Story Seeds / Writing tips # 17 - Imagination and Doodling

Hurrah! Life is returning to normal after basement flooding and I'm able to write again! For the next few months my blog will continue with 1) the tiny, real-life seed that became an idea for a book and  2) the writing tip that helped it grow into a finished story. 

The Seed:  A swirling, curling tangle of doodles was taking over my notebook.... and I'd just found a great ending to my latest novel!

(c) Ruth Ohi, 2013

The Book: The Prince of Tarn  (Annick Press, 1997, illustrations by Ruth Ohi, novel grades 3 - 6)

The Writing Tip: Free up your imagination with pen, paper and doodling!
        There is a different type of thought process that goes on when a writer works with pen in hand.  It's not necessarily better than typing on a keyboard, but it is different. And sometimes different is what a writer needs to get out of a rut and think in more creative terms.
        Pen and paper allows an open kind of story searching. Ideas fall out loosely all over the page...different angles, different scrawls, lots of doodles. It's a kind of dreamy state, a land of hazy ideas, of trying to make connections between thoughts half formed and thoughts one is only beginning to be aware might exist.
         Much of my writing these days is done directly on a keyboard.  But when I'm just beginning...or when I'm half way through and totally stumped...it's pen and paper I reach for.
      That day, as I looked at the curling doodles, I realized they were taking over the pages of my notebook just like the trees in the story itself were taking over the magical kingdom of Tarn. Imagination and the words on the page were intertwined. If I handed my pen over the the prince, all would be well.
      Long live the doodle!  


(c) All Rights Reserved. All blog text(except comments by others) copyright Hazel Hutchins.

Story Seeds / Writing Tips #11 - Small but Telling Moments 

The Seed: One of the things that totally intrigues me about life is the way in which the big events -- the holidays, birthdays, grand weddings or ceremonial graduations -- are often not what one remembers as being the truly significant times.  The truly "telling" moments, at least in my experience, are often small and intimate. They are touched with mystery and occur when you least expect them. Occasionally  humorous. Definitely many-layered. And always sincere.
 

(c) 2013 Ruth Ohi

The Book: The Best of Arlie Zack (Annick Press1991, illustrations by Ruth Ohi, novel ages 8 - 11)

The Writing Tip: There are times when one needs to allow a story to grow outward.  But some stories, like this one, fold inward right from the start.
           I still used my notebooks, per last week's posting. But it wasn't a single idea seed that sprouted.  Instead scattered bits and pieces from many spots in different notebooks began to knit themselves together. Each had a small telling moment at its core.  And because those kinds of moments always hint at something deeper, it wasn't long before other half-remembered bits and pieces from childhood came to join them, each with its own small and perfect magic.  
         With no single succinct writing tip to be pulled easily from its pages, I almost skipped this novel entirely for the purpose of this blog. But I decided to include it as a reminder - to myself as much as to others - that stories have endless ways of coming into existence. 
        I've also included it because one of the many symbols in the novel -- the mysterious, dark and cluttered basement through which Arlie must eventually find his way -- suggests that deep dream-scape where so much of all our creativity lies.
      





(c) All Rights Reserved. All blog text(except comments by others) copyright Hazel Hutchins.