It’s about to start! The Success Mentor Summit!

I wanted to remind you that the Success Mentor Summit starts in just days!

https://mm216.isrefer.com/go/register/dianemaerobinson

I'm SO excited!

Before the summit takes off (and, boy, is it going to!), I wanted to give you an idea of what to expect and how it will work.  

When you register for your free ticket:  

• You’ll receive an email each day of the Summit that will include instant access to that day’s expert mentors and the topics of the day.  

 

• You'll have 24 hours to consume the information before it expires.

 

At any time, you'll be able to upgrade to one of the All Access Pass Packages.

 

Depending on which package you choose, you’ll get:  

 

• Lifetime access to ALL interviews (in video and MP3 form)
• Membership to a private online group ...
• Incredible (and valuable!) free bonuses from our mentors …
• A hardback copy of the brand-new book, One Minute Mentoring, published by Harper Collins ...
• An exclusive video Q&A with Claire Diaz-Ortiz...
• A Private Webinar with Ken Blanchard ...
• A 100% money-back guarantee ...
• ...and lots more!

 

Oh, and check out some of the other speakers who are part of the summit:

 

(...and many more...there are 100+ speakers participating!)

I'm super excited about this, and really hope you join the Success Mentor Summit https://mm216.isrefer.com/go/register/dianemaerobinson

Also, I'll be speaking at this event Mon, Sep 11 at  4pm EST.

 

More to come,

 

Diane

P.S. I’m so pumped about the caliber of speakers and what they're going to offer.  I don't want you to miss out! Stop over and grab your free ticket or All Access Pass! https://mm216.isrefer.com/go/register/dianemaerobinson

Secret Writng Techniques by Deborah Owen, CEO Creative Writing Institute

Secret Writing Techniques

Polysyndeton
by Deborah Owen, CEO

 

Re-blog from DeborahOwen@CWinst.com. Deborah Owen is my mentor and the CEO of Creative Writing Institute where I teach the Writing For Children course.

Last week we talked about asyndeton – a method of listing items without using a conjunction for the purpose of showing more by saying less – and the week before was onomotoepia.

Today we will study polysyndeton, which is diametrically opposed to asyndeton. Polysyndeton is the repeated use of conjunctions for the purpose of intensifying the scene, building the excitement and indicating (like asyndeton) an endless and innumerable list.

Our thanks to Word Magic for Writers by Cindy Rogers for this example. This quote comes from Charlotte’s Web where a rat is telling Wilbur the pig, in no uncertain terms, what he expects.

“Struggle if you must,” said Templeton, “but kindly remember that I’m hiding down here in this crate and I don’t want to be stepped on, or kicked in the face, or pummeled, or crushed in any way, or squashed, or buffeted about, or bruised, or lacerated or scarred, or biffed.”

Do you think Templeton made himself clear? And how did he do that? He drove the point home by using the repetitious ‘or.’ You will find a lot of this in children’s books. If you will listen to children talk, they use a lot of polysndeton when they talk:

“Mommy, I want ice cream, and chocolate, and nuts, and whipped cream.”

Do you see how these examples build the scene by intensifying repetition? This is a simple technique, but don't discount its importance.

P.S. Did you notice this example uses antiquated language? Writing styles are always morphing and wise is the writer who morphs with them. Today's writer would have written "Templeton said" instead of "said Templeton."

Check out the writing courses offered at Creative Writing Institute 

Enter the 2016 Creative Writing Institute Short Story Contest, July 15 -Sept. 15, 2016

The Writers Toolbox - Show And Tell

                                                         The Writers Toolbox

Why you Need both "Show" AND "Tell"
by Mr. Lynn Carroll, CWI Tutor/Columnist

Telling is easy and showing is difficult, so many beginners take the easy way out by telling and that is the reason they get rejections. If you’re confused about showing and telling, don’t feel one bit bad. This is an area where a large percentage tumbles off the bandwagon.

You know telling is how you tell a story, like standing around a fire at night, setting the scene and creating characters through telling, and you know every story also has showing. The problem is, when do you show and when do you tell?

Knowing the difference is like knowing how to balance a chair on two legs. It’s very difficult, but with a lot of practice it’s a skill anyone can learn. This is why I say following the “Show, Don’t Tell” rule blindly isn’t an altogether good path.

When writing to “show,” you want to write your scenes as though your characters might be called into court to be an eye-witness. Be as objective as possible when showing. When describing a scene or a main character, be as specific as you can and get down to the smallest of details. Be a cinematic camera operator and zoom in and out of a scene. For instance, the following example describes a character looking at someone or something in the distance by using both techniques, show and tell:

“The large waxy green leaf held the bead of rainwater until it became so pregnant it slid off the end.  Jake, a Special Ops Marine sniper, kept his eye focused on his target 700 yards away: an obese Viet Cong Colonel standing among a crowd of . . .”

Notice that the highlighted portion is telling because you would not otherwise know Jake was a Special Ops Marine sniper or that he was keeping his eye focused on a target 700 yards away.  The rest is showing. See the mixture?

When you read a book, see if the author is objective enough with showing, or does he/she need to also tell you something you wouldn’t otherwise know? This is how you learn to discern “Showing” from “Telling.” Notice the example view went from close up to a distant targeted view. Try to write your scenes in this manner. Be very specific.

Another way to know if you are “telling” or “showing” is to reread the scene to determine if you have stopped the forward movement of the story. If you have, you are “telling.” This is not to say that you should never stop the forward clock, but you need to be in control of these times.

Now it’s your turn. Search and identify areas that show and tell in stories, then write some good paragraphs that use both techniques. You’ll get the hang of it quickly.
  

Third-Person Viewpoint In Writing

In writing for young and middle grade children, and when writing in the third-person narrative, the writing is either in the third-person limited viewpoint (everything is seen, heard, etc., through the main character) or third-person omniscient viewpoint (the narrator sees and knows all). 

There are, although, three types of third-person writing that is used in writing for young adults and adults.

Third-person voice

The third-person narrative voices are narrative voice techniques employed solely under the category of the third-person view. Here's an explanation of three different types of third-person voices.

Third-person, subjective

Third-person subjective is when the narrator conveys the thoughts, feelings, opinions, etc. of one or more characters. If it is just one character, it can be termed third-person limited, in which the reader is "limited" to the thoughts of some particular character as in the first-person mode, except still giving personal descriptions using "he", "she", "it", and "they", but not "I." Third-person limited is almost always the main character.. Certain third-person omniscient modes are also classifiable as "third person, subjective" modes that switch between the thoughts, feelings, etc. of all the characters.

 At its narrowest and most subjective scope, the story reads as though the viewpoint character were narrating it; dramatically this is very similar to the first person, in that it allows in-depth revelation of the protagonist's personality, but it uses third-person grammar. Some writers will shift perspective from one viewpoint character to another.

Third-person, objective

The third-person objective employs a narrator who tells a story without describing any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings; instead it gives an objective, unbiased point of view. Often the narrator is self-dehumanized in order to make the narrative more neutral; this type of narrative mode, outside of fiction, is often employed by newspaper articles, biographical documents, and scientific journals. This point of view can be described as a "fly on the wall" or "camera lens" approach that can only record the observable actions, but does not interpret these actions or relay what thoughts are going through the minds of the characters.

The third-person objective is preferred in most pieces that are deliberately trying to take a neutral or unbiased view, like in many newspaper articles. It is also called the third-person dramatic, because the narrator (like the audience of a drama) is neutral and ineffective toward the progression of the plot — merely an non-involved onlooker. 

Third-person, omniscient

Historically, the third-person omniscient perspective has been the most commonly used; it is seen in countless classic novels. A story in this narrative mode is presented by a narrator with an overarching point of view, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. It sometimes even takes a subjective approach. One advantage of omniscience is that this mode enhances the sense of objective reliability or truthfulness of the plot. The third-person omniscient narrator is the least capable of being unreliable—although the omniscient narrator can have its own personality, offering judgments and opinions on the behavior of the characters.

In addition to reinforcing the sense of the narrator as reliable (and thus of the story as true), the main advantage of this mode is that it is eminently suited to telling huge, sweeping, epic stories, and/or complicated stories involving numerous characters. The disadvantage of this mode is that it can create more distance between the audience and the story, and that—when used in conjunction with a sweeping, epic "cast of thousands" story—characterization is more limited, which can reduce the reader's identification with or attachment to the characters.

visit my author's website at: http://www.dragonsbook.com

Point Of View.

Illustration by Samantha Kickingbird

Point of View (P.O.V.) in a story depends on how the main character is presented.

In first person, the book is told directly by the main character:
I am a dragon. I entertain people. That is my destiny.

In second person, the story is presented as if the reader is the main character: 
You get dresses, you eat breakfast, you go wrestle a dragon---it's all in a day's work.

In third person, the main character is referred to by name: 
Petra wondered at this for a moment. "Really? Is it possible that a dragon could be turned into a frog? "


First Person Narrative
    First person point of view instantly connects the reader with the main character, but often results in too much "telling" and not enough "showing."
   In the First person point of view, it is difficult to write about the physical description of the main character. In older writings writer's reverted to the "looked in the mirror" description, which is shunned in modern writing.
   First person point of view does allow the humor and thoughts of the main character to come through and the reader connects more readily with the main character.

Second Person Narrative

Second Person point of view is the least used form of writing books. Second person P.O.V. is difficult to maintain throughout a whole book and can produce awkward prose. This point of view is best used in blog posts.

Third Person Narrative

 Third Person P.O.V. is the most common form of narration.

 --Third person restricted has nearly as much closeness with the main character as first person but it is easier to avoid too much telling. The challenge to third person restricted is to keep the views only of the main character and not getting into and telling the thoughts of other characters.

 One challenge with third person restricted is limiting the story to scenes where the main character is present. This often requires creative plotting; to write the scenes around the main character. But doing so usually works out better than switching viewpoint characters. Switching viewpoint characters can and is done, but the difficulty of sustaining alternative views is that the reader can get lost within the different character's identities.

--Third Person omniscient is the rarest form of writing because it tends to obscure the main character. This type of P.O.V. knows all, and the writer reads into the thoughts of both minor and major characters. The reader does gain obscure knowledge of  the other characters, but the more times a writer switches the P.O.V., the less the reader will care about the main character.

A few other points on P.O.V.
http://users.humboldt.edu/tduckart/PoV.htm

Visit my author's website: http://www.dragonsbook.com

Hyphenation Woes.

Hyphen rules are about as meddlesome as comma rules.---meaning they are very, very meddlesome.

Most rules about hyphenating have to do with modifying a noun (the adjective or compound adjective before the noun).

Many words we tend to hyphenate could be one closed-up word, so it is always best to check The Chicago Manual of Style Hyphenation Table::
http://www.guumedia.com/the-chicago-manual-of-style-online-hyphenation-table/

Readability is the main purpose for using the hyphen, and hyphens are used to show structure and pronunciation, Here are a few of the rules:

- No need to hyphenate proper nouns (North America) or ly + adjective compounds before nouns.

                     Example: That is a wonderfully groomed dragon you have there.

- When adjective compounds come after the noun, hyphenation is usually unnecessary.

                      Example: The blue-eyed dragon becomes: The dragon is blue eyed.

- And even for compounds that are hyphenated in the dictionary, such as: ill-humored and well-read---they don’t need to be hyphenated after the noun.

                      Example: That dragon was certainly ill humored.

- Participle (a verbal that functions as an adjective) constructions are hyphenated before but not after the noun.

            Example:: the fire-breathing methods becomes: the methods of fire breathing..

.

But, age terms should be hyphenated in both noun and adjective forms, except in the last two examples.

Examples:

The three-year-old dragon

A ninety-nine-year-old dragon king

The dragon king's subjects of seven-year-olds

but

The dragon prince was nine years old

When he was nine years of age

So, now that we know some of the meddlesome hyphenation rules, lets have a care-free writing session or, a writing session that is care free.

Visit my author's website at: http://www.dragonsbook.com 

Illustration by Samantha Kickingbird

copyright, Diane Mae Robinson, 2013

Getting Inside My Character's Head

In writing fiction for children, getting inside the head of my characters is one of the most important things I can do.

I am definitely a character writer over the plot-driven writer. Don't get me wrong, plot is very important. But to me if my characters are real, solid, and living through me, the plot will come naturally through those characters just because of the type of characters they are.

I write children's books, so I have to immerse myself into the child character just as the child character has to be immersed in me. To do this, I have to remember what it was like to think, act, and talk like a child. Then, go beyond the thinking until I can feel it, taste it, see it, and be in the moment again before I can express it.

The way my child-self  thinks is a lot more fun than the way my adult-self thinks. My child-self says things with a lot more pizzazz. It's also important that I express those feelings or situations that I want to convey in the story in my own words. This is what livens up the prose and makes it stand out and become memorable for the reader.

 Here are some examples of emotions I've used in my own stories:

Excited:  "I had a bunch of jumping, swirling bugs in my stomach that couldn't wait to get out."

Feeling content: "I felt all warm and fluffy, like cake."

Sad: "My heart fell sideways and stayed laying down."

The way a child views a situation is also different from the way an adult would view it.

Here are some examples I've used also:

"I know grandma can fly. She has those flabby, flapping arms that are her after-dark wings."

"The ferns tickled the smaller flowers, making them wiggle and giggle."

"The wind was yelling and being just plain mean."

A writing exercise I like to do to get into my child mode of thinking is to look at things, people, situations and emotions, then write down all the different ways to express it with originality. Then try to express it simpler and with more innocence, just as a child would. The longer I think about it and the more I write down, the better the expressions become. The more childlike I become.

So when my friends call me immature (which they all do, believe me), I take it as a good thing, a compliment, and an affirmation that I can do my job as a writer of children stories.

Character Building

One of the first things I do when creating characters is to give them names, (once I know what they are; a nine year old princess, a dragon, etc) then an image of them starts to form gradually in my mind. After the image of  each character forms, their personalities start to come alive. Once their personalities become clear, their adventures are ready to be written.

This is my process. The whole process takes months and as new details come to me, I jot them down on paper. Each character has their own section in my character log book.

When I feel that the characters are whole and real, I start imagining what their adventures will be. I start to make a mini movie in my head as I visualize the 'where and what' of the plotting. The plotting is still work, but plotting seems to come so natural once the characters are fully formed.

When you're writing children stories, you don't have a lot of space to 'tell' about the character's descriptions, nor do you want to. So a lot of the characteristics will come out as other characters meet them or through what that character is doing and saying.

The really cool thing about getting your characters to be real and whole (even if a lot of that information isn't told to the reader), is that it does come out in the story. It comes out in the "Show Don't Tell" that all writers have heard a thousand times. I think it becomes a sub-conscious process to the writer because the writer knows those characters just as much as knowing a long-time friend. And if your characters are real to you, the writer, it is amazing how the illustrator will have the same vision as you had for those characters.

When book one, Sir Princess Petra, was in the illustration stage, I nervously waited and wondered what the artist's vision of the main character, Petra Longstride, would be. I worried for all the characters. After all, I felt my reputation and all my hard work as the writer was at stake.

The thing about the whole creative process is this: if you, the writers, have made believable and whole characters, the illustrator gets it just as easily as if you had sent her photograghs.

When I received the illustrations for book one, they were perfect. All the characters were exactly as I had envisioned them. I had learned about this process in writing school, but until I had been through this process, I wasn't sure that it actually worked. It does work. And when it did work, I knew I had done my job as the writer to create fully rounded, believable characters.

 This is exactly what Petra Longstride looked like to me, in my imagination, before the illustrations had even begun. The illustrator of the book is, Samantha Kickingbird and she was assigned by the publisher to my book.
                               


                                                                   

To take your characters seriously is one of the best things you can do for your writing.

copyright, Diane Mae Robinson, 2012

More on characters in the post "Where Do Characters Come From" here: http://kid-lit-reviews.com/2012/07/04/where-do-characters-come-from/.