In this conversation with writer Michele Reisinger, we talk about bad advice from writing teachers, her process for placing stories with publications, what a successful writing day looks like, and how she writer in traffic!
Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction writer whose first novel, “Beneath The Rising” has just been released. But I discovered her through her wonderful short stories.
In this conversation we talk about what a good writing day looks like (and what to do on those other days), the inspiration for some of her stories, her writing process and how she organizes her ideas, why short stories are like tattoos, and how the phrase “it’s just photons” makes writing easier.
LINKS
Twitter: @premeesaurus
Curious Fictions: https://stada.me/cfpm
Buy Her Book: https://stada.me/bkpm
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – Courtney
Write on seven days this month – Clare
Extend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendy
write 10,000 words – Mary Lou
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
We are one month away from StoryADay May, people! This is not a drill.
Actually, yes, it kind of is.
This is THE PERFECT TIME TO WARM UP your writing (take it from someone who didn’t, the very first year I ran this thing. I thought it would be smart to save all my ideas until May. Um, wrong!)
One of the easiest ways to get into the flow of writing is to minimize the amount of stuff you have to invent. So today I have two prompts for you, from the archives, which help you take that ‘write what you know’ thing and have a little more fun with it than if you were simply journaling.
The Prompt
Read through these two prompts from the archives and decide which one is most interesting to you.
Try to get to the end of the story today. Bonus points: write to the other prompt tomorrow!
Remember, if the story is getting away from you, to limit it only to the essential characters, settings and details. Just enough to paint a picture for yourself.
Also: don’t worry if this story is not ‘good’. It’s only a draft.
Write a story set in a particular time or place and use dialogue to show us where we are, rather than telling us.
Suggested scenario: two characters who know each other well, but one is keeping a secret.
Tips
Don’t simply have characters say “In olden days people didn’t even drive electric cars” to show that we’re in the future. Look at this example from “The Era” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
We’re in HowItWas class
“Well,” Mr Harper said, twisting is ugly body towards us. “You should shut your mouth because you’re a youth-teen who doesn’t know sh*t about Sh*t and I’m a full-middler who’s been teaching this stuff for more years than I’m proud of.”
The Era, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
You KNOW we’re not in a modern day school, right? The attitudes, the name of the class, the way description of ages…so much “show” and very little “tell”, even though we literally have characters telling each other stuff!
Or in this story when the main character has seen a photograph of her deceased mother in a museum and calls her dad to ask about it.
“She was a looker, wasn’t she? What is it, some kind of—do they call it street photography?”
“No,” I said. I described in euphemism what was occurring int he photo.
“There’s been some mistake,” my father answered, finally, resolutely. “That’s your eyes playing tricks on you.”
Natural Light, Kathleen Alcott
Watch how the father goes from open and generous to shut-down and in denial, without the author have to tell us any of that.
Or in this one, what do you infer about the setting, just from the dialogue?
“Y’all put that gator right back where you found him or I’ll pepper your asses with 177s.”
Hellion, Julia Elliot
Pay attention to how you can use dialogue to tell us things other that what the character mean to tell us.
Reposted with permission from bookstore owner and writer Robb Cadigan. He says “Hope people have fun with it”, but reserves first dibs on the idea as kids’ book or published story…
Something I do with the StoryADay Superstars, is get together once in a while for writing sprints.
During this next couple of weeks, when everyone is isolating physically, I thought it might be helpful to open that up to the whole community. So you’re invited to join us for some writing dates!
A live video I recorded earlier this week full of positive ways to ride this thing out
The herd instinct is only a problem if you’re following the wrong herd.
Let’s see if we can put it to good use. Let’s circle the StoryADay wagons and help each other to write more of the stories that people need to hear—to distract them, to entertain them, to uplift and connect them.
Some things I’ve shared with people over the past few days
This is a wonderful time to catch up on your reading. Everyone has a pile of books they’ve been meaning to get to. Turn off the TV and open those books!
If you can’t get to a writing group because you need to protect your health, ask other people to turn on the voice memo feature on their phone and record the group discussion for you.
If you’re a member of a real-life writing group, ask the organizer to sign up for a free Zoom account. You can get everyone together for 40 minutes at a time under the free account, and chat about writing, or hold your critique meeting, or whatever you usually do.
You don’t have to be writing fiction if it doesn’t feel right, just now. Write letters to friends you haven’t seen recently. Write journal entries. Work on a non-fiction project you’ve been meaning to get to. Advocate for a favorite charity or write postcards for a political candidate’s campaign.
Use writing prompts to write tiny, throwaway stories that are only intended to amuse and distract yourself.
What other ideas do you have?
What can I do to help you?
Do you need an online writing hangouts this week, to keep you from obsessing about the news, or keep you sane while you work from home?
Do you need daily SWAGr check-ins at StoryADay.org for the next week, to keep you accountable?
Would it be helpful if I put together a bundle of links to the most popular articles on the site, so you can read something that isn’t virus-related?
Is there something else I can do to help you?
Leave a comment and tell me how you’re doing, and what you need. Also, if you’ve found something that helps you, please share that too!
This month’s theme at StoryADay is “Show, Don’t Tell”, that pesky little piece of writing advice that sounds so easy and will actually take us the whole month to unpack. It’s more than simply ‘showing’. It’s about using all our senses to immerse the reader in a moment, and it come more easily to some writers than others.
Let’s start practicing with today’s prompt. This week we’ll focus on making the setting immersive. Next week will be about showing through dialogue. The week after that we’ll work on when to ‘show’ and when to ‘tell’.
The Prompt
Your character walks into a room and sees something/someone they really, really don’t want to see. How do they solve this dilemma?
As well as running DIYMFA, Gabriela Pereira often speaks at conferences about issues other than the writing craft, including entrepreneurship and mental illness.
Today, we have a frank discussion about Gabriela’s history with mental illness as one part of a very full life that also includes running a business, having a family, and being a creative person.
We also talk a little about writing emotion when you struggle with your own.
(If you need help and live in the US, please text HOME to 741741. In Canada, 686-868, In the UK 85258. In the UK and Ireland, call 116 123. In Australia, call 13 11 14)
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – Courtney
Write on seven days this month – Clare
Extend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendy
write 10,000 words – Mary Lou
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
What are we really talking about when we talk about sex? Join me for a conversation with sexuality educator Dr. Lanae St. John. We talk about how to portray true intimacy on the page (without any weird noises), how to make consent sexy, and where to find a model for your next villain.
Relationships are tricky – romantic or otherwise – because at the heart of each relationship are two individuals who have expectations, often unspoken, about what they owe to each other.
Sometimes what used to work for us no longer works.
In this podcast I talk about the benefits and downsides of your writing commitments, I encourage you to scare yourself, and I revisit the subject of habits, and check in to see how you’re getting on.
Also: I preview some coming changes to the podcast
LINKS:
The StoryADay Short Story Framework, in case you want to write a story today but aren’t sure how to get started: https://storyaday.org/framework
The StoryADay 3 Day Challenge, in case you need a little extra accountability and you work best with a curriculum: https://storyaday.org/3DC
This year during the Superbowl I noticed an ad that used the different types of love, as defined by the Greeks, to advertise their product. And it reminded me that, for those of us without a classical education, it can be useful to review frameworks like this, that underpin our cultural attitudes whether we know it or not.
Write a story combining featuring two different types of love relationships from the list. Notice how they interact, how they cause the characters to act, and where those actions are different and similar.
This month’s theme is Love: It’s Not Just For The Ladies. I’m going to be looking into all kinds of love and how our characters feel, express and reject it. Starting with this week’s writing prompt.
Write three, linked mini-stories about two people who love each other. Each moment illustrating one of the three aspects of enduring love: Intimacy, Passion & Commitment. Each section highlights a different moment. The overall story charts their relationship.
Today I’m going to show you a system for delighting readers (and editors), so that you get great reviews and raving fans who will share your work with other readers who also love what you’re writing.
This is it! This is the first post of the tenth anniversary year for StoryADay! Expect big things for the anniversary this May!!
In the meantime, post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Write a story a day in May – everyone!
Revise at least 10 short stories – Iraide
Write two short stories. – Jami
Attend one writers’ conference – Julie
Write fable for WordFactory competition – Sonya
Re-read the backstory pieces I wrote in May and see if I can use them within my novel – Monique
Research the market – Jami
Focus on my serial – Maureen
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
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As well as running DIYMFA, Gabriela Pereira often speaks at conferences about issues other than the writing craft, including entrepreneurship and mental illness.
