Writing Craft Recap for February

2012 is my "learning the writing craft" year. And once a month, generally on the first Thursday of the month (this month the second, since the first Thursday was the 1st), I will share some highlights of what I learned. And here I go.

My main writing craft education for February came from one intensive, time-consuming, but AMAZING class. And below is just the highlights of what I learned.

From Empowering Characters' Emotions by Margie Lawson:

• Every component of a scene can carry emotion.
• White space is a writer's BFF.
• Visceral emotion by the POV character has a LOT of power when used when it counts. It is, in fact, the strongest reader hook. But it should be used sparingly.
• Showing body language (in a creative way) is a great way to deepen your characters' emotional response.
• Cadence is more important than you think.
• If you have showing and telling in the same sentence, try cutting the telling part.
• Include power words where needed - and backload (end a sentence or paragraph with one) when you can.
•  Lips can show more emotion than eyes.
• Write fresh (avoid cliches!)
• Be sure the scene is set (and your characters are clothed!).
• Make sure you don't have too much internalization.
• Have lots of tension and conflict.
• Make sure your characters' emotions come across as authentic to the reader.
• ALWAYS read your scenes out loud.
• Use all the senses.

This is just a touch of what I learned - and i will be USING all of it, and more, in my writing.

Watch for my March "Writing Craft Recap" post, where I'll be sharing details on my CURRENT Margie Lawson class - "Deep Editing:  the EDITS system, Rhetorical Devices, and More!"

Questions? Comments? Observations?

Traveling Rough Roads With God's Strength