We’re back for another episode of our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s… Read more »
There are so many ways to structure a novel, and one key consideration is the timeline. Are you telling the fast-paced, high-tension story of a heist that takes place over a week (or a day)? Are you crafting a family saga that spans generations? Once you have a sense of where your story takes place… Read more »
Previously on Worldly Wise, we talked about what can make great hooks for your speculative fiction novel. Now, if you’ve got some idea of how you’re going to grab your potential reader’s attention, shall we work on how to retain it? There are a lot of things you can do to produce an ideal first… Read more »
There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and it often seems overwhelming. Escapist fiction can give readers a break, but it can also feel too flippant for the moment. We want to read and write books that balance the heavy themes of this point in history with a strong, engrossing story that… Read more »
In grade school, my sister won our science fair with a project about putting sponges in the dishwasher to kill bacteria. She had a good hypothesis, ran a solid experiment, and had lots of imagery on her presentation board. She had very clearly (and successfully) applied the scientific method. I like to break the scientific… Read more »
Growing up, we all read stories that ended with every problem resolved and neatly tied up with a bow. Damsel meets prince, they fall in love, they live happily ever after. Unfortunately, real life does not work like that. In real life, there are difficult, sensitive subjects and issues that may or may not ever… Read more »
Trends! TikTok has some, and so does Instagram. And that is perhaps one of the few things writing a novel and social media have in common. Read on for more about the trends in speculative fiction. How trends can help you as an author 1. A Great Place to Start Let’s face it: when you… Read more »
As an author, does the phrase “cultural appropriation” make the tiny hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention? You’re not alone. Some conversations about cultural appropriation can feel about as useful as a pile of hot garbage. However, intentionally making space to listen to experiences with cultural appropriation has the potential to… Read more »
As writers, we hear again and again how important voice is in our work, particularly when shopping a piece or querying agents. But “voice” itself, especially if you are just starting out, can be a tricky thing to define in unequivocal, technical terms. What is this slippery, nebulous, yet powerful creature? What are its component… Read more »
We all have those days when our best intentions and dedication to our writing get derailed. We oversleep, feel sick, have to get the trash out, and the cat throws up in the middle of everything, and the dog gets out and barks at a deer and our writing time gets spent corralling him back… Read more »
