Author Archives: Barbara Pattee

Writing for an Oscar

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As avid movie goers, my husband and I were thrilled to have seen all nine of the movies nominated for best picture for 2018. Also, before Oscar night, we always attend a special showing of the nominated animated short films, the live action short films, and the short documentaries at the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

 

The writing for some of the full-length feature films is exceptional. Four of the movies are standouts for me.

 

  1. “Get Out,” a horror thriller with serious issues about race relations and stereotypes
  2. “The Shape of Water,” a romantic fantasy with subtle tones of discrimination
  3. “Phantom Thread,” a riveting depiction of serious control issues
  4. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” a heart wrenching story about seeking justice

 

If you’re looking for good writing, you can’t go wrong viewing these movies as well as the other five nominees:

 

  1. “Call Me by Your Name,” shows the awakening of a teenager’s unconventional romance
  2. “Darkest Hour,” tracks Prime Minister Churchill’s early fight against the Nazis
  3. “Dunkirk,” a World War II movie from the point of view of the soldiers on the beach hoping for rescue
  4. “Lady Bird,” depicts a relationship between a rebellious teen and her overly anxious mother
  5. “The Post,” the true-life story of the journalists’ need to expose the truth about the Vietnam War

 

At the time of this posting, the Oscars were already awarded. Did your favorite movie receive the coveted gold-plated statue? Do you think you could have written a better script?

The Challenge

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The creative writing instructor challenged the class to write a 100-word story. Too easy I thought as I completed the assignment. On my own, I challenged myself further to write a story using 100 single syllable words.

Still easy for me because I’ve always enjoyed writing short stories. How could I make the challenge even harder? Could one hundred, non-repeating single syllable words tell a story? My story, “Stilled Voice,” answers that question.

Stilled Voice

When Bill Gray learned that Joan might die in less than three months, his heart sank. Tests dashed hope she’d see their girl’s new boy. He wished to hear her sing babe’s first song.

Each night they cried and prayed the staff was wrong. God’s dawn brought joy. Breast lumps grew but death closed its eyes.

June tenth, just past noon, cries were heard. Cheers filled Room Five.

“Big C, you did not win. I am Gram at last. Love kept me here this long.” She held him, rocked, sang, took one breath, looked up, then died with a smile.

Fellow writers, are you ready to try a 100-word writing challenge? See the tags.

 

Choose Carefully

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“You have a choice each and every single day. I choose to feel blessed. I choose to feel grateful. I choose to be excited. I choose to be thankful. I choose to be happy.” – Amber Housley

Happy New Year! It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions. Choose carefully.

Resolve to lose weight because you want to be healthier, not because your crotchety Uncle Theodore called you fat. He’s not exactly thin.

Choose to clear your closet of unwearable clothes to ditch the clutter, not because your nosy mother is coming for a visit.

Resolve to put aside more money toward retirement because you realize your current strategy falls far short of a worry-free post-employment life, not because you’re trying to keep up with the neighbors.

Choose to socialize more with family and friends because you miss their company, not because you’re sure they’ll gossip about you if you don’t.

Resolve to finish your 70,000-word manuscript because the story continues to invade your consciousness. Don’t complete your manuscript to prove to your friends that you’re a writer. Poets, columnists, songwriters, people who create short stories are writers, too, not just those authors with best sellers.

Whatever you decide to resolve to do or change, remember to do it for your personal reasons, not because someone told you what to do.

I’ve resolved to read at least twelve books in 2018 because I wish to learn the techniques of other writers in various genres.

I’ve resolved to complete my manuscript because my story keeps invading my consciousness.

I’ve resolved to enter the Writer’s Weekly short story contest again because several of my non-winning entries led to me winning other contests.

I also choose to be happy with my results, regardless of what others think.

What are your resolutions and why did you choose them?

 

 

Begin Anew

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“I don’t think anything is unrealistic if you believe you can do it.” – Richard L. Evans

“If at first you don’t succeed, call it version 1.0.” – Author Unknown

Check your 2017 to-do list. Were you able to clean out your over crowded closet? Did you drop the weight you wanted to lose? Did you complete the first draft of the story you promised to complete this year? Have you accomplished any or all of your goals?

Congratulations to those of you who have. For the rest, don’t despair. You still have a few weeks left if you’re in the “trying-to-finish” stage. Of course, there’s always next year to make a new list of goals or re-address the ones you couldn’t finish in 2017. But why wait until January first? Will the New Year’s Resolutions gods swoop down with an unspeakable punishment because you don’t reveal your list on the first day of 2018?

A new beginning can start at any time you choose. Why not do it now? Make a new list of goals. This time make them realistic for your personality, interests, and lifestyle. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, and relevant to your long-term goals.

My goals for now are:

  1. Read one book per month in 2018. Two non-fiction books will be about writing, the rest will be fiction.
  2. Enter the Writers Weekly short story contest in January 2018.
  3. Write a minimum of 5,000 words per week for three months for a total of 60,000 words. This will bring my manuscript to a total of 75,000 words.

Check your 2017 to-do list. What are your new goals? Are they specific? Are they measurable? Are they realistic? Please share your new goals.

Plotter or Pantser

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“Secret Sauce: If you’re not spending most of your time figuring out how your characters act or acted, you’re probably wasting your time.” Annalisa Parent, featured speaker, at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference 2017.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? Or are you a crazy combination of the two? Some writers prefer to know where their stories take them before they begin. Plotters outline the story from start to finish and then write the manuscript. Others prefer to jump right in the story and let the characters talk to them to determine the direction in which the story takes them. A person who writes this way is called a pantser or “someone who writes by the seat of his pants.”

Annalisa Parent wrote a delightful, easy reading book, Storytelling for Pantsers, that helps in the scary adventure of writing by the seat of one’s pants. After reading her book, I realized that I started as a pantser for one of the manuscripts that I’m working on. Because my story involves historical facts, I’ve decided to plot the entire manuscript for accuracy of location, timeline, and the culture that shapes my characters’ lives.

However, I’ve outlined the entire story of another manuscript, but the characters continue to take me in an entirely different direction. This story puts me in the category of a plotter/pantser. I hear my characters in my sleep and wake up to a new plotline each morning. I’m okay with that because it’s not my story; it’s theirs.

What I believe is that a writer can be a plotter, a pantser, or a combination of the two depending on the writer’s personality and/or the type of story he or she is writing. There are some people who say you must plot your entire story. Others say that you can write “by-the-seat-of-your-pants” and let your characters do the plotting for you.

What do you believe? How do you write? I’d enjoy reading your thoughts on this issue.