Ms. Deb, as her students affectionately call her, is the CEO & Founder of Creative Writing Institute, and the former A-1 Writing Academy (now defunct).
"The A-1 Academy was a pilot program built within the virtual walls of a large writer's group," said Deborah. "In the first year we drew 600 students, but I wanted to reach the public. In another year Creative Writing Institute was created. It is a high-quality, low cost writing school with full-time mentors and small classes. Even distressed students and seniors can afford our prices."
Creative Writing Institute now partners with http://bookpleasures.com to bring the best and most up-to-date information available to creative writers everywhere. Check out the new school by Clicking Here.
When creative writers think of
parenting, they normally think of someone biologically bearing a
child, but there is more than one kind of parent. There is the
unmarried parent, the divorced parent, the parent to be, and the
adoptive parent, to name a few. But still there is another kind of
parent we haven't named, and that is parenting the created word.
Although it may not conjure up the same status as that of physical
parenting, the labor is just as real.
Every writer knows
their words are their babies, and heaven help the critic who says we
should strike or change a few words here for there. Not only is it
unforgivable, it cuts to the core of our being. This is one place
that writer's groups provide an invaluable service. There is no
better place to grow a thick skin than in a writer's group. After
all, would you rather hear stinging criticism from another newb, or
would you rather hear it from an editor who cares nothing about your
pain?
There is a simple trick to avoiding this kind of
literary suffering, and that is to murder your own babies. You will
recognize them when a part of you cries out, "That doesn't
really fit," and another part cries out, "But I like it!"
You know in your heart it is time to pull out your scalpel and begin
cutting. Although the wound will bleed, you will know you are
maturing as a writer.
But far better than discarding the
phrase altogether is dropping it into a special file. One of these
days you will find the perfect place for that phrase.
The
best time to murder your babies is when you edit for verbiage
(wordiness). Say the same thing in fewer words. Trim away the fat and
leave only the lean. That means edit scenes, edit dialog, and edit
the plot in general. Brevity is the key ingredient that must stay.
Say it with less. Say it better. Jazz your verbs.
Especially
look for prepositional phrases. You should never have more than three
prepositional phrases to a sentence, whether you are writing fiction
or non-fiction. Let's be honest – all writers use padding. It is a
little-thought-of procedure whereby we writers drag on a scene or
dialog.
Have you ever seen a jokester who has his pulse on
the audience drag the joke out… and out… and out… until you
just wish it was over with? That is a sure sign of someone enjoying
their 15 minutes of fame and not wanting it to end. It's the same
thing with us writers. We have the audience in the palm of our hands
and we hate to let them go. But let them go we must, because the
readers need time to rest their minds so they can better absorb the
chunks of meat we have just fed them.
So the next time you
are editing, get the scalpel and bandages out and prepare to dissect.
Although the parent will barely survive, the baby will be perfect.
See more writing tips below.