Narrative Writing

This is advice on how to develop narrative writing. Narrative writing is used in the development of short stories and novels, mostly fictional writing. However, it can be used in other areas as well, such as memoirs and journals.

Writing short stories and novels

 Creative Writing

I'm going to offer a series of writing segments that might help people who want to write not only fiction but non fiction. I will begin by posting some of my fictional material here. If the full PowerPoint does not appear, click on the full screen icon at the lower right. It looks like an enhanced X sign with a circle in the middle.

Georgia, Georgia

 So, I'm reminded of that Ray Charles song, Gerogia, Georgia, The whole day through, Just an old sweet song, Keeps Georgia on my mind. . . Yes, we moved to Georgia from San Antonio. A big change! But Atlanta is the bomb. There have been transitional issues. Unpacking began last year, but it seems ongoing. The old house is for sale and the new house needs attention. The new house gets a little love here and there. Meanwhile, I'm happy to report that I was successful in getting Carrie's Song out at Amazon and draft2digital. It focuses on my great grandmother Carrie, who really did graduate from Fisk University in the late 1800s. She was a teacher and an impressive lady. I'm working on my great grandfather's story next, which will be blended with a later version of Carrie's life. But so many people write about their maternal story without much attention given to the paternal side, so I've decided to do something about that. When last I worked on "Edward's Melody," (Carrie's Love) my working title, he was at the bottom of the Cuban bay. Now, I've got him in the jungle with the rebels. Oh, the stress of moving, household transitions and bills have me mired in mud. I'm hoping to get out of it and get on a regular writing schedule. 

Oatmeal

 So, I was informed by my doctor that my kidneys are at risk. So, naturally I rushed to find out everything I can do to address the problem. It turns out this is the kind of problem that might be turned around partly through diet and perhaps some other measures. So, I began checking out how to do that. Lowering the amount of protein that I was ingesting was part of the answer. I had been dosing myself with a little turkey every now and then, thinking that this would help me lose weight. Not. It put too much strain on my kidneys. So, that's out. Now, I am looking into other ways to be certain I stay on a kidney friendly diet. Turns out my beloved bananas need to go or be scaled back.

Too much potassium and too much phosphorus is not good for the kidneys. I never paid much attention to that earlier. I try to walk about three miles a day, and in the heat of South West Texas, if you don't have some potassium, you're asking for trouble. So, I'm not sure how that's going to work. I'm just happy we're close to the fall when the temperatures drop.

But what's got me a little annoyed now is that I was looking for an unsweetened oatmeal. I found one. I'm not going to say what brand, but suffice it to say, it had what I needed, or so I thought. Turns out many kinds of oatmeal are high in iron. Now this is probably good for men. But for women, an excess of iron, I have heard, can lead to breast cancer issues. So, in the past, I tried to limit my iron intake to avoid that complication. But, what infuriates me is that oatmeal producers and other food manufacturers add things that are not friendly for women. Why in the heck do they do that? Anyway, I'm on the hunt for oatmeal that is lower in iron but still doesn't have the high phosphorous and potassium content that complicates things for those trying to protect their kidneys. Meanwhile, I think it's Burdock root that will block some excess iron. That's not for everybody, but, hey, you do what you got to do.

My ancestress -- Hester -- would completely understand my frustration. In the 1860s, she hunted for the best herbs to help her patients before medicine as we know it became widely available. Hester's Journey under my pen name Kate Ayre Campbell. She believed in checking out the relationship between health and what we put in our bodies.

Pygmalion

 Was talking to the wise man this morning who mentioned the Greek story of Pygmalion. Pygmalion fell in love with Aphrodite and was so enamored of her that he made a doll that looked like her and took the doll to bed. Aphrodite made the doll come alive and Pygmalion had two children with Galatea. It's a story about the importance of not forcing perfection on another human being. It occurred to me that we often expect perfection from others when it just is not possible. In my books, A Home for Easter and Hester's Journey, the characters are not perfect. In Hester's Journey, Easter is a little overwhelmed by Arter's bi sexual life, but she accepts him. We can tell that she is struggling with this, but the story explains what she did with it.

The Writing Journey

 Writing is not difficult. If we can form a thought, we can write. It takes time to get organized, but once we have a general outline in mind, it's time to get down to the business of writing. I've attended conferences where people have written several rough drafts or just outlines but have not published. 

That's a shame. Writing is art. If we accept that art should be shared and that as art it does not need to fit someone's notion of what art should be, we should release it into the world. 

For years I worried about whether I could write something as important as some of the writers who have been traditionally published in the field of literary fiction. However, as time went by, I realized that I could sit on my writing forever or release it as the art that it is. 

I like to think of what other writers and doers advise about going forth in the world. 

Nothing is impossible. The very word itself says, "I'm possible."  Audrey Hepburn

When anyone tells me I can't do anything. . . . I'm just not listening anymore. Florence Griffith Joyner

--Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony. Ralph Waldo Emerson

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Some advice to get started:

1. Write an outline to give yourself a map for the writing. If it is fiction, consider what characters you will use and what their goal or challenges will be. Don't worry if the characters take the story someplace that surprises you.

If you're writing non fiction, write an outline and try to stick to the main theme. Worry about cutting out unnecessary ideas later.

2. Write --whether it's a little every day or a lot on selected days, don't give up. Finish what you have to say. 

3. Read what you've written. Edit it yourself for errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Writing programs, such as Microsoft Word, offer great advice and help you to clean up your work.

4. Ask someone to read it for you. Ask them for concrete feedback -- not just, I liked it. Ask them to point out places where you might have, for example, given the reader more information or developed a character better. 

5. Don't let what others have to say about your writing discourage you from writing. Keep writing! 

6. When you've finished writing your material, copyright it. More on that later. 

A Home for Easter

 

The first book I wrote in the Apple Hill series, A Home for Easter, explores the life of my ancestor, Easter. I was surprised to have found information on her since she was born in the early 1800s. My father had asked me when I was a journalist if I would write about his family. He must have heard some hair-raising tales to ask such a question. Since, at the time, I was busy taking care of my family, I didn’t get around to it until later in life, but finally, I did. My father knew then that his family had an interesting story. Easter indeed has a compelling tale. She was probably in her 20s in 1838 when First Nations People were forced from their lands and removed west to “Indian Territory.” I asked my father many years ago why we looked like we did, and he always pointed to our First Nations ancestry. A Home for Easter also explores  how African Americans and Cherokee became culturally and genetically blended. Of course, that’s not the only story, but Easter’s story is important because it demonstrates what a family does to survive a very turbulent period. The Cherokee were being murdered for their land. But my great, great, great grandmother persisted. So did the other members of her family. Some of them I created because I did not have all the information necessary to build a better picture of what happened to African Americans and First Nations people. But I think the story is a good representation of what happens when people, especially women, put their minds to the tasks at hand – survival. I think I saw pictures of my great, great, great grandmother in my family’s possessions. She always had a hard look on her face as though she had survived terrible times. She was not smiling. But, hopefully, she is now. See her book at kateayrecampbell.com – A Home for Easter. If  you’d like to read about Cherokee history, there are some good books available. Check out: The Cherokees by Grace Steele Woodward or Cherokee Women by Theda Perdue.