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August 23 - September 13, 2022
Writing craft makes great storytellers into great writers.
the four stages of learning: Unconscious incompetence—we don’t know what’s not working in our writing. Conscious incompetence—we feel crappy about the ways our writing is not working.67 Conscious competence—we must repeat and remember and remind ourselves to write well. Unconscious competence—after practice, our best writing comes more naturally.
Literary fiction: 60,000-100,000. Lower might mean the book is too short; or if that’s the right length, it might need
a unique style element.
If your book is too short: Map the structures of the main dramatic arc and all the subplots. Are you hitting high points and low points in each act? Are there enough Surprises? Is your protagonist facing real challenges that they must change
(and work) to overcome? Is that change shown in action? Check your world-building, whether that’s a solar system or a high school. Are the political, social, technological and religious elements of the world clear? Add a subplot that shows another significant change in the protagonist or a main companion. Share your manuscript with a reader or writer friend and ask where they wanted more information or felt like things happened too quickly.
Many writers fall prey to writing in an elevated style, using formal and poetic language even when it’s not appropriate to the narrative voice.
But be aware of how poetic and formal language serve your story, rather than calling attention to your pretty writing.
Unless you’re using another deliberate choice for dialect or character voice, start and finish most sentences with strong words.
Looked, felt, and heard all filter the reader’s experience. They remind the reader, “There’s a narrator seeing and feeling and hearing these things. You’re reading a book.”
It’s much easier for students to remember the replacement behavior of “do this thing” than “don’t do that…do this other thing.” It’s one less step.
Dialogue tags are always verbs that make sound.
The exception is if the tag starts a new sentence:
You can love the passion of wanting to create, desperately want the feeling of having created, and still have a hard time sitting down to work.
Writers must make their own tools and choose their own coworkers.
Sure, it’s a trick. But the rabbit coming out of the hat is pages.
Writing can feel like a job as well as a joy. And it’s OK to need a tool—even one that feels like a trick.
WRITING GROUPS
USEFUL APPS & WEBSITES
Fictionary StoryTeller
Hemingway
PerfectIt!
Scrivener
Purdue OWL,
Grammar Girl
The Chicago Manual of Style
Merriam-Webster
your local library.
