Creative Writing
Learn how to organize, plan and create your most engaging and compelling life story with the creative writing skills of bestselling fiction authors.
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The Great Mistake…What Were Your Life Lessons?
Life Lessons or Failures? Do you recall your biggest mistake? Your greatest failure? How did it impact you and what knowledge did you gain from it? How did you react? What would you do differently now? In life, our biggest failures can often lead to our greatest triumphs. We tell ourselves, if I hadn’t made that mistake or if a particular event hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be who I am now. I wouldn’t have what I have or know what I know. If not for this, I would be a different person entirely. Everyone has these thoughts All of us can look back and say, “if I hadn’t done that…” …
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10 Memoir Prompts To Get You Started
What Should I Write About? Some of the first questions people ask when beginning a memoir are: What should I write about? How do I choose which events and incidents to include and which ones should I leave out? What’s Important? Sometimes a writing prompt or suggestion can help you to get your first words down and give you a sense of direction, but it helps if you have a clear idea of why you’re writing your memoir in the first place. Purpose And Theme Your subject matter should be determined by your purpose and your theme. These are the glue that holds your story together. Without them, your story…
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How to Rivet Your Reader with Narrative Drive
What is it that keeps a reader interested in your memoir? Why should they keep reading what you have to say? And what’s Narrative Drive anyway? I first heard the term narrative drive from John Truby, Hollywood screenwriter, and one of my heroes. Narrative drive is the momentum that carries any story forward – a situation, investigation or inquiry that must be resolved in order for the story to make sense to the reader and satisfy their curiosity. Why do we love stories? Some people identify with characters – their adventures resonate with the reader in some way, giving them a sense of “Yes, I get that,” when they find a…
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How Important is Scene Construction in Memoir?
Are You A Pantser Or A Plotter? When I started taking my writing seriously in 2015, I was an avowed “pantser” — someone who writes by the seat of her pants, with no thought to plotting, construction or structure. No scene construction for me, boy! I wanted my fictional characters to tell me their story without trying to impose myself on their creativity. It was a heady time, great fun, and I fell in love with most of my characters. But…it wasn’t very good. My narratives wandered about and never reached a conclusion, so I never finished anything of any great length. My short stories were much better, though they…
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Mirror Image – A Poem
Mirror Image © 2018 Beverley J. Hanna I look in the mirror and what do I see? A grizzled old hag who looks nothing like me; She’s wrinkled and fat and has hairs on her chin. I’m vital and slim and she’s ugly as sin. Inside, I’m a girl with the hubris of youth. My thoughts are self-centred, judgemental, uncouth. “I’m fit and I’m smart and I’m quite lovely too. “I couldn’t turn into a Wrinkly like you.” And yet as we stare at each other’s visage The more I accept that it’s not a mirage. ‘Cause each missing tooth, each wrinkle and scarring Are stories that tell of a…