See the four prior posts for an explanation of the prompts. Reflecting on the emotional connection to place. First time I saw [a place important to me]: [that place] today: How is setting working in your story? Setting at the […]
When I talked to Cynthia Voigt about the ideas of place attachment and our psychological connection to place, she said she uses maps to orient herself within a story because she doesn’t like to feel “geographically dislocated” as she writes. When we discussed A Solitary Blue she said, “I think of Solitary Blue as a […]
Dicey and her siblings were searching for home, but Jeff, the main character in A Solitary Blue, is not. This book is about the shadow side of place. Jeff lives in Baltimore with his father, the Professor, after his mother abandons them when Jeff is 7. Voigt only describes the home in Baltimore once, after […]
To explore these ideas of positive and negative place attachment, I chose to focus on middle grade settings, and home in particular. However, these concepts do apply across genres and across ages. Why middle grade? Between our childhood and teenage years, we begin to see the world through new eyes. We observe carefully, we make […]
Take a look at the room you’re in. If I asked you to write a story set there, which details would you use? The color of the walls? The way the light comes in through the windows? Maybe something about the chairs. With those details you could sketch out a pretty good picture of the […]
in no particular order…. Even though this year seemed to last a hot minute (did you feel that too?), I actually managed to squeeze in some good reading. My new book group is partly responsible–that smart group of women has held me accountable (and fueled my addiction to a hot London Fog). My nightstand and […]
Years before I sat down in my first writing class, I took a lot of painting studios in college. At some point, I noticed a pattern to my work: I’d start with charcoal, sketching my subject on the canvas, and by the time I worked my way from the head down to the legs, there […]
The past months of writing have been a journey into deep emotions for me, and I’ve found myself reflecting on a technique for engaging in deep thought and connecting those deep feelings to my writing. “Heart writing is my name for a specific type of side writing. It’s the practice of creating a meditative space […]
I wrote a couple of posts for the SCBWI Carolinas’ Blog and wanted to share them in one place: Emotional Resonance was the holy grail of my MFA experience. I captured a few thoughts in this post (it was *hard* to keep it to under 1000 words! so much to say about this topic!) If […]
Sixteen months ago, I started writing something that would change my story, but I didn’t know it at the time. The pandemic had already changed everything. My oldest college-aged kid was back home, my high schooler was at home, and so was I. This was not the plan. I needed something to distract me from […]