Alphabet Writing Exercise Gets The Juices Flowing

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

At writer’s group our moderator suggested we do a new writing exercise to get our creative juices flowing called simple, alphabet writing. It will make for a very challenging writing exercise, and I recommend having a dictionary and thesaurus near at hand.

Here’s how it goes. Begin writing by starting each sentence with a different letter of the alphabet. You must go in order, and remember it has to link from sentence to sentence to create a story. All 26 letters, from A to Z, must begin the first word in each of the first 26 sentences.

Talk about a challenge!

My friend and author, Michael Hicks Thompson, emailed me while I was writing this blog post and this was his story using the ABC Writing Exercise. You too can be creative, just like Michael.

“The Alphabet from A to Z in Cajun Country"

By Michael Hicks Thompson, author of The Rector and The Actress

“Abacus was his name. Because his parents, Pappy and Zita, were likely insane,” said Jewel, Zita’s sister. “Cajuns can’t hit a lick at naming a baby if theys life depended on it.

“Don’t look down on Pappy and Zita, though,” she continued, “’cause they had twelve babies, and Abacus was the last, so they tried they best, but they just run outta names and chose his from an ancient counting game, strange as that seems.

“Even they neighbors said they was nice folks. Friendly. Grateful. Hard workin’ folks always holding down two jobs each. It was me who taught Abacus about the world he would eventually inherit.”

“Jewel,” he used to ax me, “tell me, what’s the meaning of life?”

“Kinda like a journey,” I’d say, “a short one where you have to make the right choices to have a second life.”

“Like when I was a little boy, got into trouble at school, and told the principal it was my fault?”

“Most definitely just like that, Abacus.”

“Nobody was more scared than me, Aunt Jewel, but I learnt it pays to be honest.”

Opening the door to Pappy’s crab shack was Butra McAlfie, ‘plastic man’ we called him, ‘cause of all the wet weather gear he wore everywhere, even in the hot summa.

“Pappy,” he announced, “Yous in for a big treat. “Queen conch, got plenty of ’em today.”

“Regular price?”

“Sure, ’course.”

“Then put ’em in the freezer out back.”

“Unless you want ’dem conchs to fill up yo whole freezer, you best tell me how many you want.”

“Very well, you musta’ hit the honey pot.”

“World record for me. Xena helped, too, I must admit. You know what a tough woman she is.”

“Zita,” Pappy yelled, “get in here and let’s crack some ’o these queens open and cook us up some conch.””

Y’all can meet Michael and thirteen other talented authors on 9-14-19. You are invited to a Southern Writers Magazine event: 12 SOUTHERN AUTHORS AT COLLIERVILLE BURCH LIBRARY SEPTEMBER 14, 2:00-4:00 pm in Collierville, TN.

Have you tried your hand at Alphabet Writing? Ready, set, go!

Writing for the Cinema, Part 1

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

Award winning author, Michael Hicks Thompson’s, The Rector and The Actress, and I are members of the same writers group. Graciously, he recently gave our group his presentation concerning writing your book with the cinema in mind. He presented four similar workshops recently at Mississippi Writer’s Guild Annual Conference at the Grammy Museum in Cleveland, Miss. Thompson’s presentation at this conference is titled, “7 Secrets to Cinematic Writing.”  His books, The Rector and The Actress are currently being considered for movies because of the way they are written.

Thompson says there are two things an author would rather have more than anything. One is book sales and the other is a movie deal. He shared with us his tips on writing with the movies in mind. Some of his tips include:

Pace in your book should be the actual pace of live action or as Michael says, “Write to movie action. You should write to pace as you see it happening on the big screen,” A good way is to compare how many seconds occurred in the movie action with how many seconds occurred in the reading of your description. Compare and revise to match.

According to Michael setting the pace isn’t complicated but it does mean describing only the most important details of action, characters and the setting. With many authors this goes against the grain because there are many descriptions you could add but shouldn’t. Do not over describe. “Take out the garbage! Take out the unnecessary words and descriptions.” Things that spoil the pace is the use of the following: One of, some, thing, verbs ending in “ing”, adverbs (words ending in “ly”), very and leading words so, most times, in order to, often and often times.  

Dialogue should be real. Michael says, “You should use a lot of dialogue.” I would think so but over the decades this has seemed to change from the dialogue packed movies of the 1940’s and 50’s to todays movies with long periods of silence but expressive scenes through the visual presentation of the actors. Michael warned, “If your dialogue isn’t real, the story isn’t real.” Dialogue is an area many writers have trouble with so Michael recommends, “Study the craft.”

Show, Don’t Tell. The difference is Tell is a description, Show is done with emotion. Michael’s example.

Tell: Sheriff Turnbull then told Martha that Tully Ivey never mentioned that Dawkins said he loved her.

Show: “You wouldn’t understand. Twice now, I’ve heard her reference the note in Andrew’s hand, and not once has she mentioned the part where he says he loves me.” Michael recommends if you have trouble finding a way to “Show” buy yourself a copy of The Emotion Thesaurus. Again, study the craft.

Please know Michael Hicks Thompson is willing to travel to conferences and deliver this and my other Keynote addresses, or workshops. Please contact Michael through his web site, michaelthompsonauthor.com for more information and a quote. His website is interesting and has his current information. My blog post here on Suite T does NOT include all the information told as only Michael can tell in person about his "7 Secrets of Cinematic Writing." Thompson saved his best for last, a number 8, if you will. But I'm not allowed to include it here. You'll need to bring Thompson to your next conference to see his cinematic writing presentation, or his Dramatic Irony presentation, or his "7 Secrets to Mystery Writing." 

Stay tune for Part 2, Writing for the Cinema, Part 2 will conclude here on Suite T Thursday, August 8^th.

Book Signings, Selling and Future Ideas

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine    

Author Michael Hicks Thompson recently had a book signing for his latest work, The Rector, A Christian Murder Mystery. There is a lot of excitement around Thompson’s latest work. The Rector was chosen by the Beverly Hills Book Awards as a Finalist. The signing was at The Booksellers of Laurelwood in Memphis TN. Booksellers is one of those meccas for authors and readers alike. It is a great venue for authors to introduce their work.

Book signings can do many things for an author. Many of which I saw at Thompson’s book signing. Let’s look at a few very important points of a book signing.

·      

Personal contact with your readers. Readers love to meet the author. Book signings give readers an opportunity to meet their heroes, the ones that gave life to their favorite characters. Everyone wants to know the author and this gives the readers personal time with them. When given a chance readers will express their fondness of the author and his talent. It builds a bond between the author and reader that could last for years.

·       Book sales. I must say I have bought a book simply because the author was there in front of me to sign it. My thoughts were that if someone mentioned they liked this author I could always make it a gift to them. The point is signed books sell. This reinforces the closeness and proves the personal contact a reader had with the author.  Author Steve Bradshaw, The Bell Trilogy, told me that book signings were his bread and butter. From there many more opportunities came which led to more sales.

·       New ideas. Having attended signings that included readings and personal contact with the author, there seemed to be discussions with the readers concerning the characters and the story line. The author hears such things as will the main character ever do this. Have you ever thought of the character taking off on a tangent to do this? Will there be a sequel? By the way the sequel to Michael Hicks Thompson’s The Rector, entitled The Typewriter, will be released this year. Feedback from the readers can make an author aware of how his work is seen and could bring great ideas to the forefront. It may lead an author in a direction not considered. Many times a reader will offer a new story or book idea for your consideration.

So when considering a book signing go into it with the awareness that this is more than you meeting and greeting and selling your book. Prepare to form new relationships that could be lasting ones. Be aware of additional opportunities that may spin off this event. Be open to the path should it unfold before you. Keep a note book or personal devise nearby to jot down any ideas, story lines or contacts that may arise.

Selling your book is definitely an important part of your book signing event but there other ways that may come along that can be just as productive and profitable to your writing career. Being prepared for and aware of these opportunities as they come could make each and every book signing productive.