KATHY BRASBY

When students write

by | Oct 15, 2012 | Stories

The business of writing can get too serious at times. This list isn’t original with me but it made me smile today. Maybe you, too?

 From high school English tests:

  • Define first person.  Adam
  • Define metaphor.  Something you shout through
  • Define simile.   A picturesque way of saying what you really mean, such as calling your mother an old trout.
  • List two parts of speech.  Lungs. Air.
  • Define adverb.  The horses run vastly. This is an adverb.
  • Define an abstract noun: something you can’t see when you are looking at it.
  • Define an abstract noun: the name of something which has no existence, such as goodness.
  • Define an abstract noun: something we can think of but cannot feel, like a red-hot poker.

Brainstorming

by | Oct 9, 2012 | Stories

NaNoWriMo is coming is less than a month. The acronym stands for National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November.

The first year I tried it, I came up with a novel idea on October 31 and began writing. Writing over 1500 words a day when you don’t know where you’re going is like following a two-year-old through a barnyard.

So planning is in order. And November 1 is closing in.  So the brainstorming will begin. But what method?  Here are a few ideas that I will try when brainstorming:

  • Freewriting. Just put pen to paper or, in my case, fingers to keyboard, and write for at least five minutes without stopping. This one works, even though I have to put up with at least 30 seconds of “I am writing even though I have nothing to write and I wonder how long I can keep this up before my brain goes to mush…” About then, the ideas start popping.
  •  Mapping. This is a visual way of listing ideas. Basically you start with a word or idea, write that in the center of a big sheet of blank paper, and start running lines off the circle to other words or ideas. This method can turn rabbit trails into amazing ideas.
  •  Cubing. This one is new to me but basically it attacks a word or idea from six different directions. It incorporates the who, what, when, where, why, and how for an idea.  Describe the topic (what is it?) and then start asking questions. That appeals to my journalistic background.
  •  Researching. Take the idea and start to investigate it. Learn what you can about the topic and see what ideas spring forward.
  •  Ask my sister to lunch. My sister and I brainstorm together very well. We laugh and throw goofy ideas onto the table, which are almost guaranteed at some point to lead us to some great ideas. Inviting others into the brainstorming process can be amazing.

I’m off to storm some ideas.

Why a best seller isn’t on my to-do list

by | Oct 1, 2012 | Stories

I found the formula for writing a best-selling novel recently. On the internet, of course, where all good solutions can be found. It was really quite simple.

Pick a topic in a popular genre and write. Submit your stuff to critique groups. Then submit it to one of the publishers who handles best-selling books. It’s a good idea to know your characters before you start writing and it’s also advisable to be sure your plot makes sense.

Now that I know how easy a best-seller is, I had to think about whether I want one right now.

I decided against it at the moment.  I need serious help because I don’t write popular genre stories. And I don’t want to do the interview circuit this year, although I do have to admit that the formula doesn’t say I have to. Maybe I could skip that.

I like marching to a different drummer and wonder how much would have to change in my life to fit the best-selling novel model. Would I have to do more marketing? More research into the better-selling genres? More work on craft?

More importantly, I want my work to convey my message and reflect my themes.

I am excited to report, though, that I start a new class this month offered by Jeff Goins entitled Tribe Writers. The class is about finding the audience that is eager to hear what I have to say and to share it.

I’m OK with that concept. And, really, I’m OK if that turns into a best-seller. Next year.

Remember?

by | Sep 28, 2012 | Stories

I had coffee yesterday with a couple of friends that I haven’t seen in eight years. My family moved, they don’t do email, the friendship cooled over time.

 But they moved into my area and we met to catch up. We laughed over the Samsonite suitcase story and the 15-passenger van escapade (I’ll tell you those stories another time).

We remembered.  I’m looking forward to making new memories with them.

I’m writing a novel right now about a people, following a cataclysmic event many years before, who refuse to tell their children what happened. Their theory is that remembering brings pain and solves nothing. They throw themselves into coping but their children want memories.

Are answers submerged in memories? Or do memories hold us back?

I’m not going to disclose the ending to my novel. But the idea intrigues me.

We’re programmed to remember. At times, we enjoy the memories. At other times, memories hold us back. Does this trait help us? What do you think?