I’ll admit, at first I was skeptical about dictation. To be honest, the idea kind of intimidated me. But after taking a Dictation Boot Camp led by my friend Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer, I decided to give it a try. In fact, I’m actually doing it right now as I write this Writer Fuel. I think… Read more »
Today, I’m doing an analysis of Beauty and the Beast, one of my absolute favorite movies. This film never fails to tug at my heartstrings and the ending makes me cry every single time! I first saw this movie at a very pivotal moment in my life. I was in ninth grade and a total… Read more »
A lot of people are nervous—and with good reason—that Artificial Intelligence (AI) might take away opportunities from human writers. After all, why should publishers pay humans to produce material when they can get a GPT to spit out something similar for free? What is it that can differentiate human writers from the bots? Two things:… Read more »
In fall of 2003, I got a copy of The Artist’s Way and decided I was going to work through it step-by-step. I completed the twelve weeks, and the effect on my creative life was nothing short of transformative. Yet, one thing tripped me up along the way and kept me from continuing the program… Read more »
It recently occurred to me that it would be interesting to see if the three-act structure worked with one of Shakespeare’s plays. After all, the structure has held up when looking at novels and movies of various different genres, but I have yet to use it to analyze anything by Shakespeare. To find out if… Read more »
If you’ve ever listened to my podcast, DIY MFA Radio, you know that at the end of each interview, I would ask the same question: “What’s your #1 tip for writers?” As I was thinking of what to write for today’s newsletter, I asked myself that same question, and I came up with not one,… Read more »
“Subplots are like the adjectives of your main story/sentence. You can still understand the sentence without them, but it’s not as fascinating.” ~Charlie Holmberg I love this quote because I think it captures the nature of subplots to a T. The main plot is like a noun or verb in a sentence, it’s the part… Read more »
Today, we embark on another three-act analysis, this time of one of the most iconic American novels of the 20th century: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1925 and set in the early 1920s, this story captures the sparkle and energy of the roaring twenties and gives us a window into the… Read more »
Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics. Iteration is the process where you repeat something, making small, incremental changes. We’re so used to seeing iteration in the world around us, that we barely even notice it. For example, tech companies use iteration all the time. They produce software and release a… Read more »
We’re back with another story structure analysis. This time, we’re doing a three-act analysis of The Princess Bride, which happens to be another one of my all-time favorite movies. This film is not to be confused with the book by the same title. The book is entirely different and, frankly, I find this to be… Read more »
