Thu, 01 May 2008 15:55:23 +0000As a writing coach, I often work with writers to increase the conflict. Fiction isn't just about creating a situation that might seem likely in real life; it's about UPPING THE DRAMATIC ANTE. Conflict is tougher, characters are more intense, the environment is more formidable than normal life. It's a very interesting process to get people to this level in their writing, taking normal scenes and…

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:58:27 +0000 Budapest, 2007, www.carolineallen.com As Mother's Day approaches, I'd like raise my glass to all women who are not mothers, all those in their 40s and 50s, and older and younger, who chose not to have children. I am 44 and do not have children. I have many women friends, single and in relationships, who are like me. What does this have to do with writing?…

Sat, 17 May 2008 14:49:01 +0000 self portrait, acrylic on canvas, www.carolineallen.com You want to write, but you're staring at a blank screen, and you don't know where to begin. Or, you keep rewriting the first sentence over and over and over again. Stop. Think rough. Think rough draft. It's impossible to edit something that isn't yet on the page, and that's what most new writers do. They self edit before…

Mon, 19 May 2008 14:22:24 +0000 village, acrylic on canvas, www.carolineallen.com I'm trying to get Earth published, my novel, and I've joined the ranks of the first-time novelists trying to get noticed in the sea of submissions agents and publishers receive. I had this dream around it: the fact that you are different is what will sell this book. In the book, Pearl Elizabeth Swinton, the main character is "different". She's…

Fri, 23 May 2008 14:44:46 +0000 Long Hill Estate, Beverly, MA, www.carolineallen.com I've just bought and studied NewNovelist 2.0, by Creativity Software. You can use the software to help you write your existing novel, or even, according to the reviews, write the novel you've always wanted to write. I cannot recommend it enough. It's blowing my mind and blowing my writing open. Run, do not walk to buy it. (I got…

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:31:36 +0000 Chains that bind, digital photography, Lowell, MA, www.carolineallen.com, part of Dirty Smelly Noisy Exhibit, www.dirtysmellynoisy.com I'm a writing coach now, but used to be a tarot reader/healer and I still give tarot readings upon ocassion. An artist in a nearby art studio, D, asked me for a reading recently. The information in her reading helped me understand why as writers we feel stuck; we feel…

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:53:32 +0000 Burying the hatchet, 2002, www.carolineallen.com After writing the blog "It's not laziness", I was hit on all sides by emails and personal epiphanies and I knew I'd struck a universal chord. Afterwards, I felt a heaviness in my body, a familiar black rock of apathy that I hadn't felt in at least the past year. I thought it had cleared out after I finished my…

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:53:49 +0000 Missouri, 2008, digital photography, www.carolineallen.com The single most important aspect of being a new writer is setting and sticking to a regular writing discipline. To fully engage the process of writing, one must be doing it regularly, in a room of their own, without interruption. What does a writing discipline mean? It means setting the same time each day, the same days each week, to…

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:09:22 +0000 Cuban Dancer detail, from the Stream of Consciousness Series, acrylic and house paint on canvas, 2'x3', www.carolineallen.com I recently taught a writing class at my art studio, and am including here the overview sheet I provided to students. Listed below are the various elements involved in writing Fiction/Memoir. The list, of course, is only the beginning. Learning how to successfully pull off the following elements,…

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:47:36 +0000 What was that noise, acrylic and modeling medium with palette knife on canvas, 24x36, www.carolineallen.com As a writer and writing coach, I stress the importance of well-written, well-integrated setting. Afterall, settings are people, too! Good setting adds to characterization, it grounds the story and people in it in a place and time, and it provides a solid structure for the reader to depend upon. Minimalist…