22: Typing Your Story: Genre

Genre, or the category in which a story is classified, isn't something I think about much with my writing. The actual story is more important to me.  In fact, the only time I really focused on it was during my Film Studies courses.  But I wanted to cover it here as I do get asked about how [More→]

23: It’s Rather Windy in Here: Drafts

All my first drafts have certainly been exactly as Hemingway describes them in the above quote. Crass, maybe—but true. Future ones will be, too. So if yours is, that's great! So you and I, my friend, are in good company with the likes of Hemingway and his peers. To quote Anne Lamott [More→]

24: Kill All Your Darlings: Self-Editing

Self-editing, after getting started and having a few drafts completed can perhaps be the most anxiety-riddled aspect of the writing process. But it's also one of the most key parts to the process of producing a finished story. It's very easy to become (overly) married to plot threads or [More→]

26: Feedback: Your Story Through Other Ears and Eyes

Feedback is a necessity for writing—for anything you're actively working on, even if you're not planning on having it published. Otherwise, you're essentially writing in a vacuum. Or dead space. Because without feedback, you really have no idea if you're achieving what you want, plot-wise [More→]

29: I Ain’t Gonna Lie—Grammar is Important

As a writer, your number one focus is to convey information through the written word, and do so in a clear, properly-written manner. This includes fiction, as your information is your story. The only time poor grammar can work is if you have a character speaking in a way that includes it. [More→]