Author’s Craft
Just as a woodworker uses many tools and techniques
to craft a piece of furniture, a skilled author uses tools
and techniques of language and storytelling to craft a
piece of writing.
 Author's craft has two categories, Narrative Elements
and Literary Devices.
 The term Narrative Elements describes aspects of
storytelling. Plot, Theme, Point of View, Conflict.
 The term Literary Devices refers to specific tools of
language that can appear in any genre of writing.
Personification, Simile, Hyperbole, etc.
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A figure of speech (generally considered a
type of metaphor) in which an inanimate
object or abstraction is given human qualities
or abilities.
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My computer hates me.
The camera loves me.
Art is a jealous mistress.
Wind yells while blowing.
Opportunity knocked on the door.
The sun greeted me this morning.
Snow had wrapped a white blanket over the city.
Time never waits for anyone.
Trees were dancing with the wind.
The radio stopped singing and continued to
stare at me.
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The set of all the different choices a writer's
makes determines, and the collective effect
they have on the reader, is what is often
called the “voice” in a piece of writing.
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Voice, sometimes referred to as “tone” or
“mood" or even “style,” tells the reader about
the writer’s personality in the piece.
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A writer’s attitude towards the subject of
audience which is revealed in his/her writing.
Tone is the attitude a writer takes towards a
subject or character: serious, humorous,
sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek,
solemn, objective.
Tone typically refers to the emotional
atmosphere the writer establishes and
maintains through the entire novel.
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How a piece of writing makes you feel.
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Mood is the emotional attitude the author
takes towards his/her subject.
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Remember Mood Rings?
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Putting yourself on your page.
Style is watching your use of adjectives and
doing a few flashy things with alliteration.
Style without voice is hollow.
Voice is style, plus theme, plus personal
observations, plus passion, plus belief, plus
desire.
Voice is bleeding onto the page, and it can be
a powerful, frightening, naked experience.
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You cannot be a successful writer if you don't
read. That isn't opinion; that's fact.
Reading is magic. It's your bread and butter.
Don't neglect it.
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Try your hand at non-fiction. Write romantic
scenes. Put together a western character and
run him through a fight scenario. Try fantasy,
try SF, try romance, try mainstream.
Write a sonnet, and some haiku, and a few
limericks. Remember the first rule of writing:
Nothing you write is wasted.
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Do short exercises where you sit down and
not only mentor the style of your favorite
writers, but also mimic some of their themes
and passions. Get as much into their heads as
you can.
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Make endless lists -- one-word lists of the
things that excite you, the things that scare
you, the things that you dream and fantasize
about and hope for, the things you dread and
fight to avoid.
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You don't know everything about yourself.
You only think you do. The more you trust
yourself to write without correction, the more
you'll discover that you're a lot deeper and
more interesting and more complex than you
imagined.
You'll find out a lot about yourself by pushing
some of your own buttons.
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If you don't care about the things you're
writing about, you will never discover your
true voice.
Your voice does not exist in the thin and
cheap places of your heart or the shallow end
of your soul.
Voice lives in the deep waters and the dark
places of your soul, and it will only venture
out when you make sure you've given it space
to move and room to breathe.
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When you're finding your voice, you're going
to be doing a lot of experimenting. Some of
what you write, frankly, is going to be lousy.
Some of it will shock you with how good you
really are. But the only way you'll get any of
the good stuff is if you allow yourself to put
whatever comes into your head down on the
page without demanding salable prose of
yourself.
If your heart is beating fast and your palms are
sweating and your mouth is dry, you're writing
from the part of yourself that has something to
say that will be worth hearing. Persevere.
 At the heart of everything that you've ever read
that moved you, touched you, changed your life,
there was a writer's fear. And a writer's
determination to say what he had to say in spite
of that fear.
 So be afraid. Be very afraid. And then thank your
fear for telling you that what you're doing,
you're doing right.
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If you're comfortable, if you're rolling along
without having to really think, if you haven't
had to challenge yourself, if you know that
everyone is going to approve of what you've
done -- you're wasting your time.
Writing done from a position of comfort will
never say anything worthwhile.
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Choose to write about themes that your
internal editor insists are too dangerous, too
controversial, too embarrassing to be put on
the paper. Imagine that your mom (or your
other toughest critic) is looking over your
shoulder with a raised eyebrow and a prudish
expression on her face. Now shock her.
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Childhood memories.
Dreams and nightmares.
Ten gifts I'd give myself with magic.
If I could spend a million dollars, I'd buy...
What I want most in the world.
What I'd do anything to avoid.
Things that are creepy.
Things that are sexy.
Best foods.
Best times.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtOmC76
3FJ4
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Pick a line(s) in Ted Kooser’s poem
“Abandoned Farmhouse” and write a
response