Melinda Morley

I am just sitting here. Just like I just said. I am not in a total state of uselessness, but close.

I was actually thinking, which can be boring, or not. I prefer the not. I was thinking about the writing class that I just took from the infamous Orson Scott Card.

I also think I would like to share some nuggets of wisdom proposed in that class.

Although I may not entirely agree with everything he said, I appreciate his insight and unique approach to writing.

Myths That OSC Debunks:

1. When starting your story, you don’t need a “hook.” You just need the promise that you will deliver a story that is worth reading.

2. You don’t need to start your story in medias res (in the middle of the action). Sometimes it works, but it usually requires flashbacks, which are distracting. It also limits the authors ability to make the reader care about the characters yet.

3. Don’t read Strunk and White. It is garbage. Limits creativity and storytelling. What is wrong with a passive verb or an adjective, if that is what is needed to tell the story?

4. Don’t major in English if you want to be a writer. It only teaches you to write to please no one. Major in history instead. Stories are all about cause and effect and so is life (history). The English Department has ruined too many good writers. (OCS is an English Major and a teacher.)

5. Stories are not about conflict. Conflict is a scene. It may make you feel like you have accomplished something, but really you have just stopped thinking.

6. We have all been taught, show don’t tell. Most of the time you need to show and tell. Clarity for the reader is the key to a good story.

Other Gems:

Every character is the hero of his own story.

If you do things as a writer consciously, they will be read consciously.

In fiction you can disagree, but never disprove.

You can make anything plausible.

This is all very interesting food for thought. That is why I am sitting here, just thinking.