Category: friday form

Young Writers Workshop: Know your Character

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Catherine Austen

To all the young writers whom I’d hoped to meet at a workshop this spring or summer (cancelled due to Covid-19)… If you’re stuck at home with a pen handy, why not start a story or ten? Don’t know how to begin? I’ll take… Continue Reading “Young Writers Workshop: Know your Character”

Category: author talks, friday form, school visits, writing proces, writing workshops, young writersTags: author visits, characters, cinderella, creating characters, creative process, creative writing, creative writing exercise, fiction writing, fictional characters, inspiration, short fiction, short stories, writers, writing, writing exercise, writing workshops, youth writing

Young Writers Workshop: Setting Exercise

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Catherine Austen

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I’ll be giving a writing workshop tomorrow at the Carlingwood Library to help kids aged 9-12 prepare their stories for the Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Contest. We’ll do two story-building exercises: one on Character, and one on Setting.

Category: author talks, contests, friday form, school visits, writing, writing proces, writing workshops, young writersTags: author visits, awesome authors, Contests, creative process, creative writing, FOPLA, inspiration, Ottawa Public Library, setting, setting exercise, short fiction, short stories, writers, writing, writing contests, writing workshops, youth writing, youth writing contest

He Said/ She Sighed Part 3 – Enough Already!

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Catherine Austen

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Here’s one last rant sparked by a “how to write fiction” book that advised using “said/say” as the only dialogue verb (as in, “‘I spent thirty dollars on jelly beans at Mont Tremblant this weekend,’ she said.”) (That is a true statement, sadly. They fool you with the… Continue Reading “He Said/ She Sighed Part 3 – Enough Already!”

Category: authors, friday form, writingTags: adverbs, creative process, dialogue, grammar, revising, writing, writing tips

He Said/She Sighed Part 2

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Catherine Austen

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I grabbed twenty books from the living room shelf, opened each to a random page, and checked out all the verbs used in dialogue. And here is what I learned: Almost all the authors used a simple “said” at least half the time. But… Continue Reading “He Said/She Sighed Part 2”

Category: friday form, writingTags: dialogue, editing, grammar, revising, rules of writing

He Said/She Sighed – Part One

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Catherine Austen

11 Comments

I dislike lists of rules for writing fiction. There are many good writers whose work I can’t stand. And many books I’ve loved that were obviously flawed. I would not advise anyone to make a paint-by-number novel. Big picture rules are good, like: A… Continue Reading “He Said/She Sighed – Part One”