Tag Archives: writing process

Let Characters Be Complex

This week I’m thinking about a point George Saunders made on the value of digressions in fiction. In his book on creative writing A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he wrote that stories must “self-complicate, and thus avoid being merely a one-dimensional position paper” (335). However, when writing the first draft of aContinue reading “Let Characters Be Complex”

How Humility Will Help Your Writing

It had been over 15 years since I workshopped my writing, but this winter I got a shot with a new critique group. One of your first questions might be how I did that. The internet is thick with posts about finding a great critique group, and I can’t imagine I’d have much to add.Continue reading “How Humility Will Help Your Writing”

Story Structure Reflects Your Worldview

So last week I tried this wacky writing exercise I came up with. Wacky, because it’s time consuming. (If you’re feeling wacky, too, you can check it out on the Fiction Workshop syllabus under Week 4). Basically, I took a short story that wasn’t working. Well, okay, fine. It sucked. It really, really sucked. ButContinue reading “Story Structure Reflects Your Worldview”

What I Learned This Semester: In Praise of Slowness

I entered the first fiction seminar of my Accessible MFA convinced that I will never have a writing career. Five years ago, chronic illness had already destroyed one career. I was in my final year of my master’s program when I became sick. I lost jobs. I lost touch with mentors. I could no longerContinue reading “What I Learned This Semester: In Praise of Slowness”

Those 2020 Writing Goals: One Month Follow-Up

So five weeks ago, I made a deal with myself. Write when chronic illness allows me to, but shoot for three to four days a week. And on those three or four days each week, just do what I can. If I can only write for five minutes, then that’s five minutes of jotting downContinue reading “Those 2020 Writing Goals: One Month Follow-Up”

What I’ll Be Doing in 2020

Ever since my goal of completing a post-diagnosis 5K hit a wall in October 2019, I’ve been skittish about setting goals. That weekend when I missed the race—the one I’d registered and trained for, that friends and family were coming to—I plummeted into such a deep depression that I didn’t see the other side untilContinue reading “What I’ll Be Doing in 2020”

Writing with Chronic Illness

This week I came right up against a wall. Writing can be tough for anybody. Writing a book is even harder. But attempting to write a book with chronic illness? Even Flannery O’Connor said screw it when she was diagnosed with lupus and had to move back home, trading her fabulous life among Manhattan’s literatiContinue reading “Writing with Chronic Illness”

3 Tools to Get the Sharper Prose You’ve Always Wanted

A student recently asked me how to cut unnecessary words–and what the hell “unnecessary” even means. Good question. One that was probably inspired by comments her professor had scribbled over her paper: Redundant. Extra words. Repetitive. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen exactly those comments from professors who seem to assume their students willContinue reading “3 Tools to Get the Sharper Prose You’ve Always Wanted”

How Ronald D. Moore Used Star Trek to Build a Better Battlestar Galactica

So I’ve been binge-watching Deep Space 9, and the funny thing is that some pretty familiar tropes from Battlestar Galactica sprout up during the last two seasons. It’s my first time rewatching DS9 since BSG, and the parallels make me very happy. Why? Ronald D. Moore experiments with story threads, characters, and techniques in DS9Continue reading “How Ronald D. Moore Used Star Trek to Build a Better Battlestar Galactica”

Give Your Characters Your Darkest Secrets

In my twenties and even early thirties, I wrote characters that were vindications of myself. My protagonists were always goody two-shoes, virtue dripping off them like maple syrup off a pancake. Smugly sweet. I didn’t want to think that maybe sometimes I’m a horrible person. That maybe the wrongs that had upset me most stoodContinue reading “Give Your Characters Your Darkest Secrets”