Back in 2007, when I was an itty-bitty, baby writer, I started a critique group. It began in a writing class, where I made a couple of friends and we decided to keep on meeting after the semester was over. For seven years, we met every other week and gave each other feedback on our… Read more »
World-building is an essential part of storytelling, even when you’re not writing in a “world heavy” genre. Of course the world-building is obvious in fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction, but even in contemporary settings, it is crucial for immersing the reader into your story’s world. (For more info on how world-building plays out in different… Read more »
We’re back with another three-act analysis. This time around, I wanted to see if the three-act structure would hold up with a story from the Marvel Comics Universe (MCU), namely the first Captain America film. As it turns out, this movie fits the framework to a T, serving as yet another example of how versatile… Read more »
Learning to write stronger scenes is an important skill for any writer. Scenes are an essential part of storytelling, and if you don’t craft them well, your narrative can grind to a halt. The reason scenes are so important is because they are the smallest unit of a story that contains all the key elements:… Read more »
The other day, I was relaxing after dinner and streaming some episodes of The Office. This was one of my favorite shows when it first aired and a lot of the humor still holds up, even now over two decades later. As I watched “Office Olympics” (Season 2, Episode 3), I found myself doing a… Read more »
Recently, the music school I attended as a child held its 55th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and I had the chance to play in the alum orchestra. Since it had been a while since I’d played my violin, I spent a lot of time in the weeks leading up to the concert learning the… Read more »
What do you do when you’re out of ideas? I have often struggled with this very problem. In fact, as I sit down to write this newsletter, I’m wondering what on earth I might have to say about writing that hasn’t already been said. Terrifying as it may seem, I suddenly find myself out of… Read more »
Have you ever been in that state of creative flow where it feels like your book is practically writing itself? It’s amazing, right? To me, it’s like the muse is whispering straight into my ear and those words just pour onto the page. I don’t even notice that I’m writing because the ideas just flow…. Read more »
At DIY MFA, we talk a lot about “big craft” topics like character development, world-building, or story structure. Today, I wanted to do something a little different and discuss scene craft—i.e., the techniques that go into creating a compelling and engaging scene. Scenes are an essential component of storytelling because they are the fundamental building… Read more »
At DIY MFA, we focus a lot on the craft of writing. It’s our specialty and (truthfully) it’s one of my favorite things to teach. I love coming up with frameworks and structures to help writers learn the craft and implement techniques on the page. But there’s more to writing than just the writing itself…. Read more »
