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
Place is a Character
So, I wanna talk a little bit about place. Place is a character in your piece. Whether you're writing fiction or memoir, it's really, really important. And it does a whole lot in the world-building department, which we've talked about. So, you always want to be giving your, your venue as much attention as you can. Whatever city, or state, or country that your talking, that the story's getting put in, is really, really important. I mean, think about, like I'm thinking Beth Lisick's Bay Area, Cristy C. Road's Miami, Kate Braverman's Los Angeles, Kaui Hart Hemmings' Hawaii, Jean Genet's Paris, like, these are all writers that if you took the place out of their books, their books would fail. Like, and they're great strong writers with amazing characters. But without that landscape, I mean, just think about your own life, and how much you have been shaped by the place that you were raised in, you know. Your story is going to be shaped like that, by the place that it's set in. So it's really...
important to give a lot of attention to that. And it's fun for readers, it's really, I mean, think readers are reading your book for so many different reasons, right? To learn, to have feelings, to escape, it's entertainment, even if it's a hard story. They want to be fully immersed in your world. So, really honoring the place that it's all happening in, doing everything you can to really fill out the details is really cool. I love reading books that have a very strong sense of place. One time, I was reading a manuscript that a young writer gave me, and it's totally up my alley, I was excited to read it. It's like a young girl, coming of age in a rave scene, who, like, gets outta control on drugs, and makes dumb choices. And I'm like, sounds great, please send it to me. And I'm reading it, and I'm like, this is, like, interesting, but something is weird about it. What is weird about it? I don't feel grounded in it. Why isn't it drawing me in? And I realized, oh. I don't know where this is happening. So I said to her, you know, can you tell me where this is happening? And she was kind of sheepish about it. She was, like, Orlando, Florida. She was super embarrassed to be from Orlando, Florida. She hadn't, like, dealt with her internalized shame of being from Orlando, Florida. She had no shame about doing Ecstasy, and like, having, you know, affairs and all this other stuff, but she couldn't handle that she was from Florida. Which, and I was like, meanwhile, Orlando, Florida? Are you kidding me? That's amazing. Like, what must that be like? You know, like the swampy air, the water, you know, you're in the shadow of Disneyland, or Disney World, like, it's such a strange, strange place. And we're all kinda from strange places, you know? All of the places we're from are strange and magical in their own way. And it's your job as a writer to amp that up. Again, even if it's fiction. You know, where is this happening? Is it happening in suburbia, is it happening in the city, is it happening on an island? Amp it up. She went back and she put Orlando in the story, and it was so much better. It was really great. And also, by doing that, it triggered all these other stories, right? All these other anecdotes and scenes came into the book that kinda got left out because she had left, I mean look at that, don't you wanna walk into that, and read that book?
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.