Live your story!

I'm not recommending that mystery writers go out a start committing crimes or horror writers begin to worship satan.

The phrase was something that come to mind yesterday as I read yesterday's October Platform Challenge being put on by Robert Brewer from Writer's Digest. Couple that with the fact that my Daycare provider was down with pneumonia, and I was going to be staying home with my daughter. 

She hadn't slept well the night before (so neither did I), and we were both a bit grouchy for it. The thought of staying home, knowing that she would be taking 100% of my attention all day was a bit frustrating after having a total of 2 hours sleep the pervious night. (It may make me sound like a crappy human, but those who've been in my shoes know that frustrations happen with toddlers.)

And so the birth of . . .

Daddy-Daughter Adventure Day

Instead of groaning over having to stay home, I decided that we would have an adventure. Now granted she's a toddler, so adventure would be a bit of a strong word for me, but to her it was a grand adventure. 

We hiked through the wilderness (Mt. Tom State Reservation), bringing along trusty and stalwart Sir Archibald Von Foxington III Esq. (my daughter's stuffed fox) for protection. We scaled boulders (rocks) and climbed a tower that overlooked the whole world (all of Western Ma). She loved every second of it. There were times when she was scared; there were times when she fell and bruised her cheek (bad daddy); there were times when Foxy was lost on the trail, and we had to go back to rescue him. Everything was new for her . . . and through her, for me. I saw the world in a new light.

#liveyourstory

Thus I (created? used? . . . I'm new to tweeting) #liveyourstory as a reminder that writing isn't about rehashing old plots you read about. Writing is about seeing the world through the eyes of your characters (who by all rights are alive for the first time ever, experiencing everything fresh). 

I remind my students every day that writers didn't exist in dusty libraries, they led full complicated lives. From those complications came their plots and poems. It's in the dirty places of life that we find our best stories.

"It's in the dirty places of life that we find our best stories. That's tweetable . . .

And so, #liveyourstory, to me is a declaration reminding myself that when you approach the simple with the mentality of an epic adventure, you can see the plots that surround you every day. If you live your life with purpose, you will never lack a story to tell. Want to tweet this one?

Experience

Go. Get out and experience life. Tweet it. Write about it. #liveyourstory

Story time . . .

Photo credit: Doug Beckers / Foter / CC BY-SA

Now that the cooler weather sets in, and Halloween creeps steadily around the corner, I start thinking about having fires and telling stories.

Because I'm both a writer and an English teacher, the art of storytelling has always been very important to me. So important in fact that I create a quick game to make storytelling around the campfire (or on long car rides) all the more fun.

Story Crafter

Everyone has a story to tell . . . it's only a matter of whose story is the best.  Story Crafter is a unique storytelling game that you can use by yourself to break through the scourge that is writer's block or in a group to see who is the best storyteller. 

In this competitive storytelling game, you can challenge your friends’ creative powers in head-to-head competitions or challenge yourself to get your own creative juices flowing!
Bring Story Crafter with you camping for amazing campfire tales, or take it in the car to make those long trips fly by.

This can be a great activity for a creative writing group or class or a really fun dinner party activity. 

Genre Cards

There is a total of 12 different Genre cards. Each gives a different challenge by forcing the player to think outside their common genre. This helps to expand the writer's bag of tools by helping them practice a variety of genres which may allow for some improved cross-genre writing.

Junk Drawer Cards

The 30 different junk drawer cards are split up by point value. These are random elements to incorporate into your story during the telling process. This is how you earn points in the game. The more elements you 
incorporate, and the more difficult the element, the more points you earn. 

Story Starter Cards

The final group of cards is a set of Story Starter cards. These cards give you sentences to begin your story with.  Story starters are very useful for those who may be just discovering the art of storytelling or those who are simply stuck on what to do next.

Get your copy now!

Check out Story Crafter from Broken Table Games and tell your story.