#bretanthonyjohnston

[typingoverworld]

“Naming the World” edited by Bret Anthony Johnston

“Being a writer is, in the fullest sense of the word, a vocation. It’s labor, to be sure, often very lonely and stilted and compromising labor, but it’s also more than that; it’s a calling, an act of courage, an act of faith.” p. xv

[typingoverworld]

...[writing prompts] aim to stoke your imagination, to heighten your attention to language, and to focus your concentration before the day's real writing begins. Think of them as literary jumping jacks or a shot of tequila, a regimen to get the blood pumping and the muscles limber so that your work is as strong as possible.

“Naming the World” edited by Bret Anthony Johnston, p. xix

[typingoverworld]

Do not allow the reader to dismiss your character as a type. Prove to the reader--by choosing unique but concrete details--that your character is worthy of their sympathy, worthy of their investment in all that is at stake for your character.

Julia Fierro, “Get Closer: Exposing Your Characters (With Compassion)” p. 107 from “Naming the World” edited by Bret Anthony Johnston

[typingoverworld]

We can't identify, not completely, with perfect characters, so as readers we resist and retreat from protagonists with impeccable clothes, flawless skin, overflowing bank accounts, prodigious children. Regardless of genre, and whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, the goal of the writer is to create likable, fully developed characters.

Bret Anthony Johnston, p. 68 of “Naming the World”

[typingoverworld]

“Naming the World” edited by Bret Anthony Johnston

“Stories are how we make sense of our lives, how we attempt to impose some discernible order on the chaos of existence, and such attempts make the chaos bearable.” p. xviii

[typingoverworld]

“Naming the World (and other exercises for the creative writer)” edited by Bret Anthony Johnston

From page 53, “How to Name the World: An Exercise in Research” by Bret Anthony Johnston:

“...research...buttressing the imagination with an unequivocal foundation in the material world.”

“Writers often use research to find the perfect details, pieces of information that simultaneously ground a story and give it wings. Spot-on details elicit readers’ trust while drawing them deeper and more completely into the narrative. Then, once the readers are immersed in the imaginary world, the research will keep them there, to sustain an atmosphere more real than reality.”

Exercise: “Return to an unfinished project and ferret out places or ways to incorporate research.”

[typingoverworld]

Naming the World and other exercises for the creative writer edited by Bret Anthony Johnston

“Writing exercises, I believe, serve to introduce or elucidate techniques and strategies that authors can use to bridge that void.” p. xviii

The void is in reference to the ease of verbally telling a story versus the struggling of writing that same story down, or, as the editor states: “...the distance between the perfect idea in your mind and the foundering jumble of words on the page.” p. xviii

- Use an audio recording device, such as your phone, to verbally tell a story. For the purposes of this writing prompt, start recording your story with the intention of taking at least 5-10 minutes to tell it. Then, without listening to the recorded audio, write the same story down. Was it harder or easier to write it down? Next, listen to your audio recording and see what essential pieces of the story were missed or mixed up.