A Step in the Write Direction--February 9, 2015--Show, Don't Tell

A Step in the Write Direction

February 9, 2015

Update: Praise that my husband’s ultrasound last week showed no sign of malignancy. Prayer that they’ll find out the problem….Notes from an exceptionally good sermon yesterday by our minister of music Rob Myers, taken from Matthew 14 (Jesus walking on the water):

·         The disciples were in the boat where the Lord sent them, but the storm still came.

·         It was in the third watch—about 3 to 6 a.m., the darkest time of the night, but just before dawn.

·          Jesus knew where they were.

·          He walked through the storm to come to them.

·         Are you in the storm? Here He comes. He’s on His way. (more next week!).

Thought for Today: “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you” (Jeremiah 29:12).

Song for Today:

I believe the answer's on the way;
I believe the Lord has heard me pray;
"Cast not away your confidence,"
Saith the Lord our God.
Now by faith in Him alone I stand
Firmly held by His almighty hand;
Fully trusting in His promise,
Praise the Lord.

Merrill Dunlop, “I Believe the Answer's on the Way”

Laugh for Today:

One of our neighbors is so neat she puts file folders in her wastebaskets.

Writer’s Tips:                       Show, Don’t Tell

·         Which is better?  "The giant looked around the room. When he saw the boy, he got angry and bellowed a threat to eat him." Or, "Fee, fi, fo, fum.  I smell the blood of an

Englishman.  Be he alive, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread." 

(The Fiction-Writer's Polish Kit, by Judith Ross Enderle & Stephanie Gordon Tessler.

 Writer's Digest, May 1986, pp. 29-30.)

·         Don't just say a person is overweight.  Show it! Show her out of breath while climbing steps, her face red, sweating, a button popped off her dress, or a rip under the sleeve.

·         The restaurant was dingy. She sipped her espresso. (or)

Her elbows felt greasy on the wobbly table. She sipped her espresso from a graying porcelain cup. (Bonni Goldberg, Room to Write [New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996], 67).

·         “The first time she met her mother-in-law, Jemma couldn’t believe her hair and the outfit she wore. But after she grew to know her, these things didn’t matter” (or)

“When she first met her mother-in-law, Jemma had blinked in surprise at the older woman’s reddish, flyaway hair and her eccentric costume—zebra-striped Spandex pants with a black gauze peasant blouse, right out of the seventies. But Jemma soon learned that Claire’s heart was as lavish and generous as her flamboyant clothing.” (“Get to Know Your Characters,” by Gail Gaymer Martin, The Christian Communicator, September 2001, p. 17.)

(More next week.)

 Have a good week spreading the

gospel through the printed page.

Donna Clark Goodrich

dgood648@aol.com

www.thewritersfriend.net

http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com

·           A Step in the Write Direction—the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers (with assignments throughout); original copies now on sale for half-price--$12.50, $3.17 s&h)

·          The Freedom of Letting Go (with discussion questions; can be used in S.S. class or small group); original copies without questions now on sale for half-price--$7.50, $2.69 s&h)

·          Healing in God’s Time (story of Dave Clark, composer of 25 songs that have gone to #1 on the charts); was $15; now $10, $2.69 s&h)

·          The Little Book of Big Laughs (105 purse/pocket-size book of clean jokes); up to 4 for same s&h—$2.32

·          Preparing Your Heart for Christmas (31 Advent Devotions) half-price - $5

·          Michigan and Ohio Cookbooks; half-price $5 each, plus s&h (depending on number ordered)

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·          Grandmother, Mother, and Me Anthology (stories, poetry, and recipes);

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·          Celebrating Christmas with…Memories, Poetry, and Good Food

(above three anthologies now half price--$12.50, $3.17 s&h)