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How to Describe a Roller Coaster

• Categories: Amusement Park Roller Coaster

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Words: 563 |

Published: Mar 16, 2024

Words: 563 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Physical description, sensory experience, emotional impact, psychological aspect, historical and cultural significance.

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Jennifer Furner

Writer of real life

Writing Prompt: Roller Coasters

The buzz of a roller coaster and high-pitched excited voices approach me. In another second, the cars roar on the track above as they whiz by. I see hair flapping and feet kicking. An explosion of gleeful screams from the passengers quickly dies out as the ride continues down the track. I can’t help but laugh out loud, amazed and amused, feeling the fear and fun of the riders though I stand on the ground and they fly through the air.


I hated my first roller coaster ride. My father took me on the [Bluestreak](https://www.cedarpoint.com/rides/Roller-Coasters/Blue-Streak) when I was in elementary school. It was the oldest coaster at the park. And when the car came over the hill and the ride accelerated, I closed my eyes and held my breath and imagined I was somewhere else, anywhere else. And then someone, I don’t know who, maybe my mother (but that wouldn’t make sense because she never stepped foot on a roller coaster all of her life), told me to try opening my eyes and screaming. So the next time I was yanked onto a ride (I wouldn’t have gone willingly), that’s exactly what I did, and I was cured. Cured or cursed? Cursed with desire for speeding down twisted metal.

In the summer, the lines last for hours. Before smartphones, we made up words games to pass the time. When [Top Thrill Dragster](https://www.cedarpoint.com/rides/Roller-Coasters/Top-Thrill-Dragster) arrived, the wait time was three hours for a ride time of seventeen seconds. It was new and didn’t always perform perfectly. The car may make it over the one drastic 420-foot hill, but it may not; if not, the car comes [rolling backwards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKzl7F1HXYA) to where it started, speeding down the hill it just climbed. We stand in the herd, waiting our turn, watching every car that goes up that steep incline, watch it slow down drastically toward the top, nearly crawling to reach the top. The whole crowd inhales together and holds that breath in their mouth until the car inches far enough for gravity to take it the rest of the way over the hump, plunging down down down, faster than a bullet. And we all cheer triumphantly.


When it is finally my turn, I lower myself into the car. My heart races and my palms sweat. I wipe my hands on my jean shorts and try to ration my breath. Most coasters, you can’t see what’s coming until you’re there. But I’ve had three hours to stare up at this monster and contemplate the speed, the height, the angle. Getting in that car, waiting for the thumbs up from the workers, pulling away from the loading platform never gets easier for me. But it’s too late. I’m in the seat. The car is on the track. The stoplight moves from yellow to green, and in an instant, I am hurled forward and shot into the air, screaming all the way.

Coming to [Cedar Point](https://www.cedarpoint.com/) is like coming home, and yet every time I visit, it feels like the first time. It still awes me with its colors, its sounds, its energy. It dares me to strap in, take a risk, get spun upside down and every other direction. I am a kid again here, a fearless kid who can take on anything. And even though I know I shouldn’t take on everything, especially if I want to keep all my food in my stomach, I feel that power of possibility, that power that says I will conquer.


*What’s your favorite coaster? What’s your favorite amusement park? Set your timer and write about it. Share your story in the comments below.*

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19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

roller coaster - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

• Fantasy Land
• ride or die
• summer season

The roller coaster was the high of the summer, always firmly on the rails and always flying at mach one.

The roller coaster weaved the sky to the earth and the earth to the sky; and in that car we, and our emotions, were the thread.

The roller coaster was a way to clean out my system and hit the reset button. All the adrenaline, all that high emotion, it grounded me every time. God, I loved it.

The roller coaster was a metal caterpillar that enabled us to fly.

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Narrative Writing : How to Teach a Story Arc as Thrilling as a Roller Coaster

Simply assigning a narrative writing prompt doesn’t teach students how to write stories. Creating a story arc is a critical first step.

Imagine if you could teach your students how to build a story arc that would transform their narrative writing from blah to wow! Over the next several blog posts, you’ll discover strategies, techniques, and ideas to do just that. These mini doses of lesson ideas are teacher tested, tried, and true.

Table of Contents

How Story Arc is Like a Roller Coaster

You’ll find story arc diagrams all over the internet and in many writing workbooks. Some teachers liken story arc to climbing a mountain, a car ride up a hill, or something similar.

That doesn’t sound very exciting. Put yourself in your students’ heads for a moment. Which is more interesting and exciting?

• Climbing a mountain
• A car ride up a hill
• A roller coaster ride

If your students are like the ones in my classes, you chose the roller coaster ride.

We want students to understand that a story needs to grab a person’s interest and keep them enthralled in the story until the very end. To illustrate this, take your students on a roller coaster ride.

You can find some good virtual roller coaster rides online. This is perfect if you teach elementary grades in which many of the students still haven’t met the height requirement for a ride. They’re still too short to ride a roller coaster, so a virtual ride can show them how exciting one can be. They might even have butterflies in their stomachs as they fly around the virtual bends.

Ride that virtual roller coaster one or two times. Ride it again, but this time, pause the video at critical points to teach the parts of a story arc.

Explicit Teaching of the Parts of a Story Arc

So you’ve gone on a roller coaster ride with your class, and now your students are probably laughing and chatting about how much fun it was. Explain to them that’s how a well paced story should make a reader feel. I’ve created a short video highlighting some of the steps in the roller coaster story arc that you can watch here.

You can also scroll to the end of this blog post to watch it.

Character and Setting

First, show the part of the video where the riders are getting on board. Where are they? Who are they? Who is around them? How many riders are in each car? These are the characters and the setting.

Have a class discussion or group discussions in which the students describe the setting and the characters in the roller coaster. If the video doesn’t show the people, have your students create characters.

Introduce the Rising Action

This is the beginning section of the ride. Here is where the characters are setting off on a journey (the ride.) They’re anticipating a fun time. Slowly, they begin to climb up to the top of the first hill on the roller coaster.

How does it feel? Is the climb bumpy and noisy, as on an old wooden roller coaster? Is it smooth and quiet as on one of the more modern roller coasters? What do they see? What sensaciones do they experience?

Ideally, students should volunteer that they feel anticipation, perhaps even a little bit of nervousness as they look around and realize how high the roller coaster car is going. 

One thing to note is that on most roller coasters, when you’re ascending the first hill, you can’t see what’s ahead. When you get to the top, it’s a surprise. This is where some of the newbies start to scream. 🙂

Add More Story Problems

Now is when the roller coaster ride gets interesting. You’ve climbed the first hurdle, and now you’re looking down. After a pause, down you go. Just when you think you’ve survived the drop,

Another hurdle appears.

Then another. 

On some of the better roller coaster rides, each hurdle seems bigger or faster than the last. It’s the same with a well written narrative.

Narrative Writing : Moment of No Return

Now you’re at the top of the highest hurdle. You look down and decide, “Maybe this roller coaster ride wasn’t such a good idea.” But you can’t back out now. There’s nowhere to go, nothing else to do, but hang on and finish the ride.

This moment should happen at the 75% to 80% mark of the story. Roald Dahl books are perfectly aligned with this. You can point to the exact page numbers at this percentage point where the climax of his novels occur.

Narrative Writing : Resolution, Solution, or Denouement

Finally, students need to write a satisfying resolution to the story. It can’t just end. 

You can illustrate this with your students by reading aloud a story.

Sit back and smile when you hear their howls of outrage. 🙂 

They won’t forget how important a satisfying denouement is after that.

How to Assign Interesting Story Ideas

One common piece of advice is to have students keep a story ideas journal. Or perhaps a teacher will give a prompt such as, “Write a narrative story. It can be about anything you want.”

I recommend avoiding this strategy. 

If you have students choose the prompt, you’re going to give yourself too much stress. You’ll make more work for yourself in editing and grading. Many students won’t even be able to get started, because they’ll get stuck in the “I Don’t Know What To Write” quicksand.

You choose the story idea. Tell them how many characters they should have. For short stories it should be no more than three. I advise two.

Imagine how much easier a writer’s workshop would be if you gave your students a specific prompt each week. You’d see similar themes, but totally different stories. Since the themes are similar, it will be easier to grade. Also, when you meet in small writing groups, it will go more smoothly, because all the students are working on the same prompt.

You and your students will be amazed at how different all the stories can be. Don’t worry about stifling creativity. You’ll actually see how much more creative they can be as they write stories that can stand out from each other.

For example, you can give them a narrative prompt to write about a first day at school on Mars. The characters can be the student, a teacher, and one other person. Obviously the setting is a school, but on Mars instead of Earth.

Every student will have different ideas to share. You’ll be free to teach each student at their own level, whether it be descriptive writing, paragraphing, using active verbs, or anything else they need at their own level.

Are you looking for new, interesting writing prompts? Here are 52 prompts that will unlock your students’ creativity . They’re arranged by topic, making it easy to find what you need.

For another list of ideas for writing prompts, I’d love to share this blog post from Vibrant Teaching, 20 Narrative Writing Prompts That Spark Creativity .

Keep the Narrative Writing “How To” Lessons Simple

You definitely want to keep the lessons simple. Each week, give a deep dive lesson on a part of the story arc. Inform your students what specific thing you’ll be looking for in their writing.

If you do a lesson on a story hook, you can tell the students you’ll be looking for openings to the story that grab the reader’s attention. I used to jokingly tell my students that if I yawned during the opening of their story, they automatically would be marked down a grade. 🙂

Focus on one particular piece of the narrative at a time. Build on each skill. By the end of your narrative writing unit, students will be responsible for using what they’ve learned in each area.

In the next blog post in this series, we’ll dive into how to teach character and setting. Since these are set out in the beginning of the narrative, we’ll also look at how to teach writing a story hook.

See you then!

P.S. Before you go, don’t forget to pick up your free story arc roller coaster graphic to use with your class. It’s available in the Member Vault .

More narrative writing posts:

• Teach Character Arc Like a Pro
• Teach a Gripping Problem and Satisfying Solution
• 9 Creative Ways to Publish Student Writing
• No Time to Teach Writing? 7 Ways to Fit it in Each Day

*Some of the links in this post contain affiliate or paid for advertising. When you click on the link, I may receive a small remuneration, at no extra cost to you. 

Related posts:

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Privacy Overview

Amusement parks have been known for their constant innovation and expansion. Park executives are always looking for the next big thing to draw in a crowd—relying on annual pass holders and nostalgia isn’t always enough. Roller coasters are a great way to do just that, and while the general public gets to glimpse parts of the production process—such as the building and promoting of new rides—a plethora of decisions and plans are made behind the scenes.

In order to explore the work that happens between the thought of a new roller coaster and opening day, we’ll have to put on our Roller Coaster Tycoon hats, asking ourselves the big questions—and the equally important small ones—that go into park planning. After this, you may even be able to guess what’s coming next at your favorite park.

Where’s the Gap? 

If you hang around coaster enthusiasts long enough, you’ll start hearing them mentioning gaps in park lineups. What exactly are gaps?

Well, amusement parks are responsible for providing a high level of satisfaction for a wide selection of guests: thrill seekers, families with small children, roller coaster enthusiasts, annual pass holders, tourists, foodies, photographers, to name a few. This is harder than it may seem. Amusement parks, even in their roller coaster lineups, must have variety, from kiddie coasters to record breakers. Sure, some of us would love to go to a park chock-full of intense, heart-stopping, stomach-dropping roller coasters, but would that really be equitable for a major park, only marketing to a specific—mostly adult—crowd? No. Parks must pull in all demographics to survive the competitive landscape.

A park of all intense "grown-up" coasters would have a major gap, the gap in question being family and kiddie coasters. The next time you go to your favorite park, try to pick out the gaps.

As an example, let’s start with Busch Gardens Tampa, a constantly-evolving park that’s just as focused on its animal exhibits and beautiful scenery as it is its roller coasters. With arguably the most expansive lineup in Florida, Busch Gardens Tampa will boast ten roller coasters in total this year, including a kiddie coaster in Air Grover, a shuttle launch coaster in its newest addition, Tigris, a classic sit-down looper, an inverted coaster (aka, where your feet dangle below the track), and plenty more. With Iron Gwazi opening later this year, this will fill in the park’s gap for a hybrid coaster (a relatively newer park need with the emergence of Rocky Mountain Construction's hybrid models). To decide what comes next for this park, executives must examine their lineup and find any areas or demographics they may be missing out on.

So with these ten coasters, where’s the gap?

You could say the park’s missing an intense Gigacoaster (or, a coaster that exceeds 300 feet) like Fury 325 at Carowinds, or maybe a classic wooden coaster like defunct dueling coaster Gwazi. Busch Gardens Tampa doesn’t currently have any indoor coasters, so perhaps that would be an area to consider.

The park already has a world-renowned sit-down looper in Kumba, so it’s safe to say they won’t be building one any time soon. The same goes for launch coasters (Cheetah Hunt and Tigris) and spinning coasters (Cobra’s Curse, which also acts as a great family addition for younger audiences).

A Broader Scope

Examining gaps doesn’t stop within the park boundaries. One must also look at the surrounding parks, such as parks in the same state or surrounding area, for gaps. To keep with the Busch Gardens example, Busch Gardens Tampa would probably benefit from a Hypercoaster, or a coaster that exceeds 200 feet. However, with Mako at Sea World Orlando just over an hour away, it would be somewhat pointless to build a similar coaster so close by. The same goes for a flying coaster, with Manta easily filling that role. If you think about your state or your area, you will probably find that there’s not a great amount of overlap between your closest parks’ roller coaster lineups. You'll rarely find two of the same type of ride in your state.

Why is this? Once again, it comes down to profit and marketing. In order for, say, Busch Gardens Williamsburg to pull a crowd from King’s Dominion, both parks in Virginia, they must offer something different, something you can’t just get at the park down the street. Variety and individuality is key for a standout amusement park.

In examining the gaps, things are already narrowed down for those who make decisions at major parks. So what comes next?

Limitations 

Limitations are most commonly found in three categories: space, money, and permits.

Space pertains to how much actual space is in the park to build upon. Parks like Cedar Point struggle with this, as it is built on a landlocked peninsula. In order to expand, either something must be removed, or you have to get creative. Getting creative can mean anything from purchasing a roller coaster that can be set on a small plot of land, to weaving a coaster structure in and out of existing rides and buildings. Busch Gardens Tampa recently made good use of space in their newest coaster, Tigris. This is a Sky Rocket II model from Premier Rides, a cloned model (or a model with exact copies found in multiple locations) made to provide a high level of thrills in a small plot of land. On top of being a short track length, the roller coaster is incredibly narrow and therefore able to squeeze into even the smallest of footprints. 

Money is, well, money. When parks are deciding on a new roller coaster, they must examine the loss versus the gain. As with any business venture, the new product must be profitable, or make back its money and then some. A relatively slower season (see: 2020) may cause a slimmer wallet for parks, and send them to either cheaper manufacturers or smaller additions. But even if parks are doing poorly, certain parks take a big swing with the plans of a high reward in return, building massive additions with the hopes that the people will come.

Permits are perhaps the most boring and tedious part of the coaster-planning process. Though not every park is restricted by permits and local residents, it’s a bigger problem than you’d think. Restrictions such as noise ordinances or height barriers constantly have to be dealt with in this industry. If a park is too close to an airport, for example, they may not be able to exceed the 200-foot height mark.

This isn’t always a bad thing, though. Take a look at Phantasialand in Germany, a park heavily barred by height restrictions that came up with the creative solution to build lower instead of higher. By starting lower, using the landscape and trenches to build, new crowd-pleasing roller coasters can thrive.

Peyton is a writer and roller coaster enthusiast living just outside Orlando, Florida. She is currently seeking her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida, taking classes by day and hitting the theme parks by night. When she's not in the single rider line, you can find Peyton playing music or at the movies. 

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Writing on a Roller Coaster

The writing life is a roller coaster.

Ups, downs, freefalls, derailments, and the occasional technical difficulty that leaves you stranded at the top of a virtual mountain.

2020 was truly some next-level stuff , but so far 2021 is also keeping me on my toes.

My current roller coaster life

UP: New books published!

After 4.5 years the  Little Elephants’ BIG Adventures  series is finally out in the world. The first three books are available on Amazon and there are more coming: I turned in the 9th book earlier this month.

FREEFALL: Emergency pet surgery

My best coworker had two surgeries this month and almost didn’t make it through. He’s a frequent guest on my social media.

BIG UP: Vaccines!

The adults in the house were able to get vaccinated! Our lives are not much different right now but there’s hope that someday we’ll be able to get back to normal.

DOWN: Pandemiversary

Some anniversaries are not so fun. People often have BIG FEELS ™ at the anniversary of loss or traumatic events. I hit the pandemic wall big time at the 1 year mark.

Cupcakes don’t make everything better, but they don’t not make things better.

DERAILMENT: *gagging face emoji*

Last week our finished basement was ripped apart thanks to a sewage backup. I got to work from home to the dulcet tones of a lawnmower and circular saw.

UP AGAIN: Lots of exciting stuff in the pipeline

I’m currently blessed with more work than my sieve of a brain can keep track of. (Including some exciting new Work for Hire projects!) So I had to do some next-level project planning and organization that feels extreme even to me.

Writing on a roller coaster

Climb into the seat, buckle your belt, pull the bar into place. Now balance your typewriter on the bar and tappa tap as you begin to chink, chink up towards the first big hill. …I’m sure this will be fine.

Life is a roller coaster whether or not you’re a writer. But doing creative work gets hard when you’ve got BIG FEELS ™ and busy times that use up all the mental space that you need for writing.

Last fall I wrote a writer’s roadmap for writing in hard times . All of that advice is still relevant.

For myself, I tie the typewriter to the coaster lap bar with a rope. Sometimes you hit a freefall and it falls overboard. Just hold on until it’s done. Then when things level out for a bit, reel it back in and tappa tap some more. The downs happen but as long as you keep writing when you can, you’ll hit those writing ups too.

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Creative Writing with Story Prompts

1. The Roller Coaster Ride:

• Watch the 30-second video a few times.
• a) Write down the first words that come into your mind as you watch it. b) Write down a synonym for each word (where possible).
• Discuss the following questions with a partner or small group:

• What is happening? • Who is in the video? • What is their relationship? • Where are they? • Why are they there? • When did they get there? • How far have they travelled? • What happened just before this moment? • What will happen five minutes later? • Have you ever had such an experience? When? • How did you feel at that time? • How do you feel looking back?

(Remember, there are no wrong answers!)

4.   Write quick (spontaneous) answers to the following questions:

A (blonde, on the left) and B (brunette) – give them names: A ______; B ______.

The Roller Coaster Ride

• Now read the following information and complete the gaps:

This is the last time these two women ever met. Why?

______ knows a devastating secret about ______, that even she does not know. What is it?

______’s father is a famous ______ who fought in ______ .

______’s mother worked for ______’s cousin as a ______ until ______, when  ______.

______ was kicked out of university because of ______.

A few days ago ______ there was an unpleasant moment when ______.

______ has always felt she would never be able to ______.

______ is not willing to try to ______.

• Now answer the questions again in the light of what you have decided:
• It’s two years later. Now write a letter from one of the women to the other woman’s husband.

Video courtesy:  https://videos.pexels.com/videos/roller-coaster-852415

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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

The Emotional Roller Coaster all Writers Experience

June 25, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Welcoming Martha Alderson (The Plot Whisperer) today, who is brilliant at digging down to the deepest layers of a story. Martha’s new book, Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Bl ocks (affiliate link) tackles the inner journey of writers and what might hold them back from producing their best creative work. Today she’s looking at something oh-so-familiar: the emotional ups and downs of writing a story . Read on!

How you feel as you write a story from beginning to end usually depends on where you are in the story. In other words, your feelings when you begin are usually vastly different than how you feel plotting and writing the middle, or when you craft the ending. The more aware you are of where the sharp turns and unnerving pitfalls are likely to occur, the more apt you are to move through the writing process with grace.

Writers usually feel a sense of relief in knowing that whatever they are experiencing—no matter how challenging or frustrating—is normal and part of the Universal Story at the heart of every great creative journey. To understand that you are not the only one who is hit with setbacks and hardships and it is in fact a stage we all pass through brings comfort. Let’s look at these stages.

The Beginning

At the start of any creative endeavor, you’re a willing participant. You have a seed of inspiration you’re eager to follow, find worth in your pursuit, are energized and uplifted by the possibilities, and see a shining future for yourself.

Beginnings are not the time to think rationally about all the reasons why you shouldn’t or couldn’t dream and desire what you want. Simply let your imagination roam free, and as you do, begin to settle into a routine of showing up for your writing. Decide where and when you’ll devote time and attention to your story. Schedule your writing time on your calendar you so you’re sure to stay true to your commitment to yourself.

Though some writers prefer to wait for inspiration to hit before writing, the muse seems to show up more consistently when it knows where and when you’re likely to be waiting to receive.

As you start writing the beginning, try imagining where your protagonist will be at the end of the story doing something she’s unable to do anywhere else in the story because first she needs to learn new skills and abilities.

The middle of a story is the territory of the antagonists. This is where, in a story, the protagonist meets obstacles and antagonists. The same thing happens to you. At some point, after you cross over from the excitement of beginning a new story and have settled into a writing routine, you stumble. You come face-to-face with your limitations. The early middle phase of undertaking anything new—such as living in these current times—signals the need to learn lessons and new skills, gain experience and knowledge about what’s expected of you and those around you, increase your self-awareness, and manage your emotions.

You may find yourself stumped about plot, or your dialogue feels stilted, or your characters are wooden, or you struggle to show your characters’ emotions rather than simply tell the reader how they feel ( The Emotion Thesaurus by Ackerman and Puglisi is a terrific resource how to demonstrate how a character is feeling). Snags such as these are not uncommon. All writers confront weaknesses in their understanding of the craft.

Rest assured that setbacks are a natural part of the creative process and to be expected. Their main objective is to pause your progress (not to send you into a tailspin) and alert you of something you’re missing to succeed.

As difficult as the challenges you face may seem at the time, so long as you take the time to learn the skills you’re missing through reading craft books, studying how success writers in your genre deal with the issue you’re stymied by, attending classes, and turning to others for help, setbacks always come with gifts of knowledge, experience, skills, and tools that will serve you throughout your entire writing life.

Internal Struggles

Beyond the weaknesses you may discover about specific elements around the craft of writing, you may also be confronted with internal weaknesses as well. You find yourself procrastinating rather than sticking to your writing schedule. You read over what you’ve written and judge yourself harshly. You believe you’re not good enough, smart enough, worthy enough to be a writer.

Complications and trials at this point in the process are emotional lessons created specifically for each individual person. So long as you persevere and learn about yourself from the conflicts and stumbling blocks, they become priceless opportunities to gain insight into your beliefs, acceptance of your emotions and wisdom about yourself—virtues that will prove helpful in all aspects of your life.

A Dark Night

Proud of yourself for overcoming those low points and traps, you continue writing. But, wait. You are not out of the woods, because eventually, as you keep writing, a crisis strikes. You suffer an excruciating critique. Your characters turn on you. You hit a wall and believe you’ve failed. This perceived failure happens either through no fault of your own or because of self-sabotaging habits and beliefs. Failure happens when you unconsciously expect to fail, when you’ve wandered too far afield from your destiny, or when you’ve stumbled and fallen short of your promise.

Failure, brokenness, fear, emptiness, alienation, and great loss—your ego destroyed—leave room for profound growth. In every endeavor, difficulties multiply to a breaking point that signifies the death of your creative vision and dream, and even your nerve. Not every writer falls into such a profound tailspin, however, the more emotionally attached you are to your piece, the harder the fall. If you find you’ve stopped writing and even the thought of continuing with your story brings up dark feelings of failure, chances are you have slid into the abyss.

How you react now prepares the ground for the next time you struggle, hit a wall, or feel a failure. You either give up or you understand that to succeed, something has to change. And, that something is you. Why me, you might ask. Because your relationship with your writing and all you create is reflective of your relationship with yourself.

Self-Doubt and Emotional Traps

We all experience moments of doubt and a lack of self-confidence. A problem develops when those moments turn into hours, days, months, and even years, and interfere with, block, or even stop the creative process altogether. Once the cycle of anxiety and insecurity sends you spinning like a top, getting you nowhere, it’s important to learn to stop. Learn to listen to what you’re saying to yourself to rise above the dilemma and more clearly see and understand the true problem.

If you’re willing to dive deep into your emotions, learn about yourself, and begin to trust your own inner knowing, you are gifted with insight, sparks of inspiration, and invitations to explore ideas that pop into your imagination. Every breakdown also offers the opportunity of a breakthrough. Releasing unproductive habits and belief patterns is a spiritual task that leads to the development and growth of faith in you yourself.

Don’t Deny Your Feelings

Don’t change how you feel or fix your feelings. Now that you’re aware of your emotions, accept that this moment is happening as a gift to experience more of the unknown. You’ve learned lessons that your flaws determined. Slowly, you become stronger having accepted and embraced your imperfections. Each learning-growth-change-transformation cycle plays out in ways that uniquely match your specific spiritual, writing, life-skills needs.

After you’ve dusted yourself off and are determined to reach the end no matter what comes, the struggles don’t just disappear. In fact, they rise in intensity. Except now on your way to triumph you have all you need to go the distance.

The more you learn about yourself through writing and creating, the more conscious you become of every aspect of yourself . Ultimately, the spiritual purpose of creating is to challenge you to express yourself fully with no doubt or fear. Our stories and what we write has its own energy and the potential to change the world.

MARTHA ALDERSON is the author of the best-selling The Plot Whisperer . She writes novels for readers, plot books for writers, and most recently Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks for anyone looking to enrich their lives with more creativity and inspiration.

Her other books are Writing Blockbuster Plots and Writing Deep Scenes , The Plot Whisperer Workbook , The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts, as well as several ebooks. Look for her latest novel Parallel Lives: A ’60s Love Story coming out summer 2020. She lives and writes in Santa Cruz. Learn more about Alderson on her website , and connect with her on Facebook, Instagram , LinkedIn, Twitter, and Youtube.

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers , a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Reader Interactions

December 9, 2020 at 7:22 pm

So true. I definitely fall into those rhythms of writing.

June 29, 2020 at 10:26 am

The Universe never ceases to amaze me. You just wrote my story–I have been struggling with self-doubt, criticism, fear, unworthiness…the whole range of self-defeating emotions and blockages that you wrote of. I kept this blog in my email after reading the title, knowing that it was something I had to read when I finally sat back down to write, and all I can say is: Thank You So Much, Martha for writing it, and Angela for posting it! Keep doing what you’re doing!!

June 29, 2020 at 8:53 pm

Dear Kristina, Your comments have made me so happy! Not your struggle, of course, but that you see yourself in the universal story. So glad the piece resonates with you and I hope soothes and restores your spirit. Thank you for sharing your inner life and for your generous words!

June 27, 2020 at 2:38 pm

I like how this relates to the structure of a novel. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who gets crippled by self-doubt from time to time.

June 29, 2020 at 9:49 am

Self-doubt reveals places within us that need a bit of reflection and invites us to explore internally for answers and insight. In other words, self-doubt comes with the ultimate gift of self-awareness. As our characters grow and transform, so too do we! Thanks for commenting, Dawn.

[…] 5 unforced errors writers make that stand between themselves and success, Martha Alderson examines the emotional roller coaster all writers experience, and Janelle Harris Dixon reminds us that Toni Morrison proved there’s no time limit for […]

6 stages of the creative roller coaster – and how to cope

How to ride the towering highs and crippling lows of the creative process.

Creative projects can be a rollercoaster of emotions, with towering highs and crippling lows. It’s ok to feel fear at some point: indeed if you don’t, there's a good chance you’re not pushing yourself enough.

Inspired by the description in creative collaboration book Make Space by Scott Doorley and Scott Witthoft, Fred Deakin – professor of Interactive Digital Arts at UAL and ex-Airside founder – outlines the six stages creatives typically go through on challenging projects, and how to deal with each.

01. Excitement: the promise of the new


Being on the cusp of a new idea, or being presented with a fresh creative brief, is probably one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating parts of the creative process.

The possibilities seem limitless and you've usually got the time and leisure to frolic in the creativity of it all, at least for a while.

What to do at this stage

Make sure to enjoy it and let your inspiration fuel and guide you. However, you should also ready yourself for the inevitable fall from grace.

02. Confusion: the step into the fog

When you really get stuck into the project, you'll begin to feel the initial glow start to slowly fade and the reality of the undertaking gradually seep in.

You quickly realise that there are so many more things to think about than you originally anticipated. The enormity of it all can feel overwhelming.

Too much thinking at this stage can be poison. You need to break through the fog by doing and/or making. Get straight to sketching and mocking up quick and dirty prototypes. Use the creative momentum to steer you away from the quicksands of complexity.

03. Hope: the moments of clarity


The fog lifts and you feel like you've got it all figured out! The creative angels are calling you home. Take caution here. The road ahead might seem clear, but you might have missed the bigger prize still a few sketches and mockups away.

Push to find the path forward, but remain critical of the clarity you stumble upon. Don't fall into any false sense of security. Challenge your own thinking to reach the best result.

04. Despair: the crisis of confidence

What were you thinking? Who do you think you are? You can't do this. You're a failure. Useless.

You can and should mostly ignore these inner-goblins. You can do it. In fact you already are doing it! Move on. Keep creating. 



Play to your strengths by using your particular skills to push the project forward. Hitting a wall may be a sign you need some outside perspective or help from someone with complimentary skills to your own.

05. Acceptance of the creative compromises


As the deadline begins to loom, you slowly realise you're not going to be able to do it all. As you begin crafting the deliverables, you find everything takes longer than you expected.

You know you will have to make compromises. Be brave enough to stick with what will make your project special, and be wise enough to let go of the rest. More doing and prototyping may help you come to these conclusions.


06. Relief: the finish line


It's all over. It nearly killed you, but you did it. It feels good, but in the sweetness there may be a lingering sense of anti-climax.

Take time to celebrate your accomplishments and reflect on your process. Know what you want to do better next time.



You know deep-down you're not really done anyway. Go back to the start if feel you inspired to. If not, move on to bigger and better things soon.

This is an updated version of an interview with Fred Deakin during two-week creative workshop Modual .

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Half a Hundred Acre Wood

Christian homeschooling integrating Classical and Charlotte Mason principles

Roller Coaster Writer: Cursive for Beginners

“Cursive sounds like it would be hard, but it’s actually easier.” -Levi, age 8

As a homeschool mom, I think one of the hardest things for me to overcome is my own tendency towards defaulting back to how I was taught. Anything I come across that’s different throws me for a loop. I resist changing because I like to do what I know. It worked for me, so why shouldn’t it work for everyone else? The longer I homeschool, the more I realize that there are strengths and weaknesses in everything.

Here’s truth: New things throw me into an unfamiliarity frenzy. Take, for instance, when our first son was born. I didn’t know how to change a diaper. After four boys, I’m glad to say it no longer throws me for a loop. (Well, sort of.) Sure enough, this principle carries over full force into the homeschooling realm. I’m always second-guessing myself and thinking I’ll mess it all up. I realize I have trust issues. I know God will supply all my needs (and those of our children) according to his riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), but knowing and trusting are two different things.

If you have a struggling writer…

We’ve been there, too. And by struggling, I mean the very act of holding a pencil just to write a simple word. All three of our school-age boys could formulate ideas and communicate them verbally, but when it came to writing those thoughts or ideas down, a battle began. I’ve never admitted this, but I honestly thought all of them suffered from dysgraphia or some other learning disability. But then… I came across some research that sort of rocked my world. It went against what I knew to be “the way we’ve always done it.” The deeper I dug, the more I realized I needed to switch gears to help our third son to overcome this writing aversion.

What was this single thought that rocked my world? Abandon print handwriting and start with cursive.

Who ever heard of young children writing cursive before print?!? It seemed so impossible and ludicrous to me. After all, don’t children need to write in print to be able to read bookface print? Cursive is so much harder. Why would you force your child to start with something that’s more difficult?

I had not realized how fully I had embraced modern education until I started reading about how writing was taught before the 1920’s. This was a real struggle for me. But… because of my experience with our two oldest sons, who eventually learned to write through many tears and frustrations, and because of those same tears and frustrations being displayed by our third son, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to set aside print this year to try out this grand experiment. After all, our son was…

• capitalizing letters in the middle of words
• writing all over the page without consistent spacing (Letters within words were spaced too far apart, making the single word look like multiple words. On the other hand, the spaces that were supposed to be between words were nonexistent.)
• reversing b’s & d’s. (Our 13-year-old STILL struggles with this!)
• getting stuck in the middle of words (Lack of fluent writing resulted in a lack of fluent thought.)
• absolutely, positively hating writing

As I started to teach him cursive, I collected resources from everywhere to attempt to teach him in a way that would make it simple. I modified handwriting sheets, invented different ways to explain the formation of the letters, and sort of hodge-podged our way through it.

The first thing I noted as he learned to connect cursive into words was that his pencil wasn’t freezing every time he needed to write a new letter. Whereas print handwriting requires a child to remember several different starting points (along with spacing), in cursive, there exists only one starting point.

(I modified the cursive resources we were using at the time because the upstroke was not included on the a, d, g, or q. However, if the cursive program includes the upstroke on these letters, all of the lowercase cursive letters start at the baseline.) As we continued, I noticed his apprehension with writing fade away, his memory on how to spell words improve, and, most of all, his enjoyment of writing spring forth. Believe it or not, he now even pursues writing in his spare time! This is no minor feat. I give God the glory for providing me with some foundational principles for teaching him to enjoy writing words. And I’m grateful that He’s provided me with a passion for sharing “our journey of a thousand words” with others!

It’s one thing to pursue cursive for beauty’s sake. It’s another when it provides a foundation for success when you’ve previously experienced multiple struggles and failures. I taught our oldest two sons how to print for at least three years and then taught them cursive. By that time, they had developed writing habits that caused them to resist a new way of learning. Both of them revert back to print any time they are writing, and they still sometimes get hung up on that b-and-d-reversal issue. Our thirteen-year-old often praises Levi for his beautiful handwriting. What a joy it has been to see him flourish!

But what about print? It still has its place, and we will work on mastering print in a year or two. For now we are enjoying the fact that he can now write with ease. (Research shows that moving from cursive to print is easier than moving from print to cursive. Our experience reflects that, too.) In the words of our 8-year-old, “Cursive is just easier,” so why not start with cursive first?

Introducing… The Roller Coaster Writer

And so… this brings me to the whole reason we’ve started a series of cursive resources called Script-n-Scribe . It really is something deeply personal for us, but it’s a “deeply personal” that we want to share with others. When you’ve seen something turn struggles into triumphs and dread into joy, it provides the catalyst for so much more.

Over the past few months, I’ve been organizing a method of teaching cursive based on our research and experience in hopes that it will be a blessing to other families to help them teach their children to read and write more easily. The program uses an analogy of a roller coaster to help children form the strokes that comprise cursive letters.

This 137-page resource includes four sets of cards: Lowercase Cursive Instruction Cards, Uppercase Cursive Instruction Cards, Bookface Print Phonogram Cards, and Numeral Instruction Cards, along with an 84-page practice workbook that starts with learning six basic lowercase starting strokes and builds up to the formation of each letter.

This program is a resource for instructors to engage with children in how to write cursive letters. It also teaches the bookface print form of each phonogram and has been designed to provide a foundation for moving into the structured spelling and phonics instruction offered in a variety of programs, including (but not limited to) Spell to Write and Read or All About Spelling and All About Reading .

Cursive Clipboards (with Personalization)

Also available are acrylic and wooden clipboards for cursive practice. These may be used with The Roller Coaster Writer or any other cursive program.

Both acrylic and wooden clipboards have been laser engraved on the back to provide a solid surface on the front for use with paper. Students can practice pencil- or stylus-tracing the letters on the back of the wooden clipboard, or it may simply be hung on a wall and used as a reference. The letters on the acrylic clipboard have been etched in reverse to allow for dry-erase tracing on the front of the clipboard.

All of our laser-engraved wooden and acrylic resources are handmade here by my husband at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood Shop!

Read testimonials of our Script-n-Scribe Cursive Curriculum here . Also check out the following video reviews of our Script-n-Scribe Roller Coaster Writer & Letter Connector programs!

For students who know how to write individual letters but need assistance with connecting those letters into words and sentences, check out the Script-n-Scribe Letter Connector . For students who have already been introduced to cursive handwriting, check out our Script-n-Scribe Poetry Penmanship Cursive Copywork book, Americana Poetry & Art Study , Truth Traveler Poetry & Art Study , or download our free John 1 Cursive Copywork . If you have questions or comments regarding this program, please contact me at [email protected].

FREE media mail shipping for orders of physical products over $100! (Free shipping will automatically update if your sub-total includes over $100 in tangible items.) View all of our products here in our shop .

If you are shopping through a charter school, please refer to each product description to determine if the resource is eligible for purchase through your charter school account.

Physical items (books and/or other tangible products) ship from our shop within 3 business days. Tracking information is sent to the Paypal email address used at checkout as soon as your item is shipped. If you purchase the PDF download version, you will receive instant access to the ebook version of the item you purchased, and the download link will automatically send to the Paypal email address used at check-out.

Books and e-Books

Need help with learning to connect letters?

Purchase the Roller Coaster Writer, Letter Connector, and Poetry Penmanship PDF Bundle! The Roller Coaster Writer, Letter Connector, and Poetry Penmanship & Memorization PDFs are available as a discounted set. Click here to read more about the Script-n-Scribe Letter Connector program, and click here to read more about our Poetry Penmanship program.

Note:  This resource is NOT suitable for purchase through a charter/public school program due to religious content within the Poetry Penmanship book.

Supplemental Cursive Tools

Personalize it for only $5 more! Click here to order a personalized wooden clipboard with your child’s name!

Personalize it for only $5 more! Click here to order a personalized acrylic clipboard with your child’s name!

Save with these discounts!

To see all of our cursive curriculum options, enter our shop . The more you purchase, the more you save!

• Orders $200-$299 receive a 10% discount
• Orders $300-$399 receive a 15% discount
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These discounts are activated when your subtotal reaches that amount in your shopping cart and applies to all items in our store, including our favorite books and resources , the Mission Great Commission Curriculum and digital products .

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The blog/ social media roller coaster: part two

The social media roller coaster–inane, stupid content getting nocticed, important and useful posts getting absolutely throttled by the algorithm–can be frustrating, deflating, and confusing.

I can’t tell you how to beat the algorithm. I have no idea. But here’s what I do to handle the situation as best I can:

• KEEP PERSPECTIVE. Your business is real life, even if social media isn’t (in one sense). Your art matters. But in the end, it’s your relationship with God that matters most of all, and your love for those close to you. Jesus wasn’t joking when he told us the build up treasure in heaven rather than here.
• CHECK YOURSELF DAILY – EXAMINE YOUR MOTIVES AND WHAT YOU’RE POSTING. I mean this in a moral sense. Social media scrolling is fed by outrage, clickbait, fear-mongering, and all around nasty stuff. We may all feel tempted from time to time to jump into the fray in a way we will not be proud of later for the sake of clicks and reactions. Some temperaments will be more prone to this temptation than others. Regardless of how tempted you personally are by this, examine yourself regularly to keep yourself on track and accountable.
• LIVE IN THE REAL WORLD. Take a walk. Go to the gym. Visit your best friend. Play a game with your kid. Step way from the phone for a bit.
• JUST HAVE FUN. Try not to take it too seriously, post things that you want to post because you want to post them, engage with fun people, and enjoy yourself. You might as well!
• EXPERIMENT WITH CREATIVE AND FUN APPS LIKE CANVA TO MAKE CONTENT THAT YOU FIND FUN. Creativity is always a plus, no matter how many people later on view what you made. Additionally, see number 3 above.

So, this is what I got. I can’t make social media fruitful or get you sales. But hopefully, these tips can help you handle the frustration.

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3 responses to “the blog/ social media roller coaster: part two”.

I feel this right now, I’ve written some good blog posts this month and I’m just getting maybe half of the views that I had in prior months, from peak to trough very quickly and it’s hard

Like Liked by 1 person

it’s hard! All we can do is accept it, not take it personally, and try to adjust somehow. Difficult when you don’t know what will work. Everything’s rigged against us to make us spend money we don’t have.

It is hard to blog, sometimes. My subscriber numbers have plateaued, and I wonder if my writing is even going anywhere. Funny, how we worry about something that in the grand scheme of things is such a little thing. This is very encouraging. Thanks for posting!

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Roller Coaster

“For some albums I’m very specific with my vision, message and plan,” MC Jin tells Apple Music. “Roller Coaster is the first project that’s the opposite.” Borne out of creative energy drawn from his participation in the 2023 edition of The Rap of China, the album reflects life’s twists and turns on tracks that overflow with the rapper’s competitive spirit and love of hip-hop. These include a remix of his statement-making 2017 Mandarin rap “HipHopMan”, with Nana Ou-Yang contributing the hook and cello accompaniment. “I think it’s the only song on Earth that has two Ou-Yangs on it,” says the rapper known formally as Jin Au-Yeung. Another reality-show cut, “我愛人也喜歡 HIPHOP” [“My Lover Loves Hip-Hop”], is a tribute to his wife of 10 years and their shared love of the genre. “I thought there was something special about writing it in Cantonese,” he says. “Because my partner loves hip-hop but she also loves ’90s Hong Kong pop. Cantonese pop was definitely a big part of my childhood and hers.” On more personal cuts like “我是誰” [“Who I Am”] and “Beat Kune Do”, the rapper considers questions of identity and belief, while others like “古靈靖怪” [“Crazy Times”] and “慢慢來” [“Take It Easy”] take aim at the fast pace of modern life. “When you think ‘roller coaster’, you think of ups and downs—but hopefully you think of fun,” Jin says. “You go on a roller coaster for the thrill, for the ride, for the experience.” The album is also a linguistic roller coaster—songs slip seamlessly between English, Cantonese and Mandarin. “What makes it special to me is that it’s really the first project where organically—but also intentionally—I captured these three specific elements of me when I write and create now,” he says. Below, MC Jin gives Apple Music an inside look at how the album was put together. How did you build a narrative for the album using tracks from a reality show? “Although quite a few of the tracks came about in the context of a reality show where I knew there was a competition element, in my creative process I still felt that what I brought to the stage was going to be something dear to me. So in that sense, I didn’t have to do too much to fit into the narrative of an album. Although I don’t specifically reference the show at any point, when I’m a 60-year-old man thinking about the time in 2023 when I went on that reality show, I’ll pop on the Roller Coaster album and right away the memories will come back. So in a way, I guess the narrative just kind of created itself. Which is why I say it’s special to me. “In previous works of mine, I think there was more of a strategy to the story I wanted to tell. My last formal English album was very calculated. I had a full idea of how the tracks would flow. So the cool thing about Roller Coaster as an album is that it’s exactly like a roller coaster ride. And although I go in a lot of different directions, there’s a cohesiveness to it. And I’m excited about that.” After 20 years in the business, how do you feel about hip-hop’s competitive nature? “I think there’s two sections to this topic. I’ve grown up and I hope I’ve become more mature. But at the same time, no matter how I grow, I want to feel that what I fell in love with in hip-hop will always be there. And I think that’s the balance. Front-page-news rap beefs are exciting to watch as a hip-hop fan, but I will say that as a 40-year-old young man, there’s an extra element after I listen to these songs: the energy and the messaging. “One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s this idea that when we talk about flow, freestyle and skills, the default mindset a lot of people—even younger rappers or people just picking it up—is that it’s all about how fast you are. I grew up listening to all type of rappers back in the ’90s, anyone from JAY-Z to Nas to Busta Rhymes to Snoop Dogg. I listened to everyone and I can appreciate fast. But I think the message is also important. With the song ‘慢慢來’, what I’m trying to convey is the idea, ‘You could rap fast—but let’s not just think fast is everything.’ “That’s the heart you have to have as a rapper, as an MC. You have to feel like you could beat everyone, that nobody is your competition. But I think the biggest thing now is I have no desire to beat anyone anymore. Not because I’m greater—it’s just that the passion is in a different direction.” Is it easier to be introspective at this stage in your career? “I don’t know if it’s easier. You can only be introspective if there’s something to look back on. What comes with life experience and age are more opportunities to be introspective. But here’s the interesting thing: When I look at my first album, there are moments where I’m pretty introspective. I’m just a young man still finding my way, but I listen to those songs and I’m like, ‘Good for you, Jin. You’re 22 years old and you’re already looking at your life.’ So I think the instinct to reflect has always been there. Those introspective-type thoughts come more naturally now. I think my biggest challenge as a creative is how I harness it, streamline it and focus it, because it’s just everywhere. “‘我是誰’ was originally titled ‘Who Am I’ in English but I rephrased it to be more definitive. This song is very different from anything I’ve done before. It’s the first time that I’ve done something that’s more melodic—I’m actually singing the chorus. In this song I’m talking about my life journey. I turn 42 in 2024. In the chorus, I say [in translation], ‘When I was a teenager, I felt like I could fly/In my twenties, I don’t think I was ready for it/In my thirties, I started to find the beauty again/And here I am now…’ I think the big difference between Jin now and Jin 10 or 20 years ago is that it’s definitely more clear to me who I am, as an artist or as a person. I’m still seeking, so I’m not saying I have it all figured out now. But definitely there’s a lot more clarity.” How did your collaboration with producer Dansonn come about? “Dansonn is someone I’ve worked with for many years, but this is probably the first full album where he handled a lot of the production. The beauty of having a built-in chemistry is that once I have the idea for a topic or sound in my head, it’s so easy for me to just say to him, ‘This is what I hear.’ He’ll ask me to describe the emotions of the song, not just the idea. I wanted ‘Roller Coaster’ to feel like you’re riding a roller coaster, with a fun carnival element. And I wanted it upbeat, because even though I’m talking about ups and downs, I didn’t want a depressing song. I wanted it to feel like, ‘This ride is wild but let’s keep riding!’ “So when I lay all this out to him, he’s efficient at capturing the feelings and emotions. And there are references—they’re not always hip-hop songs, either. I might say, ‘Hey, remember this movie?’ And I’ll tell him about a scene and ask him to give me something that matches that scene. The scene is really more of just a feeling, but he’ll know what I’m trying to convey. And he’ll come back two or three days later with a skeleton [arrangement].”

May 17, 2024 8 Songs, 28 minutes ℗ 2024 MC JIN LIMITED

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