Author Archive
Start with the Tangible
I was corresponding with a client a few days ago about his opening paragraph. In it there was a sentence bloated with abstract terms that just sort of hunkered or sprawled flattened on the page. Instead of abstractions, here’s a foundation from where you can begin most writing: with the artifacts of everyday life. You […]
Read the rest of this entry »Act one: Disturb the equilibrium
If you don’t understand the underpinnings of fiction, you’ll likely suffer and bumble when you try to create it. Without some knowledge of the why, when and how things work, your story has little chance of success. Writing something as complicated as a novel without a plan is like building a house without an architectural […]
Read the rest of this entry »Quick Take for writers: Remember your Scars
Stephen King once said, “A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is to remember every scar.” Fiction is based on a dramatic situation where interesting people experience interesting problems that seem unsolvable. As the story progresses important events will unfold until […]
Read the rest of this entry »Lia Purpura on teaching writers:
Here, I walk into class thinking, Really I have nothing to say to these people, the proper study of writing is reading, is well-managed awe, desire to make a thing, stamina for finishing, adoration of language, and so on about reverie, solitude, etc. Here, sitting down, I’m going over my secret: I don’t want to be inspiring, […]
Read the rest of this entry »Quick take: Use Weather Verbs
We’ve been suffering through a series of punishing heatwaves here in the Pacific Northwest and I’ve been longing for a rollicking thunderstorm to sweep through, spit out icy rain, drench the place and cool the air. Oh, to be able to change the weather. Which brings us to verbs, because they add oomph to your […]
Read the rest of this entry »It’s like my whole world is coming undone, but when I write, my pencil is a needle and thread, and I’m stitching the scraps back together. Julia Alvarez
Read the rest of this entry »Quoting Margaret Atwood
“When you are in the middle of a story it isn’t a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless […]
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