Talking on paper is very much like talking in person, but it does require carefully chosen words and sentences, [...]]]> Have you ever read something and thought “What’s the point?”  Have you listened to people tell a story, or explanation of  a procedure, and then notice that they made their point 10 minutes ago, but are still talking?

Talking on paper is very much like talking in person, but it does require carefully chosen words and sentences, whereas a spontaneous conversation can be flawed and much more casual. 

The words need to flow, have a rhythm, almost as if the reader “feels” like you (the writer) are in the room with them.  The point of the story needs to be introduced in a way that makes the reader want to read more.  Remember, while you should not talk “down” to the reader, you want to be clear enough with your writing to create a “picture” what you’re saying.  The reader needs to find you believeable, an expert on the topic.

Think about your subject.  How much does the reader need to know so they can understand, even if they know nothing about what you’re saying?  How much “basic” information should you begin with, and yet not bore them?  Are you teaching?  Informing?  Entertaining?  Do you need to provide drama, invoke emotions? 

It matters, as all approaches are different for each of those writing purposes, yet informing can be entertaining, and teaching can be dramatic or even scary.  Weave your story carefully.  Sometimes, you will find that your writing flows, the order requires little revision, and the topic is popular!  Other times, it’ll be a difficult struggle, but you’ll win by following basic writing steps:  Think, plan, write, re-write, edit and repeat.

As you think about these questions, write a few of your thoughts.  You don’t need to write paragraphs, just short sentences or keywords to jog your memory when the real writing begins.  Many writers will think for days, weeks or months about a topic or story they want to tell.  I know.  Months?  It seems an extraordinary length of time just to tell a story.  The point, is to not be in a hurry.  Write down some paragraphs, get it started and let it cook awhile in your mind and on the paper.  How does it sound, how does it feel, how does it taste on your tongue as you read, re-read or read aloud?  At least take a few hours and give your story time to “hatch.”

Often, a writer will think of a great phrase, a catchy and witty comment, or the perfect word while they are in strange places, such as the shower, the car, church, the grocery store, or in the middle of a conversation with someone else.

Be prepared and keep a small notebook handy because these thoughts often leave as suddenly as they come, and you’ll agonize trying to recall the perfection.

Yes, your friends might find that strange, but if they know you and your passion for writing, they’ll come to accept your “aha!” moments.

Always ask yourself before you write “What will be my main point?”  and  “Is this even of interest to anyone else?”  Don’t be overly concerned about the second question because most readers love to read about things they don’t do themselves. 

If you’re going to be writing for money on the Internet, or monetizing your website, the use of keywords are vital to the success of your site or article.  Every writer wants and needs an audience.

In that instance, reader interest is crucial.  If you hate fishing, would you read about the best fishing rod and reel to use on a fishing trip?  No. 

Write about something you’re passionate about, and check the interest on the net.  Google has keyword tools to assist you in finding topics that have large search interests, which in turn helps you make money with your visitors to your site.

Lead up to your point, make your point, and then summarize in an interesting way.  End with a punch, a short phrase, but not sentences that have nothing to do with what you’ve written.  Leave the reader feeling satisfied, as they would after a delicious meal, and have them look forward to more, like dessert!

You want them coming back again and again, to read more of what you write.  Right? 

Let the writing begin!

Never forget, you are writing [...]]]> Most people who enjoy reading, never think about the labor involved, and that’s good. Writers who write, should definitely think about the labor involved and that’s good.  When the two join, in an easy comfortable partnership, the reader enjoys what the writer wrote, and never realizes the writer probably edited it 50 times.

Never forget, you are writing for the reader.  It (the writing) is not about you, though the story may well be.  Think about that.

If you are a new writer, and want to tell a story, your final version should look nothing like your first version, unless you are more talented than Shakespeare. 

What do you want to say?  About what?  Food?  Mystery?  Illness?  Pet?  Child? Love? Marriage?  Divorce?  Tell something, but remember you can’t and shouldn’t try to tell everything!  Make a point or two, and make it interesting.  Sad.  Funny.  Horrible.  But, interesting.  It’s okay to frustrate the reader during the story, with the climax of  it right around the corner, so you aren’t frustrating  them too long.  And, just like sex (which is more like writing than you may realize), more than one climax is fine, but don’t overdo a good thing. It’s not supposed to make someone think “Enough already, you had me 2 pages ago!” 

In the first stage of telling a story on paper, think about the purpose or “moral” or “message of the story.  What’s it all about?  One or two sentences should come to mind, the real heart of the tale. 

Next, how will you make it interesting, and how long will you let it be?  No one wants to read just the punchline:  “I went camping and a bear ate my tent.” 

Ok.  End of story.  Wow. 

Think about what leads up to the event, what leads up to the climax or “punchline” and what brings it to an end.

It’s got to be more than “I decided to take a break and go camping, I went, a bear ate my tent and I escaped and came home.”

But, you get the idea.  Introduce, build up, punch, and then dwindle to the end.

In the beginning of the first rough draft, just talk, tell it, get it all on paper rather like a shot gun blast, just get it down and don’t worry about spelling  or even story order or jumbled sentencing.

Read it over, cross out, and start again.  Add a few lines that make it funny or scary, take out repetitive words. 

Read it over, cross out, and start again.  Change a few words, make sure the order of events is logical and makes the story flow, tell the most important things and double check your intro and endings. 

Read it over, cross out, and start again.  Ask yourself:  Does it tell all that is important to the main idea? Do you need to take out a few sentences that don’t matter and dilute the flavor of the main event?  How about adding a few more details?  Have you made your conversation sound “real” if people are talking in the story?  If it’s a narrative, which many stories are, is it dull at any spot?

Once all the events are in order, the words are carefully chosen and mean what you want to say, check for grammar, spelling and sentence structure.

Read it slowly, cross out, and start again.  Read it aloud.  Do you like the way it sounds?  Be critical!  Make sure your paragraphs are short to medium length and readable.  Can the person reading breathe at logical intervals as they read?  Readers do pause and breathe and think and your story should allow for that, even building those pauses into the writing.

Give it to another person, have them read it silently, first, and then ask them to read it out loud while you listen.  You should, at this point, be a little sick of it by now, which is a good sign.  It’s almost ready for publication, when you’re sick of thinking about it and hearing it.

If the volunteer liked it, understood it, and laughed or took their breath in the right places, let it hit the presses! 

Revisions and editing is where great movies are made, as well as wonderful stories and casual reading.  Birth that baby, and let others coo and woo at it, and move on to the next.  Not any writing is perfect and you could always change one more word, but let it go. 

You did it, now do it again.  You’ll get better, and faster, and sometimes bogged down as time goes.  Welcome to a writer’s life.

-MarisueWrites 

Lately, I’ve noticed how stressed the average American on the ground, is.  Most businesses even seem to be affected.  Receptionists don’t look up or if they do it’s in annoyance.  Grocery store clerks shove your change and [...]]]> Write about a subject of interest or something you are passionate about and others will be, too!  Passion is contagious. 

Lately, I’ve noticed how stressed the average American on the ground, is.  Most businesses even seem to be affected.  Receptionists don’t look up or if they do it’s in annoyance.  Grocery store clerks shove your change and receipt at you as they command you to have a nice day.  Convenience store cashiers are pokey and ignore your outstretched hand to pay for your gas and get on your way.  People honk when you change lanes, even though your blinker has been begging for them to let you squeeze in that lane for over a mile on the highway, making you miss your turn, thank you very much.  Banks won’t change a 50 dollar bill unless you can prove citizenship and a driver’s license won’t do and could you please open up an account.  Greeters at WalMart seem irritating, or is it just me? 

The Farmer’s Market is selling over-ripe fruit and my local favorite restaurant has become less favored, as they have cut quality of food to soup kitchen level, or maybe soup kitchens are better?  Current reason we still go is due to a few friendly servers, a rare commodity.  Those servers have confided that their paychecks are 3 weeks behind, you know, that $2.33 hourly wage they get. 

Ok, now that we’re all depressed, what do we do about it?  When I was growing up, my brother had an annoying habit of whistling.  It was his way of cheering himself up, and it worked, but it ticked me off to a level of deadly anger.  I always have been sensitive to sound, and though I enjoy cheer, whistling isn’t there for me.

However, the point of bringing up the whistle, is that we all have the power and dare I say the responsibility to put on a cheerful outside self and make the day a little brighter for another.  Geeze, Louise, get over “it.”  I could tell you stories that would make you cry, but why?  How about some manners?  My mother talked repeatedly about how you couldn’t air your dirty laundry to the world and expect people not to turn up their noses. 

Let’s try some old-fashioned, country-style, “Y’all come back now, hear?” manners.  It’s not hard, and comes with a nice extra bonus of feeling a little better, yourself. 

Go stand in front of the mirror and see if you can find your smile.  If it looks like old money, work on it.  Say “thank you,” and not through gritted teeth.  Let someone merge in front of you in traffic.  Smile.  Look at the WalMart greeter who’s feet are probably killing her, and say “Nice to see you, today.”  Smile.  Tell the bank teller you will “go buy a pack of mints at the grocery store to break the fifty, and no thanks, I’ve already placed my million I was saving to open an account with your bank in rebuilding Wall Street.  Just doing my part to save the economy so, I can’t spare a dime to open up my 50th bank account in town to break a $50.  It pains me, not to be able to help your bank in their time of need, but it’s true.”  Smile.  Hug your kids, look the tired grocery clerk in the eye and say “I appreciate you.  I bet you’ve worked hard today.”  Smile.

See, the day is better already, all it took was a few manners.  I think it’s a contagious disease, but it’s ok, we can stand a new virus of good feelings.  Write about it!  Spread it around.

I could no more stop writing, then I could stop the breath that fills my lungs. As I long for air, I long for the telling of the day.

As I am surrounded by life, I find the air to be alive with adventure, full of all emotions…a tangle of the plain and simple, [...]]]> It Is Me…Inside Out

I could no more stop writing, then I could stop the breath that fills my lungs. As I long for air, I long for the telling of the day.

As I am surrounded by life, I find the air to be alive with adventure, full of all emotions…a tangle of the plain and simple, or the tragic and painful. Questions fill my heart and mind.

On any day, we find ourselves in the middle, at the door of begin, or teetering on the edge of end. We are touched by crisis, love, hate, pain, gain, sadness and joy. We are blasted with the opposites in all things. I seek understanding of it all.

I find it in the telling.

As I live, I am constantly striving to see the why, the how, the what’s next. I crave solutions, and the eradication of problems.

I find them in the telling.

I talk about my mother’s blindness, and I see. I tell of my dad’s sacrifice for others, and I witness purpose. I tell of a cop’s life, I see mine. I write about children, I feel the future. I talk of patriotism, I hunger for truth and peace. I discuss families, I reach for connections.

Writing gives me today, bridges yesterday, and touches tomorrow with a birth of wisdom. To experience, to know, to understand, is to write.

Then, once gain is felt, it must be shared to be of value. To write, is to share.

Any moment, of any day, I can not think of any incident that skips being written in my mind for a story, a lesson, a reason to continue in life.

To tell it, to write it down, to seek the humor, the why and why now, allows me, no causes me to continue my journey, and find the paths that join me with those who live.

If you and I walk together, so much greater is the joy.

I am Marisue, and I write.