This blog is designed to help you hone your craft and create writing that lingers with readers. New posts are released Monday mornings and cover topics from grammar to voice to recommended reading.
Like in speech, a pause can be essential to conveying your message through writing. You have a variety of punctuation marks available to show those pauses, including ellipses and em dashes, but not all pause punctuation marks are interchangeable. Learn what the different dashes and ellipses mean.
Read MoreSometimes the story we wish to tell is not our story. In Ghosts, Sophie Calle uses a collection of voices to tell the story of missing museum art pieces. Learn how to combine interviews to create a larger story and build distinct character voices from Ghosts.
Read MoreWriting rules are meant to clarify a writer’s intentions and help them effectively communicate with readers. However, in certain situations, they have the opposite effect. As an author, you must learn when to break the rules and when to follow them.
Read MoreDo you have a book you find yourself rereading for pleasure because you can’t stop thinking about the characters, world, and story? When Demons Walk by Patricia Briggs is that book for me. The novel lingers with its readers because Briggs breaks a few rules, conventions, and tropes. You can use similar techniques to make your own writing linger.
Read MoreOne of the best ways to increase the pacing and characterization of your story is through dialogue. In order for your dialogue to be clear and effective, you have to know how to format and punctuate it. This post covers the standard format for dialogue, when to use it, and when to use a different option.
Read MoreWhen an author wants to create a certain effect or tone, sometimes the traditional layout of text on a page doesn’t work. You need something slightly or vastly different. Patrik Ourednik experiments with form in Europeana, a nonfiction account of the twentieth century, to generate an objective historical account. Other authors can learn from and borrow his form.
Read MoreWhen it comes to sentence organization, many writers nod off or only care enough to be clear, but the kinds of syntax you use has a tremendous impact on voice. A child is going to arrange their sentences differently than a psychologist. Your sentences will look different than another author’s. Syntax is a key aspect of your voice.
Read MoreIf you want to take your readers on an emotional journey and focus on the internal conflicts of your characters, read Milk and Honey. Rupi Kaur uses the hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the healing of her life to create an emotional story arc in her poetry collection. Through different points of view, form, and the economy of words, she brings emotional truths to the forefront of her text.
Read MoreTo some the phrase creative nonfiction might seem like an oxymoron, but it isn’t. Creative nonfiction is about sharing your story, facts, and reality in a compelling way, so your readers are both informed and entertained. Creative nonfiction allows writers the freedom to build scenes and play with form, while remaining true.
Read MoreWhether you're interested in running long distances or not, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superalthetes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall is a must read for any aspiring nonfiction writer. McDougall employs concepts, conflicts, characters, and causalities often associated with fiction to share the knowledge he gained while asking "Why does my foot hurt?"
Read MoreHumans are psychologically wired to remember and understand stories. Using basic story structure and elements from fiction will help your nonfiction book stand out and deliver the information driving your need to write in a way that will linger in your reader's memory.
Read MoreLinda Kinnamon's memoir borrows techniques from fiction to convey her experiences with life after death as a hospice nurse and in her personal life. Find out how she makes her memoir as compelling as a good novel to both tell a story and deliver a message.
Read MoreAre you writing a non-fiction story about a specific person? Is it about you or someone else? If you are, then you need to know the differences between a memoir, autobiography, and biography, so you can accurately categorize your book and appeal to readers looking for your story.
Read MoreIn Station Eleven Emily St. John Mendel transforms dystopian fiction. Through a twisted timeline, multiple points of view, and the importance of art, she speculates on how society might carry on after a pandemic deadlier than the Spanish Flu.
Read MoreSpeculative and historical fiction often tell stories larger than any single character. To show different societal classes or world rules, they need different perspectives. Using multiple points of view can provide information about the larger world while remaining close to the characters.
Read MoreKathryn Davis uses omniscient point of view to transform the palace of Versailles and tell a story larger than the main character. At the same time, she gives Marie Antoinette the voice and freedom to tell her story in Versailles. Find out how Davis does this and how you can use the same techniques in your writing.
Read MoreIf you’re telling the story of a place or event or that requires revealing the inner thoughts and emotions of multiple characters, omniscient might be the right point of view for you. It is a challenging perspective to pull off, so you’ll need to manage omniscient POV’s pros and cons.
Read MoreOften literary and genre fiction are at odds, but in Transference Kate Jonuska brings the two together through an extremely close third person point of view, snarky humor, and inner character conflict. You can learn how to blend styles by reading books like Transference.
Read MoreIf you want to let your authorial voice shine and control the release of information, third person close point of view might be the best choice for your story. Only revealing a single character's inner thoughts and emotions has it pros and cons, though.
Read MoreIf you want to try out a new writing technique or put your reader in an uncomfortable situation, the short story might be the format for you. Self-Help by Lorrie Moore is a collection of short stories that gives Moore the chance to have her readers walk in another’s shoes through second person point of view and create a variety of character voices.
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