Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, and Others

I have a thing for quotes, especially about writing. Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/powellsbooks/6-quotes-about-the-magic-of-reading-ohuo?sub=3231414_2957280#.dcE1V1vNxw

https://www.facebook.com/thereadingroomonline/photos/a.10151065508153379.422772.126075698378/10152667330833379/

http://alicebeckstrom.tumblr.com/post/80595071088

http://writers-write-creative-blog.posthaven.com/quotable-ts-eliot-1

http://www.equilibridigitali.it/un-post-opificio-di-scrittura/

http://imgur.com/a/aldg6

http://imgur.com/a/aldg6

http://imgur.com/a/aldg6

To see more, check out my Pinterest board here.

Don't Tell, Show

(mwahhahaha velcome to my secret lair of the internet vhere I vill attempt to complete zee A-to-Z Challenge vith my very own zeme: VITING.) I have no idea what just happened, so don't ask. Weird things happen with Anne Marie early in the morning.

This has been my greatest struggle as a writer. What? Being weird?

No, stupid, keep up. Telling and not showing. I mean showing not telling.

I hated hated hated HATED this rule so so so MUCH. I did not understand how one simply cannot tell. I have so much to tell! How could I just show it?! I'm a writer, not an artist for goodness sake.

When I took a creative writing class freshman year (best. class. ever.), this was something we definitely touched on. But I needed a blueprint, a handout, some sort of exact instruction! Because I did not understand why telling got such a bad rap.

I just love looking back at old writing and seeing how much I've grown. Even from reading things I've written less than a year ago, I can tell how much I learned.

Showing not telling was something that I learned gradually. There wasn't a formula I applied to suddenly become incredible at it (which I'm still quite far from. Being incredible at it, that is).

Since I've learned the art, I purpose that we rephrase "show don't tell" to "show over tell".

It's okay to tell. In her book This Is Not A Writing Manual, Kerri Majors discusses how a teacher once told her that it's perfectly okay to tell, as long as your telling is working. Some writers are masterful at telling. Like Kerri, my telling does not always work. It usually doesn't. My showing is more captivating and fills out the story much better.

Show over tell is the difference between telling someone about your best friend and actually introducing them to your best friend. While both are perfectly lovely, the later is the more desirable.

I think this quote sums it up quite nicely:

https://writerswrite1.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/quotable-anton-chekhov/

If showing over telling is something that you're struggling with, I encourage you to spend more time with your characters. Define them more, or "flesh them out". Show them squinting in the sun rather than saying it was sunny, show them sweating and panting rather than saying it's hot, show them holding back tears rather than saying that their hearts are breaking.

On another brief note, thank you all so much for reading my blog and for the kind comments! You all make me smile. Have a blessed Easter and I'll see y'all next week!

Famous: Writing From Pain

I am obsessed with the song Famous by Kelleigh Bannen for multiple reasons.

One, because it's country. Two, her voice is so edgy. Three, the song lyrics totally resonate with me.

"I'm gonna make you famous/tell 'em all about you/gonna all know what your name is..."

Heck yeah.

A lot of people say that they deal with life by writing. For me, though, writing is synonymous with life. I don't think life needs to be "dealt with". Rather, writing is the fulfillment of life. I pour my life into writing and I pour writing into my life.

Basically, this is how it goes:

When I mess up. Good writing material.

When I'm hilarious. Good writing material.

When I hang with my besties. Good writing material.

When awkward moments happen. Good writing material.

When I say dumb stuff. Good writing material.

When I have to let go. Good writing material.

When I have to be confrontational about something important. Good writing material.

When my heart is broken. Good writing material.

"Good writing material" is basically my response to life in general. At the beginning of my freshman year, over two years ago, I emailed my cousin Faith (check out her extreme epicness here) about some things (by things I mean people) I was struggling with. Among lots of awesome advice, she told me that, if anything, at least I was gaining good writing material.

Upon reading this, I stood up and put my hand in the air, exclaiming, "PREACH SISTA!" In my mind, at least.

This concept was not new to me, but Faith's email reminded me that all the things that happened to me were mine. I could do whatever I wanted with them. I could let them fester, let them make me bitter, and drown in self-pity.

Or I could just acknowledge the hurt, give it to God, learn from it, and write it out.

From experience, the second option is much better, for everyone involved.

Some people are just too perfect (for better or for worse) to keep out of the pages of my book. My current MS is dripping with characters that are pulled together from people I've encountered. As writers, we're supposed to write about what we know, right? We're supposed to write realistically, believably...I've found that the best way to do that is pull from past experiences.

When I write, all the things I've always wanted to say just come out. I can fix mistakes. I can heal my heart. I can be new. Justice gets served to the people who've wronged me. When I write, I'm not different. I'm who I am supposed to be.

As for the song Famous, it has become my writing theme song. Especially when it comes to my villains-I-mean-people who've hurt me. Write it out, y'all.

http://see-you-n-tea.tumblr.com/image/45351777452

A Quote and a Note

How true this is. . . my family is moving to another state and I came home today to find many books packed up in boxes. My house feels incredibly hollow, I guess. I never noticed how much books bring to a home.

(Google Images)