ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE AH-HA MOMENTS during my MFA in Creative Writing program occurred after a professor assigned us the task of writing a nonfiction story with alternating sentence lengths. We were to rotate very short sentences, from two to six words in length, with very long sentences, at […]
Guest post by Savannah Cordova WRITING IS AN ART in which you have to make mistakes in order to learn. Indeed, as all of you writers out there probably know, you learn just as much (if not more!) from what you do wrong as from what you do right. However, […]
WHAT IS “PACE,” and why should writers care about it? According to the dictionary, pace is “the speed or rate at which something happens, changes, or develops.” In writing, pace refers to the speed or rate at which the story is told and the readers are pulled through its events. […]
FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD, stories are an integral part of our lives — and for good reason. It is through stories that we learn about life, the culture we live in and its mores and expectations. Stories contain lessons and offer archetypes as role models, helping us to learn what is […]
IF SCENE IS THE BUILDING BLOCK of story, summary is the glue that links and holds scenes together. To understand how scene and summary work together, it’s important to understand the difference between the two methods. A brief definition of scene. Scene always takes place in a specific place […]
“I write only because There is a voice within me That will not be still” ― Sylvia Plath MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about how to “find” your writing voice — I have written and taught classes on this topic myself — but maybe it would be more accurate to say that […]
WHAT IS STORYTELLING? It is the art of sharing narratives (stories) through, writing or theater, including oral storytelling. Stories help us interpret and share experiences. They are a universal and timeless form of communication, bridging age, culture, and religion. Everything we know and understand — including our memories — is […]
A few years back, at a meeting of my local writing club, a man came up to me and said, “I don’t believe you have to know all that grammar crap to be a writer. That’s what editors are for, right?” He grinned at me, expecting me to agree with […]
WRITERS, STORYTELLERS, SINGERS, AND ARTISTS all have one thing in common: we want our work to be a unique expression of who we are as individuals. We want some aspect of our personality, our worldview, our inner selves or “souls” to be perceived in our art. The trick is learning […]
You know how it is, when you’re reading a really good book, you become so immersed in the story that you forget you’re reading? It’s like you’re inside the story, experiencing its events vicariously and viscerally — your body tensing and heart pounding during suspenseful moments, or tearing up when […]
THIS IS THE SECOND OF THREE ARTICLES, in which I discuss Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born to Run. Today, I’m exploring how Springsteen controls pace, voice, and tone in his writing. Voice and Tone: Springsteen describes the characters in his life I think one of the ways Springsteen’s voice and tone […]
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR, when I begin planning articles and content for the following year! Please take 3 minutes to complete the following survey and help me provide the most relevant and helpful content for you in 2018. As a thank you for your time and thoughtful feedback, when […]
