If you want to write a novel that captures your readers’ attention—and your future literary agent’s interest—then you need to write a first chapter that purposefully sets up expectations for the story’s big picture and contains an interesting story event on the scene level. Of course, a strong first chapter is only one step in… Read more »
Do I have a recommendation for you today, folks! If you’ve been looking for a violent, vulgar, and oh-so-satisfying story of a group of badass broads and revenge against the men who wronged them, do I have the book for you! Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn, written by Ryan Heshka and released in 2018, was… Read more »
Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu T’ien-wen was translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin. In my search for gay Asian literature, specifically, I discovered several compelling texts, translated to English from writers of Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other nationalities. Notes of a Desolate Man is Taiwanese, which I thought an appropriate place… Read more »
Lately I have been thinking about the quotes that have lingered in my mind long after I close their respective books, plays, or poems. Every time I read something new or reread an old favorite there is always new insight to be gained or words to reflect on. With that in mind I decided to… Read more »
In my first column of this series, I wrote about how I don’t enjoy the art style of most mainstream comics. I find it overly complicated and with a fundamental lack of understanding about human anatomy, and I can’t concentrate on the storyline because male artists don’t understand how bras work. But before I throw… Read more »
When I was in college, I had the privilege of taking a course titled “Writing Back to Empire.” It was a study of postcolonial literature taught by the brilliant Professor Kathleen Renk, but the course title alone did more to describe that school of theory & criticism for our young minds than any other definition… Read more »
Welcome back, poets! I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting as 2021 comes to a close and I head into my final (yay!) semester of grad school. As I read through some of the poetry I wrote at the start of my studies, I’m amazed by how much I’ve learned about the craft of poetry,… Read more »
New year, new column! I am so excited to start writing this new column I am calling the Book Nook. As much as I love writing, I’m always reading books. So I was able to convince the Powers that Be to allow me to write a column about books I’ve been reading. At DIY MFA,… Read more »
Full disclosure: the impetus for this article came from my own research about medicine. I was having fun because I was finally getting to use Bald’s eyesalve in my story – though I’m not so sure the character was enjoying it quite as much as I was. Bald’s eyesalve (from a 10th-century medical text) is… Read more »
Hey writers! In my past few articles we’ve been studying how to read with a purpose, and a fantastic way of leveling up our reading analysis skills is using the Story Grid Scene Analysis Template. As a quick reminder for readers who aren’t familiar with the Story Grid Scene Analysis Template, take a few minutes… Read more »
