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Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

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Sheila Bender's Writing It Real
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Tag Archives: Writing Scenes

About Creating and Performing “Is Story of Poor Sea Village Girl,” a Play by Writing It Real Member Mara Lathrop

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 4, 2021 by Sheila BenderApril 8, 2021

Writing It Real member Mara Lathrop created a project during the pandemic that offers us a chance to experience her play Is Story of Poor Sea Village Girl directed by Cynthia Stokes and performed by SAG actors, Mark Lewis and … Continue reading →

Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged women's voices, Writing Scenes | 5 Replies

Help Writing Scenes That Engage the Reader (and the Writer)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 26, 2017 by Sheila BenderFebruary 6, 2017

In 2005, I posted an article with excerpts from Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio’s and A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries by Kaylie Jones along with exercises based on their writing. I am reposting the following short excerpts along with the ideas I had aimed at helping you launch new writing of your … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2016 | Tagged reading for writing, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

A Writer’s Role Models: Canadian Author Miriam Towes and Her 15-Year-Old Character Elfrieda

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 19, 2017 by Sheila BenderJanuary 19, 2017

This week, I have made a video for Writing It Real’s Weekly Article. In it, I share a passage from Canadian author Miriam Toews’ novel All My Puny Sorrows in which a talented 15-year-old piano player exercises her genius against the unwelcome authoritarianism of the Mennonite elders, who “willy nilly” as the girl’s mother says, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged reading for writing, women's voices, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Scenes

Fall/Winter Writing Contest: Emma Hunter’s “God’s Breath and Bolognese”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 10, 2016 by Emma HunterMay 19, 2017

Contest judge Stan Rubin, a master teacher, poet and friend of writing, wrote that Emma Hunter’s essay: Gracefully lives up to its rather daunting title, with wit and philosophical sweep. Concisely renders a dual vision — adult and child, the mundane and the cosmic — with natural dialogue and internal reflection, in a realistic scene. The relationships are delicately and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Essay Contest Testimonials, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged contest winner, personal essay, writing memoir, Writing Scenes

Play with 20 Scene Building Prompts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 19, 2014 by Sheila BenderNovember 19, 2014

Last week, I wrote about doing a scene-writing exercise short story writer and teacher, Ron Carlson, invented. This week, I am posting 20 ideas I’ve put together for practice writing scenes that will help you develop dexterity in presenting your story, fiction or nonfiction, with the kinds of phrasing and details that absorb readers. Try … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

The Physicality of Writing Scenes and Characters

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 12, 2014 by Sheila BenderNovember 16, 2014

As writers, we are aware of the dictum “Show, don’t tell,” but sometimes what we think of as showing turns out to be only another way of telling and avoiding showing. On this subject, I often quote fiction writer Ron Carlson’s words in his book, Ron Carlson Writes a Story: Outer story, the physical world, is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

The Work of an Opening — To Achieve an Engaging, Smooth and Useful Beginning

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 28, 2013 by Julaina M. KleistAugust 28, 2013

Julaina Kleist-Corwin’s story is our third place winner in the spring/summer 2013 Writing It Real writing contest. Guest judge Terry Persun wrote to us that he chose the story because he liked the pacing and grew “to know the characters, all the while not knowing which to trust or which he liked better.” He also … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Revisions - Sample Successes, WIR2013 | Tagged contest winner, contest winning essay, Revision in prose writing, writing advice, Writing Fiction, Writing Scenes

Look, Listen, Touch, Smell, Taste: 7 More Ideas for Your Writer’s Journal

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 7, 2013 by Sheila BenderSeptember 12, 2013

There is a pleasure in the thought that the particular tone of my mind at this moment may be new in the universe; that the emotions of this hour may be peculiar and unexampled in the whole of eternity of moral being. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, April 17, 1827, Charleston, South Carolina How can you … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged literary journals, overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

Excerpt from Meg Files Novel The Third Law of Motion

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 30, 2013 by Meg FilesJanuary 30, 2013

This excerpt is from Chapter 15 of The Third Law of Motion by Meg Files, published by Anaphora Literary Press, 2011, reprinted here by permission of the author. Lonnie had already started work as an inventory clerk in a new discount store just outside town, and we’d used the Christmas money from Dad for rent and … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2013 | Tagged fantasy fiction, women's voices, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction, Writing Scenes

The Third Law of Motion – An Interview with Meg Files

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 23, 2013 by Meg FilesMarch 6, 2013

This week’s interview is with my colleague Meg Files about her process for writing The Third Law of Motion, her newest novel and the book’s impact on its audience. You can study with Meg at our April Writing It Real conference in Nashville or our June Centrum Creative weekend intensive in Port Townsend, WA. Sheila Your … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged trust your writing, Writing Fiction, writing life, Writing Scenes

Images Are What Pop for Readers, Not Telling: Exercises to Increase Your Expertise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 11, 2012 by Sheila BenderApril 11, 2012

Most of us find it hard sometimes to believe that the specifics of what we see, taste, touch, smell and hear relate our inner perceptions and feelings (or those of our characters) without explanation. We may be writing with specifics and then, without realizing it, begin to explain and annotate, argue and attempt to persuade … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry, Writing Scenes

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Recent Articles

  • Joanne Clarkson Shares Her Practice of Poetry and Several of Her Poems
    April 8, 2021
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  • About Creating and Performing “Is Story of Poor Sea Village Girl,” a Play by Writing It Real Member Mara Lathrop
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Podcasts ~ On Air with Sheila KPTZ Radio

  • Joanne Clarkson Shares Her Practice of Poetry and Several of Her Poems
  • Meet Author James Sulzer, Novelist of Emily Dickinson and John Keats
  • In Conversation with Charlie Fleishman
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  • In Conversation with Philip Kenney
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