Welcome to my introductory newsletter Write Craft: Magical Writing by Literary Crone. This first newsletter is free and the following newsletters will only be available for paid subscribers posted on the last Wednesday of each month. I will leave a teaser for free subscribers.
If you are a literary artist, a wordsmith, a writer, author, auteur or whatever name you want to call it, you know the loneliness and isolation involved with crafting stories, poems, fiction, and non-fiction. You also know about the lack of encouragement, especially on days when you can’t rub two pennies together.
I was fortunate, during my forty years of writing professionally, that I had in-person and online writing groups to boost my confidence and help me improve my craft. I also visited libraries and I read all the books and magazines on the writing craft I could consume. What I don’t have is an MFA in creative writing. But with four decades under my belt, I think I managed to endure a writing bootcamp.
I also believe that everyone has an inner storyteller or writer begging to come out and play. Writing is a practice, a craft and an art form. Or it could be as simple as journaling and jotting down poems each day that never bask in the public’s eyes.
The other half of writing is reading. Read as much as possible and not just for pleasure. Look at structure, word choices, plots and story development.
Literary Excerpt Exploration
Most of us learn by example and by practice. So, with that in mind, I’m going to pull an excerpt from my short fiction, How They Finally Met, which falls in the magical realism and romance genres. Eventually, I expanded this story to novel-length and I titled the novel, Love Quadrangle.
First I’ll give you the synopsis because I used that as my road map for my novel.
“When it comes to finding the right mate, even non-architects have designs.”
They first met through telepathy and dreams. Pierre Desjardin, a green architect who relocated to Bellingham, from Canada and Miranda Florez, a teleplay writer turned nature photographer finally encountered each other on a highway lookout point. But after they began mapping out their future together, Pierre returned to Montreal where a former boss resurrected a design project and his mother died.
Miranda traveled to Quebec to reunite with Pierre, only to have her plans derailed when she met a sexy nature photographer from France who promised to show her the Northern Lights. While away, Miranda’s friend, Justine angled for Pierre using Law of Attraction magic. As Pierre and Miranda struggled to sort out reality from fantasy, they learned that even non-architects have designs.
My challenges for transforming a short story (which was complete in itself) into a full-length novel included:
Developing backstories for four main characters
Creating an alternative structure for my novel that still fit in with magical realism and romance (avoiding formulas)
Choosing familiar and unfamiliar locations
Research of the characters’ professions and locations
Working with a trauma-informed narrative
Being sympathetic to mental health challenges
Bringing in magical realism elements
Writing a timeless story but still staying up-to-date of the events during the time of the story
My biggest challenge was making Miranda, lost girl who suffered from childhood neglect and narcissistic abuse, a sympathetic character. The other three characters which include the femme fatale, Justine, the antagonist Jacques, and Miranda’s love interest Pierre popped off the page. Dialogue and scenes came easier for those characters whereas developing Miranda’s story arc felt like pulling hair at times.
I also wrote chapters in parallel using multiple viewpoints, which is a no-no according to some writing instructors. Literary agents also weren’t too keen on my preferences which are writing in fragments, using several viewpoints and then stringing all the story arcs together in the last chapter. I also don’t start my stories with a powerful inciting incident. I slowly pull the reader into the story, knowing that we live in an age of soundbites and ADHD.
Although I choose genres for my novels, I lump them into literary fiction so that I can avoid formulas which I cannot stand. I’m here to challenge readers to get outside of the box that was designed by the book publishing industry and not artists.
With all that in mind, let’s explore an excerpt.
In her dream, Miranda Florez saw Pierre’s face reflected on a window of a café. Standing frozen by the door, she realized that she could’ve pretended to browse the bags of coffee beans on the shelves of the old world café. She could have drunk in the smell of pastries baking in the back or enjoyed the French swing jazz that wafted through the café, but instead she awoke from her dream, startled by the image of her soul mate.
Instead of starting out with a “meet cute” scenario, I blend dreamtime while bending dimensions. This is the first clue that the reader is heading towards a magical realism experience. I begin my story with Miranda’s dream that transforms into a deja vu moment.
I also deleted some of the adjectives I had used earlier to bring the reader into the immediacy of Miranda’s experience and state of mind. Also, note that the characters’ dreams are happening in the physical reality—not easy to convey to a reader.
In his dream, Pierre Desjardin wished he had responded differently when he saw Miranda’s slight body draped in a long red skirt and a brown blazer hesitating by the door while he sat nursing a cup of coffee.
He regretted not taking the initiative and opening the door for her. She seemed familiar to him, yet his eyes wandered back to and glued themselves to his laptop where he worked on a sketch of a mixed-use building. And his resolve to finish his architectural design kept him braced to his wooden chair.
So, for this paragraph, the character Pierre’s mind moves from recalling a nightly dream to moving into his logical mind. While he can speak telepathically with the other characters he is also an architect who throughout the short story and the novel, fixes other people’s problems.
Pierre surprised me by becoming the strongest of the four characters and without his presence, novel would have fallen apart. He is also the catalyst for Miranda’s transformation from lost girl to a competent woman pursuing her dream of a professional photographer.
When Pierre awoke from his dream, he took stock of his life. Since he left Montréal, he lacked the initiative to meet any women in a city that would take eons to feel like home. Although he loved his job at a sustainable architecture firm in Bellingham, a college town ripe with potential, he missed Quebec at that moment. And his heart hurt.
Since this excerpt is not only from the first chapter of the novel but was a short fiction story, I jumped into Pierre’s backstory quickly. However, I use shorthand to tell it. I do not go on for several paragraphs to give the reader the information needed to understand the trajectory of the story.
Often writers of short fiction weight their narratives down with too much backstory. We only need enough to whet the appetite of the reader. Imagine going to a party and being cornered by someone who insists on telling you their lifelong biography. Don’t you want to escape?
My number one rule is don’t overwrite. If you do, then be ready to kill your darlings and delete massive text from your first and second drafts. The writing needs to flow and bring clarity at the same time. Use words wisely. Find words that can handle double duties. And if possible, don’t use too many passive verbs. They are boring. If we wanted to live fully in a place of being-ness we could meditate. Novel writing is active, not passive.
A few months had passed since Miranda began feeling a telepathic presence. She had experience in the metaphysical field and had spoken with spirits so this new communication felt normal to her. However, she wondered if she didn’t imagine the communication.
For years she desired a partner who would understand her evolved worldviews, having grown tired of explaining her shamanistic pursuits with the men she dated. Even the “open-minded” men balked when she mentioned that she spoke with animal guides and sang with plant spirits. The things that seemed common place to her knocked those men for a loop. They couldn’t wrap their minds around other dimensions, telepathic communication, and spirits dropping in during the most inopportune times.
I introduce the second element of magical realism which is telepathy. I also introduce shamanism, metaphysics, and alternative worldviews. I give the reader a hint that this novel has comedic elements. Although I take my writing seriously, I also play around with it. I enjoy humor.
After I wrote the short story and two years later decided to turn it into a novel, I realized I needed to read magical realism. But this wasn’t the only research I did. I also visited an architectural studio to learn more about Pierre’s work. I sat in city planning meetings that were open to the public, chatted with city council members, and engaged in civic activities. Then I also delved into a brain condition called Amusia, compliments of Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist no longer in the living.
Writing Toolkit
I pulled this tip from an article I wrote on pitfalls to avoid when writing memoirs.
Here is the link to the article on Belle Author on Wordpress. https://belleauthor.wordpress.com/2024/04/02/5-challenges-that-memoirists-face/
Avoiding the Passive Voice
Phrases that drive me crazy when I read a memoir are ones that start with “would have” or “would”. Why not just make those active sentences with action verbs? I’m surprised that passive and weak sentences even make it into the final draft or published book.
While it’s okay to write in a passive voice for the first few drafts, craft and polish your sentences and paragraphs prior to the publication.
Examples of a passive voice: Leroy, the dog would come to my door each morning.
A better sentence is:
Leroy arrived at my door each morning, pushed the door open and then gazed at me with his let’s go for a walk eyes.
Instead of: I would get up each morning and drink my coffee while gazing at the rainy street.
I drank my morning coffee while gazing at the rain through a picture window.
Give the reader fuel for their imagination rather than boring them with passive verbs and vague scenery. Many of my favorite authors use poetic language to describe their characters’ experiences while still moving their stories forward. It’s a balancing act.
Astrology Transit Tip
Jupiter which rules book publishing and academic literary journals is in the sign of Cancer from July 7, 2025 until June 30, 2026. Cancer rules sensitivity, nutrition, nurturing, the home, mothers and intuition. Cancer champions the underdog.
So, writing content with those themes in mind will improve your chances of publishing during this Jupiter transit. This also includes articles about the home, interior design, construction, food, nourishment, diet, the stomach, the breasts, bras, and motherhood. Starting a blog with those topics will also draw traffic or bring you good fortunate.
We will cover Uranus in Gemini (power of words) in an upcoming newsletter.
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