One of my favorite short stories is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, which is probably one of the most tightly plotted narratives of all time. Barely two pages long, this story incorporates all three acts, plus the pivot points, midpoint, climax, and denouement. It doesn’t miss a single beat and it does all… Read more »
Whether you’re brand new to writing or have been working at it for quite some time, you know how important it is to craft a compelling main character who propels the story forward. I’ve been working with writers for well over a decade and over that time I’ve seen again and again just how crucial… Read more »
Today I wanted to talk about a process I go through every winter season to set goals and break them down into manageable pieces. Every year, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I take some time out with my journal and iPad in hand, and I map out my coming year. Mapping Out… Read more »
We’re back with another 3-act structure analysis. Last time I did one of these, it was a deep dive into Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. But three-act structure doesn’t just apply to books written hundreds of years ago. To underscore that point, I thought I’d switch things up and do a three-act analysis of… Read more »
Have you ever played Myst? It’s an immersive adventure video game from 1993 and I was obsessed with it when I was in high school. It was a time long before you could easily Google for clues or hints, so it took me months to solve all the puzzles. I remember when I finally figured… Read more »
Today, I wanted to talk about an important—and often overlooked—area of the craft, and that is narration. I define narration as any part of the story that’s told by the narrator. This narrator can be a character in the story (as in first person) or they can be an entity outside the story looking in… Read more »
A lot of people think world-building only applies to fantasy, where you have elaborate maps of sprawling kingdoms. Or maybe they think it applies to sci-fi or historical fiction, where you have to bring to life all the intricacies of the story’s world. Whether you write something “world heavy,” or your story’s world is a… Read more »
Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode ends our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 10 – Embrace the Journey. Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is… Read more »
In my last post, The Three-Act Structure, I talked about how this storytelling framework works. Today, I thought I would do a three-act analysis of Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorite books of all time. Spoiler Alert! Obviously, we can’t talk about the structure of a book without mentioning the ending and giving away… Read more »
Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 9 – Take Baby Steps. Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is… Read more »
