"Abounding Images: An invitation to Imagery Power: Photography for Writers" 🎉📸

So pleased that my article was published today as a Women on Writing Spotlight article. Check out the prompt I share as well:

“Abounding Images: An Invitation to Imagery Power: Photography for Writers”

By Melanie Faith

 

                I found three rolls of brand-new film in a drawer earlier this week that I’d forgotten I’d purchased. It felt a little bit like unwrapping a Christmas gift to myself. Eager to head into the great weather, I took my ‘90s Canon Rebel outside for a few nature shots. The heft of the camera body nestled in my hands just right. Working with a physical, clicky dial to blur the background and focus on the foreground was like stepping back into a favorite pair of blue jeans—comforting and the perfect fit. Need I say that I took the rest of the roll and returned to my desk, smiling?

                I’ve also been taking a lot of photos with my cellphone camera and find it a wonderful photographic experience, too. It is featherweight, and I can take as many pictures as I please. Cellphone cameras have come a very long way in the past ten years. Smart phones are equipped today with much better software and make sharper photographs than any of my first digital cameras. And they’re quite easy to use, and super handy. Rare is the person without a phone as a near-constant companion, which (of course) makes them absolutely the best for capturing inconspicuously as we go about our daily lives. And sharing cellphone photos is so easy it’s a dream.

                Whether you prefer making photos with an old-school film camera that takes film or film cartridges, taking pictures with your cellphone, or a combination of both, there’s something meaningful and meditative about the art of photography. Much like the craft of writing, we begin to see our surroundings, our daily lives, and even ourselves a bit differently, a bit better in some ways, by taking the time to focus on elements we might previously zip past on our way to the rest of our appointments and to-do lists. The fact that no two people see the same images in the same way nor interpret them in the same way enhances our development as artists.

                Making a photograph, like making a poem or a short story or a song or a chapter in a novel or an essay, is deeply personal. We have so many options that it’s exhilarating. We get to choose the subject. We get to choose the angle we take the image from. We get to choose the crop or zoom of the photo. We get to choose if we print the photo to make it a physical object in the world or if we keep it a digital file. We get to choose if we make the photo part of a series on a subject or if the photo is a one-off and stands alone. We get to choose light source and time of day and if we scan or upload the photo to software to alter its hues (hello, black and white!) or shoot in black and white mode or with b & w film.  

                It is in making these choices, often intuitively and in quick succession and very frequently learning and experimenting as we go, that we grow in other art forms as well.

Thinking about making a better photograph certainly continues to influence and encourage my poetry as well as my prose. Photography, much like writing and other art forms, focuses on the importance of the image, the resonance of created expression, and the great fun and challenge when we take the world as we experience it and offer a new creation that very likely will connect with other people who themselves make writing and other art.

                There’s no prerequisite needed, and I’ve had students who made visceral, beautiful, jaw-dropping photos from disposable cameras, phone cameras, underwater cameras, instant cameras, pinhole cameras, film cameras of many makes, and even from photosensitive photographic paper.

The field of photography is wide open to individual interpretation and vision. Begin where you are, with that little “Hmmm, that’s interesting” when you’re out on a morning walk, and see where it takes you. One snap, one click, one moment documented at a time.

 

Try this prompt: Make a photo today of an object someone else uses every day. Aim to show a special quality about this object—whether its shape, its size, its hue, its placement in the home or outside, or some other quality. After taking the photo, either write a few sentences describing this object, why you chose it, and who uses it OR create a character who uses this object and write about that character for fifteen or twenty minutes. What would happen if the character reached for the object and it was missing? Go!

  ***

 

The Power of Simple Joy, Camera Doodle, and Photography for Writers📸

This afternoon, I’ve given myself a few hours to rest. I started with some reading, some writing, then an afternoon nap, then some doodling, and now this post.

May has been bouncy and active in a good way, and it’s always refreshing to work in little pauses whenever possible for the simple power of joy—you know, those hobbies or spaces of free time that are the first to get shoved aside in a busy schedule.

Photography is certainly one of my places of simple joy. So is doodling, so I combined them and worked on this perfectly imperfect doodle of one of my film cameras, the Canon Rebel K2 I got for a song in 2019 or 2020 online.

This summer, starting July 3rd, I’ll teach one of my favorite online courses, Imagery Power: Photography for Writers. Just looking at this camera reminds me of the creative fun that awaits in the class—in which students are free to use any kind of camera (or a mixture of cameras) they fancy, from cellphone cameras to digital cameras to disposal cameras to photosensitive paper, to make their own photographic images and then write about them.

I’ll use this handy-dandy book, Photography for Writers, that I wrote as a class text and also have just written some new prompts that’ll be fun to take for a test spin. Teaching the class also inspires my own photographic process, and I’ll be doing the assignments alongside my students.

Have some time this summer? Care to tap into some simple photographic joy? No previous photography experience necessary. I’d love to work with you and a friend. Sign-ups currently open! More details: Imagery Power Clickety-Click.

As we think about summer, the time is perfect to pause and think about how to work in a little more time here and there, a little more time this week or as soon as possible, for these little pauses that bring you joy. To summer and much happiness ahead!

***

If you’re looking for an online class to jumpstart your creativity later in the year, I also have these two courses coming up:

An Insider’s Look at Launching as a Freelance Editor (NEW!) One-Day Webinar, September 15, 2023, 1-2 pm

Food Writing for Fun and Profit (starts October 6, 2023, 5-week class; sign-ups open)

My Craft Article Published Today 🏊

Super excited to have this article published at Women on Writing today!

“5 Line Breaks to Inspire Your Poetry Writing”

By: Melanie Faith

 

I’ve been a practicing poet since I was 17. When I think back to the many styles of poetry I joyously tried in college and grad school and beyond, I marvel at how much my line breaks have changed and continue to evolve as I grow as a writer and with the needs of each successive project.

 

My first poems, handwritten on pale blue lined paper that I spent my weekly allowance to purchase at the local stationery store, had looping scrolls of lines across the pages, almost from margin to margin. By graduate school, while experimenting with haiku and tanka, the sparer I could make my lines the better. (I’m not a sparse-speaking person—surprise, surprise—so it was often a challenge.) Since then, my lines usually rest in the merry middle somewhere between languid, Whitmanesque flourishes and ultra-succinct compression.

 

Let’s take a closer look at line breaks and what they can mean to your own writing practice.

 

The Innate Break: This is what I call a line break that just feels right while drafting. Why’d you break the line there? You don’t know, and you’re not stopping to think about it right now. Your hand keeps the pen rolling or your fingertips typing while you focus solely on the words unspooling. You break the lines intuitively and only notice them later, when editing or writing another draft. There’s something to be said for letting the poem take the form it wants to take. A little like after learning to ride a bike—for the first draft or two it’s often not necessary to think consciously, “Should I break the line on this word or that one?”, just like you don’t think, “Right foot, make sure to pedal now. Okay, left foot, same deal. Pedal now.” There’s synchronous motion that happens in cycling and in drafting a poem. Letting that sensory flow go can lead our work to some great destinations.

 

The Emphasis Break:  Words that fall at the beginnings and endings of lines get extra emphasis for the eye and for the mind. End lines on thematic or precise word or phrase to emphasize key ideas. You can also take a poem that had innate breaks and, in the editing stage, make new line breaks on more precise images or diction choices.

 

 The Stanza Starter or Ender: Just like the opening and closing words in each line get a little extra attention from the reader, so do images or words that open and close a stanza. The stanza breaks, in fact, get even more emphasis due to white space. Whether while drafting or later editing our poetry, it can be a good idea to consider if the line you are breaking a stanza on is the best place to emphasize the poem’s theme or content. If not, consider breaking the stanza-breaking line at a new place.

 

The Form-Based Line Break: If you write poetry that has a set pattern or formal structure—such as a sonnet, villanelle, or terza rima—your line break will be based on a number of fun constraints, such as stressed and unstressed syllables, syllable count, and rhyme scheme. I have great respect for poets who find the constraints of pattern poetry motivating, although my poetic brain runs more to making my own line-break patterns. Neither style is inherently better or worse than another—they are both apt vessels for the poems you write. If you know that writing formal poems is your jam, I encourage you to try a few kinds of poems to experiment with the different end-line conventions each requires. If you usually write acrostics, try haiku. If you often write odes or limericks, try an Italian sonnet. If your last few poems were villanelles, try writing a sestina or a ballade.  There’s great variety in line breaks among formal verse that a poet could spend many years happily exploring.

 

The Variety Approach: Are you working on a chapbook or a poetry collection? Are you preparing a handful of poems (often three to five) to submit to a literary journal? In this case, it might be good to read the poems in relation to each other. Is there some variety in where and how you break your lines? Is each line separated at an optimal place and/or have you left some blank space somewhere on the page?  Also, sometimes placing poems with long lines next to poems with few lines and/or succinct lines can create a meaningful pattern for the reader and also inform any editing or new line breaks. You might also consider shuffling the order of your poems.

 

 

Use these line-break ideas as you draft, edit, or prepare submissions of your poetry. There’s no 100% right or wrong place to end a line and begin a new one, but with time, practice, and focus, and having these ideas in your pocket, you may well be surprised how quickly you up your poetry game. 

 

 Want to learn more? Check out my online poetry class that starts April 21st! Jump-Start Your Poetry Practice.✍️

My New Online Poetry Class 🎊

In the market for an online poetry class sure to get your pen moving? I’ve got you.

Sign-ups open for my Jump-Start Your Poetry Practice class that begins Friday, April 21st. I’d love to work with you and a friend. 😊👍

More info at: Jump-Start Your Poetry Practice class.

Poetry Publication in Songs of Eretz! ✍️

I’m so pleased to announce that a poem I wrote about roller skating was published today in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review’s Spring 2023 issue! The theme is “Growth.” It’s also a great joy to appear in the same issue as my dear friend, Charles. Follow the linky-link to check out the issue, filled with poetry and photography by many talented artists.

A splendid way to start National Poetry Month! To all of the poems we’ll read, write, and celebrate this April!

New Notebook, New Season, New Doodle📝

Starting a new notebook—this little 5 x 7 beauty was a whole $1.25—is always a good feeling for me. Potentiality on each page. I’ve been experimenting with different types and sizes of paper for my doodles.

Last night, right before sleep, I broke out my new notebook, my 0.7 mm lead pencil, and my colored pencils and made an outlined sketch of a photographer. It was a peaceful, simmering hour as I drew a preliminary/reference sketch on scrap paper, opened the second page of the notebook (I often skip the first, as it sits a bit askew in the binding), and then started this drawing.

Filling in the figure was a particularly pleasant part of the process as well—colored pencils force a kind of quiet contemplation and over-and-over-and-over patience that slows my thinking and flashes me back to childhood hours quietly coloring or writing.

It’s probably not surprising that I would choose to draw a photographer in motion. One of my other happy places is photography (a few years ago, I wrote a book that combined my writing with my photography practice and tips, Photography for Writers).

Much like when writing, when I’m behind the lens, the daily drops away. I like the challenge of making what I see and how I see it into a composition. I like that it’s not an easy process nor a process I can take for granted or even a process that I fully steer, but that there are many do-overs available—as many as I have time and inclination to make.

Mostly, photography is a place of rare transcendence where the world slows and I make my thinking and my seeing into something at once me and not me. It’s a good space.

This is my first go-’round with sketching what I’m calling a silhouette portrait. Kindly ignore the erased shoulder and erased original feet, which I only realized after pondering them were pointing in the wrong direction from her body’s stance along with the smudge at the bottom of the page by the date. We’ll just call those markers of authenticity.😁

I have to say, though: I was a little surprised that one or two elements of this drawing felt to me like what it feels when I’m behind my camera: a liminal in-between space that just is what it is and unfolds as it should (if, frequently, not as I would have originally imagined).

Or maybe this is just my fancy-pants way of saying I couldn’t believe it actually sort of resembles a human and not a stick figure. 😆

The little notebook says “Plan” on the cover, but as we know, there are many things we simply cannot plan. Mostly, we can move, slowly, in a slightly new direction and see what happens, and then repeat the process as the happening unfolds. Drawings, photographs, writing, ourselves—all unfolding.

“Interior/Exterior: Reflections on Drawing a Scene” 🖼️

Happy March! I had so much fun writing a fresh flash essay about my doodle last month that I decided to create another one to share. 🤗

“Interior/Exterior: Reflections on Drawing a Scene”

I almost wrote this reflection yesterday afternoon, but I was hungry and promised myself that after eating I’d get right to it.  And then, I just needed to pay a bill quickly and I’d sit right down and write. And then, I remembered a time-sensitive email, and then…well, you know the rest.

Yesterday’s writing didn’t happen.  

Alas, I had the “perfect” hook pop into my head yesterday, but tonight is no longer yesterday. So, scrap that. My tone today is different, and my hook has evaporated like a cartoon bubble. So be it. This reflection won’t be about whatever that would have been, and that’s okay, too.

Earlier this week, I also promised myself some time to doodle during a break, and I did follow through on that intention. I decided to try to draw a scene—a whole interior SCENE!—which I haven’t attempted since…probably middle school. Yeah, it’s been a hot minute.

I usually doodle one thing at a time, or parts of a scene, or words/phrases paired with a mini doodle or two, but to fill a whole sheet with myriad elements kept my brain and my hand hopping.

I put on some music, broke out a coffee-table book filled with gorgeous photos, picked the one that called to me most as a reference photo that I then adjusted as I went.

I started my scene on a scrap piece of newsprint paper I bought online this summer in a jumbo, 500-sheet package.

There’s something about knowing that I’m not going to save the first drawing because it’s on the kind of paper that tears when an eraser hits it that frees up my creativity. Nobody will ever see this first sketch so, who cares? Onward!

Without contemplation first, hand motions of pencil on paper are often quite soothing.

I try to get that way about more things: that not skipping ahead to envision outcome. Sometimes, my creative process lands, and I don’t stop to examine or even to think about forming whatever I’m creating until I have a draft or five. Those are the best days.

More often, though, my mind loves nothing more than just to keep skipping ahead. Ahead, ahead, ahead!

I’m certainly not the only creative to find my process varies like this. Depending on my day, my mood, how tired I am, how hungry I am, fill-in-the-factor-here, the challenge of crafting something is either easier than imagined, or more frustrating than imagined, or (most frequently for me) somewhere in-between, but it’s rarely the same type of journey more than once.

Each piece needs something different of us, like every friend, like every life circumstance.

My original sketchbook scan in all of its uncropped glory, spirals and all.🤗

So, my interior scene (which I also drew in pencil first, free-hand, on the sketchpad page and then traced with felt-tipped marker and pops of color from watercolor pencils) has some walls that are certainly not architecturally sound, a baseboard that shouldn’t look like it’s cutting through one of the plant’s fronds, some picture frames that are crooked despite practicing perspective, and a chair that I’m pretty sure doesn’t even resemble a chair.

On the other hand, I got the happiest kick while drawing the arched doorway between the rooms that reminded me of more than one friend’s home, and drawing the little locks on the big bay window, and then having a light-bulb moment about adding in a pop of life-giving green on the plants, and attempting some splash of light across the floors, and making the one rug a sisal rug with squiggle motions, and then drawing lines for wooden floors, my favorite flooring—all, nothing but joy and in the flow. 

The floors!

The wooden floors. That’s right—I was going to write something about those yesterday.

There was also originally going to be something about the lemonade I tried recently and loved. But today’s reflection needed to be the way it turned out here—about the challenges (for me, anyway) of drawing whole scenes in scale and with perspective but doing it anyway, and something about the comfort of putting elements together that make an interior that becomes exterior, which is also, pretty much, what we do when we create, whether it’s a conversation, a painting, a poem, a dance, or a birthday party. So be it.

On the balance, not bad for a cozy interior. Not great or professional, but not shabby, either.  Onward!

 

One-Year Book Birthday Giveaway!

February marks the one-year book birthday for my book, Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit! In celebration, I’m going to run a book giveaway to share this splendid book that’s packed with tips and insights aplenty on everything from brainstorming your class idea to crafting your syllabus to running your class and so much more to keep educators motivated and interactive with their students.

Between now and Wednesday, February 15th, 2023, if you’re interested in winning a free copy, just leave a comment at my Instagram @frompromisingtopublished99 or here at my website in the Comments section of the post, letting me know what type of course you’d love to create and teach.

Examples might include but are not limited to: science fiction, poetry, flash fiction, romance novels, photography, introductory figure study, pottery, creative nonfiction, memoir, journalism, you name it.

Feel free to add a detail or two of why this class idea interests you, if you’d like.

After the 15th, I’ll enter all names from the comments into a hat (‘cause I run old-school that way🥳) and pick some winners. 😊📔Good luck, and teach on!

New Month, Continued Inspiration 🎆

Happy February!

I’m excited for all that this new month will bring, including my Leaping Worlds online creative writing class for historical-fiction and time-travel writers.

Begins Friday, February 10th. There are still a few spaces left, and I’d love to work with you and a friend. Details at: clickety-click.

Also, here’s a favorite and motivating Hafiz quote to enjoy.

To February, and sweet inspiration!

"Six Methods for Sparking Historical and Time-Travel Stories" 🎉

Super excited that my article was published today at Women on Writing! Check out my craft article below, and learn more about my online Leaping Worlds writing class on this topic that starts Friday, February 10 (sign-ups open!) at: clickety-click/class info!



“Six Methods for Sparking Historical and Time-Travel Stories”

By: Melanie Faith

 

One of many wonderful facets of writing stories set in the past is that initial aha when an idea lands. While that spark’s arrival can be unpredictable, there are tried-and-true ways that authors of historical fiction and time-travel books employ to discover inspiration that sends them running to their computers.

Let’s take a look at six of these methods.  Take one (or more!) for a spin today.  Glean inspiration from:

Online articles.  Many of my students have found their story ideas while reading either primary sources (first-hand accounts and/or articles written at the time of the events) or secondary sources (articles written in later time periods about historical eras). Most newspapers and colleges now have online databases and articles of literally thousands of letters and historical documents (such as birth, marriage, legal, and land-deed records) that can be perused for free or nearly free. If you take classes or teach, most universities subscribe to database services where you can find even more sources, but even a general online search outside of a school’s website can yield a field-day of resources on just about any historical figure, fact, epoch, or related historical topic you can imagine. Once you find an article of interest, you can then refine your search by typing the precise person, place, or event and filter articles, such as by year published/posted to narrow and focus your search. Have a notebook or word-processing document open for taking notes; always list the author and URL and/or bookmark your sources for handy return to this info for fact-checking later.

Photographs. Are you a visual person? Are you the kind of person who loves paging through old photo albums or yearbooks? Then this method is likely going to lead to stories aplenty for you. I remember visiting historical sites in elementary and high school and being fascinated by tintype photos as well as always being the partygoer magnetized by the photo albums on a nearby shelf. Perusing photos for what people wore, how they did their hair, how they assembled (or didn’t) as a group in photos, who was missing from the photos and why, who took center-stage in the photos, whether the shots were made in a formal studio or by a personal camera in the driveway before the prom, all of these aspects of photos intrigued me and created sense impressions and questions that could easily lead to great fiction. Photos are especially great for writing descriptions of indoor and outdoor settings as well as physical details for characters.

Questions we don’t know the answers to at the moment. This is one of my favorites. So often, I’ll stumble upon a document or a reference in a nonfiction book and several questions will pop into my mind about related ideas that didn’t (for good reason) make it into whatever I’m reading. I keep my writing notebook handy and jot down questions that arise from resources. Later on, these questions can lead to exploration into a character’s motivations and struggles that inform their actions and possibly whole scenes can result. A little bit like a magician’s colorful scarf—one question leads to another and another related question that can reveal images, dialogue, cultural references, and more to inspire writing.

Memories. What did you like to learn about most in history classes in school? Conversely, what did teachers never talk about that they should have or you wish they would have? Answering these questions could certainly help with setting and character development if/when you plunk your protagonist in the middle of the era you’ve always found fascinating.

Visits to museums or national parks. Almost every community around the world has hidden-gem museums about their town, region, or country with amazing historical resources for low-cost entrance and/or donations. Ditto for university and college archives that are open to the public, to alumni, and/or to the school community. Check websites or contact your local archivist or docents for hours or to email/text to arrange a visit. Want to walk through some history? National parks can be inspiring resources and a great way to take a break from the desk for the day. Take a camera and/or photos with your phone to remember specifics about landscape later. Bonus: jot some sensory impressions and notes while you’re there—details flit through our minds on-site that we are sure we’ll remember …and then don’t.

Reading.  Hello, libraries!  It doesn’t matter how many books there are about a topic or historical figure or era or time-travel element—there’s always room for more. When I want to write about a certain era, I’ll read through a few recent and/or long-ago books about the topic, to see what’s already been written and where there might be pockets of information missing or where fresh ideas for a different POV or character arise. Reading and leaving reviews for others’ books is also a great way to give back to the literary community while informing yourself and immersing yourself in a time period to inspire your own totally different but equally interesting historical book.