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Writing and Madness
Dinitia SmithFor some of us the need to write is so profound that if we can’t do it we are quite miserable. Yet the life of the writer is mined with struggle...
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You Do You
Arlaina TibenskyGreat writers play to their strengths. If you’re hilarious, let yourself be funny. If you have an ear for dialogue, keep your characters talking
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When Working on Your Writing Doesn't Look Like Writing
Lily Brooks-DaltonWe have to support each other in undoing this myth that we are only working when we are literally writing words down. There are plenty of odes...
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From Scratch
Bill ChengIf it is true that a story’s start is visualized as the left-most point on a line plot, then it is also true that a story is a stone fruit—a...
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Interviewing for Fiction
Min Jin LeeIf you are fortunate enough to spend time with strangers who will tell you very harmless facts about their lives, very often, you will be allowed...
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The Writer's Trove
Alissa TorresBy writing about your experiences, you transform your memories into tangible monuments. You validate what happened to you from your own perspective...
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Something to Do with Work as Play: David Foster Wallace and “The Nature of the Fun”
Kristopher JansmaI find it remarkably comforting that someone who had recently finished a 1,079 page novel ends up right back where any young student does, trying...
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Keeping Up the Pace
Alison GaylinFor every one of my books, there’s been a ‘cut file,’ sometimes hundreds of pages long, of stuff that (much as I may have loved...
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Scenes & Summary
Patricia Park“For years I took the old creative writing adage of ‘show, don’t tell’ to heart. I’d detail every trip my characters took...
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An Unfunny Essay About Humor
Mike ScaliseVery often, the most effective humor in writing doesn’t come from a clever concept, or a turn of phrase, or a one-liner, or a bit of killer dialogue