June 2012
91 posts
“But books are never just books. They’re markers, totems, memory keepers.”
—My Library, Myself - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education (via infoneer-pulse)
Overheard at the library...
Kid #1: My dad loves baseball.
Kid #2: My dad loves the Rangers.
Kid #3: My dad loves football.
Kid #4: My dad loves bacon.
Hmmm…one of these things is not like the other…
Me too, dad of Kid #4, me too.
Nora Ephron passed away today at the age of 71.
And she wrote so many great books and screenplays that I can’t even begin to list them here.
What to read if you like "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
A lot of you ask this question, and a month ago we opened the question up to the masses. Here were your answers:
- Looking for Alaska
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- The Catcher in the Rye
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- Going Bovine
- How I Learned To Snap Kick
- Greyhound by Steffan Piper
- The Fault in Our Stars
The most suggested by far was The Catcher in the Rye. I’d also really emphasize Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It’s such quality and emotionally resonant writing.
-Becky
“If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.”
— Louis L’Amour (via thesearepeopleyouknow)
Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling →
io9.com
It’s funny—just yesterday I was thinking about looking for writing related material to post, since it’s an extremely important beginning step to animation, and just now my friend tagged me in a post on Facebook linking to this!
- #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
- #2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
- #3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
- #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
- #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
- #6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
- #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
- #8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
- #9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
- #10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
- #11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
- #12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
- #13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
- #14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
- #15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
- #16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
- #17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.
- #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
- #19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
- #20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
- #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
- #22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
The new writing prompt for this week is up on Figment!
Followers may be because we recommended you guys on Hey Teen Books Hey this morning. Hope you don't mind!
Aww, you guys are so nice! Thanks for the recommendation! WELCOME TO THE MADNESS, EVERYONE.
Holy crap, where did all these followers come from?
Over twenty of you have followed us since 9 this morning! Thanks!
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We've got iPads to check out in the teen room now!
Just ask at the reference desk, there are two available!
Figment →
figment.com
Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other people who love to read, and discover new stories and authors. (In a nutshell.)
“My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for.”
—Neil Gaiman (via yourathenaeum)
