When, if ever, is it okay to make pop culture references in fiction? And does that rule change when you’re writing for children or teens? This much-debated topic has no easy answer. First, an overview of the debate, then we’ll discuss how the dynamics shift when your target audience skews younger, and how to make… Read more »
I spent most of my working lifetime teaching students at London University, and, after immigrating to Southern California, at USC, UCLA and California State University, Long Beach. During that time, under pressure to publish, I wrote seven nonfiction books. Some were works of literary criticism, others included a biography, a genre study of autobiography, and even… Read more »
This column was due on December 24th. Anyone surprised that my thoughts turned to the season and to celebrations of the winter solstice? If you and your story live within the Judeo-Christian tradition, you’ll no doubt have a good handle on Christmas and Hanukkah. But, for Christmas in particular, how did some of the traditions… Read more »
Creating a writing space is both incredibly important and incredibly daunting. You need a space that will encourage your creativity without making you feel overwhelmed, which can be difficult to balance. Here are some tips to make it a little bit easier to build the perfect space for you. 1) Find a Comfortable Chair Having… Read more »
On a six-hour car ride with friends to one of the nine weddings my husband and I attended last year, we got into a conversation about personality types and the tests people take to determine them. From figuring out where you get your energy from to what motivates you to how you express and receive… Read more »
Happy (Almost) New Year, Word Nerds! We hope you’ve had wonderful holidays, and are ready for a new decade (!!). In celebration of the end of 2019 and the beginning of the roaring twenties, we asked some members of the DIY MFA team what their resolutions are. At DIY MFA, we believe goals or resolutions… Read more »
We finally have a question for the editor! It only took a few months for someone to write to me, but here it is, and I’d like to take a moment to celebrate. And apparently, when it rains it really does pour because I actually received TWO questions about the same topic: italics. So—celebration now… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carolyn Crimi and Corinna Luyken, the author and illustrator behind the buzz-worthy middle grade novel Weird Little Robots. Carolyn Crimi is the author of several books for children, including Where’s My Mummy?, Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies, Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates, and… Read more »
I’m a word nerd. Of course, that’s no surprise considering I’m writing this column at DIY MFA, the home of word nerdom. I started early, like most word nerds, collecting big words, unusual words. Words such as antidisestablishmentarianism, serendipity, and logophile. I love knowing the right and precise word for a specific thing. Like knowing… Read more »
This is it. THE signpost scene. The scene that James Scott Bell says is, “the whole point of a novel” in his writing craft book, Super Structure. Signpost Scene #13: The Final Battle. In the Final Battle, readers (and writers) get to experience the reason they clung to a story in the first place. In this… Read more »
