As I learned from my trip to Australia, “brolly” is Aussie slang for “umbrella.” Certainly, the brolly in this shot is the eye-catching element, but there’s so much that could be written about its holder, or about that couple in the distance. What will you write?

It can be a very tricky road to traverse when you are choosing topics for your new story. Maybe you have a good sense of what your character is, but not what she will be doing or what sort of world she will inhabit. If you give her a job in a law firm, for example, and have her at the firm a lot but don’t care anything about being a lawyer, this lack of interest will show up in your writing. You may say to yourself, “Oh, I can just plant a few details I got from the internet”, but readers are more discerning than you think. They’ll be able to tell if you are invested in the details you are sowing your story with.

That is one way to think about good, invested details versus neutral, thoughtless ones. Neutral details are like burying stones in a field: they don’t do anything. They don’t connect to the surrounding landscape or take or give. They don’t change the surroundings or enrich them in any way. Planting a detail that you care about and that comes from this feeling, by contrast, is like planting a seed. It will continue to grow and inform the written world around it, enriching every aspect of the universe you’ve created. It will engage in a dialogue with other details of the story.

I want to make very clear that I am not saying, “Write what you know.” That is sometimes true, but is more limiting than is necessary. If you really care about something, a combination of research and imagination is enough to make it come to life. But you have to care about it in a personal way. The personal in a story is what, oddly enough, makes it universal.

First I asked readers whether they still used paper notebooks to store their creative writing. katyusha said:

Oh, goodness, I keep EVERYTHING in my notebooks. I do my first drafts by hand (on notebook paper, stored safely in a four-inch binder), take notes on a little notepad, and only type things once I’ve sorted through them in my head. I can’t type first drafts–edit mode goes into effect and I can’t finish anything. Better for me to get it all out and edit as I type. That, and the slower pace of handwriting allows me time to think while I write, and I have less editing to do afterward!

Thanks, katyusha! I, too, sometimes can’t get my thoughts clearest on a computer screen. Also, my eyes are somewhat sensitive and I tend to get eyestrain after staring at a luminous screen for too many hours in a row. That’s when it’s time to sit outside or stare out a window with my notebook in my lap and take a little freehand break. Once they’re on (paper) page, I’m ready to put them on the (digital) page.

On the other hand, more and more of us are incorporating new technology into our creative lives. Mike said:

I don’t really use notebooks very much these days. If I want to do a quick bit of writing away from my computer, I’m more likely to grab my iPod Touch and pound out a couple paragraphs.

It’s kind of fascinating to me how the “cell phone novel” has become an established genre. That’s right — particularly in Japan, some writers are pounding out whole novels on their cell phones. As texting and other forms of digital writing become ubiquitous, more and more creative writing might migrate to this medium.

Lauren said:

I have a notebook which I write all my plans and thoughts on my stories, and also any ideas that I could use once I think of a plot and characters to go with it. But all the actual writing of my stories is typed on Word – writing is too slow and gets really messy as I think of better words as I’m writing! Also people can’t read my rushed handwriting too well.

Thanks, Lauren! I’m definitely a fan of this strategy as well. I would never hand in something handwritten, and in fact my hand-written drafts need a lot of editing work on the computer. It can be a relief, sometimes, to type nearly as fast as I can think. But other times, it’s great to force myself to slow down and appreciate each word as it appears from my laboriously scratching pencil.

And one more vote for technology: Sonia said:

I used to carry a notebook everywhere but these days . . . does my blog and iTouch count?

There you have it, readers — it looks like we’re evenly split ont he use of paper notebooks versus technology. Weigh in in the comments, and read on to hear more reader comments and my responses.

Now on to responses to my post How to Open a Window When a Door Closes.

Drue A. Windhorst said:

Often enough for me these doors that open and then sometimes close, without my permission or will, leave their chaos on my mind. I am glad you posted this! I frequently forget that windows of possibility can be found. …It may be a single line, a word used in a different perception, or the salvation of merely expressing that unknown emotion. These explorations always have been historically and personally revealing to me. It is when I come across something that is obscure, perhaps undated, and at times humorously rediscovered by complete accident that I am reminded why I walk the path I am on.

Glad to hear it, Drue. It’s true that we sometimes forget that our writing has merit because we get wrapped up in daily frustrations and fail to see the forest for the trees. If we take a moment to look back at our past work, we can see real shining moments of talent and insight. It’s a way of opening a window in our own perceptions of ourselves.

Barbara said:

I have been writing more in the past year than I have in many years. It has always been my hearts desire…I’m not sure where to start but know I have a book in me just from what has happened in my life in the past several years. Guess that what lead us all here. I was moved by your ending paragraph of “How to Open a Window When a Door Closes”. I printed it out to post on my desk, mirror and next to my bed. I hope this is permitted. …I wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you and your readers take your time to share and open up so honestly about something I’ve been afraid to tell people I want to do with my life.

Thank you for your kind words, Barbara. I’m honored that the post was inspiring to you and that you wanted to print it out! Certainly it’s permitted. And I, too, am very proud of the commenters on this site and how they’re willing to be honest about their aspirations and dreams. It’s commenters like you and many others who keep Writerly Life growing and reaching new readers, so I hope you’ll help spread the word about the community of writerly readers here! Keep being honest with yourself about why you love to write, and keep working at your craft.

Thank you, readers, for your thoughtful comments. Tune in next week for more mailbag responses, and check back tomorrow for your regular, daily thoughts on the writing life.

No matter how electrifying or beautiful your story is, if it has a weak ending, it will slip away from your reader’s mind and become utterly forgettable. And ending is probably the second-most important part of your story, after a beginning: it’s your absolute last chance to show the reader what this story is all about and why it’s important AND entertaining. So why do so many good writers fudge their endings? Entirely too little time is spent thinking about them. I completely understand — personally, my weak endings are often due to exhaustion. If the story is due that week, I’m often just marching through until I can get to the end and am ready to collapse, not revise, when I get to the final page. But there are a few ways you can leave the reader with a bang instead of a whimper.

1. Save one secret for the end.

Beginning writers often betray a certain anxiety about their own ability to tell a story. They line up the big nuggets of information they want readers to know, and then they spill them out eagerly, often too eagerly. Sometimes we’ve learned about the suicide attempt and the secret lover all on the first page. Really, it’s wise to hold just one piece of this information back, giving us a reason to keep reading to the end. The main plot may be resolved before you get to the last paragraph, but there should be one final surprise — not too gimmicky — that keeps us gasping.

2. Keep us wondering.

Another trap many writers fall into is the desire to wrap everything up neatly. We’ve worked hard on this story and we have our own ideas about how everything should work out, so we wrap everything up and tie it with a bow. In case you were worried about that one character, don’t, because he ends up getting married and living happily ever after. That other character does get the job we see her interviewing for in the last scene. Everything is known.

The problem with that approach is that as soon as everything is known, it stops resembling real life, which has untidy events and no clean beginnings or endings. It makes the story feel pat, artificial, and dead. Nothing can suck the life out of a story like a bad ending; so leave things loose. Keep us wondering how it all works out.

After the jump: one more way to tighten up your ending.

3. Give us a shattering truth.

Most stories shouldn’t have too much analysis. It’s bad form to do all the figuring out for your reader. But if there’s one place where a single, succinct observation or judgement can add punch to your story, it’s in the ending. Here’s where one observation that perfectly captures what’s been happening can really blow your reader out of the water. Let your reader finish your story feeling stunned by insight, and you’ll have a lasting fan of your work.

What is unacceptable to your character? And by this question, I mean to ask, what would unmake your character? If all you can come up with are run-of-the-mill woes like a boring job or having to do the dishes, you’re not working hard enough. If all you can come up with are events that would devastate anyone with a pulse, like murders or rapes or world catastrophes, then you’re also not working hard enough. I’m not asking you “what’s annoying to anyone?” or “what’s devastating to anyone?” I’m asking, “what would make your character betray himself?” When you can answer that question, you’ll begin to know not only about who your character is, but also what your story should be about.

It sounds like a tall order. But let’s begin by breaking this very big question down a little further. You might have begun imagining a character as a vague impression — the face of someone with an interesting mustache that you saw on the bus, or an altered version of a relative. Now you need the tools and the details to make this person seem real on the page. Start thinking about what this character holds most dearly in their estimation of themselves — and what is under threat. Is someone very prideful? Clinging to his or her masculinity or femininity? Devoted to his or her vision of him/herself in a particular career? Whatever it is, the threat is what will make it seem real to us. It’s only qualities that are in danger that we will remember as readers.

So now consider the threat that is looming on the horizon. What could dismantle this cherished aspect of your character’s life? What could make a person who loves to be honest lie? What could make a person who loves to be callous fall in love? What is the weakness that could topple everything? When you understand the fragile alliances and deals many people have made with themselves, then you’ll be able to create a character with that same, real, fragility.

Pages is part of Apple’s iWork suite of software, and it is true: you can only use it on a Mac. If you’re in that lucky camp, though, you’re in for a treat when it comes to sleek, minimalistic, and highly powered word-processing. Pages is part sophisticated page-layout software, and part not-in-your-face processor. When creating a new document, you can choose from a long list of attractive layouts in either of these two categories. In the page layout category, you can design flyers, brochures, lesson plans, and magazines, with smart, intuitive ways to create text boxes, adjust images, and continue text from one box to the next. We creative writers, however, are often more concerned with the word processing functions. The problem with programs like Word is that it distracts you from the writing with all its uncontrollable auto-formatting and inane rules about tabs. The problem with far more bare-bones software, like plain text editors, is that ultimately you want an attractive final document with some options like page numbers and formatting. Pages handily walks the line between these two.

When writing, you have a clean white page, with a single unobtrusive formatting bar at the top. Footers only appear when you hover over them; otherwise, it’s just you and the text. There is also a full-screen option, perfect for distraction-free writing for your creative work. It’s easy, elegant, and most importantly of all, it doesn’t get in your way. Even the commenting feature, when you are commenting on others’ writing, is both cleaner and easier to use than Word’s similar feature.

Ultimately, Apple has thought seriously about ease of use and creating a pleasurable word-processing experience. That’s what’s important to creative writers — an experience that won’t distract from the pleasure of writing.

What a lovely provincial scene. There are plenty of stories to explore here — will you be inspired to write one of them?

You can see this happening in big budget, blockbuster action movies. Filmmakers speak of a phenomenon known as “battle fatigue.” If you show too many scenes of characters dying or other violence occuring, the audience will no longer be surprised and moved. They will become fatigued by the overload of emotional stimuli, and will become restless and bored. The same will happen in your fiction, if you kill off too many of your characters, or make every scene a climactic one. Soon, we will become habituated to the frantic level of action, and we’ll become bored by it.

The way filmmakers and authors alike avoid “battle fatigue” is to do two things. First, they strictly limit the number of important characters who get killed. If one character you’ve learned to love dies, you’re moved and invested. If a second, you’re a little less moved, and even exhausted by the emotional roller coaster the story is sending you on. If a third important character dies, you’re completely sick of the repetitive action. You’re unmoved, and worse, you stop trusting the story because you begin to believe it’s manipulative, relying heavily on deaths to keep the story going. In a story or novel, only one or two major deaths can really be handled with the right level of emotion and drama.

Second, they pace scenes of high drama with scenes that will give you a break. The way to fight battle fatigue in both movies and books is to cut away from the battle and give us a chance to regain our breath with a more peaceful, funny, or inconsequential scene. While every scene should further the story, some scenes can simply give us a deeper portrait of the character instead of shoving the story forward in huge leaps. It’s essential for the way our brains work and process emotion and drama; if it’s all up and no down, then the ups stop feeling like real mountains of feeling.

As the students get to know each other, I can imagine them getting more comfortable with talking, but at first it will be slow going. I’ve started planning an opening talk with a few notes about what I want to say, but mostly I’m keeping my lesson plans loose; if someone has a comment, I want to be able to drop things and let the discussion go in interesting directions, rather than clinging to my notes. That means I have to cultivate a strong go with the flow attitude, even if the discussion isn’t going exactly where I planned.

To break the ice, I have planned a few simple writing exercises to force shy young writers to put pen to paper in the very first class. They’re tried and true writing exercises that I’ve written about before here on the site. If you’re beginning your own creative writing group, it’s a great idea to limber up muscles and break barriers of shyness by getting the group writing together and sharing their efforts. Establish a group leader that can rotate each week, and have that group leader keep things on track. As the teacher in my class, I want writing to be unstructured and relaxed, but it will be my responsibility to keep students focused and thinking about writing. As a student who only graduated a year ago, I know how tough it can be to think about writing in the midst of a hectic college schedule. But that’s precisely why this introductory creative writing course is so valuable: it’s a time when the only thing that is expected of you is writing and thinking about writing.