 30’s and went without reading other Creators to make sure what I penned was mine without a shred of cross-contamination. In the event that you feel Art breathe through you as a force of spiritual frenzy as well as a financial means to an end, you are well aware the source of that blessing is beyond an academic map. Therefore, editing isn’t going to be found in a book or locked in some wordsmith with more mileage than you. No, just as it is crucial that a writer creates his or her own voice, the way we edit is also a matter of self-discovery.

Editing is essential for the obvious reasons: Yes, you need to get the spelling right. You need to ensure the verbs and nouns make nice. Are your references to historical events/people 100% accurate? If you use a foreign language in your poetry, is it essential, and more importantly, is it you? Be meticulous in your search to ensure that that you are in no conceivable way mimicking a hero. As Nietzsche said, go ahead and kill those bad boys. Heroes are only helpful in comic books. This is your time.

Yet, because we all know what we mean as we read our own work, getting another pair of eyes to give our verse a once-through to verify what we wrote is what we meant is brilliant. Pick someone who is not afraid to get down-and-dirty with us on content, but not be a jackass about it. Finding more than one of these scholars-and-gentlemen is an excellent move. Homonyms have snuck in on me, and punctuation goofs have slipped by me after obsessively compulsively combing over every line of my work. Writers are well known for being OCD about their paper-encased children; it’s worth the extra steps to make sure your infant puts its best foot forward.

After you get the mathematics in place, the next step may convince neighbors that you’re losing a few marbles: This is where I suggest you read and reread every syllable aloud to hear how the sounds marry symphony and the intended place-strong story. I have a neurosis about perfection, but it’s because I absolutely adore this art. I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the sounds I’m able to wring out of words if I get them in just the right order. It’s a game of perfect-pitch angels and sickeningly-flat devils to make sure lines are engineered to create a tangible cadence.

When I walked myself through this process and tore apart my book of poetry, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, it was the first time I’d ever gone so deep to delve out the truth in words that illuminated the most for a reader, and cut the deepest in me. This process seemed to skin my nerves from the inside out. I promised myself that I would tell the whole truth—all of it—without hiding behind murky imagery and/or cryptic metaphor. Because once we commit ourselves to paper, it’s the poet’s job to tell the truth whether we feel particularly jazzy about it or not. In my opinion, to squirm out of the responsibility of putting on your big boy britches when composing poetry is tantamount to cheating. Verse and song are cathartic. To deliver anything less is like selling snake oils to the suffering. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy job.

You see, I have peers who are more talented with poetry than I, and they were incredible help when I thought I’d pushed the harmonic threshold. When I tried to mask the shame or grief over some event to save face, they shoved me towards absolute disclosure. One editor of mine repeated the phrase, “Say it or don’t say it. If you’re not going to say it, pull the whole poem.” I live by that rule to this day and it has never failed me.

My first professional editor was Larry Fagin. He was a hardnosed mentor that set fire to the course of my career. He taught me that every word counts. Being too verbose, obvious, and long-winded are the earmarks of prose. Personally, I try not to repeat words more than absolutely necessary in one poem. I think it’s a novice mistake of being redundant, and proving a lack of an adequate vocabulary. Exploring vocabulary has brought me to a crystal clear final product that’s able to speak on several levels. For me it’s all about challenging yourself at every turn. Because of Fagin’s tutelage, I now experience more moments of euphoric creativity. I don’t try to stem the flow for few words, but spray the page with every mirage that crosses my mind.

Then, when the poems are on the page and the new process of chopping and slicing begins, I start by plucking out disjointed words, or whole lines, that may not fit the piece at hand. I extracted the melodrama aimed at myself for acts that didn’t need a soap opera to give the full picture. More important, perhaps, is when reading over the poetry I wrote years ago, I began to tear into emotional wounds I thought long dead. Personally, to write an honest poem about something that happened in the past, I mentally/emotionally needed to live there again. Through the process of editing I learned to build a tougher exterior to make sure the memories and events in my book Whirling Metaphysics were as equally accurate today as they were 15 years ago. Still editing this material was far more emotionally vicious that I expected. But I grew more as a poet and as a man in this time than any other before it, or since.

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Clifford spoke at great length about the emotional and technical process and pitfalls, but what I included here is pretty spot-on for poets who are about to begin their own editing process. Aim for euphoria, strip away the needless words, and, most of all, “Say it or don’t say it,” because if your work doesn’t say it…what’s the point of writing it, right?

Feel free to post your own thoughts on editing poetry below!

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Clifford Brooks is a native of Athens, Georgia. Being a “Huck Finn” kind of boy in his early years, and not a fan of public school (or being indoors for that matter), he began to write as an escape. His passion for letters grew into short stories and the humorous non-fiction he became known for in smaller literary circles. Before turning teaching and creative writing into a means of financial survival, Clifford worked as a bookseller, juvenile probation officer, and social worker. His book, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, has been nominated for a Pulitzer in Poetry, two Pushcart Awards, and garnered him a nomination for Georgia Author of the Year. For more, visit www.cliffbrooks.com.

The following is the second in a two part, guest blog post from Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz, whose short story, “Poetry by Keats,” took home the grand prize in WD’s 14th Annual Short Short Story Competition. You can read more about Trupkiewicz in the July/August 2014 issue of Writer’s Digest and in an exclusive extended interview with her online. In this post, Trupkiewicz follows up on her discussion of dialogue with an impassioned plea: stick to said. 

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Welcome back! Part I of this two-part post talked about two key aspects of writing dialogue. First, dialogue isn’t usually the place to use complete sentences because most people in everyday conversations speak in phrases and single words. Second, effective dialogue takes correct punctuation so the reader doesn’t get yanked out of the story by a poorly punctuated exchange.

Remember, the goal in writing fiction is to keep the reader engaged in the story. But don’t give up on writing to spend the rest of your life doing something easier, like finding the Holy Grail, just yet. There’s one more key aspect that makes dialogue effective for fiction writers.

Problem: The Great He Said/She Opined Debate

In Part I, I mentioned learning from my grade school English teacher about complete sentences. Another subject she covered in that class was the importance of using synonyms and avoiding repetition.

To this day, that discussion drives me absolutely crazy.

Thousands of budding writers all over the world heard those words and deduced that they would be penalized if they repeated the word said in any work of fiction they ever wrote. So they dutifully found thesauruses and started looking up other words to use.

I’d like to submit that thousands of budding writers have been misled. Here’s my take:

Stop!

Do not touch your thesaurus to find another word that means said.

The attribution said is fine. In fact, when readers are skimming along through a novel at warp speed, the word said is just like a punctuation mark—it doesn’t even register in readers’ minds (unless used incorrectly, and it would be hard to do that).

But if you draw attention to the mechanics of your story with dialogue like this, you’re guaranteed to lose your reader in total frustration:

“Luke,” she opined, “I need you.”

“Raina,” he implored, “I know you think you do, but—”

“No!” she wailed. “Please!”

Luke shouted, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You’re being so mean to me,” Raina wept.

With an exchange like that one, you might as well run screaming out of the book straight at the reader, waving a neon sign that says: HEY, DON’T FORGET THAT THIS IS ONLY A WORK OF FICTION AND THESE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL!!!

Why would you nail yourself into your own proverbial coffin like that?

Here’s my advice. Don’t reach for the thesaurus this time. Leave it right where it is on your shelf. You might never need it again.

Instead, if you need an attribution, use said. If you must use something different for the occasional question, you could throw in “asked” for variety, but not too often.

An even better way to use attributions in dialogue is to use a beat of action instead, like this:

“I just don’t know anymore.” Mary folded her arms. “I think I’m afraid of you.”

Harry sighed. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I’m not very good at this.”

That way, you know who’s talking, and you’ve even worked action and character traits into the conversation. It makes for a seamless read.

Two final thoughts:

First, dialogue cannot be smiled, laughed, giggled, or sighed. Therefore, this example is incorrect:

“Don’t tickle me!” she giggled.

You can’t giggle spoken words. You can’t laugh them or sigh them or smile them, either. (I dare you to try it. If it works for you, write me and let me know. We could be on to something.)

Of course, if you’re using said exclusively, then that won’t be a problem.

Second, let’s talk adverbs. If a writer can be convinced to use said instead of other synonyms, then he or she becomes really tempted to reach for an adverb to tell how the character said something, like this:

“I don’t want to see you again,” Lily said tonelessly.

“You don’t mean that,” Jack said desperately.

“You’re an idiot,” Lily said angrily.

The problem with using adverbs is that they’re always telling to your reader. (Remember that old maxim, “Show, don’t tell”?)

An occasional adverb won’t kill your work, but adverbs all over the place mean weak writing, or that you don’t trust your dialogue to stand without a qualifier. It’s like you’re stopping the movie (the story playing through the reader’s mind) for a second to say, “Oh, but wait, you need to know that Lily said that last phrase angrily. That’s important. Okay, roll tape.”

Why rely on a telling adverb when you could find a better way to show the reader what’s going on in the scene or inside the characters? Try something like this:

Lily turned away and crossed her arms. “I don’t want to see you again.”

“You don’t mean that.” Jack pushed to his feet in a rush.

She glared at him. “You’re an idiot.”

Beats of action reveal character emotions and set the stage far more effectively than an overdose of adverbs ever will.

Conclusion

While a challenge to write, dialogue doesn’t have to be something you dread every time you sit down to your work-in-progress (or WIP). The most effective dialogue is the conversations that readers can imagine your characters speaking, without all the clutter and distractions of synonymous attributions, overused adverbs, and incorrect punctuation.

When in doubt, cut and paste only the dialogue out of your WIP and create one script for each character. Then invite some friends (ones who don’t already think you’re crazy because you walk around mumbling to yourself about your WIP, if you still have any of those) over for dessert or appetizers sometime. Hand out the scripts, assign each person a part, and then sit back and listen. Was a line of dialogue so complicated it made the reader stumble? Do you hear places where the conversation sounds stilted and too formal, or where it sounds too informal for the scene? Does an exchange sound sappy when spoken aloud? Are there words you can cut out to tighten the flow?

And don’t give up your writing to search for the Holy Grail. While the search would be less frustrating sometimes, writing dialogue no longer has to look demonic to you. You know what to do!

Questions

In your current WIP, what sticking points and challenges do you find about writing dialogue? Is a character’s voice giving you trouble? Do you worry you’re overusing an attribution? Do you have a totally opposite opinion about adverbs? The rule about writing fiction is that there really aren’t many hard-and-fast rules, so don’t hesitate to share!

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Eleanore D. Trupkiewicz is an author, poet, blogger, book reviewer, and freelance editor and proofreader. She writes full-length thrillers as well as short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Her blogs are Engraved: All About Writing (http://eleanoretrupkiewicz.blogspot.com) and Daily Poetry Prompts (http://dailypoetryprompts.blogspot.com) and you can find her on one of her websites at www.eleanoretrupkiewicz.com or Refiner’s Fire Editing (www.refinersfireediting.com). Follow her on Twitter: @ETrupkiewicz. She lives and writes in Colorado with cats, chocolate, and assorted houseplants in various stages of demise.

BY LAURA PRITCHETT

The greatest truth about the greatest writing, if you ask me, is this: The author never, ever averts her eyes. Easier said than done, of course, and I’ve not always lived up to my own dictum – for the sake of avoiding collateral damage, I’ve let my gaze waver; or, worse, I have averted my gaze completely and fallen silent. Still, my greatest goal as both writer and human? A refining of my sense of truthfulness, a blooming of bravery, a keeping of clear-eyed gaze even on issues that churn the heart and crush the spirit.

This was on my mind lately as I killed my father. Or imagined him dead. Or thought of the various ways he’d go, and what his particular death would feel like for him. My newest novel, Stars Go Blue, is based, in part, on my family’s experience with my father’s Alzheimer’s. There came a day, about ten years ago, when my father stood in front of the elevator with me in Denver – we were helping one of my brothers move — and my dad had no idea what the elevator was for; he wouldn’t step into it. I tilted my head, confused: Perhaps he’d been out of the city for too long, being a Colorado rancher and all? But no, he had also been a college professor, a geneticist, a world-traveler famous for his research.

Oh, god, I thought. Soon after, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Since then, it’s been a strange path for the whole gaggle of my large family, particularly for my mother, who became his primary caregiver. As for me, these last ten years have been primarily marked by my walks with him across the family ranch. This is what he and I do: we walk. We have walked summer, winter, spring, fall; literally thousands of miles. Early on, we could speak of his disease; later on, I filled in the words for him; and these days, we simply whistle (“Delta Dawn” being his favorite).

As we walked, I do what writers do: I dreamed up various scenarios, played the “What If” game, considered the larger issues. What if he had chosen a different route and planned suicide (as I will, if ever diagnosed)? What if society had different views on this disease? What if the Alzheimer’s Association (bless them; they do so much good) spent less time on caretaking issues and cures, and, dare I say it, more time on discussing end-of-life decisions, even those surrounding assisted and pre-planned assisted suicide or contemplative death? What if he had not had that pacemaker put in ten years ago and had died the death that was likely? What if my father was suffering. Could I murder him? Would it be murder? Would he have wanted to kill himself?

These are horrible-disgusting-tough-miserable-queasy-producing questions, and you can believe that I for sure wanted to avert my eyes from them. (As an aside, so did others in my life: I’ve been shunned and told that I was only welcome “if I did not bring up such topics again.”) Even if I wasn’t advocating murder or suicide – and I am not – I was advocating (probably at nauseum) a real discussion of end-of-life decisions.

And so it came to be that Ben, the character in my book who has Alzheimer’s, is faced with these issues, and even harder ones as he decides what to do about his daughter’s killer while he’s still got a small window of time. Ben became the most brave and courageous speaker I could imagine. He wonders the things that we all wonder, deep in the secret recesses of our heart; what he does about it, I can’t tell you, because that would give away the plot. But there’s another layer to this, at least for me: because of his diminished intellectual capabilities and speech, he is also representative of our society and our human nature; he can only give voice to so much, and he’s often unable to address the very things that need addressing. But bless him, he tries. His caretaker (his sort-of-ex-wife) does too. By god, they try not to avert their eyes.

This is perhaps ironic, because writing, in a certain way, is about bewilderment. One is bewildered by a truth, and then one stares at it long and hard. At first, for example, I wrote to understand him and this disease, to grieve and to care, which I suppose was a way of knowing him better and therefore loving him more. But I wasn’t just bewildered about my father, and what had happened to him; I was also bewildered by death, by our culture, by our approach, by our moral imperatives, our ethical dilemmas.

In my mind, this all melded into a book. A book with the specific task of giving voice to someone who is losing theirs (to tell the story of Alzheimer’s not from an outsider, but from the person himself). To tell the story of my father.

So, yes, when people ask me (as they always do) if there are similarities between my life and this fiction, I will say yes. Both in reality and the philosophical. Besides the Alzheimers, there were other details I used. One of my six brothers is a veterinarian, for example, and as I watched him gently put down my dog, it occurred to me how someone (I can’t say who!) in the book might die. As a farm kid, I’ve seen animals of all sorts suffer, and I’ve seen the ways we alleviate that suffering, and so I could get the details of that right. But more scary than that is the questions posed by the book. They too have a basis in reality. Did I wish my father dead? Yes, sometimes. Did I wish him to get cured? Yes. Did I wish he had discussed his wishes for suicide with me? Yes. And even this: Did I sometimes wonder if I could kill him, if he was suffering? Yes. Yes, I did. I had to stare at these questions so fiercely that the quiet voice of Ben broke through.

I’ll be honest: Not everyone in my family is delighted. Writers have struggled with this forever—how to explain to others that sometimes fiction is just fiction (and no, you are not the Aunt Martha in my book); and, conversely, to explain that yes, sometimes fiction is based on real life, not only the details, but more importantly, the current that runs beneath?

The balance is tricky. We owe our family a great deal, but not dishonesty. And not a silencing of our stories. It requires careful footing; steps done with equanimity and grace but also courage. There’s no easy path. But one thing I know is this: I have loved these moments with my father, with the strange man he has become, and my attempt to write about him. I did not walk with him out of research. I walked with him out of love, and then wrote out of love.

I will walk with my dad until he is done. I will walk with him in the spring, when the fields are greening; in the summer, when the hay is being baled; in the fall, when the air grows crisp and the aspens turn; and, yes, in the winter, when we will make our way carefully across the ice-encrusted snow.
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Laura Pritchett is the author of Stars Go Blue, released June 10, 2014 with Counterpoint Press. She also authored Hell’s Bottom, Colorado, which received the Milkweed National Fiction Prize and a PEN USA Award for Fiction. For Sky Bridge, she received the WILLA Fiction Award. She has had over 100 short stories and essays published in various magazines The Sun, Orion, High Country News, Salon, Desert Journal and others. Pritchett lives in northern Colorado and teaches around the country. More at laurapritchett.com.

The following is a guest post from the grand prize winner of our 21st Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. For more information about the upcoming 22nd Self-Pub Awards, click here.Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School StoryPresident of Ember Communications, Inc., she is a national speaker and consultant on Breaking Barriers and Redesigning Your Future, for leaders in business, nonprofit, and government sectors.

In this post, she reflects on just a little bit of her time as a state senator and how this unique career helped her as a writer, particularly in integrating key values and strong messages in her nonfiction.

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No matter what genre of fiction you write, be it horror like King or Lovecraft, crime like Patterson or Spillane, or more literary fare like Sontag, Roth, or Updike, there’s one very basic thing all fiction writers have in common—we love coming up with perfect place and character names, and we all (assuming you’re a fellow fiction writer) pull them from various sources.

I know some writers who seem to pull names of people, towns, rivers, roads, and ranches out of thin air, as if these fictional locales have always existed in the recesses of their minds. I can’t do that, and maybe you can’t either, so here are some ways I go about gathering names for the characters and places in my own books and stories.

The Book of Names

First of all, I suggest all writers get a fancy schmancy leather-bound notebook with a golden “The Book of Names” title written on the cover or spine. Something to make people who walk into your office and see it think it’s some sort of magical tome that predicts the fate of each and every creature who walks the earth, because in a sense, it is. Mine isn’t as fancy, just a beat-up spiral pad with the above title written in sharpie on the cover. Awe inspiring it is not, yet powerful it remains.

Road Trippin’

When I go on road trips, I take a pad and pen along, just like every other writer who has ever existed. I love the names of small towns, of valleys, and historical regions, and they all go into my Book of Names. The first time I did this as a young teenager, I felt as if I had stumbled upon a mine filled with diamonds. Just look at the place names I picked up on a drive from San Antonio to Corpus Christie, Texas: Castle Hills, Braunig Park, Poteet, Jim Brite Road, Whitsett, Choke Canyon, Three Rivers, Mathis, Beeville, Nueces Bay, and Mustang Island. To my ears, that’s a novel waiting to happen. It’s landscape poetry.

Spin the Globe!

Maybe not literally, as a globe doesn’t get too specific, but I am a map lover, and I love to open an oversized atlas to a random page and start scouring the landscape. There are always interesting little towns, rivers, lakes, and roads that no one outside of the 26 residents of page 65, grid section G-2 have ever heard of. For example, a little slice of the British Columbia, Canada reveals: Tom Thumb Mountain, Paddy Peak, Jack Peak, Klondike Highway, and Maude Lake. Not bad for the “middle of nowhere.”

Rest Your Name In Peace

Some may find this a little creepy, but I know for a personal fact that I’m not the only writer who does this. Visiting old cemeteries—especially those from the era and in the region of the story you are writing—can deliver perfect names for your pre-Revolutionary settlers, Depression-era farmers, or turn-of-the-century robber barons. I still recall the first time I saw the name Otis Havermayer on a tombstone. Now that guy sounds interesting. You can do the same thing without leaving home by reading the obituary pages in local newspapers. Or if you prefer to let the honorable departed take their names with them to the other side, old phone books in your local library are another trove of names, and they’re already in alphabetical order. How convenient!

Places as People/People as Places

Just as many people are named after months, seasons, holidays, and various flora and fauna, places are often named after people. So if you find a name that you like, you can use it for either. For example, I published a short story called “The Cards We Keep” about hobos traveling along the California coast in the 1940s, but I named the characters directly or partially after place names from where I grew up—the Hudson Valley region in New York, places such as Ghent, Wilbur Flat, Oriole Mills, Claverack, Chatham, and Whitlock. Not all of those characters made it into the final version, but as character names, don’t they give those hobos a delightful vagabond quality? I think so, and you can use the same trick with your own people and places.

And of course, you can always look up popular baby names online, but putting yourself to work to find the right name for the right character is often half the fun. The next time your plotting a novel chock full of characters and places, instead of firing up Google, hop in your car and drive down an unknown road, or head to the library with pen and notepad in hand, or take your red marker to a newspaper and start circling names. You never know where you’re going to find your own personal Otis Havermeyer!

Do you have a unique tip for finding the perfect character and place names? Share your thoughts below!

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James Duncan is a content editor for Writer’s Digest. He is also the founding editor of Hobo Camp Review, poetry & prose from the road

Finding a writing voice can be a struggle, whether you’re writing a novel, short story, flash fiction or a blog post. Some may even wonder, what is voice in writing? A writer’s voice is something uniquely their own. It makes their work pop, plus readers recognize the familiarity. You would be able to identify the difference between Tolkien and Hemingway, wouldn’t you? It’s the way they write; their voice, in writing, is as natural as everyone’s speaking voice. Your voice should be authentic, even if you borrow a sense of style from your favorite author. But remember, voice and style are two entirely different thingsWriting the Breakout Novel*  *  *