Wanted: Conflict and Tension for Writers

My good friend Kathy on her blog Well Placed Words had an excellent entry about sagging middles. Which, like all of her entries, got me to thinking about writing. And now specifically about tension and conflict.

So here are five ways to increase tension in a manuscript.

1. Have your main character struggle with decisions. And the bigger the decision the bigger the tension. Moral dilemmas are best.

2. Pose questions that aren't answered right away. The reader will continue reading to discover the answers.

3. Have your characters possess opposing goals.

4. Clue your reader into something that the main characters are unaware of, but that will have a great impact when revealed.

5. Subplots: If each subplot has a tension-filled story arc as well as the main plot, the reader will be pulled through the book.

What are some ways you create/maintain tension in your writing?

Meditation fast and easy #3

This is wonderful for focusing the mind:

Pick an object that possesses beauty. The lovely Navajo lady in the illustration above is a ceramic piece by R. C. Gorman that I have used when doing this meditation.

Focus on the object. Pay attention. Clear your mind of all else but the beauty. See with all of your being.

This meditation is a lot of fun and often easier to begin a meditation practice with as the mind has something lovely to focus upon.

So, here's three quick and easy meditations.

Do you have a favorite meditation? Do you have a meditation practice? If so, what have you discovered by meditating? If you don't have a practice, why not? What stops you?

Meditate=creativity, Meditation #2

Mantra meditation:

Pick a word that has meaning for you. Classics are: ohm, Rama, and Christian prayers "Mother Mary, etc."

Sit relaxed and with each relaxed breath, breathe your mantra. When you find yourself forcing the word or playing with the word or your mind drifting so you're just listing your mantra (all this will happen) gently return.

Remember: There's no right way or wrong way to meditate! You can't do it wrong! It's a tool to help still the mind so all those lovely creative ideas can come.

Three minute meditation #1

Cats are naturals at being in the moment!

First meditation style: This is a classic:

Count your breaths. Inhale on one and exhale on and and inhale on two and... or vice versa. Count up to 3 or 4 and then start over.

Focus on breathing gently and calmly. Focus.

Sit comfortably. Relax. Focus on the breath.

Relax your eyelids. But it is not necessary to shut your eyes. You can if you want.

When your focus drifts, return to the breath.

Easy and difficult at the same time. When you first start, you may want to use a timer if you tend to "watch the clock." As you gain the habit of this meditation, you can do it anytime, anyplace, standing or sitting.

It's as simple as breathing.

Meditate to create

What a gorgeous smile.

People talk about the benefits of meditation all the time. Here's another benefit: it increases creativity.

It creates flow. Blood flow. Thought flow. A slipstream of calm.

So, why doesn't everybody meditate? I believe it's because of one main reasons:
We think we have to do it right, do it daily, do it for a long time and...

...sit on those cushions cross-legged.

None of this is true.

Three minutes--a mini-meditation--every other day works. Works incredibly. Tremendously.

Next: a couple of meditation styles that can be done in 3 minutes.

Editing on a deeper level

And it's online! Margie Lawson gives great workshops on writing. And with her online classes you don't even have to leave home!

This upcoming class is Deep Editing. I've taken a couple of workshops from Margie, both in person and online. She has a way of teaching that makes it easy and simple and almost sub-conscious to incorporate her tools into your writing.

October is crazed for me, but I'm seriously considering signing up...

Unique and universal, the struggle to be both

An excellent post over at my friend Kathy's blog Well Placed Words got me to thinking about this difficult subject. Her entry is about knowing your audience and writing for them--always a good idea.

A well-known author expanded on that idea: what you want to write is "unique and universal." I can't recall the name of the writer...it applies to all creative work, however.

Think about a favorite novel, or piece of any artwork. What draws you to the work? What keeps you there? It's unique, there's nothing else like the composition or the characters or the subject. Yet, it resonates.

How to be unique and universal? We're all both. The skill to develop is to recognize and use our uniqueness to be universal. Not easy. Worth the work.