In a conversation the other day with a friend who is a new writer, I bemoaned the fact that I am responsible for more work, editorially speaking, than I should be. Since I work with self-publishers and with clients who tend to self-publish, I am often the sole line editor, copy editor, and proofreader for a manuscript. “That’s not how it’s normally done?” my friend asked. “Oh, no,” I said, … [Read more...]
Show and Tell
No, I’m not talking about kindergarten class. I’m talking about that most common piece of writing advice: Show, don’t tell. I have found some writers, however, take that too literally and believe everything must be shown, to the detriment of their stories. So, I prefer to call it show and tell. I am going to rely in part on an essay by Anna Keesey titled “Making a Scene,” which I found in The … [Read more...]
Connections over Conflicts
The most comprehensive book on writing that I own is Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway. I started thumbing through it the other day, looking for what Burroway had to say about how to begin a book. I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for. Rather, I found a discussion on conflict that approached it from an intriguing aspect. The traditional narrative arc of a … [Read more...]
From Short Story to Screenplay
I got an email from one of my students last week. A short story she brought to class earlier this year is now a screenplay. Not only that, it is going to become a film. There’s a director, a cast, props, probably even coffee and doughnuts. A little backstory, though, to explain how Pam went from short story to screenplay. Last year Pam brought to class a short story about a suicidal man … [Read more...]
My Writing Classes
A writer I know, Randy Susan Meyers, wrote an interesting blog on her website a few weeks ago called “Writer’s Groups: Don’t Drink and Read.” Randy touches on a variety of issues that resonated with me as a writing teacher, especially since I have encountered a few of the same problems in my classes. So I thought I would make some comments about my writing classes. (I should explain first that … [Read more...]
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