Monday, June 20, 2011

Summer Solstice Scrawl Crawl 2011

June 21st.
Summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
Here in Frankfurt the sun rises at at 5:15 and sets at 21:39 (9:39 pm).
Dawn is at 4:30 and dusk at 10:24 pm.
(An aside--Gaisma is my favorite site for info like this. Iceland, where I lived for a couple years is light all night!! It was my favorite time of the year there.)

What is a Scrawl Crawl?
It's a day where writers and illustrators participate in an "event where individuals create something speedily drawn or written [scrawl] that is inspired by their creativity and observational powers as they go from place to place [crawl]."

SCBWI members in Europe will be exploring, creating and sharing with the theme Dawn to Dusk. (SCBWI members from other continents can register as roving-scrawl crawlers.)

We'll be posting on the ScrawlCrawl blogsite, sharing what we wrote or drew. Feel free to come visit us, or better yet, join us and be creative on Midsummer's day.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Writing Craft: Tension

I'm blogging in Through the Tollbooth this week.

I'd love to have you come visit me.
On Monday I talked about tension and character. I look at some of the ways characters add tension to a novel. I get into topics such as desire, flawed characters, internal struggles, and choices.

On Wednesday I talked about tension and plot or macro tension. Premise, plot design, stakes, subplots, and conflict are a few of the techniques I explore as I look at ways we can create more tension with plot.

Friday's topic is tension on the page, or micro tension. These types of tensions include cliffhangers, white space, and subtext, and several other techniques.

Come swing by the tollbooth. I'd love to hear what type of tension in books is your favorite and what makes a book a page-turner for you.