Writer's toolbox
In this final assignment of the semester, I created a list of 5 things I learned how to do as a writer. These ranged from character to stories to poetry, and each includes an example from my own writing and from somebody else's writing.
Writer's Toolbox
1. Writers can play with speeding up and slowing down time.
When reading, it is natural to speed up and slow down during the ebb and flow of a piece of writing. It is important for writers to know where and when to speed up time and to slow down time. This has potential to create magic in writing by revealing the dynamics of the author's intention, not only through words but through the sound and feel of words. In particular, poetry's meaning can change dramatically when time speeds up or slows down using words. I think that I do fairly well in this skill, but I have a lot of work I can do. When I focus explicitly on where time should be fast or slow, I can use this skill to great effect, but usually my writing doesn't naturally do this.
Examples:
Six.
Weightless wanderer,
Cradled in watery stillness,
Caressed by fractured sunbeams
and soft shadows.
Pure.
This is a poem Rachel Gonzales wrote about jumping off of a cliff and the exhilaration she feels. While her other poems in the series move quickly, this is a piece where time really slowed for her. She takes a whole stanza for every second of her cliff jumping experience, which adds depth and color to the reality of a very short moment. By slowing down time, Rachel is able to create a deep and meaningful poem that highlights a moment much more in-depth than if she were to keep time moving at a normal rate in her writing.
"The blades of grass caress the studs in the heel of my left foot as my right studs strain upward in the windup. The ball centers in my concentrated gaze and aligns itself in the air as my foot comes whipping in."
This was a moment I wrote about, where I was scoring a goal. In this example, one moment takes up several sentences of writing to show time slowing down. Before the actual moment of contact with the ball before my goal, I was simply summarizing, and moving scene-to-scene. But as the moment where I struck the ball approached, I slowed down time and analyzed every little detail that I found important. This gives a more dramatic sense to the moment I scored the goal, and aids in my writing.
2. Authors should introduce their cast in a way that reveals their characteristics.
An important part of stories is the first impression a reader gets from meeting a character. Good writing should introduce the reader to a character in a way that gives the correct impression of that character. For example, a silly, good-humored person might be described as "sandy blond, with a disarming, toothy smile". This kind of first impression sets the tone for the rest of the character's life in the story, helping the reader to understand the author's intentions in a better way. In my writing, this comes as a difficulty for me. I struggle with introducing characters in a subtle, meaningful way that positively impacts comprehensibility of their role in the rest of the story.
Examples:
"Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen." - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In this example, J.K. Rowling introduces Viktor Krum in a way that shows the readers a few different things. First, he's "thin, dark". This gives the impression that he is not always trustworthy (dark) and he doesn't seem like a particularly pleasant person. The "bird of prey" and "large curved nose" add to the impression that he isn't to be trusted, and give him a sort of awkward shyness. This characterization makes him immediately interesting to the reader, and precludes all the things he does in the novel.
"He wears navy blue slacks with a ratty, dark-grey sweatshirt, the hood pulled tight over his face. His musty red Vans are faded and soaked through. Brown eyes gaze downward, slowly, methodically scanning every imperfection path the cobbled path."
This was how I introduced my main character, Leo. He is a shy character who has a hard time sticking up for himself, an introvert. While I was writing this piece, I wasn't thinking about what impressions I was making on the reader, but now I realize that just his clothing shows parts of him. The navy blue slacks show that he's come from a family that's well-off, but his dark grey sweatshirt and faded Vans show that he's not rich right now. As he "methodically" scans imperfections, it's clear that he's an introspective person and he seems sad, because he's looking downward the whole time. I think that this description suits Leo fairly well, but I would have liked him to come off as someone who is more classy, and not as much of a hoodlum. Also, I could have used his facial features to better introduce him to the reader.
3. Ordinary things can be talked about in extraordinary ways.
Great writers take their own unique perspectives and apply them to situations to make their writing special. Many writers talk about things that we've done every day, like a dinner with the family, but they spin it in a way that makes the writing interesting and readable. This style makes writing both spectacular and relatable, because everybody has done these kinds of things. When unique perspectives are applied to ordinary things, writing can be colorful, intriguing, and fascinating to read. In my writing, I think I do this fairly well, especially when I put effort into doing it. In particular, when I wrote about scoring a goal in soccer, I did a good job of describing why it is still special, even after having scored many goals in my life.
Examples:
"Wind riffled over the mounds and valleys of the blackberry patch, lifting off a harvest of white petals that skimmed across the swell. The two swallows twittered as they spiraled overhead, and a cricket, undisturbed by catastrophe, began to chant from somewhere near the fallen barn doors." - Kim Stafford, The Barn and the Bees.
This is a great example of painting the ordinary as extraordinary. Stafford as been in these kinds of situations many times because he lived by this barn. He describes the wind and the birds and the cricket in a beautiful and sensual way, showing smells and sounds to the reader. This creates magic in his writing by bringing the reader right to where Stafford wants them and helping to transport them into his mind.
"I wrap myself in more blankets, fidgeting. How can I fall asleep while such a wonderful moment sticks to my mind, exploring itself in vivid detail? This happens every time I score a great goal, when I feel the earth, the ball, and my body dance in perfect unison." - My moment (scoring a goal in soccer)
This excerpt comes from a draft of a moment that I wrote about, when I scored a great goal in a soccer game. Though I score goals fairly often, they are a deep and interesting experience for me and they stay in my head for a long time. I brought the reader into my mind by showing all of the interesting sensations that happened during the goal I scored, and brought this moment to life in an interesting and relatable way.
4. Characters are more relatable if the author knows them well.
Along with introducing the characters in a well-thought-out way, it is important for authors to know them well. If authors spend a lot of time with their characters, the characters become believable and real. This helps the reader to know the character better, and understand the choices that characters make. Similarly, the author can surprise the reader by having their character act in a way that they normally wouldn't, but it's important to still make the character's actions believable. In my writing, I've had a hard time with this, but I managed to do a fairly good job when I wrote my story.
Examples -
J.K. Rowling and Pottermore:
Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, continuously publishes new information about characters and the world she created on a website called Pottermore. Pottermore contains parts of Rowling's extensive collection of notes on Harry Potter. Rowling knows much more information about characters than what is written about them in the books. This makes even small characters very believable, creating an interesting world with no plot holes. I'm sure that many more authors have Pottermores of their own, with great knowledge of their fantasy world.
My character Leo and I:
When I was writing my story about Leo, a timid musician who needed to stand up to his mother, I did a lot of thinking about his character. Not only did I contemplate his and physical features, but I also thought about his past. I found that his father left him as a young boy, before he could remember, and he was raised in a strict way by his mother, not getting out much because of her dream for him to become a concert pianist. I also did a lot of thinking on what kind of circumstances could push Leo to stand up to his mother, which he didn't want to do. By thinking a lot about character, I was able to create a relatable and deep character that people cared about when reading my story.
5. In poetry, line breaks should be carefully executed for maximum impact.
When poetry is not strictly structured, the most important part of the structure is where the poet chooses to end lines. Shorter lines flow in a very different way than longer lines, and this impacts the reader in different ways. In our class, we did a whole day's lesson on this principle. We took two different poems and tried different ways of breaking up the lines, and in the end we created very different sounding poems from the original. This can be a powerful tool for authors to use while writing poetry. I'm not a freeform poetry buff, and I have difficulty knowing when to end my lines. I often feel like shorter lines make my work seem cheesy, while longer lines don't have the impact I would like. This is a tool I would like to work on in my writing.
Examples -
"All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion." - Joy Harjo
In this Joy Harjo poem, she uses enjambment and where she ends her lines to impact the reader. Using enjambment in the lines makes the reader read her poem faster, and puts more emphasis on the words "Knowing" and "we". If she ended her sentences with punctuated lines, the poem would read more slowly and feel more stable. As she writes it, the poem seems on-edge, wanting to resolve but not quite finding that resolution point.
"Stained-glass windows, faintly lit up by distant streetlamps,
hauntingly echo shuffles and ruffles.
Clear and precise, a single tone pierces the hollow chamber like a raindrop...
drop...
drop and it is joined by others,
twisting and wriggling forth from hammer on string."
It's difficult to know if my poem writing is good or not, but I think I understand how my writing affects the reader. I wanted to go for an epic, majestic tone in this poem, so I used long lines that ended with punctuation. In particular, I liked the "drop... drop... drop" because it got the acoustics I was looking for in the resonant church I was writing about. Ending with punctuation makes the reader stop at the points they would normally stop, giving it a stable tone unlike Joy Harjo's. This is simply a different way to write poetry, but I would like to harness the power of enjambment to make my poems seem less readily resolved.
1. Writers can play with speeding up and slowing down time.
When reading, it is natural to speed up and slow down during the ebb and flow of a piece of writing. It is important for writers to know where and when to speed up time and to slow down time. This has potential to create magic in writing by revealing the dynamics of the author's intention, not only through words but through the sound and feel of words. In particular, poetry's meaning can change dramatically when time speeds up or slows down using words. I think that I do fairly well in this skill, but I have a lot of work I can do. When I focus explicitly on where time should be fast or slow, I can use this skill to great effect, but usually my writing doesn't naturally do this.
Examples:
Six.
Weightless wanderer,
Cradled in watery stillness,
Caressed by fractured sunbeams
and soft shadows.
Pure.
This is a poem Rachel Gonzales wrote about jumping off of a cliff and the exhilaration she feels. While her other poems in the series move quickly, this is a piece where time really slowed for her. She takes a whole stanza for every second of her cliff jumping experience, which adds depth and color to the reality of a very short moment. By slowing down time, Rachel is able to create a deep and meaningful poem that highlights a moment much more in-depth than if she were to keep time moving at a normal rate in her writing.
"The blades of grass caress the studs in the heel of my left foot as my right studs strain upward in the windup. The ball centers in my concentrated gaze and aligns itself in the air as my foot comes whipping in."
This was a moment I wrote about, where I was scoring a goal. In this example, one moment takes up several sentences of writing to show time slowing down. Before the actual moment of contact with the ball before my goal, I was simply summarizing, and moving scene-to-scene. But as the moment where I struck the ball approached, I slowed down time and analyzed every little detail that I found important. This gives a more dramatic sense to the moment I scored the goal, and aids in my writing.
2. Authors should introduce their cast in a way that reveals their characteristics.
An important part of stories is the first impression a reader gets from meeting a character. Good writing should introduce the reader to a character in a way that gives the correct impression of that character. For example, a silly, good-humored person might be described as "sandy blond, with a disarming, toothy smile". This kind of first impression sets the tone for the rest of the character's life in the story, helping the reader to understand the author's intentions in a better way. In my writing, this comes as a difficulty for me. I struggle with introducing characters in a subtle, meaningful way that positively impacts comprehensibility of their role in the rest of the story.
Examples:
"Viktor Krum was thin, dark, and sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He looked like an overgrown bird of prey. It was hard to believe he was only eighteen." - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In this example, J.K. Rowling introduces Viktor Krum in a way that shows the readers a few different things. First, he's "thin, dark". This gives the impression that he is not always trustworthy (dark) and he doesn't seem like a particularly pleasant person. The "bird of prey" and "large curved nose" add to the impression that he isn't to be trusted, and give him a sort of awkward shyness. This characterization makes him immediately interesting to the reader, and precludes all the things he does in the novel.
"He wears navy blue slacks with a ratty, dark-grey sweatshirt, the hood pulled tight over his face. His musty red Vans are faded and soaked through. Brown eyes gaze downward, slowly, methodically scanning every imperfection path the cobbled path."
This was how I introduced my main character, Leo. He is a shy character who has a hard time sticking up for himself, an introvert. While I was writing this piece, I wasn't thinking about what impressions I was making on the reader, but now I realize that just his clothing shows parts of him. The navy blue slacks show that he's come from a family that's well-off, but his dark grey sweatshirt and faded Vans show that he's not rich right now. As he "methodically" scans imperfections, it's clear that he's an introspective person and he seems sad, because he's looking downward the whole time. I think that this description suits Leo fairly well, but I would have liked him to come off as someone who is more classy, and not as much of a hoodlum. Also, I could have used his facial features to better introduce him to the reader.
3. Ordinary things can be talked about in extraordinary ways.
Great writers take their own unique perspectives and apply them to situations to make their writing special. Many writers talk about things that we've done every day, like a dinner with the family, but they spin it in a way that makes the writing interesting and readable. This style makes writing both spectacular and relatable, because everybody has done these kinds of things. When unique perspectives are applied to ordinary things, writing can be colorful, intriguing, and fascinating to read. In my writing, I think I do this fairly well, especially when I put effort into doing it. In particular, when I wrote about scoring a goal in soccer, I did a good job of describing why it is still special, even after having scored many goals in my life.
Examples:
"Wind riffled over the mounds and valleys of the blackberry patch, lifting off a harvest of white petals that skimmed across the swell. The two swallows twittered as they spiraled overhead, and a cricket, undisturbed by catastrophe, began to chant from somewhere near the fallen barn doors." - Kim Stafford, The Barn and the Bees.
This is a great example of painting the ordinary as extraordinary. Stafford as been in these kinds of situations many times because he lived by this barn. He describes the wind and the birds and the cricket in a beautiful and sensual way, showing smells and sounds to the reader. This creates magic in his writing by bringing the reader right to where Stafford wants them and helping to transport them into his mind.
"I wrap myself in more blankets, fidgeting. How can I fall asleep while such a wonderful moment sticks to my mind, exploring itself in vivid detail? This happens every time I score a great goal, when I feel the earth, the ball, and my body dance in perfect unison." - My moment (scoring a goal in soccer)
This excerpt comes from a draft of a moment that I wrote about, when I scored a great goal in a soccer game. Though I score goals fairly often, they are a deep and interesting experience for me and they stay in my head for a long time. I brought the reader into my mind by showing all of the interesting sensations that happened during the goal I scored, and brought this moment to life in an interesting and relatable way.
4. Characters are more relatable if the author knows them well.
Along with introducing the characters in a well-thought-out way, it is important for authors to know them well. If authors spend a lot of time with their characters, the characters become believable and real. This helps the reader to know the character better, and understand the choices that characters make. Similarly, the author can surprise the reader by having their character act in a way that they normally wouldn't, but it's important to still make the character's actions believable. In my writing, I've had a hard time with this, but I managed to do a fairly good job when I wrote my story.
Examples -
J.K. Rowling and Pottermore:
Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, continuously publishes new information about characters and the world she created on a website called Pottermore. Pottermore contains parts of Rowling's extensive collection of notes on Harry Potter. Rowling knows much more information about characters than what is written about them in the books. This makes even small characters very believable, creating an interesting world with no plot holes. I'm sure that many more authors have Pottermores of their own, with great knowledge of their fantasy world.
My character Leo and I:
When I was writing my story about Leo, a timid musician who needed to stand up to his mother, I did a lot of thinking about his character. Not only did I contemplate his and physical features, but I also thought about his past. I found that his father left him as a young boy, before he could remember, and he was raised in a strict way by his mother, not getting out much because of her dream for him to become a concert pianist. I also did a lot of thinking on what kind of circumstances could push Leo to stand up to his mother, which he didn't want to do. By thinking a lot about character, I was able to create a relatable and deep character that people cared about when reading my story.
5. In poetry, line breaks should be carefully executed for maximum impact.
When poetry is not strictly structured, the most important part of the structure is where the poet chooses to end lines. Shorter lines flow in a very different way than longer lines, and this impacts the reader in different ways. In our class, we did a whole day's lesson on this principle. We took two different poems and tried different ways of breaking up the lines, and in the end we created very different sounding poems from the original. This can be a powerful tool for authors to use while writing poetry. I'm not a freeform poetry buff, and I have difficulty knowing when to end my lines. I often feel like shorter lines make my work seem cheesy, while longer lines don't have the impact I would like. This is a tool I would like to work on in my writing.
Examples -
"All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion." - Joy Harjo
In this Joy Harjo poem, she uses enjambment and where she ends her lines to impact the reader. Using enjambment in the lines makes the reader read her poem faster, and puts more emphasis on the words "Knowing" and "we". If she ended her sentences with punctuated lines, the poem would read more slowly and feel more stable. As she writes it, the poem seems on-edge, wanting to resolve but not quite finding that resolution point.
"Stained-glass windows, faintly lit up by distant streetlamps,
hauntingly echo shuffles and ruffles.
Clear and precise, a single tone pierces the hollow chamber like a raindrop...
drop...
drop and it is joined by others,
twisting and wriggling forth from hammer on string."
It's difficult to know if my poem writing is good or not, but I think I understand how my writing affects the reader. I wanted to go for an epic, majestic tone in this poem, so I used long lines that ended with punctuation. In particular, I liked the "drop... drop... drop" because it got the acoustics I was looking for in the resonant church I was writing about. Ending with punctuation makes the reader stop at the points they would normally stop, giving it a stable tone unlike Joy Harjo's. This is simply a different way to write poetry, but I would like to harness the power of enjambment to make my poems seem less readily resolved.