Story Questions by Leanne Dyck

What, where, why,  how, who... Stories to explore the nature of writing.

photo by ldyck

What would you rather carry--a notebook or a paperback? Do you want to be told a story or tell it?

Where do your stories come from? Do you write in response to other authors or do you dance to your own inspiration?


Why do you write--to connect, inform, entertain, or...

photo by ldyck

How do you choose what story to write? Do you consider where your words will do the most good? Is the story yours to tell? Do you share your family's stories with courage? What about cultural appropriation? Does every story that comes into your head deserve to be written? Do you leave some stories for other authors to write? Or do you think distance gives you perceptive? Do you allow someone else's opinion to censor your creativity? Do you let the story choose you?

photo by ldyck

Some authors claim they write the same story throughout their careers, only changing the plot and characters. Are they stuck, obsessed, or committed?

Next post:  Canadian Literary Prizes
Autumn is the season for literary awards.
One of the cool things I did for this post is to make my own short list from the newly announced Scotiabank Gillar long list. Log on to see if you agree with my selections.

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.