Spring Training for Your Writing

by Bryan Patrick Avery

I’ve loved baseball my whole life. I couldn’t be happier that the Major League Baseball lockout is over and Spring Training has begun. Spring is also the perfect time to do a little writing training as well. Here are a few exercises you can use to help get those creative juices flowing, generate new ideas, or get the pesky project finished.

Training #1 – They Will Be Missed (Or Will They?)
Creating characters is easy. Creating characters that resonate with readers is much more difficult. I’ve found that, the more I know about my character, the easier it is to bring them to life on the page. One of the ways to do this is to write a eulogies of the character delivered by the other characters in the story. Because the different characters have different viewpoints, each eulogy will be different. These eulogies will reveal your character in ways you may never have considered. You can then use this information to help bring your character to life on the page.

Training #2 – Change Perspective
One the great things about storytelling is that the storyteller gets to choose what perspective to tell the story from. If you’re stuck with a story or struggling with details in a particular scene or section, consider the story from a different character’s perspective. The original Sherlock Holmes mysteries are told from the perspective of Dr. Watson. Imagine if the tales were told from the Holmes’ point of view. What about Dr. Moriarty’s? Looking at your story through a different character’s eyes might reveal a detail or idea that you hadn’t considered.

Training #3 – Finish Strong
Getting to the end of story or book is a great feeling, worthy of celebrating. What if you’re struggling to get to “THE END”? Here’s a tip that might help you finish your story or book. Write the last chapter or final scene. Then, work backwards from there. Write from the end until you get to the beginning. This will help keep you focused on the key elements of the story, as every scene you write will need to push the reader into the scene you’ve already written. That focus can help you get your story finished. This is also a great way to revise your story. It will help you see when something you’ve written doesn’t move the story forward. Give it a try.

That’s all for this month. Happy reading and have a magical month.

​Here's what I'm reading:

At the age of 7, Bryan Patrick Avery discovered a love of reading and mysteries after receiving his first Bobbsey Twins Mystery book. Today, he is an award-winning poet and author of more than a dozen books for children. His middle-grade story, “The Magic Day Mystery”, appears in SUPER PUZZLETASTIC MYSTERIES, an anthology from HarperCollins and the Mystery Writers of America. His Jake Maddox JV Mysteries, OFF BASE and SOCCER SUSPICIONS were released earlier this year by Stone Arch Books. Bryan is the 2021 recipient of the SCBWI Work in Progress Award for his chapter book mystery THE ROBOT IN THE LIBRARY. He is also the author of THE FREEMAN FIELD PHOTOGRAPH, BLACK MEN IN SCIENCE, and the chapter book series, MR. GRIZLEY’S CLASS.
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Bryan serves on the board of directors of the Northern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Northern California with his family.

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