Writing Tip — Favorite Poem

With the opening lines and a style of illustration unique in picture books, I was drawn into The Magic Wood, an adult poem by British writer Henry Treece. Barry Mozer uses only blue and black for the illustrations, sprinkling in sparks of gold to highlight certain elements in the picture, like eyes or a gold ring. This palette conveys the dread and danger the narrator ignores when he enters the wood at night. The sense of dire consequences is apparent in every picture.

But the poem has an upbeat ending. I read it as a Christian parable. The wood is temptation, and the narrator takes his first steps into giving in to it when he ventures inside. The strange creature he meets tries to entice him further. But when he senses danger, he says prays and rushes to the safety of his family’s land.

The poem is an example of stanzas written in rhymes or near rhymes. Although I usually don’t like that style, the poem does have a rhythm, which makes it fun to read out loud to kids.

Mr. Treece wrote five books of poetry. I’ve tried to read them. He has great skill in establishing a mood of loss and darkness, but a little of that goes a long way with me. If I read too much of it, I get depressed.

So test your taste for Mr. Treece’s poems with The Magic Wood. Maybe you will be captured by it like I was.

What are some of your favorite poems?

April 10, 2018 3

Writing Tip — Writing in Time

Looking over the calendar, I find April may be more boring than March this year. With its two major holidays, Easter and April Fool’s Day, coming on the first day, there’s not much to look forward to in the rest of the month. But my kids’ spring break occurs in this month, and the weather in April present possibilities.

April Fool’s Day: The holiday presents a great situation for humorous, middle grade fiction. Maybe a competition between kids to see who can fool the most people. Or maybe a family could be engaged in playing practical jokes on each other.

Spring Break: A trip always has a lot of potential for storytelling. Whether it’s a family trip, a mission trip, trip of college kids, or retirees, the process of traveling in the spring can be exploited for both comic and dramatic effect. This year, my kids and I are traveling with my sister and her kids in their van to visit another sister seven hours away. By the time we get back, I may have more inspiration than I can handle

Storms: Where I live, in a temperate climate, April is the first month of the year when we usually experience thunderstorms. Storms are a great plot twist or metaphor. As a metaphor, a storm can mirror dueling emotions, desires, or ambitions inside one character. It can also underline the conflict between two characters or more characters. The storm can be a twist to heighten the tension between characters or force them to survive and reveal their strength and weaknesses.

How would you use April as a setting?

April 3, 2018 1

Writing Tip — Plot

Easter contains so many themes to inspire stories. Last year I wrote about how the drama of Holy Week could be adapted for a storyline. This year I wanted to focus on the theme of resurrection which leads to change.

Pretending to kill off a character only to have him return may be the most dramatic plot twist a writer can use. One of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories is “The Empty House”. In it, Holmes reveals to Watson that he didn’t die battling Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf the Grey’s resurrection as Gandalf the White is a major plot point.

Survival stories are a good way to use the resurrection theme without it seeming contrived. The extreme demands of a hostile environment on a character provide reasons for the character to reevaluate her life and, if she lives, to return to her old life changed for the better or worse.

I love survival stories, both fiction and nonfiction. In January, I featured the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica, one of history’s epic survival stories. I recently watched a little-known survival movie from 1953 that is a great example of how the struggle to survive changes the main character.

In Inferno, a wealthy husband and wife and the husband’s business partner are traveling on horseback in the Mojave desert, looking for a mineral deposits. When the husband falls and breaks his legs, the wife and partner say they will send help. But instead, they mislead the authorities with a false trail, leaving the husband to die. The husband becomes determined to make it back to civilization and exact his revenge.

Because the husband is alone, we learn his thoughts through voice–over narration and can follow the change in his character. The actor portraying husband, Robert Ryan, is so skilled that his expressions and body language perfectly accompany his narration. (It’s also a great visual example of the writing concept “Deep POV” but that’s for another post.)

How can Easter inspire your writing?

March 29, 2018 0

Writing Tip — Character Names

I love finding just the write names for my characters, and if I need unusual names, myths can offer a gold mine of potential. Below are list of more obscure names from several different mythologies.

But keep in mind the cardinal rule of character names: Names Must Be Pronounceable. If a name is too difficult to sound out, readers will substitute something familiar or simply bleep over it. I like the name “Koschei”, a villain in a Slavic myth, but have no idea how to pronounce it correctly. If I used it, I would have to adapt it for English readers. Maybe “Koschay”?

Greek and Roman Names

Atalanta
Meander
Dido
Alecto
Evander
Nisus
Marsyas
Thetis
Arion
Leander
Cadmus
Maia
Nysa

Norse Names

Sif
Idun
Galar
Brokk
Alvis
Gerd
Thiazi
Skadi

Celtic Names

Balor
Bran
Branwen
Bres
Dagda
Morrigan
Caradoc
Finntan
Korrigan
Mael Duin
Nemed
Nuada
Veleda

Central and Eastern Europe

Sadko
Morevna
Perun
Mati Syra
Kurent

If you need to create original names for characters, where do you find inspiration?

March 27, 2018 0

Writing Tip — Mythology

If anyone has any doubts that Norse mythology can inspire people in today’s society, she only needs to look to Marvel Comics. Thor is the star of both page and screen, appearing in at least five movies in the Marvel epic so far.

I like Norse mythology better than Greek, maybe because it has more cohesion than the Greek and that appeals to my modern sense of storytelling. Norse mythology has an end, Ragnarok, and a rebirth. No matter what happens in all the other tales concerning the gods and magical beings, it will all end in this epic battle.

Apart from from using the myths to fuel fantasy stories, how else can the Norse myths inspire? Because I’m a character writer, that’s where I am most likely to find inspiration.

Loki

Loki is an intriguing character because he changes over the course of the stories.

Original myth: Loki starts out as trickster, not necessarily an evil character, but one the other gods can’t trust and by whom they are often inconvenienced. But as the stories build to Ragnarok, he becomes the embodiment of evil. That outline makes a compelling arc for a character in any genre.

Update: The Loki character belongs to a family that dominates a certain industry–sports, politics, or tech company. Loki doesn’t have the talent for the family industry and feels left out. However, he discovers he does have a talent for manipulation. In the beginning, he uses it for just small gains or to frustrate members of his family. But as he gets better at manipulating, he faces a choice: to use his ability for good or evil.

Baldur

The story of Baldur is both tragic and uplifting, the latter unusual in Norse myths.

Original myth: Baldur, the most beautiful and kindest of the Norse gods, is killed when Loki tricks Baldur’s blind brother Hoder into killing him. Baldur is trapped in the Underworld. Hoder and Baldur are sons of the king of the gods Odin and his wife Frigga. Another of Odin’s sons kills Hoder in revenge for Baldur’s death.

The death of Baldur signals to the gods the coming of Ragnarok. When just about everyone and everything is destroyed in that battle, Baldur and Hoder leave the Underworld and join the few other surviving gods in the renewed world. I find it interesting that in a myth cycle that is depressing, Baldur and Hoder are given a happy ending.

Update: The Hoder and Baldur characters are brothers, and Hoder permanently injures Baldur. In a contemporary story, it could be that Hoder is driving drunk and cripples Baldur. The family shuns or cuts all contact with Hoder. Years later, when the family is facing tragedy, Baldur and Hoder either work together to avert it or are the only ones to survive it.

In the myths, Baldur has a son Forseti, who is the god of reconciliation. In my contemporary story, a child of the Baldur character could be the catalyst for healing the family.

Recommended books

Again, the books I listed under Greek myths also have helpful sections about Norse ones.

Have you read the Norse myths? Which stories do you like?

March 15, 2018 2

Tag: Writing Tips