b.read.crumbs: Make it short

Truly, it adds clarity.

In case you missed Julie Herman’s most recent b.read.crumbs post, I’m sharing it here. It’s important.

Deb sent me a prompt, which I may or may not share later, mostly because her prompt brought a long answer.

The word of my moment right now is “short, as in, “I’ll get to that shortly.” Also, an exercise I did this week, trying to understand the flow of a new short story I’m working on. A short story, I will add, that has more complications than a Halloweeen witch’s hair has snarls. This story is meant to be a Fairy Tale in twelve parts, to be gifted to the children who visit our town’s Fairy Garden, a short portion each Thursday during the long weeks of summer.

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Right now, of course, it’s all over the place. (Which, among other things, makes it far too long.) First the Fairy HOA got all over my main character because she painted her front door the wrong color. Then the ice-cream shop bridge broke, and there was only one culprit who could have done it — or did she? Two events, seemingly unrelated. How could I fit door color and a broken bridge together and have it make sense?

I turned to the Picture Book structure and used it to plot out the Fairy Tale.

You can find a link to how to make a “dummy” here. (Thanks to Debbie Ridpath Ohi, who is extremely generous with her knowledge. Her books are as delightful as she is.) A Picture book Dummy is a mocked up copy of a picture book, complete with pages you can turn to work on scene tension, plot, characterization etc.

One of the things I have used them for is to discover the ‘becauses’ that tie the ‘this-happeneds’ together. That is key for me, because my brain is really good at throwing Fairy HOAs in with broken ice cream bridges and calling that good. The bridge has to have a tie to the door, or All Is Lost, plot-wise.

Deb’s prompt, that I answered in a not-short-at-all fashion? It’s one of my favorites, first encountered in a lecture by Liz Garton Scanlon.

What does your main character want? No, what do they REALLY want. Now, what do they really REALLY want?

Happy Writing!

Julie

ONE GOOD THING

This last week I participated in a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was an eye-opening, feel-good experience for me. One permit to present for one hour in the rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol rotunda. One person to introduce us. Twenty readers, then three musicians and a singer to lead us in the final America The Beautiful. Twenty-five of us to celebrate our founding documents in 2025. If you haven’t read the Declaration lately, do. You might find yourself moved to set up a public reading of your own.