Tag Archives: Writing

You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story

Writer Inspiration, , , , , ,

You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story. Stories give shape and form to life. Stories lend wholeness to your imperfect vision of your experience. Telling your writer’s life story will do all of that for you. The tale of your emotional writing journey deserves to be told – first to yourself.

Begin Your Writer’s Life Story. Get started now. Open a new document. Title it “My Writer’ s Life Story.” Write the first sentence. The rest will follow. We are each of us butterflies with a single wing until we become whole by embracing ourselves – and our stories.

A Powerful Story Begins with a Character We Care About. The character we care about in your writer’s life story is You. This is your personal writer’s narrative. Whatever your challenges may have been – in your writing life and beyond – you are the major reason you are still here and still creating today.

You Struggled to Hang On to Your Creativity. You battled to overcome your challenges. Sometimes you needed help. We all do. Sometimes you got the help you required. But mostly your champion was You. What does that mean? It means You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story.

Joy Write. What is the toughest challenge you ever faced as a writer? What was the worst part of it? When and where? Who was involved? What happened? How did it make you feel? Write it back to life in your writer’s journal. Emotions may arise. Keep on writing. Straight from your heart.

You May Not Think of Yourself as a Hero. You must change your mind about that. Upgrade your attitude. Tell your writer’s life story. The story with you at its center as your main character. You are the prime mover of your creative destiny.

You May Not Think of Yourself as Luminous. But you are the person in your life – especially your writer’s life – who kindled the spark that set your imagination on fire. That fire blazes still because You did not allow it to die. You are definitely your hero. And this is your heroic writer’s journey.

What Does It Mean to Say You Are Heroic? It means you persevere. Despite the difficulties of your writer’s life – and we all have them – you try your best to shield your creative spark from the storm. Those storms may overwhelm you at times. We all experience that.

What is Your Writer’s Struggle and Triumph Truth? You struggle to beat back the tempest. Sometimes you succeed. Sometimes not. But you keep on trying. You keep on feeding the flame. That is your triumph. Share snippets of your hero’s tale on social media. Use the hashtag #MyWritersStory.

You are a Human Hero Not a Superhero. You would just as soon let the struggles pass on by. But something must be done or your precious writer’s life could be lost. Your creative blaze could be extinguished. So – you respond to the challenge you face. You step up. You act. You employ as much strength as you can muster.

You Do the Best You Can in Your Circumstances. You defend your dream. There is emotional power in that. There is emotional power in writer’s stories. Whatever your outcome may be – You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story. Say it out loud and proud. Mean it with all your heart.

My Writer’s Life Story is Sometimes a Screwball Comedy. I am the screwball hero. Take for example the time I turned down one of the best literary agents in New York City. She offered to represent me and my entire psyche spun into panic mode. I longed to run away.

Even the Imagined Proximity of Success Terrified Me. “I’m not ready!” I told Ms. Super Agent this at a fancy lunch in a fancy midtown Manhattan restaurant. My sushi went warm while I floundered through a writing identity crisis. Too long later I realized what a fool I was. I had even paid for the lunch.

Yet – I am Still a Writer. Which often bewilders me. The only explanation I can come up with is the grace of God. I staggered from midtown that day to our stoop on West 50th Street and hunkered down there in defeat. Then – Suddenly…. Any anecdote worth telling must have a Suddenly moment.

Suddenly Something Wonderful Happened. He sprinkled grace over me and somehow it turned to resilience. The next morning I got up and continued writing. This is a writer’s redemption story. That next morning – after ignominious defeat – I became the hero of my writer’s life story.

Joy Write. Ignominious means deserving of or causing shame. Have you ever cringed through an embarrassing incident in your writer’s life? Share your story in the Comments section of this post or contact me at aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Do not forget to include how this episode proves that You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story

You are the Prime Subject of Your Creative History. Virginia Woolf agrees. “Every secret of a writer’s mind, every experience of her life, every quality of her being, is written large in her heart.” Every experience of our storytelling life is written in your heart and mine and the heart of every writer.

Immortalize Those Scenes on the Page. Make them vivid. The secrets of your adventure in creativity are ready to be revealed. Stop seeing yourself as “just a writer.” You are the main character of an epic adventure. Write with that in mind. You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story.

Tell Your Writer’s Life Story is a Four-Part Series. This post is Part I – You Are the Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story. Part II – Explode Into Your Writer’s Life Story. Part III – Cast Your Writer’s Life Story. Part IV – Structure Your Writer’s Life Story. Stay Tuned.

FYI – More Joy Write Prompts for You as Hero of Your Writer’s Life Story.

  • Imagine you are being awarded a commendation for reaching this heroic moment of your writer’s life. Write the speech the presenter will give. Make clear that you deserve this award. Describe specifically how you earned it. Consider writing a short story that dramatizes this event. Feel free to fictionalize if you are inspired to do so.
  • The first Joy Write prompt in the above article was about the toughest challenge you have encountered in your writer’s life story. You persevered beyond that challenge. Tell your writer’s journal what you gained from that perseverance.
  • Recall a time when you turned a dark moment to light in your writer’s life. What was the nature of the darkness? How, specifically, did you bring light to the situation? Write an article that tells this inspiring story. Submit the article to an online writer’s publication or your local writer’s group newsletter. Your writer colleagues need to read such hopeful tales.
  • How does it feel to think of yourself as a hero in your writer’s life? Share those feelings with me in an email to aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. I would love to know about your emotional experience with adopting this empowered point of view. I look forward to hearing from you.
  • Share this post with a writer friend. Encourage her to think of herself as the hero of her writer’s life story. Document your conversation as an audio or video recording. Share that recording with your critique partners or another writers’ group.
  • What wisdom have you gained by recognizing yourself as the hero of your writer’s life story? Brainstorm ways to share that wisdom with other writers and creative people. Which option most appeals to you. Act on it. Email aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Tell me what happens.

Keep on Writing whatever may occur. Alice Orr. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells.

Joy Write with Alice. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Follow Alice on Substack — https://aliceorr.substack.com/.

Read Alice’s Novel. A Time of Fear & Loving. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Available HERE.

A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving. “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet!”

Experience Alice’s Suspense Novel Series. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. Five intense stories of love and death and intrigue. Available HERE.

Praise for Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. “Romance and suspense at its best.” “I highly recommend this page-turner series.” “Twists and turns, strong characters, suspense and passionate love.” “The writing is exquisite.”

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know? About your writer experience. About telling your stories. Ask your question as a comment following this post.

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Here’s Looking at Your Story Character

Storytelling, ,

Here’s Looking at Your Story Character. Let’s Go to the Movies. I use films as storytelling examples more often than I use books. Because more of us have seen the same movies than have read the same books. Some movies have produced story character icons in our culture. Rick Blaine played by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca is one of those icons.

Let’s Lay on Time Setting Drama from the Start. Casablanca came out in 1942. The world was immersed in the horrific drama of World War II. The film opening taps directly into that with a map of Europe and then Northern Africa running beneath the credits.

Let’s Lay on Place Setting Drama Too. Maps were very significant then. They played in theater news reels. They appeared in newspapers alongside stories of heart-stopping events. Battles. Troop movements. All in places that represented life and death to a 1942 audience.

Let’s Set the Stage for Your Dramatic Character. Rick has not yet so much as shown his face and we are already on the edge of our seats. A story’s opening has a lot of work to do. A hero character has a lot of weight to carry. How do you confront these challenges in your story?

Let’s Begin with Your Dramatic Opening. Picture your potential reader checking out the sample pages of your story online or scanning them in a bookstore aisle. You get one chance to make this first impression. You must not squander that chance. Here’s Looking at Your Story Character.

Let’s Plunge Your Hero into Trouble. Start with a situation where your hero feels as if their current world is being yanked out from under them. For Rick – Ilsa returns. She is the lover from the past who broke his heart. From this point on his life will never be the same again.

Let’s Make Your Hero Struggle. A struggle begins at your story’s opening. Something dramatic is already in progress. Casablanca uses Rick’s history for this. He must struggle against past hurt and present anger. Consider doing something like that in your story.

Let’s Create High Stakes for Your Hero. Something crucial is at stake for your character and for others too. Decisive action is desperately needed. Dire circumstances will result if your character fails to fulfill this desperate need. Rick must save a war hero from deathly peril.

Let’s Make Success a Long Shot for Your Hero. Obstacles to your characters purpose are already evident at the beginning of your story. Formidable obstacles. Powerful confrontations are inevitable. Rick is pitted against Nazis. Put your character in truly intense danger also.

Let’s Make Your Hero Decide to Act Anyway. Your character recognizes the danger and would prefer to avoid it. But somebody must do something. Nobody else steps up. Your hero makes a conscious decision to act. That decision sets your story in motion. Like Rick in Casablanca your hero must save the day – and they both will. Here’s Looking at Your Story Character.

AliceOrr. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Blogging here for writers. “What A Character! How to Create Characters that Live and Breathe on the Page.”

Alice’s Memoir is titled Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness. At the beating heart of this moving story a woman struggles. All her life, she has taken care of herself. Now she faces an adversary too formidable to battle alone. Available HERE.

Praise for Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness: “I was lifted. I highly recommend this book as a can’t-put-down roadmap for anyone.” “Outstanding read. Very, very well written.” “Honest, funny, and consoling.” “Ms. Orr is a fine, sensitive author and woman. I have read other books by her and am glad didn’t miss this one.”

All of Alice’s Books are available HERE.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know about how to discover the strongest story characters you have in you? Ask your questions in the Comments section at the end of this post. Alice will answer.

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http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
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http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/

 

 

May Inspires Your Story Characters – and You

Storytelling, ,

May Inspires Your Story Characters – and You. May represents rebirth. Fertility. Anticipation of something new. Here it comes. The start of something. A surge of excitement. Listen. Your writer’s heart is beating faster. May is Inspiration. Let’s get inspired!!!

All Things Seem Possible in May (Edwin Way Teale – Author). Let’s create some possibility. Take advantage of the spring weather. Go somewhere public. Pick a person – or a victim – from the crowd. What do they inspire for you as character material?

Spring is When Life is Alive in Everything (Christina Rosetti – Author). Life is alive in this person you have chosen to observe. Life is alive in your writer’s imagination. Let’s imagine. What are they doing here on this particular day at this particular time? As a storyteller you need conflict and complication. Something is upsetting them today? Why are they upset?

May is the Month of Expectation, the Month of Wishes (Emily Bronte – Author). Let’s explore that upset. Give your subject a name to make them more real to you. Call them Jo. Jo has a dream. Something very dear to them. What is that dream? Why is it so very dear?

May More than Any Other Month Wants Us to Feel Most Alive (Fennel Hudson – Author). This dream makes Jo feel wonderfully alive. Let’s make Jo the hero of your story. That means their dream is most likely something you can root for and want them to achieve. Jo’s dream makes you as storyteller wonderfully alive also – ready to soar.

Spring is the Time for Plans and Projects (Leo Tolstoy – Author). Let’s get intense. Jo hopes hard for this dream to happen. Jo desperately needs that or Jo’s life will go terribly wrong. You as storyteller must be a troublemaker. Plunge Jo’s dream into trouble. Make that trouble dire. Disrupt Jo’s plans. How will you do that? Let your wicked imagination fly.

Hope Sleeps in Our Bones Like a Bear Waiting for Spring to Rise and Walk (Marge Piercy – Author). Jo makes a hero’s choice to rise up and fight the trouble you have created. Jo is a bear rather than a bunny. Jo’s story ignites. Struggle erupts. Jo’s desperate need to succeed fuels the flames. Your storyteller’s appetite has a page-turner on its menu for May.

You Can Cut All the Flowers but You Cannot Keep Spring from Coming (Pablo Neruda – Author). Do you write popular fiction? Is your goal a story lots of readers will read and not be able to put down until they reach the end? If so – make that ending a triumph for Jo. By the skin of their teeth after a flat-out exhausting battle – but a triumph all the same.

May is a Month of Magic (Me). Hey. Is that you the storyteller still sitting on your observer’s park bench or wherever? Get on home and start writing. Jo and your imagination and the mighty month of May have given you a smashing story tell. I hope you took good notes. May Inspires Your Story Characters – and You.

You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur.

AliceOrr. https://www.aliceorrbooks.com. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Blogging here for writers. “What A Character! How to Create Characters that Live and Breathe on the Page.”

Alice’s Memoir is titled Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness. At the beating heart of this moving story a woman struggles. All her life, she has taken care of herself. Now she faces an adversary too formidable to battle alone. Available HERE.

Praise for Lifted to the Light: A Story of Struggle and Kindness: “I was lifted. I highly recommend this book as a can’t-put-down roadmap for anyone.” “Outstanding read. Very, very well written.” “Honest, funny, and consoling.” “Ms. Orr is a fine, sensitive author and woman. I have read other books by her and am glad didn’t miss this one.”

All of Alice’s Books are available HERE.

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know about how to discover the strongest story characters you have in you? Ask your questions in the Comments section at the end of this post. Alice will answer.

http://facebook.com/aliceorrwriter/
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/