Write on a Round Desk

By Michael H. Thompson

A: “Why would any writer believe me, you ask? Maybe it’s because they have highly creative minds.”

Q: “What’s a round desk have to do with creative writers?”

A: “It’s simple, really. Round corners … they’re round, no sharp edges. Do you know what that does to the human mind?”

Q: “Afraid you’ll have to explain.”

A: “Well, I’ve experienced this phenomenon for some time. In fact, I’ve had plenty of experience with the “four-corner creative killers,” I now call them.”

Q: “What’s four corners got to do with anything?”

A: “Two problems with four corners. One, the edges interfere with your creative liberty.”

Q: “Really? That’s a new one for me.”

A: “Well, those square corners are out there in the periphery of your eyes. Your eyes are connected to your brain, right?”

Q: “So?”

A: (I pointed to my temple.) “Those square corners become interference to the mind, like a bad song stuck in your subconscious.”

Q: “I’m not buying it. That makes no sense to me.”

A: “Sorry, bad analogy. Let’s try this. We all have a subconscious, right? God made us that way. Now the subconscious, what does it do?”

Q: “I don’t know, you tell me. I thought I was asking the questions here.”

A: “You are. I just wanted you to consider the subconscious. You do know it detects things in our minds we’re not even aware of, right? Now put that thought into this thought … square corners on a writing desk suck up the energy in our writing.”

Q: “How so?”

A: “Simple. Our subconscious recognizes them, but our conscious self doesn’t. A round desk shaves off those intrusive little gremlins, leaving us free to write without subconscious distraction.”

Q: “You’re kidding me, right?”

A: “No, try it sometime.”

Q: “I think you’re insane.”

A: “Why?”

Q: “Well, for one, your computer screen is square. It’s not round. How do you explain that for your subconscious?”

A: “I can’t. I can only tell you that it’s not the machine we’re using to create our work; it’s our surrounding that subconsciously interacts with our work.”

Q: “Hemingway! He wrote at a square desk. What about him?”

A: “Please, keep your voice down. The library guard. She’s already watching us. But you’re right. And my point exactly. Hemingway was a stiff writer. He never loosened up. Too stilted … the square corners got him.”

Q: “You’re crazy, you know that?”

A: “I’m sorry I disappointed you. I think I asked more questions than you did, though. Oh, and there’s one more thing I forgot. With that circular periphery, most of your desk mess is out of sight, which could be another distraction disaster. You cool with that?”

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Michael Thompson was a successful ad agency owner, winning numerous national and international awards. After selling his firm in 2011, Michael turned his attention to full-time writing. His latest novel is The Rector, available on Amazon in print, on Audio Book, and Kindle. Two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old Testament–DAVID–The Illustrated Novel came first. (Volume 2-won first place BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL and BEST INTERIOR DESIGN, 2012, from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won the Silver IPPY for Graphic Novels in 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.) Next was a sci-fi thriller (CLOUDS ABOVE) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for a year. (Out in book in 2016.) Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association. Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com to learn more.

How to Show Not Tell

By Michael H. Thompson

Most fiction writers struggle a bit with “showing” instead of “telling” their reader what’s happening with their characters. While this subject has been written to death, I want to talk about a useful took I found to help me figure out how to “show” not “tell.”

Its title is The Emotion Thesaurus—A Writer’s Guide to Character Expressions. (No, I have no financial interest in this book whatsoever.)

Here’s a snippet from the book’s introduction: “All successful novels, no matter what genre, have one thing in common: emotion. It lies at the core of every character’s decision, action, and word, all of which drive the story. Without emotion, a character’s personal journey is pointless. Stakes cease to exist. The plot line becomes a dry riverbed of meaningless events that no reader will take time to read … As writers, we must take our innate skills of observation and transfer them to the page. Readers have high expectations. They don’t want to be told how a character feels; they want to experience the emotion for themselves.”

The Emotion Thesaurus provides seventy-five emotions to give us plenty of ways to “show-not-tell” through three different means—physical signals, mental responses, and internal sensations. The book explains in detail these three emotional reactions.

From adoration to agitation, and unease to worry, the seventy-five emotions offer suggestions in the three means mentioned above.

Here’s just one example: Anxiety. PHYSICAL SIGNALS: Rubbing the back of the neck, crossing the arms, standing with one arm holding the other at the elbow, fingering a necklace, adjusting clothes as if they chafe, and twenty more examples. INTERNAL SENSATIONS: restless legs, increased thirst, accelerated breathing … and a half-dozen others. MENTAL RESPONSES: self blame, seeking reassurance from others, replaying the events that caused the anxiety, time feeling like it’s slowing down, and plenty of other suggested ways to “show-not-tell” about the character’s anxious mental state.

The Emotion Thesaurus, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, is also full of other helpful writer tips.

I use this book often, and recommend it to writers. It’ll improve your writing.

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Michael Thompson was a successful ad agency owner, winning numerous national and international awards. After selling his firm in 2011, Michael turned his attention to full-time writing. His latest novel is The Rector, available on Amazon in print, on Audio Book, and Kindle. Combine a suspenseful murder mystery with theology and that’s The Rector. “High stars for a Christian mystery that reads like a thriller.”~~ H.S. Dale, author. Two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old Testament–DAVID–The Illustrated Novel came first. (Volume 2-won first place BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL and BEST INTERIOR DESIGN, 2012, from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won the Silver IPPY for Graphic Novels in 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards.) Next was a sci-fi thriller (CLOUDS ABOVE) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for a year. (Out in book in 2016.) Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association. Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com to learn more.

Are You An Outliner?

By Michael H. Thompson

I’m an Outliner. I prefer to know where my story is going before I write. Most writers are a combination of ‘Pantser’ and ‘Outliner.’ Neither, alone, is wrong.

Here’s a pic of how I used to do it.

I went to Home Depot and bought an 8 foot wide X 4 foot high acrylic board. I glued ACT ONE, ACT TWO, and ACT THREE in the middle, leaving room for Post-it notes. I also glued several arc points on the board approximately where they should fall in the story. For example, Opening Set Piece, Altered World, No Turning Back, Major Setback, All Is Lost … most all of the key points to hit at the right time. The board hangs on the wall in front of my writing table. Each Post-it note represents a scene. 

The problem with it? I had to walk over to the board every time a question popped in my mind concerning the sequence of scenes. What a pain.

Recently, I searched for easy to use computer software programs for my computer. I tried a few and settled on Scapple, shown below. (I realize you can’t read the words, but that’s not the point. The point is how easy it is to use.)

For ‘Outliners’ Scapple is ultra simple. Getting the hang of it took about 30 minutes. I can go anywhere on the Scapple board, click once, and a small writing box appears. The box can take as much copy as you want to insert. It expands automatically. I can even change the width of the box.

Font colors can be used to visually show scenes with various characters. The colors help me see the distance between character actions. Once a character is introduced, I can see the distance between that character and if too much time has elapsed before bringing that character back into the story. I simply click and move the scenes around with ease. Or cut and paste sections within the box.

I use these boxes as scene descriptions. I still follow the tried-and-true formula for storytelling— those key arcs necessary for writing a mystery, a suspense, a thriller, whatever.

Scapple could also be helpful for non-fiction. Scapple offers a one-time cost of $15. Southern Writers Magazine does not recommend any software programs and does not receive anything from Scapple. I'm just letting you the readers know what works well for me.  _________________________________________________________________ 

Michael Thompson was a successful ad agency owner and he and his company won numerous national and international awards. After selling his firm in 2011, Michael began writing, but what started out as a hobby, turned into a full fledge author, writing two graphic novels on the life of David from the Old Testament–DAVID–The Illustrated Novel. Volume 2-won first place Best Graphic Novel and Best Interior Design, 2012, from USA Book’s INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS. Volume 1 won 2^nd Best Graphic Novel of 2011 from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. His next project was a sci-fi thriller (JALA) that was serialized in a monthly magazine for an entire year. His novel The Parchman Preacher is available and he has finished the next book, The Parchman Redeemer. Michael writes Christian novels that entertain, intrigue, and shine a light on his Jesus. He’s a member of the ACFW, Mystery Writers of America, The International Crime Writers Association, and the Southern Writers Association. Visit his website, www.michaelthompsonauthor.com  to learn more about Michael.