Every year on November 11th, the United States celebrates Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day. On that day, we honor military veterans of all US Armed Forces. The day was specifically chosen because of World War I. The formal end to major WWI hostilities occurred on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 which is why we celebrate it on the 11th day of the 11th month.

Once upon a time, a person began their sentence with the words, "When I was young, I…" and continued to tell a fascinating and poignant story of a different era. Those around that person would have listened, laughed, oohed, and aahed. Or perhaps those around that person may have said things like, "There's Pops again, telling his life story." And then someone in the audience might say, "You really need to write those stories down. They are incredible!" The person telling the story probably smiled and said, "Yeah, I really should."

Sometimes the story stays there, within that group of listeners, to be repeated each time Pops comes over and you ask him questions about his life. Sometimes Pops writes them down, capturing them on paper for his family to enjoy. Pops had an amazing life, and it's essential that this generation and those in the future know what life was like for him. Without our words, nobody will know, and since lifestyles, technology, and the …

Perhaps the most famous microfiction piece was written by Earnest Hemingway. He created all the character development, emotions, and plot that people expect from high-quality storytelling within just six words.

For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

Characters: 1) the person writing the ad. 2) the baby.

Emotions: Desperation to sell the shoes because they 1) need the money, 2) they don’t want to be reminded that the baby was gone or grew too fast to get a chance to wear the shoes. Sadness that the baby never got to wear them.

Plot: There was a pregnancy; someone bought shoes for the baby, but the baby never got to wear them because of something that happened.

Six words can’t tell the whole story with words, but it’s enough to create pictures and spark your imagination and curiosity. Through this way of storytelling, your readers can experience the plot through their unique lenses. Thoughts and human understanding will fill in the missing pieces. You can picture the adult who placed the ad, how he/she did it (online, pencil and paper, filling in a form at the local newspaper office), and the baby shoes that are either still in a box or tied together by their laces or sitting by an empty crib. All these images that your mind conjures are perfect and help to create Hemingway’s story.

You can do this, too. Microfiction doesn’t

Since April is National Poetry Month, this week’s genre subject is poetry. Let’s look at what poetry is, what people do to celebrate this month, and a process you can use to write your first poem.

Poetry is art. Like other forms of literature, poems convey meaning. It packs multiple ideas and sensory emotions within each carefully chosen word. Poetry’s impact comes from how the reader interprets the words, the whitespace around the poem, and the design of the poem itself. The wonderful thing about poetry is that many interpretations can live within the reader simultaneously. The writer can share impactful memories and sentiments by creating beautiful metaphors, designing ….

Have you ever wanted to write about a family that includes multiple generations within one or more books? "Family Sagas" would be your genre. A saga is about two or more generations, and the plots include things like:

• Business

• Adventure

• Family curses

• Properties

• Heirlooms

Many of these books will include a timeline at the beginning so the reader can turn back to that page if they become confused, much like a map to follow the story through time. Timelines are also good for the writer to be able to plot out the story, what to include in the story and a way to create the overarching storylines that lead toward the conclusion. The plots will eventually resolve at the end, but not until the issues have worked their way through the generations.

I have always wanted to write a character who only talks in idioms. Some day I will because it would be fun to find a way to connect multiple idioms into one precise sentence, and at the same time, it would create a picture in the reader's mind of a unique person. I once met a person who, at the end of each sentence, would throw in either an idiom or a moral to what she just said. Things like, "Well, you know, we'll just have to go back to square one." Or "Once in a blue moon, I would like to see eye to eye with him, but I guess I'll have to pull myself together and eat crow. Because, you know, sometimes you just have to take a hit to ensure the job gets done in the end." Phew. She was a fun person to talk with.

What is an idiom?

I like the beginning of Wikipedia's definition: "An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase." It's "formulaic language" with a symbolic meaning different from the literal meaning. In other words, "Raining cats and dogs" doesn't literally mean that dogs and cats are falling out of the sky; it just means that the raindrops coming down are as large as dogs and cats. So, the literal meaning can also be exaggerated….

As we listened to the Italian Hour in my grandparents’ living room on the East Coast of the United States, I often wondered where his imagination took him. Did he see himself on the stage of the Met, costumed and singing the lead role in Pagliacci or Figaro? He never complained about his simple lifestyle as a barber in the United States; the two of us just relished our time together on those long-ago Sunday afternoons—a little girl and an Italian immigrant who might have been another Caruso.

Misha walked that morning in her garden, between rows of grape vines, with wooden bowls in her hands, as she had done every morning for longer than a lifetime. She eyed the dark green leaves, the way the stems arched, the curling of the tendrils wrapped around trellises and rows of fencing. Perhaps today, her bowls were not needed, though she often found that the moment she turned to walk home that they were needed the most.

Pausing from her close awareness, she swept her eyes across the acreage she tended to: the flower gardens, the pastures, the apple orchards, the brilliant white and yellow roses, and here, her vineyard with grapes as sweet as honeycomb. Popping one into her mouth, she smiled, closing her eyes to avoid the fierceness of the sun, letting the warm day wrap around her and hold her in its palm.

Perhaps today would indeed be a different day. Perhaps, for once, bowls wouldn’t be needed.

Reaching for another grape, she noticed her hands were dripping with water as though she had just washed them. She stepped back, stared at the grape vines. No, it wasn’t the grape vines. Her eyes lingered on the roses a distance away; listened with her body. It wasn’t the grape vines; this time, it was …

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that falls into the realm of speculative fiction. You have magical elements in fantasy, typically including world-building consisting of supernatural and fictional elements. Mythology and folklore have inspired some fantasy stories, so the roots of many tales that we think are new have come from oral traditions. These then have become our most beloved fantasy literature.

In my opinion, the most crucial part of any narrative is the characters. So in working through writing your fantasy story, we will begin there. Because, without them, well, you don't have a story. I'd like you to take some time to meet your characters. Introduce yourself to them. Find out their names. What do they look like? What are their hobbies? What motivates them? What upsets them? Then find out about their history and what brought them into this story.

At the same time you're meeting your characters, you'll have to

Fables: Sub-genre of fantasy

This week we're talking about the nuances of fables so you can contemplate, plan out, and write your own.

A fable is a short fictional story that teaches a lesson. ('fable' comes via French from the Latin fābula meaning "talk, conversation, gossip or the subject of gossip, a story for entertainment or instruction, a fable.") The most well-known fables are Aesop's Fables. And since Aesop was an enslaved person in Greece around 550 BC, I'd say that they are also the epitome of "timeless." He and his stories have made such an impact in the world that we say things like "slow and steady wins the race," "look before you leap," "birds of a feather flock together," "pride comes before a fall," and many more sayings that come directly from his stories. These are the types of lessons fables teach, and Aesop was a master at directing the narrative toward the conclusion, giving everyone a quick, simple message at the end.

Since fables are…

When I say “Tall Tales,” what comes into your mind? A fourth-grade writing project? Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox? Tall tales have somewhat of a reputation for being kid-centric, easily written, and only enjoyed by children. However, it’s not as simple or childlike as one might think. For instance, the Westside Toastmasters (Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.) challenged their members to write and deliver a Tall Tale in District 27’s first Tall Tales contest.

One of their tips for creating and delivering the story is: “Don’t be too childish, and don’t be too adult.” I feel that this wraps up Tall Tales in a brilliant way. They can be fun, speaking toward the child in all of us, but they also have…

Since we talked about Cozy Mysteries last week, which was well received, I thought I'd write about all genres throughout my following posts. Today's blog is about Fairy Tales and what makes a story fall into this genre.

1. First of all, the one thing that a fairy tale must have is a moral to the story. Many morals that are covered can be:

• respect for others

• honesty is the best policy

• be compassionate to others

• hard work will pay off in the end

• be kind

• be grateful for what you have

• sharing is caring

• cooperate

• be trustworthy

and so much more. Think of all the virtues you want to teach your child and build from there.

To give you an example of a moral—which will also be the theme—within a beloved fairy tale, think of any one of the classic

Who doesn’t love a mystery? My sister Carolyn loves to read Nancy Drew. My Mom has always read mystery books and watched murder mysteries. The last TV show I saw with her was Blue Bloods. Tom Selleck is one of her favorite actors, but she also enjoys the family dynamics wrapped up in a mystery that is solved in an hour or less. If you’ve ever wanted to write a cozy mystery, one without super violent crimes or blood splashing all over the place, the genre that you probably like—such as you find in Nancy Drew novels—Is called A Cozy Mystery. Or, as lovers of the genre say, “Cozies.”

All cozy mysteries have classic elements that make them what they are.

In this blog post, I will give you the nuances of cozies so you can outline and write your own. I will provide examples of other detective fiction that fall into this classification to spark ideas and clarify understanding. Here we go!