Many believe that having written a novel is a sort of superhuman feat, but in reality, the bigger challenge is revising—and this is where so many writers get stuck.
What Writers Get Wrong about Plot
The plot is the obvious part of a novel–the part we can generally recall when we put the book down after having read it–it’s not the part that actually makes a novel work.
Decolonizing Creative Writing: 6 Guidelines for Teachers, Freelance Editors, and Book Coaches Committed to Equity
As the country erupted in protests over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery last week, I spent some time on the phone with two of my Black clients. We talked about our fears and hopes for this country, and we talked about their creative work. I’m sure they were both feeling shell shocked, and I’m sure … Read More
On Backstory
There’s a point in one my favorite movies from childhood, Labyrinth, where the young heroine, frustrated at her lack of progress through the Goblin King’s maddening fantasy landscape, asks the Wiseman–who happens to have a bird for a hat–how to reach the castle at the center of the labyrinth. After an appropriately ponderous period of pause, given his advanced age, … Read More
