"Artfully Editing Your Personal Essay"

My craft essay about editing essays was published through Women on Writing today. Catch some cool tips, below. :) 

 

Artfully Editing Your Personal Essays
 

by Melanie Faith

 

Ah, the spark of inspiration--the keys clacking, the ideas flowing, the wind at your back! Shortly, however, the initial draft is finished, and it's time to begin the more arduous editing journey. Take heart...and these tips to sculpt your personal essay: 

 

Division Decision

 

A bit of creative structuring may take a piece to an exciting new level. In Crafting The Personal Essay, Dinty W. Moore notes: "While most of my nonfiction writing follows a pretty traditional path, I have also composed essays that mimic the form of a coroner's report, a made-for-television movie script, and a Zen koan. One of my favorite experiments, 'Son of Mr. Green Jeans: An Essay of Fatherhood, Alphabetically Arranged' borrows a form known as abecedarium from the world of poetry." Consider unique subject headings or organizational methods. Poem titles, favorite thematic quotations, place names, even times of the day may all structure an essay into an intriguing mosaic. 

 

Time, Time, Time

 

Although writing nonfiction, that doesn't mean that a writer must adhere strictly to chronological order. Consider flashbacks and flash forwards, mixing chronological time with the more sophisticated timing of personal epiphanies and hard lessons well-learned. 

 

Spotlight Self

 

A writer may include many other "characters" within the piece--siblings, neighbors, exes and friends--but the central moments of change must occur for the speaker. Readers want to discover the aha! moment via the first-person narrator; she is the one readers root for and identify with most strongly. Edit or omit sections where discovery takes place through or for another person. An essay will be stronger for narrowing the focus.

 

"You don't Say!"
 

Dialogue can be a great tool for compression. Are there whole rambling sections describing setting, clothing, or personality that could be expressed more succinctly in a tart remark or an aside? In Naked, Drunk, and Writing, Adair Lara advises, "Dialogue is very readable, makes writing move fast, and is the fastest way to reveal character...Keep dialogue short and punchy. We're not allowed to say much before we're interrupted by others or something else is going on." Characterizations are strengthened by lopping off background fluff. A short interchange between speaker and friend can easily demonstrate more complex conflict. Lara further advises, "Dialogue gets interesting when there's subtext: what characters are saying between the lines." Trust that your readers will intuit much from less. 
 

Edit details that don't showcase theme(s).
 

While interesting, does this portion contribute to the whole piece? Ask yourself: would a reader who had not experienced this person/event find a meaningful connection with the rest of the essay?
 

Set it aside. Then trust your gut.
 

When writing truth, a writer's emotional connection to the material can cloud editorial judgment. Take breaks of days or even weeks to let the material cool. With the passage of time, an essayist often finds the courage and perspective to hit the backspace key. 

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"Four Myths about Outlining Your Novel:" Craft Article by Yours Truly :)

Published today (12/12/17) at Women on Writing's awesome blog! Enjoy. 

"Four Myths about Outlining Your Novel"

By Melanie Faith

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photo by: Danielle MacInnes

Here comes a new year, and with it goals you'd like to accomplish in your writing. What better time than now to write your novel? One of the best ways to begin a novel is to prepare an outline or series of outlines first.

 

Let's smash some commonly-held myths about beginning with planning:

 

Myth 1: Following an outline will kill my creativity and take the fun out of writing.

 

"There's an outline for each of the books that I adhere to pretty closely, but I'm not averse to taking it in a new direction, as long as I can get it back to where I need it to go." ~ Justin Cronin

 

Some of the most creative, amusing excerpts my students have written were outlines of their characters and their proposed plots. Outlining uses many of the same muse-muscles as drafting and is part of a fluid writing process: tapping into the subconscious and making connections between settings, conflicts and characters, while compressing those elements for ease of exploration.

 

I've been the writer who delved in--and ended up writing 45 pages of a book to figure out what my conflict was--only to have to scrap the first 44 pages and begin rewriting from that point. Had I paused to craft outlines, I could have pinpointed my characters' motivations and the main conflict much, much sooner. I also could have enjoyed exploring relevant details about my characters' lives first, rather than cluttering up my draft with interesting but inessential information that appeared in my first drafts.

 

The other great, creative facet of outlines is that they are not written in stone. They are meant to be seen at a glance yet developed over time. You can easily pull up the file and edit. Go ahead: add, change, move, or omit details as you learn more about your characters and plot, without scrolling through numerous pages and extraneous details.

 

Myth 2: Outlines are so boring! All of those Roman numerals and indentations--no, thanks.

 

These ain't your high-school English teacher's outlines. There are numerous ways of outlining your novel--mapping, using images from online to create a picture map of a setting or a character, using a White Board to create giant lists, making a photo roll on your mobile device, you name it. I've had students submit Pinterest pages relating to their characters as a weekly outline, which was an ingenious way to visually collate ideas about their protagonist. Others created a brief Power Point presentation of four or five slides about their plots. Use whatever organizing principle you find most compelling, whether that's a traditional, numbered outline or fill-in-the-blank workbook exercise or a more modern approach.

 

Myth 3: Outlines should describe the entire plot, setting, and conflicts and detail every character, yet I don't know all of this information yet.

 

Guess what: you'll get glimpses of your characters' lives, motivations, fears, and joys as you go. Most of the students in my outlining course begin with one or two characters and a setting and, through the process of outlining, other elements pop up and surprise them as the story develops and they chase new threads of narrative. Students are welcome to return to amend their outlines at any time.

 

Myth 4: Outlining is a waste of time. Wouldn't it be better just to dive in and see where it goes?

 

"The more work you put in on your outline and getting the skeleton of your story right, the easier the process is later." ~ Drew Goddard

 

Actually, pre-planning actually saves you time, especially in the long run. Remember those 44 pages I mentioned earlier? Had I done pre-writing with my characters and plot, I could have saved at least 10 hours of writing time--and gotten to the same place with more focus and energy: the opening scene.

My outlining course that begins on January 12th. Consider signing up or sharing with writer friends: Outlining Your Novel with Ease 

"The Impact" Published at Lost River :)

I'm thrilled to announce that my short story, "The Impact," was published in the Fall 2017 issue of Lost River. Check out page 46 to read, like, and share the entire work. Here's a teaser to enjoy:

 

“Put down your phone. It’s Listen Time, Dad.” Her green eyes twinkle.

 

You have to chuckle when your kid parrots you back to you. Molly’s a good kid. Gets good grades—better than I ever did, does the drama club thing, has a part-time job at Fancy Feet. The eyebrow ring I’m not so fond of, but I got a Hammer Time tattoo at sixteen, so it could be worse. Far worse. Like that dude who drops by and sits on the porch, waiting like a puppy for her return. Even if I’m sitting there.

 

I chuck my phone into the cup holder. “Ok, Molls. What’s up?” I grin, “Let me guess: you broke up with Kadence.”

 

Molly rolls her eyes. Pretty and green, like Sarah’s always were. Still are. Still are, I think with a sigh.

 

“No, I am not breaking up with Kadence.”

 

Read the rest of "The Impact"

Photo by: Andrew Worley

 

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Moments Series Photography Published :)

More great news! Two of my photos from my "Moments Series" have been featured at the current issue of Sediments Literary-Arts Journal.

These photos were my experimentation with meaningful double-exposure work.

Special thanks to my talented, knitting sister for the fun trip to the yarn store that led to the yarn purchase and this combinatory idea. Am I the only one who could read the names of yarn hues all day? ;) Enjoy! 

 

Sediments

 

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"The Project"

I'm pleased to announce a flash fiction of mine was published this week at Typishly, a stylish and innovative literary venue. 

Care for a teaser? Here you go:

"The photo shows a man, neither tall nor short, neither stout nor thin, in a pale blue button-up shirt. He is somewhat younger than middle-aged, but based on the receding hair line and gray at his temples and in his goatee, not that much younger. His tie is perfectly straight, but his eyes are half-closed. The silver top of a small belt buckle on his trousers glints. Because of the sun, there’s a reflection of the man’s face in the glass, like he’s staring at his doppelganger, or looking into his future self with a serious expression. A cleaned-off mahogany table beside him. On the walls behind him, some kind of wooden, built-in cupboard, doors closed. In his hands: a pink-and-blue vase."

Read the rest at:  Typishly  

 

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In a Flash--Cover Reveal Time!

Super excited to share the cover of my forthcoming book, In a Flash.

Many thanks to my multi-talented designer and publisher, Jessica Bell. She took a photograph of mine and made it into a gasp-worthy cover. I couldn't be happier with this gorgeous cover!

Can't you just picture it on your desk or coffee table or in your classroom? 

 

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