The word “gift” has several meanings. Your writing is a gift. A natural ability, and something to give away without payment.
You can give gifts; socks, pencils, toys. Socks will get holes in them, pencils will wear down, and toys will break. Words can create images and bring back memories that will never wear down or break.
Write with intent. Give someone you love a story about how much they mean to you.
Memoir is about something that happened in the past. You can write the story in the past tense. Or you can write the story in the present tense, as though it is happening now.
There is power in the present tense. Have you considered using it as you write about the past?
Do you listen to and trust your imagination? Become an improviser with your writing and learn to do so. Say yes to your story idea and don’t block your creativity.
To improvise means to create and perform (music, drama, or verse) spontaneously or without preparation; and to produce or make (something) from whatever is available.
Patricia Ryan Madson’s book Improv Wisdom shows us how to apply the concepts of improvisational theater to deal with real-life challenges. Today, I will look at how the concepts of improv can also apply to how we approach our writing.
If you are planning on writing a story, there is something you need to consider besides basic plot structure. You need to determine your Inciting Incident.
What incident will compel your protagonist to act, prompting them to move through a meaningful story?
Let’s take a look at what an inciting incident is and how to write one.
Jill and Kate were singing “Behind These Hazel Eyes” at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles when Kelly Clarkson walked in. They ended up singing as backup singers for her for six years until they stepped out from the back of the stage to the front of the stage, singing their own songs.
I love their sound, and their original lyrics.
I was so curious to know how they wrote their songs—how they do what they do, how they create their music.
Singers are writers. Writers who sing their words. I want to introduce Jill and Kate to you and to share their writing process. It might be helpful to you if you write songs, or would like to write songs.
