 For Authors: August 09, 2023 Issue [#12116] |
This week: EEK! It's a Spider! Edited by: đź’€Legerdemaimđź’€  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for new authors. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
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 EEK! It's a SPIDER!
Okay..it doesn't have eight legs. It might have six or twenty, there isn't a set definition for this organism. This is about brainstorming ideas. Sometimes it is impossible to work on whatever project you might be writing. You might be stuck on a character flaw, wrote yourself off a cliff or in my case, broke the character's nose in a cafeteria and feel a little lost. I know where I want the story to go but I'm feeling distracted by all those sandwiches in cellophane.
This is about brainstorming. Perhaps you want to start fresh or there might be a contest you want to enter, but ideas aren't gelling in your head. Try pulling out a few sheets of paper and surfing images. Put in a few key words, like the genre of the contest, or if your character is a redhead, type that in. Then start flipping through the images on Google and see what happens. Once you find something that feels intriguing (or scary if your filter is off)) stop and look at the image. Then write a main idea in the middle of your paper, draw a circle around it and then imagine "what happens next". For each idea, draw an arm off the main circle and write that idea in a new circle on that arm. If the idea blossoms, keep drawing arms and circles until your mind stops. Your drawing should end up looking like a spider with real big joints, and if they're like mine, kind of lop-sided and lumpy.
Nevermind. Keep thinking, keep brainstorming. Go through your images until you have a few sheets of paper filled out. Then, I like to wait a few days...or uhm, months and come back to those spiders. Hopefully you remember where you stashed them. Look behind the pile of recipes, that's where I found mine. If the idea is for a contest, you might want to get to it the next day. Then look at each spider and rate them for suitability to the contest. If it's just for a new story idea, go with what still interests you. Can you add more arms? Can you expand the ideas in the circles? Highlight the best ideas and start your story. I generally don't keep the inspiration image because I don't want to get locked on it, I want it to be merely the basis for my ideas. I find the best characters will stick and I know them pretty well.
Now it's time to start writing. If you're an outline person, start that and work your story into your plot points. If you're a wing-it kind of fellow, start typing and let the story unfold. In the end, I hope a wonderful story ends up in your portfolio. Write on!
This month's question: Give us your brainstorming tips!
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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AUGUST SITE CONTEST:
The task is simple: Write a short story using the image prompt as inspiration!
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Excerpt: It may be true that I am a significant alcoholic by right and I am always up for the challenge of proving it, but what am I doing this for? Every pint of the dark ale passed in front of me is drained to its base and I feel nothing. There is no wavering of my mental faculties, no dizziness that makes me feel awkward in my own skin, no enchantment at all of the sublime liquid that I drain down my gullet. I am immune. Even in the excesses that I choose to reach on this night of all nights. Why has the sweet oblivion of the drunken blackout left me; why am I tortured to remain in this coherent state of sobriety?
Excerpt: Bam, Bam, S.. C..R..A..T..C..H, BAM. Dan's eyes flew open. Reluctantly, he looked toward the hellish room. The same bedroom he once shared with his wife Sarah, before she went away. The one-room Dan would never dare sleep in alone, ever again.
“Who's there? Answer me!”
Excerpt: "That'll be five hundred dollars."
"Five hundred? Are you crazy?"
The grin dropped from the mechanic's face.
"I don't much care for your tone of voice, friend."
Jeff took a step back.
We all have misheard someone or misused a word at some point.
Share those stories for the chance to win awards!
In each round of this contest I'll post a prompt and ask for either fiction or non-fiction. In the non-fiction rounds, the idea is to share your own experiences surrounding this prompt. In the fiction rounds the idea is to incorporate your faith into the story - it may be your lead character's faith, or your characters may find themselves in an environment where your faith is evident, and so on
An array of 5 virtual ships have been arranged throughout the grid. Simply guess a letter/number combination to shoot your virtual torpedo. If your torpedo hits a ship, the box you guessed will be filled red. However, if your torpedo hits open water, the box you guessed will appear blackened.
The aim of this group is to inspire, improve, and help fellow writers in the fantasy genre. This is accomplished through peer reviewing, workshops, discussions on the craft of writing, activities and contests, and having an active base of members.
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This month's question: Give us your brainstorming tips!
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Since I'm a guest editor in For Authors, I'll link some helpful resources for the new author.
| | Poetry Forms (13+)
Poetry Forms Easily Explained - a work of Bianca with additions by kansaspoet
#945530 by Bianca  |
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