Lessons
Class Introduction
01:13 2Reading, Listening and Participating
09:29 3Community Keeps You Writing
02:55 4Don't be Vague and Avoid Cliche
03:56 5Using Your Five Senses to Build a World
03:20 6Pacing: Write Slow, Write Strong
09:45 7Place is a Character
03:34 8Shame Will Shut You Down
07:12Lesson Info
Don't be Vague and Avoid Cliche
Let's talk now about the actual craft of writing, when you're sitting there, struggling with your story. Or in your flow, as happens, quite a lot. Vagueness. Vagueness is one of the worst things to look out for when you're writing. You just don't, you want to be as specific as possible. You want to create an actual world. So, saying something that like, she went home. That's really vague, right? I mean, there are some instances in which a short choppy sentence can be very stylistic and very powerful. Like maybe after somebody robs a bank, or something, or beats somebody up for doing them wrong. Then, she went home. You know? That can be very punchy. But in general, I don't know, you're losing a big opportunity to do something here, right? She walked down the debris-strewn street that led to her ramshackle house. Now we're in a movie. When I think about writing, I'm personally super influenced by film. I want the things that I'm creating to have the depth and resonance of a film. I imag...
ine it to be sort of cinematic. I got my start writing memoir, and I really liked to sort of practice a detachment from my own experience, almost like I was looking down on it. And write like that. Without sacrificing emotion and things like that. But you really wanna step back and look at the whole world, and make sure that you're creating a world, and you're not just saying, like, they went here and then they went there. There can be, I've edited a lot of work of beginning writers, and one thing that kind of comes up is a sort of, almost rushing through the story to get to the good parts. I think that, whether we're writing a memoir, or we have a fiction idea, we have these big scenes in our head that we are excited to write, or maybe it's the real inspiration to tell the story, and we're trying to get there. And that's great, you have to bring your writer there in a way that they're carried along on the story. So the story isn't just those big moments, they're the little moments in between. And it's your job as a writer to make sure that you're filling out those sort of connective, the connective tissue of your book. There's no page that isn't interesting and filled with detail, and is not vague. Okay. Avoid cliche. It feels really obvious, but I feel like our psyches and subconscious, which for me, when I write, my psyche, my subconscious is open wide, it's aflame, that's where the work is coming out of. And so, we all have a lot of crap in there. We have a lot of "sweatin' like a pig," you write that down, "oh, I was sweatin' like a pig," what are you talking about? Have you ever seen a pig sweat? Has anyone here ever seen a pig sweat? No one's ever seen a pig sweat, but that's something that could come out very easily while you're just in your zone. It might be something to more look for when you're editing, when you go back and you edit and you see these little pieces. Like, "sweatin' like a whore in church," okay that one's kind of good. (audience laughing) But in general, sweating like what? What would be a better thing to say? Sweating like a pig, some farmer coined that hundreds of years ago 'cause he actually saw a pig sweat and that was a unique twist of phrase for him, and we've all just been kinda coasting on him for a hundred years or something. Like, what, sweating like a gym bunny? I don't know, there's all kinds of things you can use to describe sweatiness. It's your job as a writer to say things in a new and in a different way.
Class Materials
Free Bonus Material
Ratings and Reviews
Bev
This was an inexpensive course that in my opinion offered great value. Michelle touched on a lot (operative word touched) of information that is informative and validating especially for those of us who are newbies in the world of writers. This is not a course of delving deep into specifics. For me this was a delightful afternoon spent with a writer who shared information and insights from her personal experience. I have some great notes from this course which I can actually apply. Thank You Michelle.
Tara
So i'm kind of in this place right now in my writing where I'm having a hard time moving forward and doing the work to finish. Listening to Michelle has helped me get more comfortable with realizing that if I ever want to get anything done I need to do that work. She left me feeling more amped up to continue my work. This is the kind of class that might help you come to the realization of what you need to do to finish your work or it might give you a different view of what you might need to do. I consider myself a novice writer so I think this course is definitely good for people who are starting there writing journey.