Thoughts
I write a lot. Essays. Articles. Blog posts. All of them sharing what I’m thinking about. Maybe you think about these things, too.
Get Your Wheels on the Ground
My first drafts are a mess. I have an occasionally faulty memory, and so nothing exists in my world until it’s written down. Because of that, I have all sorts of ideas I throw into the mix of a first draft. Some won’t stay the course. Some are frankly contradictory to other ideas I slammed down elsewhere in the manuscript. A few take on the glitter of inspiration and stay in place through publication.
Can Fiction Make a Difference?
One of the joys of reading is the opportunity to live alongside someone else for a time. Hear their thoughts. Be affected by their questions. Wonder why they did one thing and not another. And it’s nearly impossible to do that while still hating them as part of a group.
How (Maybe) to Publish Your Work
Language is communication, and stories tell us where we’ve been and—at their best—where we’re going.
Writer's Block as Liminal Space
Something caused us to stop writing—out of ideas, out of time, out of flow, out of inspiration—and we’re finding it difficult to re-enter the zone, to reconnect with the love.
Recycling the Classics
It's probably true, as they say, that every story has already been told... and retold... and retold. Like the people in marketing say, though, it's all about spin. And you could do worse than to re-spin some of the classics. I'm not talking Shakespeare: he's a little cliché by now. No: I'm going further back, to the fertile ground of Greek and Roman mythology.
Is AI the Beginning or the End?
I’m not worried—yet. AI can’t do what I can do—yet. Computers can’t just create stories in a void; instead, they’re given a massive number of exemplars—works that are similar to what the computer is tasked to create—which is then broken down into data. AI reads the data using statistical algorithms to recognize patterns and relationships.
Finding Your Writer's Voice — Part One
And of course every event we experience, especially crisis events, changes us. And that affects how we express ourselves.
Fiction in a Time of “Alternative Facts”
And I wonder, sometimes, if playing the fiction card relieves us—readers and writers alike—from the storyteller’s responsibility, the obligation to observe and reflect a culture, a society, a time.
Decluttering Your Writing Past
So, I decided, it’s time to clean out that folder. Trash the stuff that didn’t work then, doesn’t work now, will never in this lifetime even have a stab at working. It’s an interesting journey, back into the early days of my storing my work in bytes rather than paper pages, and some of it has not aged well.
How to Build a ”Better Époque”
Hemingway was confident his work would get done by accepting past disappointment and knowing punitive self-judgments were unlikely to get his book written any faster or better.
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
“Where do your ideas come from?” Some of the answers might not be right for you, or might not be right at any given time. But in this as in all things, perseverance pays. If you’re pining for inspiration, here are a few places you might look…
How (and Why!) to Write a Multiple-Timeline Story
There are many ways in fiction to manipulate what the reader does—and doesn’t—know. Any time an additional timeline is added, the reader’s knowledge about the universe in the book expands.
Cleaning Out Those Nooks and Crannies
We have so much to do, on so many levels, but one of our goals as people of letters must be to search all the nooks and crannies of our language, the places where racist imagery lies in wait, the unexpected moments of truth.
Resolutions for Your Writing Practice in 2021
Let’s start big. Leave off everything that’s sensible and practical and for just one moment, let your heart take wing. What is your dream vision for your writing practice? Take some time—an hour, a day—and just let your imagination run wild.
Making New Year’s Resolutions? Resolve to Follow This Advice!
Will you be writing new year’s resolutions that will support your writing practice and help it flourish?
Finding Your Muse
Someone or something inspires you—to feel, to seek, to grow, to write. To write better. You may have different names for this entity—spouse, friend, teacher. For many of us, the name is muse.
Where Do You Write?
How much does where we write affect what we write? What’s your ideal environment? Some famous authors have been pretty eccentric with theirs…
Writing Classes Are Now Open!
Are you ready for something new? Let’s cap off the winter with a new writing class… everything from mysteries to grammar, from memoir to historical fiction, we have it here!
Dealing with Muddle in the Middle of Your Fiction
To get from your beginning, rife with possibility and excitement, to your ending, a surprising yet inevitable conclusion that fulfills the hopes of your readers, you must traverse the dreaded muddle in the middle.
The Dreaded Apostrophe: A Quick Cheatsheet
There seem to be errant apostrophes everywhere one goes. Here’s an easy way to keep track of them!