memories – Almost An Author

Writers Chat Recap for December Part 2

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”

Writers’ Favorite Christmas Memories & Gifts

In this open mic episode of Writers Chat, we share writerly Christmas memories, gifts received, and great gift ideas for writers. Some received beautiful and/or thoughtful pens, a spinning wheel, selfie stick/tripod. Fun memories were shared, like a cat bringing a live mouse into a women’s Christmas dinner, where a friend calmed the ladies by saying, “This was a drop in dinner”. This episode is full of great gift ideas, wonderful memories, and a lot of laughter, and even a discussion on transitive and intransitive verbs. This episode was a wonderful way to end Writers Chat for 2019.

Watch the December 17th replay.

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Participants mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.

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Childhood Memories Made New

Inspiration for the stories we write often comes from our own childhood experiences. But, times change; cultures change; technology changes. So, those stories from twenty, or forty, or sixty years ago must change if they are going to speak to the hearts of 21^st Century children.

Try this exercise to help you make those funny, sad or frightening stories from your childhood come to life for today’s readers.

Pull out an old photo from a childhood event. If you don’t have a photo sketch the scene on plain paper. (No one’s judging your artistic abilities here.)

It’s usually easy to remember the who, the where, the when, even the what. But for this exercise we want to dig deeper.

Close your eyes and try to remember every detail of the event. Then, remember how you FELT when that photo was snapped.

Was it a special occasion? A surprise occasion, maybe? How did you feel while anticipating it?

How did you feel if the event didn’t turn out the way you had hoped? Or, was it such a terrific thing that it far exceeded your expectations?

What if this was a sad event? Just how sad did you feel? How did you act? Did you cry? Did you run and hide? Did you get angry?

How did the people around you react to you? And how did you react in turn?

The key to re-writing our childhood events as contemporary stories is to remember, capture and effectively SHOW our feelings from that past event.

It’s okay—even advisable—to change the details, even exaggerate them—but to keep the emotions you experienced.

It is the emotions in our stories that beckon to today’s children—not the exact details.

Jean Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She is represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary. Her premier picture book series Four Seasons was recently signed by Little Lamb Books. Jean is a member of the SCBWI, Word Weavers International, and the Kentucky Christian Writers. Visit Jean at jeanmatthewhall.com, on Facebook at Jean Matthew Hall, and on Twitter as @Jean_Hall.