Writing Exercises

Have you ever tried a writing exercise? One that requires a certain style from you the author? For example, take this prompt:

The girl was excited about riding on the elevator.

Now, try to show (not tell) the girls emotion of excitement. As Flannery O'Connor always says, describing someone or something always begins with the eye. As in, show us certain features that would give away her excitement.

For this writing prompt in particular, I would write something about the girl smiling with two big dimples punctuated on her cheeks. Then I would say how she lets out a shriek and is jumping up and down; but I wouldn't say a shriek of excitement, that would be telling, not showing. Instead, the reader should get from the smile and dimples that the shriek is not from fear, but from excitement.

Try a writing exercise out. It can help the brain get flowing and it can help any writer get better at certain aspects of their writing (whatever the prompt is emphasizing).

Questions readers ask

As writers, we have to answer the questions that readers will ask. These questions intrigue the reader to read further into the story. Think of these questions as the "What happens next?" questions. Here is a list of some questions that are important, as writers, to address.

• Whose telling the story? And why are they telling the story?
• Who does the story belong to?
• What characters am I with when the story opens?
• Why does the story begin at this particular moment in the character's life?
• Why is this event different from any other event in the character's life? What is distinct about it?
• Where are you when the story opens? (i.e. season, time of day, location, etc.)
• What is at stake for the main character?
• What do the main characters want? What is it that they are dieing for lack of?
• What do my main characters fear? What motivates or pushes them?

Exploiting any one of these questions will make the reader tick. These questions make the reader want to read more because they want to know the answers.

Movie Review: The Ides of March

The Ides of March

Director: George Clooney


Starring: Ryan Gosling (Stephen Meyers), George Clooney (Governor Mike Morris), Paul Giamatti (Tom Duffy), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Paul Zara)

Idealistic press secretary, Stephen Meyers (Gosling), believes in playing fair and by the rules. During the middle of the Ohio primary, however, his job is at stake, a scandal has surfaced, and Meyers is thrusted into the kill or be killed world that is dirty politics.

Is it worth seeing? Yes. The movie takes twists and turns, leaving you on the edge of your seat. And these suspenseful moments are not built around mind-numbing, action-packed sequences. No. Actually, there is no violence whatsoever. This is a look inside the world of politics, and it is haunting to say the very least.

New short story

Hello everyone. I am writing, now, to introduce a new short story that I have self-published in Kindle. The short story is entitled The Awake are Dead. It is a mix of suspense, "mystery," and surprise.

I wrote this story awhile ago. As a matter of fact, I wrote it at the same time as Murder on Laodicea Street. Therefore, as you read both stories, you may realize there are similarities with what I am trying to achieve. And, as was pointed out to me before, there are eerily similar details in both. I realize that.

Right now I am working on my first attempt at a novella/novel (I am not sure which it will be... it all depends on how much I have written by the time I am done writing the story). Nonetheless, I am excited to tackle a larger writing project. I don't want to say much about it right now, but as most of it is written I will reveal more details (talking too much about a project disperses the creative energy!).

Amazon's R. W. Morici Author's Page

Hello. I have a breif update. About a month ago I created an "Author's Page" on Amazon. Recently, I actually added stuff to it (whereas before, it was blank). I have added a biography page and an RSS feed from my blog to the Amazon Author's Page. Additionally, you can see all of my self-published works on the Author's Page (and as of right now, by all I mean all one of my stories I have self-published so far).

If you are interested, you can find my Amazon Author's Page here.

Quick tips for writing

Here are some bulleted points that are basics to all writers. Some of the points are ideas that I have talked about in previous blog posts, and some are new. And maybe you follow these already, or maybe you don't. Either way, enjoy!

• Writing is a discipline--find the place and time to work, and make it sacred.
• Set reasonable goals for pacing each day (i.e. 500 words a day). And stop at that goal (leaving yourself a little note of what you want to say next), even if you are on a role.
• Come to the piece that you are working on with some idea of a beginning; because, a blank page is discouraging.
• Don't write for anyone in mind. Just write, and write what you want to write about.
• Don't talk about your work too soon. Those who always talk about their writing never actually finish a project. It disperses your creative energy.
• Take risks even if you think it is not going to be  productive.
• Think about your characters, setting, dialogue, etc. when you are not writing (i.e. think about your project when you are walking in the forest preserve).
• Don't fret about writers block. Develop strategies (i.e. pick up any item around you, and put it in the next sentence you write).
• You cannot write when you feel like it or when the writer muse is great. You learn to write by writing everyday, with your butt on the chair.

Now go out there and write!

Where we write from

Aristotle believed a story does not only have a beginning, middle, and end; but also, a story must have a moment of recognition--"Ah-ha, that's me!"--between the reader and the text. A moment of recognition is any connection the reader makes to the text (i.e. emotional). So, the question is, where do writers write from, in order to write a successful story?

We use our own life experiences
We all write out of ourselves and the world we live. Or in other words, we write what we know. And we connect to people and the universal out of our own peculiar stories. The one problem with only writing what you know is that your stories become parochial, small, repetitive, and any other synonymous adjective.

We, as writers, are wide readers
We begin with a genre we know well and write out of those genres we know well. For example, I tend to read James Patterson, Jeffery Deaver, Michael Connelly, etc. and I am working on writing "thriller" type novels. Thriller is the genre I widely read in, and thriller is the genre I am attempting to write in. Anyhow, writing in a genre we know, provides a form that we build off of. Whether we choose to stay within the form or break the genre conventions, we are still responding to genre in some way.

You have to love the material you work with
For writers, the material we work with is words. If we want to be writers, we have to love how they sound, how they look on page, how they create different meanings, and how they create tension. No matter your reason, love the words. What words delight you? What words do you hate?

If you readers of this blog have any other suggestions of where we write from, then, please, leave a comment. Say where you write from.