At some point you will have two characters talking–or exchanging letters–and they will mention a third person–or even a bunch of people. And that’s when you must be careful. In your mind it might be perfectly reasonable that one character would say, “Paul gave me your letters when he came up to camp last week.” Because in your authorial omniscience, you know that Paul is a good friend of the speaker and that the person he is writing/talking to would know this. But if Paul is just a vehicle for delivering the letters, he might not have appeared before, and might not be mentioned again. In that case, the reader is likely to be distracted–wondering who Paul is and whether he is important to the story.

Bottom line: if you name a person, make sure the reader can put that person in context. E.g., in the example above, you might say, “You remember my friend Paul? He brought your letters…” Alternatively, work around the whole name thing by naming the relationship–as in, “My brother brought your letters…”

Strips of paper are left under windshield wipers: Lost, Cockatiel named Burgess. He sings “Jesus Loves Me” and the Marine Corps anthem. If found, call 237-7819.

Write the story. Focus on using all five senses.

Whenever the narrative Point of View is first person, the story is, by definition, about the narrator. In this case, as in any writing, your goal is to draw the reader in. Therefore, if you choose to use “I” as the narrator, you need to present a quest that many readers would care about. That is true even when writing memoir. And to that end, in all cases, use the “I” pronoun as sparingly as possible. The more you use “I” the more personal to the writer/speaker the narrative feels. When you do use “I” try not to begin most sentences with I, I, I. Change-up and vary.

Because of technical difficulties associated with an HD conversion at the station, my interview will be rescheduled at a later date. I’ll keep you posted.

Be selective–and restrained–in using exclamation points and italics. More than one of these every few pages probably means you are using these visual markers to shore up weak word choices. Journal editors, agents, and publishers will immediately tag you as an amateur.

You might, rarely, create a character for whom exclamation points or the verbal stresses represented by italics is part of her (or his) voice. Even in this case, take care not to overdo it. And be particularly stingy in using these markers elsewhere in the manuscript.

At 2:00 on Thursday, April 22, I am giving a reading at The Virginian, 300 Twinridge Ln, Richmond, VA. This event is free and open to the public. I will be reading selections from my short fiction, with commentary on writing. The event is scheduled for one hour, and I will be signing copies of Dark Harbor after.

Two women decide to get permanent make-up–i.e., they will get their eyeliner and eyebrows tattooed on. One is 79, the other 65.

Write the story. It might revolve around their motivations. Possibly jealousy or competition develop. Maybe something goes horribly wrong. Or maybe something totally different. Think morality tale–or magical realism. Go!

Wednesday, April 21, I will appear on Virginia This Morning. The program airs from 9:00 to 10:00 on WTVR, the CBS affiliate in Richmond. I’ll be talking about writing Dark Harbor.

Dredge up your earliest memories. Choose one that you are sure is your memory, not a second-hand one that you’ve heard about all your life from family members. Examine the memory and try to understand what made it memorable. What was/is its emotional importance. Use that emotional importance as the theme for a story–memoir, fiction, or memoir based fiction.

Think about something you do that you don’t want anyone else to see/know you do. I don’t mean anything illegal, or even immoral. I mean something that’s simply “not done”–even if nearly everyone does it. For example, research tells us that nearly all people pick their noses, and that an astonishing majority of people (at least sometimes) smell their fingers after wiping their behinds. Choose one of these uncomfortable behaviors and then write  a story–or at least a scene–in which your character performs the behavior and then discovers that s/he has been observed.