Welcome to the place where I rant, rave and discuss books, writing, the town of Cobourg Ontario and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Memory Eater


Calling all writer's! Want to try something fun and, in my humble opinion, exciting? Check out The Memory Eater Anthology. Fire up your keyboards, dig into the deep recesses of your creative mind and write away!

C.P. Anthologies is looking for submissions on a peculiar subject. My entry just needs a little polishing and editing and it's ready to go! Is yours?

Give it a peek, see what you can come up with.
Write away! Right away!
Nina

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Similes and Metaphors

Does the difference between a metaphor and a simile make your head spin? I’ll break it down for you to make it easy-schmeezy for you to remember.

A simile almost always uses the word like or as.
Example #1 – The moonlight danced on the snow like small diamonds.
Example #2 – He fought like a lion
Example #3 – As nutty as a fruitcake

Hint for remembering: Simile has the letter L in it, the word Like starts with an L. Similes use the word Like (or as, almost always).

Metaphors are descriptions of the actual object, by comparing the similarities, not the differences. In other words, they describe the object without comparing.

Example #1 – Moonlight diamonds danced on the snow. (See, we know they aren’t actually diamonds.)
Example #2 – He was a lion in the ring. (We aren’t talking about a lion, we are talking about a man. We know he isn’t actually a lion.)
Example #3 – She’s a fruitcake. (Obviously she is not actually a fruitcake)

Hint for remembering: Metaphor has the letter A in it. Metaphors are used to describe something that it ACTUALLY is not. ACTUALLY starts with an A.

Hope this little trick helps you
Nina

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Stephen King's book: On Writing

For all of you wonderful fiction writer's out there, if you haven't picked up Stephen King's On Writing yet, you don't know what you are missing!

Who better to learn the art of successful fiction writing from than the King himself? It's definitely #1 on my list. I'll never be able to look at a dandelion the same again!

Nina

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Some Writing to Peruse

I started a new page here on my blog called "Writing Challenges". You should be able to see it at the top of the page. Most of these are lessons from the F2K course, others are challenges. Have a look, a read. Peruse them if you will. Comments are not only accepted but encouraged! Feel free to send me a link to some of your writing as well, I'm always looking for new reads.

Nina