Sometimes It’s How You Frame It

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Greetings and Happy New Year! Maureen Pratt here with my monthly CAN blog on the craft of writing. Today, I'm going to offer one technique to help you find the right angle and tone for your story. Sometimes, fine-tuning these so that your intent is clear and your storytelling is compelling isn't a matter of vocabulary or sentence structure, or even pacing or flow. Sometimes, it's how you frame your story that gives it its best final form. Recently, I took two lovely watercolors to a frame shop. I'd purchased them awhile ago, and never liked the plain frames they'd…

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Drastic Measures for Drastic Situations

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Hello! Maureen Pratt here for my monthly CAN blog contribution. I’ve just returned from the dentist, so am even-more-than-usually delighted to be here (she writes, grinning with those newly repaired pearly whites)! To be completely honest, although not exactly fun, my unexpected detour to drill-land has inspired my topic this month: Drastic measures for drastic situations. That is, what do you do when every trick, technique, and type font has been exhausted and you’re still not happy with what you see pouring forth on the page? Do you abandon the project (not easy, if you’re on contract and deadline)? Do you…

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Unique Settings

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Hi! Sherry Kyle here, writing from my laptop in central California. By definition, setting is the period and place of a story. It gives a story authenticity and gives the characters and plot believability. In other words, your setting is the large frame, which defines the surrounding for your characters. When I wrote my first published novel, it didn’t take long to decide where I wanted my story to take place. I lived near a charming coastal town that would, in my opinion, be a wonderful backdrop for the contemporary fiction world I wanted to create.

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Descriptions I: Bringing Experience To Life

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 Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com here to share some writing tips with you. Fiction is mixture of plot, characters, theme, and setting and so much more, While setting is one way the reader receives a sense of place, it can do so much more for the reader. This series of posts will give you ideas on how to enhance your descriptions and make the work for you.

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Outlining #3 – Setting that makes a difference

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Another Monday, and hello from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailmartin.com  I'm to share another topic on techniques in writing.   I’ve been cover information I learned about screenwriting techniques from the Gideon Media and Film Festival. The third technique to enhance your novel is using setting to make a difference in characterization and mood. 3. Setting should be specific and used to deepen characterization and conflict, not just a place to plop characters. Setting influences the storyline because it influences the lifestyle of the characters, and it affects their needs and wants or their ability to reach these goals.

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