One of the very best things a writer can do is listen. Perhaps you are in a restaurant and someone in the booth behind you says, “All she wanted was the dog and the car.” You ave an instant idea for a story, or at least a story element. Or perhaps you catch just a phrase, about someone “down on his hunkers.” It’s a lovely, telling phrase, revealing something about the speaker and/or the someone. So practice being an auditory sponge. And don’t forget to keep your notepad handy!

Write Now! a series of three writing workshops, is being offered by Vivian Lawry at the Tuckahoe Library, Henrico County Library System, Virginia, September 8, 15, and 22, 2012.

Probably you have realized that one of the limitations of spellcheck is that it doesn’t notice missed words or stray extraneous words. Perhaps more problematic is that it doesn’t do away with word confusions. One possibility is to have someone knowledgeable proofread your work. Another is to recognize that you need to shape up and do something about it.

For each of the following word pairs, write a sentence using each word correctly.

farther/further      mantel/mantle     anxious /eager.     lie /lay

can /may     accept/except     affect/effect    adverse/averse    elicit/illicit

among/between   advice/advise    complement/compliment

eminent/imminent   fewer/less    if/whether   imply/infer   liable/likely

nauseous/nauseated    morale/moral    precede/proceed   raise/rear

raise/rise    principal/principle    stationery/stationary    that/which

Check your sentences against a dictionary. Learn the differences. Even one misuse from this list is likely to get your entire manuscript tagged as amateur.

On Saturday, October 2, 1:00 p.m., my coauthor and I will be reading from our recently published book DARK HARBOR: A Chesapeake Bay Mystery. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Atlee Library in Atlee, Virginia, but it is open to the public, and free.

Identifying unnecessary details is especially difficult for new writers. How do you separate the telling details that add realism and depth from those that distract the reader and slow the narrative?

There is no easy call. All you can do is examine descriptive phrases and ask yourself, “Does it matter?” For example, if a woman is reluctantly delving into a box of memorabilia, does it matter whether she sits down on the edge of a queen size bed? Whether she is sitting down on the beige carpet as she opens the box? Both instances are wordy and weak. They should be tightened up and included only if they contribute to the narrative.

Sometimes it’s a matter of placement: e.g., telling us a character is dressed in baggy jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt with the logo “Too God to be True,” and had hot chocolate made with whole milk and a slice of cold cheese pizza for breakfast could be great character notes. But if these details are tagged on to sentences about resenting a change in routine,  or a parent’s death, they feel distracting and irrelevant.

Bottom line: put in details that matter.

Most people have Rules of Thumb that they live by–consciously or not. A rule might be something personal like, “If the chance of rain is 30% or greater, I’ll carry an umbrella.” Or, “More than 5 years age difference, don’t date there.”  Or, “If I limit myself to one drink an hour, I can drink all night.”

Some Rules of Thumb have entered the popular vernacular. For example, “If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know.” Or, “Assume every gun is a loaded gun, and behave accordingly.”

For this exercise, identify three to five Rules of Thumb you live by. Choose one or more and make it/them central to your character’s functioning. What happens when the rules of thumb don’t hold up? Write the story–and have fun!

When you travel by car, note the names of roads, churches, businesses, schools–whatever–that strike you as especially colorful.These often add vivid specificity to a story or scene. You are more likely to find compelling names along state or county roads than along interstates, in small towns rather than in cities.

Sometimes just the name is sufficient to start a story. Consider Bone Yard Road or Fresh Fire Church of God as possible settings.

Write the story of attending your 30th high school reunion. For some this could be–but does not have to be–memoir. Think tragedy, comedy, romance. Think fantasy, sci fi, or memoir based fiction. Use as much imagination as you want or need. The only important restrictions are that it be the 30th reunion (regardless of your actual age or experience with such reunions) and that you people your story with actual characters from your high school class.

There are two basic types of writers: those who begin already knowing how the story ends and those who don’t.

Writers who start off knowing how the story ends say things like, “Knowing where I’m going guides the whole process and keeps me focused: every scene, every character, every description is tested against the question, ‘How does this move the story toward its climax?'” This camp includes many fine writers, including (but not limited to) John Barth, Katherine Anne Porter, and Toni Morrison.

The other camp sees writing as a process of discovery. These writers include Donald Barthelme, and E. L. Doctorow. Perhaps the epitome of this approach would be Steven King, who reputedly starts by asking, “What if . . . ?” As in, “What if vampires invaded a small New England town?” And then he writes until he discovers the answer.

My point is not these particular authors or their purity as exemplars of my assertion. The point is that there is no one right or effective way to write. Either style can take you many places. Your task is to find the method that works for you.