Tuesday's Tip

Write outside your comfort zone.

For me, that is poetry. Sheesh, am I bad at it! But I find that writing poetry-- no matter how awful-- helps me get to the emotional heart of a scene/situation. So, I will write a poem (often from the POV of my main character) to help distill the essentials of a story moment. Those few words serve as stepping stones for finding my way to the heart of a scene and, somehow, makes writing tough scenes less daunting.

For Hattie Big Sky, I wrote dozens of cinquains* to help launch the emotional plane of Hattie's story. Here's one example, created as I was thinking about why people would leave their established homes to homestead in undeveloped parts of the country (fyi: Circle and Glendive are Montana town names):

The Trip West

We rode

emigrant cars

on twelve dollar tickets

not to Circle or Glendive but

to hope.

Give it a go! It may work for  you.

*Cinquains are a truly American form of poetry, five lines line. The first line contains 2 syllables, the second line 4 syllables, the third line 6 syllables, the fourth line 8 syllables and the final line 2 syllables. Thanks to Ann Whitford Paul for teaching me about this form!