Your Words, More Powerful Than You Know
Morning, Prosers,
Every now and then, we like to highlight the other companies from the literary sphere who share our passion for words. Today, we'd like to promote One Stop for Writers.
Enjoy this blog and be sure to show them some literary love...
Prose.
Words are amazing, aren’t they? Just today I was reflecting on this and a video popped up in my Facebook feed where Off The Record TV host Michael Landsberg was opening up about an interview he did with Stéphane Richer, a retired NHL hockey player. In the interview, they’d had a short discussion on a shared struggle: depression. And while the two speaking candidly about their battle resonated deeply with viewers, it was what happened afterwards that is of note: a flood of emails thanking Michael for showing men that mental illness is okay to talk about.
One of these messages came from a viewer who was, in fact, about to commit suicide. Like others, he’d seen the segment and written to thank Michael for giving depression a voice. As he resumed his preparations, Michael responded to that email (not knowing at all what was about to transpire). It caused the man to stop long enough to read it, and then he replied.
They exchanged several emails. The man began to feel understood. He realized he had options, and chose not to go through with ending his life. He sought help, and years later, got in touch with Michael to tell him the impact of his words, and that he was here today because of them.
Powerful stuff, right? And this is why giving voice to our thoughts and ideas in writing is so important, and spending time to learn good craft, read, study, and practice is such a worthwhile pursuit.
Fiction: So Much More Than Entertainment
Some see fiction as a vehicle for pure enjoyment, but people usually read for a deeper reason: because life doesn’t come with a how-to manual.
After all, the real world can feel a bit isolating. There’s so much we don’t talk about openly. We don’t want others to think we’re clueless, lost, or maybe even a hot mess—it makes us feel vulnerable. But we also don’t always know how to navigate life’s ups and downs. Fiction gives us a safe way to experiment, and to experience hardship and struggles through another’s journey from brokenness to wholeness. And that’s important. Because really, aren’t we all a bit broken? Isn’t wholeness what we seek? I think so.
Reaching people, connecting with them though our feelings and beliefs…this is why we write. It is our passion. And learning to craft strong prose is critical as it helps us draw readers in so they share the character’s experiences as they unfold.
This is largely why Becca Puglisi (my co-author for The Emotion Thesaurus), and Lee Powell (the creator of Scrivener for Windows and Linux) created our site, One Stop For Writers. We want to support writers as they create, and help them bring their stories to life.
The three of us share a love of learning and we’re always seeking to improve our writing. But we find it a bit overwhelming because there is just so much craft advice, methods, and resources to use and only so much time to assess what we really need for our writing toolkits. So, we decided to pool our talents and create a library filled with all the things a writer really needs to write more efficiently, and craft deeper, more meaningful stories.
One Stop is unlike other sites, and we love that. It’s a bit like Prose in that regard—your creators saw a need (a way for writers to connect with readers) and set out to make it (by creating a community for sharing work using a social media-like format). One Stop is sort of the writer’s resource equivalent in that we supply tutorials, lessons, and step-by-step instructions to navigate certain difficult areas like story structure and character arc, and we pair it with powerful tools and description databases. It’s a great match, because instead of writers wasting time and effort searching the internet for help, it’s all in one place. Writers spend more time actually writing their stories.
Our site helps writers brainstorm, draft, and revise. We focus on encouraging writers to “show” the details that matter most, and so offer in-depth description thesauruses for emotion, sensory settings, weather, symbolism, character traits, talents and skills, emotional wounds, physiological features and many more. Our story boarding and structure tools include a Story Map, Scene Map, and Timeline tool—suitable for planners and pantsers because we recognize not everyone works the same. And in addition to some very unique writing worksheets & templates, our Idea Generator allows you to brainstorm useful elements like a character’s fears, secrets, emotional wounds, and even that important (yet hard to define) area of character arc: inner growth.
Our goal? Help all writers reach their potential by giving them the help and support they need to craft meaningful fiction. We want their readers to crack the page of a book and find characters so well drawn they feel like real people. (If you think this is something you might like to check out, feel free to stop by sometime. Registration is always free.)
When we write fiction, yes, we’re entertaining readers…but we’re also doing so much more. Imperfect characters who struggle make readers feel less alone. So keep, striving, Prosers! The hard work is so worth it. Fill your creative well, keep writing, and continue to fascinate readers by offering them an experience that will not be soon forgotten.
Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of many bestselling books, including The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. Passionate about helping and supporting writers, Angela runs the successful blog, Writers Helping Writers, and is the co-founder of One Stop For Writers, an innovative online library built to help writers elevate their storytelling. Registration is always free, so stop by sometime if you like!