Tag: craft
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Between Books: 7 Ways to Stay Productive When You’re Not Actively Writing
This ties back to some recent writing advice that really resonated with me: that not all of one’s writing efforts need be towards a novel or some quantifiable end. As I am between books right now and in search of the next story I want to pursue, this notion is both highly relevant and influential […]
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Good Writing Advice: Show Don’t Tell = Action
I borrow today’s writing wisdom from author A.B. Westrick and her recent contribution to the “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far” column of Writer’s Digest. “Show Don’t Tell = Action. Early-on, I thought “show don’t tell” meant showing every little detail in a character’s life. It doesn’t. It means that when you’re writing a scene, […]
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Good Writing Advice: Test Voice with Visceral Reaction
Voice: it’s one of the more difficult terms to define when it comes to writing craft. Not only is it the resulting synthesis of many different elements (language, punctuation, pacing, flow, character commentary, etc. etc. ad infinitum); it varies hugely writer by writer, and often even piece by piece. For this segment of Good Writing […]
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Writing 101: Showing vs. Telling
I recently unearthed a short story I’d written in high school. It was a favorite, I remember, and one that my friends had actually been lining up to read after I’d finished and word got round that it was good. Digging it out from old papers was like the scene in Amélie when she discovers, […]