She reports that some members of her critique group love the beauty of her language. Others complain about her story moving too slowly, that all the scenes seem the same, that the protagonist is "reporting" the story rather than living it. The group gives the piece a B+ for the beautiful language. They call the structure and the pacing poor and give both elements of the story a D.She starts off with two different beginnings. Her desire is to give readers the choice to pick which beginning they …
Memoir and Plot and Structure
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a character-driven memoir and motion picture of the same name. In this story, the protagonist (I use the term character and protagonist even with a memoirist in order to make the reference less personal and to remind memoir writers to develop their character to show change and transformation) attempts to achieve her goals (outlined below). She also, on a much deeper level, undertakes an intensive spiritual investigation. As a seeker, her focus is on the …
Writers Block
I don't believe in writer's block. From my own personal writing experience and from all the writers I've worked with, I've come to believe that writer's block is more aptly described as a writer who does not know her story well enough.Rather than succumb to the feeling of blockage and to learn more about your story, writers spend time outlining and/or pre-plotting, tracking scenes and/or creating a plot planner. Often, such strategies help to stimulate ideas and the writing begins flowing again. …
From Protagonist to Writer
She's brash about her character's violence and flippant about the character's flippant coping strategies. At moments, I sense the writer is acting the character. To convey the truth about a character often takes stepping into the protagonist's shoes, be they flip flops, stilettos or boots to get to know her inside and out well enough to convey her truth. Often that takes exploring the dark side of ourselves. By the 3rd draft, a writer slips on her own shoes and plots a point to the violence by …
Quit Plotting and Write
Get out of your head and into your body and write.Don't worry about being brilliant for now. Stay in the moment of writing the scene. Revel in the partnership with the muse. Writers often complain about how lonely writing is. You're never alone. You're being held up and supported. Let it come.Create a writing goal. Make it specific and achievable. Write it in the present tense as if it has already happened.How many pages today to achieve your writing goal?To attain your goal, surround yourself …
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