[stylist] What are you currently reading: Answering Anita's questions

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Anita,

There really is no truly original story. You must take your ideas and
make it your own. Rely on your own life and experiences to breathe life
into characters and the story. Great fiction writers focus on characters
and not the plot persay. I was taught that great stories begin with
great characters, and those characters determine and drive the plot.

As for descriptions, I was taught to not only use sensory descriptions,
but to find unique ways in which to describe things. If you're trying to
describe butter flies a character is feeling, use sensory descriptions
in order to convey this. Also play with language as you attempt to
describe something such as stomach butter flies. Always try to manifest
these descriptions in the physical as opposed to the internal. There
needs to be a balance in this, but generally action helps place a reader
into a story, and too much internal dialogue and descriptions can weigh
a story down.

Ultimately you must decide what works for your story, making decisions
and sticking with them. Work on creating sensory descriptions, and study
the writers you enjoy. Focus on how they develop characters and scenes,
and how they construct descriptions of setting, emotions and
characterization.


Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 4
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:57:37 -0400
From: "Anita Adkins" <aadkins at atlanticbb.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] what are you currently reading?
Message-ID: <AE41FEDB3D874694A6327A2AFB481F5B at AnitaHP>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=response

Hi,

I just finished a book by Linda Howard called Prey. As a writer, I was
able 
to study this book to hear how the characters thought and felt. A friend
of 
mine was reading something I had written as fiction, and she pointed out

that I was writing things down that a person would not naturally think
or 
feel. I found this advice as valuable, and I am anxious to begin a story

where I can put this into practice. One thing that bothered me about the

book I just finished is that it is rather repetitive. I found myself
tuning 
out at parts. But, I did hear a part where it talked about the character

getting butterflies every time she saw this guy. I found that
interesting 
because the story my friend and I are tossing back and forth is maybe
going 
to end up being a romance. At one point, I had the character feeling 
butterflies in her stomach, and of course, a real person wouldn't feel 
butterflies in her stomach. So anyway, the point is I am wondering how
to 
work on writing down realistic thinking and feeling and not writing it
as if 
it is nonfiction or technical when it is supposed to be through a 
character's point of view when in first person. Of course, the other
problem 
I am having is coming up with a plot. I want to write fiction in order
to 
teach something, and so I want to write some sort of story that deals
with 
blindness. But, when I think of topics, someone has already thought of
those 
topics. For example, I wanted to write a mystery with a blind detective,
but 
I found a rather good one already written. I love reading mysteries, and
so 
I thought I would enjoy creating one. I thought of a blind doctor since
my 
other area of interest lies in medical stuff, but Dr. Jacob Boletin's
story 
is already about a blind doctor's experiences and challenges. How do you
all 
come up with unique topics about subjects that already seem to have been

covered? Anita