Wasted Words? by Leanne Dyck

photo by LDyck

To date, I've written 35 picture books for children (5 for babies 0 to 24 months, 23 for children 3 to 7 years of age, 7 for children 6 to 9 years of age), 4 short story collections for adults, and a novel for young adults. I'm currently looking for the right publisher for these projects.

My autumn writing projects include a short story collection and a middle grade novel.

As you can see, I've mainly been working on short projects. But I have written--and will continue to write--longer pieces.

When working on longer pieces, I begin by developing a plot outline. However, this plot is only meant as a guide. I allow inspiration to direct my writing. Of course, it's very difficult to plan for inspiration. So this means I may craft scenes and conduct research that won't be used for the novel.

Wasted words?

Nope.

Scenes may become short stories. Research may become articles. The short stories may be woven into collections. The articles can be published on this blog to help promote the novel. Or I may choose to publish these short pieces in magazines.


Short stories may be submitted to these Canadian magazines...

The Fiddlehead

subTerrain

Room

PRISM international

Prairie Fire

The New Quarterly

Malahat Review

Grain

Geist (currently closed to submissions)

Antigonish Review



You may be able to use your research to write an article for Writer's Digest

In the past, I've developed presentations from the research I've conducted. For example, my first novel--Maynely A Mystery--required me to conduct research on the history of Mayne Island. To promote sales, I gave author readings. One of the on-island short talks I presented was called Fact or Fiction. I read short passages from my book and asked my audience, "Is this passage based on history or inspired by imagination?"  I was very pleased with how interested the participants were and how fun the talk turned out to be.

Never think of writing as being a waste. Every word you write brings you closer to the story you are driven to write.

#writing: Creating Sympathetic Characters

My magazine collection

*83 copies which include Writer’s Journal, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Quill and Quire—as well as one copy of Script.

*Articles follow the writing process from how to evaluate an idea to how to promote your book--and most everything in between.

*The oldest magazine in my collection dates back to 2006

I’m always on the lookout for magazines on the craft of writing. That’s how I found Poets & Writers. I’ve just pawed through but already feel like I got my money’s worth simply by reading J.T. Bushnell’s article—The Jerks:  Creating Sympathetic Characters.

Here are some of the tips he shares…

-Show your character’s vulnerability.

-‘[T]he harder characters are on themselves, the harder it is to call them jerks.’

-Create characters that are aware of the beauty that surrounds them.

-Create characters that are interested in the activities of secondary characters.

He concludes by stating that it is our job as writers to find the kernel of humanity that resides within our characters and to expose it to our readers.

I look forward to more hours of reading.
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