Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing K.S. Villoso who writes speculative fiction with a focus on deeply personal themes and character-driven narratives. Much of her work is inspired by her childhood in the slums of Taguig, Philippines. She now lives amidst the forest and mountains of Vancouver, Canada with her… Read more »
Hey there Word Nerds! We’re sharing this article from the DIY MFA archives today, talking all about making our own luck. Hope you enjoy! In These Happy Golden Years, the eighth Little House book, Ma Ingalls tells Laura that people make their own luck. This is illustrated in the story when Laura is kind to a girl in her… Read more »
Writing is made to be shared. But too often, people worry about editors, agents, or critique partners stealing their ideas. I hate to break it to you, but this is just an excuse these people are telling themselves to avoid the scary reality of showing their work to the public. Any serious plagiarism in the… Read more »
Second chance romances are wonderful because of that second chance. They are also very challenging, because we take two people who were in love and did not stay together, and we expect our reader to believe they should still be together¬–even if the couple does not think so! That being said, I love a good… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Robert Dugoni. Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Internationally Best-Selling Author of 17 novels in The Tracy Crosswhite police detective series set in Seattle, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and the Charles Jenkins… Read more »
For my first Speculations of the new year (and decade) I’m starting a new short series. Periodically, I’ve tackled various mythic structures for storytelling: Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth, Christopher Vogler’s The Hero’s Journey, Maureen Murdock’s The Heroine’s Journey, and Kim Hudson’s The Virgin’s Promise. This time around, I’m exploring the tarot as a mythic storytelling tool…. Read more »
At last, we come to the end of my 14-column-series on James Scott Bell’s Signpost Scenes, as depicted in his wonderful book on craft, Super Structure. Signpost Scene #14–Transformation–might be short and subtle, but it’s wildly important for a story’s success. Essentially, the purpose of Transformation is exactly what it sounds like: a scene that… Read more »
Writing can be intensely rewarding, but each book is also a messy, long-drawn trek. Here are five practices that may help you to navigate through these journeys: 1) Treat your writing as a job It is of course your vocation, but if you wait for inspiration from the heavens, you’ll never get anything completed. So:… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Samuel Shem, a novelist, playwright, and activist. He is a Professor in Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine, and Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. His novels include The House of God, Fine, Mount Misery, In the Heart of the Universe, and… Read more »
“Chefs, please open your baskets.” With those words, the competition on Chopped, my favorite Food Network show, where four chefs compete against each other in elimination-style appetizer, entree, and dessert rounds, begins At the start of each round the chefs open baskets containing four ingredients that must be used in the dish—unusual ingredients such as… Read more »
