Writing – Page 7

02.09.2009 Woman's World, Writing

Funny Love Story

What follows is an analysis of a Woman’s World story with suggestions and observations for people who want to sell stories to WW, peppered with some personal opinion, too. 🙂 If you truly want to get the most from this weekly blog feature, it’s best to have your own copy of the story to refer to. (And no, I don’t get a kickback for pimping the magazine here!)

Funny Love Story by April Knight

Tagline: Emma’s new neighbor had a sense of humor. She liked that in a man.

In A Nutshell: Emma is forced to hang her laundry out to dry when her washer/dryer go on the blitz. The next morning she spies her nightgown hanging in the tree. Her new neighbor helps her get it down. A few days later, they see another item of clothing up in the branches. It’s a t-shirt that says, “Will you go out with me?” Of course, she does!

This was just a darn cute story. I’m a gal who appreciates a sense of humor, too, and this guy had a clever one. Emma’s witty comeback is just as quick.

Woman’s World Stand-bys: Emma is your typical cute, girl next door, somewhat naive and very old fashioned Woman’s World heroine. I think the action that shows this the most is when she shakes her fist at her broken washing machine and says, “I lost my favorite nightgown because of you!” Also, she shyly “watched for him and hoped they’d bump into each other.”

02.02.2009 Woman's World, Writing

Cold Feet, Warm Heart

Cold Feet, Warm Heart by Tessa Ireland
January 26, 2009 issue

Tagline: Anne wasn’t even looking for Prince Charming when he unexpectedly arrived on the scene.

In A Nutshell: Anne loses her shoe at the movie theater. The manager helps her look for it, to no avail. Since it’s raining and she took the bus, he insists on driving her home. The next day, he shows up with her shoe, two movie tickets, and a request for a date.

Teaching Points: The story occurs in the traditional three acts. Act 1: We find out what Anne’s problem is and she meets the hero.

Act 2: He is driving her home and we find out the backstory. He’s a widower, she moved back home to take care of her ailing mother.

In Act 3, everything wraps up nicely. We even get an explanation as to why they couldn’t find her shoe–something I’ll admit I was wondering, too. How the heck could it have disappeared? There’s also a cute surprise in the form of the movie tickets.

WW stories always end happily, and usually with a date, not a wedding. However, I have seen a nuptial ceremony or two on the pages of Woman’s World, so don’t be afraid to give that a try.

In My Humble Opinion: I’ve seen Cinderella WW stories before, and this one was cute, original, and believable.

01.30.2009 Art, Mermaids, Writing

Artist: Jessica Galbreth

One day I’m going to write a mermaid story. Well, that’s not true. I already started writing a mermaid story, but it’s not done yet. It would have been perfect for Ellora’s Cave Pearl Quickie Theme, but alas, I wrote a Topaz instead.

Anyway, when I saw this rendering, I fell in love with it. The figure seems to me to be remembering, or dreaming, or hoping. The mermaid story I began doesn’t feature a hopeful mermaid, though. When my story opens, she’s in deep trouble, almost dead from having been held captive by a ruthless human. However, perhaps this painting depicts my mermaid at the end of the story.

The artist is the extremely talented Jessica Galbreth. I wish I could magnify this so I could see all the details. I used to pretend to be a mermaid when I was a little girl. I would swim with my legs together. I would marvel at how beautiful hair was when swirling in water. And I always HATED how the Little Mermaid became sea foam. (Bad, Hans, bad!)

Anyway, have a wonderful weekend. I hope you enjoyed this week’s mini art exhibit.

01.22.2009 Books, Characters, Kids, Recommendations, Thursday 3, Writing

Thursday 3: Juvenile Fiction

Someday I plan to write for kids. That’s how I started writing seriously. I wrote a story intended to be a picture book. I was so green, I think I submitted it to a publisher without a cover letter. But it occurs to me that to make my mark in history, I should write something for kids. If a children’s book becomes really popular, it never goes out of print. When kids grow up, they end up buying it for their kids.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent. I mean to give a list of three series that I have enjoyed.

1. The Vampire Plagues by Sebastian Rook. These were fantastic, historical fiction that was somewhat gruesome. But that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with vampires. My boys loved these books.

2. Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism, by Georgia Byng. How can you not buy this book when there’s this wacky pug dog on the cover? While the book starts out with a cliche–an orphan in an orphange where she is unhappy–it veers away from that soon enough in unexpected twists and turns.

3. Lastly, there are the Artemis Fowl Books by Eoin Colfer. If you have boys, they must read these books. They’ve got Bond-like gadgets, magic, fart jokes, and a young anti-hero who is very flawed, but for who you can’t help but root for.

Do you ever read children’s fiction on your own? Got any recommendations for me?