August is Awesome Because of Diane Fordham!

I love awesome people because they're, well, awesome!  And I love it when awesome things happen to awesome people.  Diane recently received an email notification stating that she had sold not one, but THREE short stories!  Only awesome people sell short stories three at a time.  

Please welcome Diane Fordham!  She's an awesome Australian and an awesome individual! 

THE STORY TELLER

BY

DIANE FORDHAM

The story teller’s goal is to write something which has some impact or reaction on the reader. Don’t day dream about drafting this story you are going to write – JUST DO IT!

Whether I choose to write a story then find a market or write for a particular market there is a process I go through.

A word becomes a sentence becomes a paragraph becomes a page becomes a story.

Diane Fordham is Awesome!

It is important to accommodate your muse. Whether your words come out one at a time or flow like a fountain, write them down. As ideal as it would be for your story to come to you in order from word one to word one hundred thousand, it doesn’t work that way. Once you know the basics of your story, write it all down as it comes. The order of your story can be worked out later. This stage is about collating your information. You are creating your jigsaw puzzle; you will put it all together later. Trust the process of your writing.

If a question pops up during your writing process write it down and get back to it later. The answer may present itself while you’re scribbling/typing your ideas. For example you have written an amazing descriptive paragraph uncovering something shocking and you ask yourself; But who would have done such a thing and why? That answer doesn’t need to be known now. Keep on putting those words down. Your muse might bombard you with information relating to something that might happen three scenes or several chapters into your story, go there and write it down. You will get to the sequence of events and fill in the missing pieces later in your drafting process. At this stage your story may seem like a fragment of ideas with many loose ends which are going nowhere, but it will surprise you as the more you write the more your creative juices kick in and take shape. The positive thing here is that you have something to work with. Your project is taking shape. More ideas to complete those missing pieces will come to you as the world around you inspires you. Trust in yourself and trust in your creative process.

Once you have filled in those missing parts and collated your scenes into sequential events, sit back and be proud of yourself as you have just created the first draft of a good story. Now it is time to turn that good story into a great story by reworking, editing and polishing it until it shines.

Keep writing….

Visit Diane at her blog and website.

And definitely grab a copy of Dream Keeper!

At Amazon.com

At Barnes & Noble.com