by Pat Marcello on February 3, 2011
Oh, yeah… I’m not really the touchy-feely type, but when it comes to art, that’s what happens. When you’re looking at a painting, you’re seeing color, subject, and design, and the combination of all of those will evoke an emotional response when the painting is really good.
Image by oddsock via Flickr
Let’s take a familiar example — Edvard Munch‘s The Scream. It’s rather simple, isn’t it? Blocks of color all swirled about and one ghostly figure in the forefront just standing there with its mouth open. Unless it hit some emotional chord in so many, the painting would be rather mundane. But the combination of color, subject, and design has made it very popular over the centuries, as it was painted in 1893!
So, let’s apply that to a novel. Same thing. People relate to good fiction writing because of the writing color, the subject matter, and the author’s design. A LOT of feeling goes into writing a novel, and if it’s really good, that emotion transfers to many people.
How do you convey feeling? [click to continue…]
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by Pat Marcello on February 2, 2011
Is there really one? I’m guessing that in English class, if you’re in the 3rd grade there is. But let’s think about some modern literature… How about Frank McCourt‘s Angela’s Ashes. It’s one of the best books I ever read, and it had the very worst paragraphing and punctuation in the world. It’s an effect, and for that book, it worked extraordinarily well. I love all of McCourt’s books, but when I first opened that one, I balked, and I’m guessing lots of other people did, too, because in later editions, the paragraphing is proper.
Image via Wikipedia
That’s how most people feel if your paragraphing is off. Weird. They might look at your work, and no matter how great it is, they won’t read it because it looks too damned hard to read.
You need white space.
Single sentence or ever one-word paragraphs give you that.
But you might not know where to begin and end a paragraph, either. Here are Pat’s rule-of-thumb paragraph rules: [click to continue…]
by Pat Marcello on February 1, 2011
Right, you’re thinking. Paragraph construction has plagued writers for probably… ever. So, what makes them fun?
Well, writing them for one. I mean, how hard is it to come up with a paragraph, unless you’re constructing it for your third-grade teacher? That was some tough writing, kids.
Image via Wikipedia
But think about it. You’re an adult now. Writing should be as easy and as much fun for you as simply talking to your best friend.
So, don’t sit there struggling over paragraphs. Just write as you would have a conversation with someone you really have fun hanging out with. I always picture my mother (who’s long gone, so it’s rather cool to talk to her in such a way) or my husband. I’m close to them and feel comfortable and writing should feel comfortable.
Believe it or not, before I started writing, you couldn’t pay me to do it. [click to continue…]
by Pat Marcello on January 31, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
This issue plagues school children from all over the world: What’s a paragraph, and how do you know when you’re ready for another?
This issue also plagues new writers from every genre. Sometimes, they have no idea where to end a paragraph and begin a new one. Sometimes, they make paragraphs when they shouldn’t. So, how do you know when you’re ready for a new paragraph?
Simple.
Start a new topic.
You’ll notice that my paragraphs are very different above. And two of them aren’t what you would consider a traditionally proper paragraph at all. But one thing you have to realize is that you’re not writing for your 3rd-grade English teacher; you’re writing for your readers. [click to continue…]
by Pat Marcello on January 30, 2011
So, let’s talk about you as a reader, right? What makes you sit up and take notice when you’re reading a magazine or newspaper? Your personal interest zone, right? I mean, if you’re all into animal rights, stories about animals will probably pop out at you first if the headline catches your eye. Or, if you worry about homeless people, you’ll probably gravitate right to a story that talks about that topic.
But what keeps you reading?
The lead helps. If you’re not hooked by the first paragraph, which should include some interesting fact or statistic or a real slammer of an idea, then what really keeps you going down the page are the nut graphs. Why? Because nut graphs draw people further in, it can raise questions that people MUST have answered. Here’s what I mean:
Miracle Cat Saves Company [click to continue…]
