Writing Fiction
Planning your novel? Or pantsing?: The eternal battle of logic vs. intuition
by Grant Faulkner I’m often asked whether a writer should plan their novel—or how they should plan their novel— or, if they plan their novel, how much they should plan their novel, and many other questions about planning, pantsing (writing by the seat of your pants), and plantsing (somewhere in between planning and pantsing). It’s…
Read MoreTime’s Up, Dystopia! A Call for Climate Change Novels and Memoirs
By Joey Garcia We’ve been warned about doomscrolling, the practice of spending excessive time on social media absorbing negative news. Doomscrolling is considered responsible for some harmful psychophysiological issues, especially in young adults. In Doombingeing: Why Dark TV Helps Us Cope with a World of Real Terrors, the TV correspondent for Vanity Fair, Joy Press,…
Read MoreGo Beyond 5 Senses in Your Fiction Writing
by C. S. Lakin Fiction and nonfiction writers alike need to immerse their readers into the story they are telling, and the best and most obvious way to do this is by utilizing sensory detail. While most of us have been taught that there are five senses, there are actually more than twenty specific senses…
Read MoreTHE CITY IS OUR WRITING TEACHER: Playing with Scale Enriches Our Work
By Mary Rakow I was walking down Post Street in San Francisco when I caught sight of this tiny scene, in the front window of the beautiful Leica Camera Store. I wasn’t sure how or why, but knew it had something super important to teach me about writing. So I took the shot. The contrast…
Read MoreTHE CITY IS OUR WRITING TEACHER: A STAIRCASE CAN TEACH US ABOUT PLOT/STORY
By Mary Rakow There’s a reason writers wander around a lot. We find our writing teachers everywhere! Sometimes we’re caught be a gorgeous staircase, like this one in Berlin, shot by Matthias Hederich. The colors give a feeling of dynamism and confidence, particularly against the cement, mottled and grey. We feel a charge. Let’s say…
Read MoreIdea or Concept–What’s What?
By Nick Thacker I remember starting my first novel with an idea: “What if there was an ancient secret involving the ‘Golden Ratio,’ a number known to exist in many natural phenomena…” The idea was a germ; a small component of something larger — something that could eventually become an entire book. My story My…
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