Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

Sexy Voices and Winners!

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Elena Greene

I love a man with a sexy voice. There are some actors I probably like as much for their voices as for appearance and acting talent. Although it’s not easy to convey in writing, I’m always thinking about how my heroes sound to my heroines.

Colin Firth’s voice has always been part of his appeal for me. I even thought he was the one male lead in Mamma Mia! who wasn’t painful to listen to.

In singing voices, I especially love a good baritone, whether it’s Jim Morrison of the Doors or a classical baritone like the Welsh Bryn Terfel. Here’s a clip of him singing “Vagabond” by Ralph Vaughn Williams.

I can’t end without mentioning my favorite bald hottie, Patrick Stewart.

My apologies for not having any more recent hotties in this list. When my husband had his stroke three years ago, I literally went into a cave for a while and I’m still slowly crawling out. So please help me out. So who do you think has a sexy voice? If I get enough suggestions, maybe I’ll put together a post for next week.

And congratulations to the following winners of a Kindle or Nook copy of THE WEDDING WAGER. Please send your email address, and if you wish, the email address of a friend who might enjoy a copy, to elena @ elenagreene.com (no spaces). Also, please be sure to let me know if you want Nook or Kindle.

marybelle
pixzlee
Barbara E
Na
G Bell

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Music, TV and Film, Writing | Tagged Bryn Terfel, Colin Firth, Patrick Stewart, sexy voices | 12 Replies

Great beginnings

Updated on February 21, 2013 by Janet Mullany

What are your favorite opening lines? What makes the opening sentence of a book compel you to read on, and do you think those all-important first words should shout or whisper? Here are some of mine:

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anyone else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe), on a Friday at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (and I’ve raved before on this very blog about the wonderful stark simplicity of this sentence, but I have to throw it in again. Truly, less is more!)
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (look! She’s writing in iambic pentameters!)
Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again.

Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie
The man behind the cluttered desk looked like the devil, and Nell Dysart considered that was par for her course since she’d been going to hell for a year and a half anyway.

Emma by Jane Austen–a masterly portrait of a heroine cruising for a bruising, but I can’t figure out how or why!
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

Finally, to clear the literary palate, the opening line of Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (an example of more being less):
It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

(and a reminder, by the way that the official deadline for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is April 15, only two days away!)

You are hereby invited to share your favorites!

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged beginnings, first lines | 5 Replies

Getaways

Updated on February 21, 2013 by Elena Greene

It’s been a rough week or so. The kids have been sick. I won’t bore anyone with the gory details, but they were . . . gory. It’s pretty sad when going to the mailbox feels like an outing.

I need a real one now.

I’ve managed to eke out a bit of writing time, but it’s been tough. It’s a bit like having sex—you can deal with a few interruptions, but too many and it’s really, really hard to recapture the mood. Like a couple who need to get away for a weekend, I need to get away with my muse (inner artist child, Girls in the Basement, subconscious mind, whatever you call the place ideas come from) and get her to stop sulking.

The little darlings are both in school today. If all goes well, I don’t get a call from the school nurse, and they continue to do well tomorrow, I’m heading out to the Corning Museum of Glass. I’m going to do a leisurely tour of the galleries (for fun, not research except in the laziest way), have lunch at the café and go make a sun-catcher at the Walk In Studio. Last summer my kids made projects there and as I was helping them I decided I’d like to try my hand at one myself. It’s time.

Whether you’re a writer or not, getting out and doing something fun and creative helps keep the juices flowing for other parts of your life. It’s what Julia Cameron calls an “Artist’s Date”. You go out to the movies, to a concert, bake, paint, take a walk in the woods or anything you think is fun and NOT directly related to your job. Anything that makes you feel like a kid with a brand new 64-count box of Crayolas.

Do any of you (writers or not) do Artist’s Dates (whether you call them that or not)? What do you do to keep your mojo? To get it back when it’s deserted you?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Writing | Tagged artist dates, Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way | 4 Replies

Faking it

Updated on February 21, 2013 by Janet Mullany

The boddynge flourettes bloshes atte the lyghte;
The mees be sprenged wyth the yellowe hue;
Ynn daiseyd mantels ys the mountayne dyghte;
The nesh yonge coweslepe bendethe wyth the dewe;
The trees enlefed, yntoe Heavenne straughte,
Whenn gentle wyndes doe blowe to whestlyng dynne ys broughte.

Thomas Chatterton, the anguished teenage poet, was one of the great fakers of the Romantic period–his short-lived and unsuccessful career, which started with him faking medieval poetry, ended with his suicide in an attic at the tender age of eighteen.

And plagiarization is something fiction writers are too often accused of…after all, all regencies are about fresh-faced ingenues and rakes, right?…aren’t they? Even though academic story analyses have proposed that all story-telling is derivative, and derive from a handful of basic plots, it’s something we are accused of far too often.

As a living example of how different writers can take a simple plot premise and work it into something different, visit Diana Peterfreund’s Great Blog Voice Experiment. Diana invited twelve writers for their contribution, and each is different and interesting. Why? It’s a question of individual imagination and individual voice–whatever voice is. It’s one of those difficult-to-define elements that distinguishes a writer’s work, and I hold the theory that the stronger the voice, the more extreme the reader’s reaction.

Can you define voice? Which writers have a strong voice, and what do you like/dislike about their work?

Janet

Posted in Reading, Writing | Tagged author voice | 5 Replies

Carrot or Stick?

Updated on February 18, 2013 by Elena Greene

Recently a friend sent me a link to stickk.com. According to the website, StickK is a method for setting and achieving goals developed by Yale economists. You make a commitment contract (for exercise, weight loss, writing, or just about any other goal) and if you don’t meet your goal, you donate a sum of money you designate to a cause of your choice.

It got me thinking about my work-in-progress and the snail’s pace at which it is progressing. In my defense, I’ve been really trying to work for an hour every day. When I miss, it’s usually due to issues related to my disabled husband, the kids or the house. (It is NOT a good thing when you are on a first-name basis with your plumbing and heating guys.) But there are days when I’m tired and the words don’t come.

Although it sounds like StickK works for a lot of people, I’m not sure it would be right for me. I already have a tendency to beat myself up, so maybe I don’t need a program like that to do it to me.

One thing I have learned helps my productivity is seeing my progress visually. When I participated in National Novel Writing Month a few years ago, I loved logging my daily wordcount and watching the graph update. So this week, I decided to look for something similar. Here’s my progress bar from storytoolz.com.

Unfortunately, life intervened on Wednesday and Thursday and so I haven’t had the fun of updating my wordcount. As for today, a dear friend and I are taking a mental health day and going for what is probably our last hurrah of the season on the ski slopes.

Next week I will be productive. I promise!

How about you? What sort of motivation do you find works best?

Also, Heaven Sent is my working title, but I’m worried that it sounds too much like an inspirational romance. What do you think?

Elena
http://www.elenagreene.com/
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Writing | Tagged motivation, setting goals | 8 Replies