A Pen In Each Hand 2011
A Foot in the Door
By Beaver
Personal Challenge
By Baker
Who Inspires You?
By Beaver
When we think about our writing inspirations, often the first writers who come to mind are the very famous (and often dead). But good as those writers are, they already get plenty of love. What about the working writers who inspire you every day?
I is for Influences
By Billiard
My influences are many and varied and faintly insane. I mean, you've got the literary, like Stephen King and Shakespeare and Tanya Huff and Diane Duane. But you've also got Wes Craven and Chris Claremont and everyone who wrote for Warren Comics during the Creepy and Eerie era, and the writers for the old 1980s horror television, like Monsters and Tales from the Darkside. Peter S. Beagle, Walt Disney, the Brothers Grimm, Sir Child, whoever wrote the scripts for the My Little Pony cartoons, the Counting Crows, Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, Joss Whedon and Stan Lee… I'm like a weird human magpie that just sort of grabs things, mashes them together, and then attacks them with cookie cutters until they start looking like the literary equivalent of food.
Taking a cue from Mira, this month's exercise is to look beyond the literary for your cultural influences. Think about your past and present favorite movies, TV shows, music, etc. Pick out a few of the recurring elements (the more disparate the better!), mash them together, and try using the mash-up as the core of your next project.
Write or Edit
By Baker
Get Noticed!
By Boots
Submit a story to Toasted Cheese. It can be for the current writing contest, for the next issue of Toasted Cheese, or just on the forums for feedback. Submitting is what gets your work noticed. Get to the next level and show us what you have.
Share your story of success! Email the editors (editors@toasted-cheese.com) with how Toasted Cheese has helped you move forward as a writer. You could be our next Absolute Blank interviewee.
Six Questions
By Beaver
Thinking about starting your own literary journal? Here are a few things to think about before you take the leap:
Backstory is Important
By Broker
Follow one of your characters home and explore a part of their backstory that they don't share with the other characters. This scene won't appear in your story, except perhaps as an implication or passing reference, so put your internal censor away. Write about the things that normally go unsaid.
A 30-Day Habit
By pinupgeek
For the next 30 days, figure out how much you can realistically write every day. Then, take a look at your calendar, figure out where in your day you schedule in writing, and make an appointment with yourself to write. Create reminders on your cell phone or email so you won't forget.
Mental Filters
By Bellman
John is an auto mechanic. He has the following mental filter:
My time is more important than anyone else's time. No matter what they say about my intelligence, I know I am smarter than they all are, so they should listen to me.
Bob is an accountant. He has the following mental filter:
Too many people have tried to cheat me. I will never let anyone ever cheat me again.
Now use these filters to write a scene for each character in which the following events occur:
Get Perspective on Your Characters
By Mark Paxson
Option 1: Write the same scene from three different perspectives: First Person, Third Person, and Third Person Omniscient. Third Person Omniscient is a narrative voice that gets in the heads of each of the main characters rather than telling the story from the perspective of one character. How does using a different narrator's voice change the story's details?
Option 2: Write a dialog sequence in which the characters aren't actually communicating with each other. Each character is talking about what matters to them while ignoring what matters to the other character, but through the miscommunication and conflict that arises as a result, more story and more character development occurs.
Wishlist
By Baker