Who doesn’t love the daring feats of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley? And most of the time they’re acting independently, without a parent in sight. That being said, this independent action gets them in all sorts of trouble with not only parents, but their teachers and school headmaster, Dumbledore. That’s the thing with… Read more »
Hello and welcome to a new column for DIY MFA. As some of you may know, my name is Melissa Haas, and like most of you reading this, I love to learn! In fact, it’s one of the main reasons that I write: to ensure that I will always keep learning. However, as much as… Read more »
[Part of this post was originally published in January 2014 here and another part of it was originally published in April 2017 here.] The new year always makes me want to reevaluate my creative process and push myself to become a more productive writer. This year is no different. As I’ve been thinking about creativity,… Read more »
Like most writers, I fantasize about being published. When I was writing my thesis for my MFA, I imagined getting a phone call. No, the phone call. I envisioned myself surrounded by family and friends—my phone would ring and it would be someone telling me my book was going to be on shelves. They would… Read more »
As a full-time poet I work on my own poetry at least eight hours each day. This work includes raw creation from scratch and revision. In the past, I also counted literary translation of poetry but I am focusing on my own work now. Many of my writer friends (and all the poets) ask, “How… Read more »
Parts I and II of this article dealt with ideas for writing a plot twist. You can check our Parts I and II, here and here. Part III will take you through the mechanics, the nuts and bolts of making it happen. By following the mechanics of writing plot twists and paying attention to the… Read more »
In some ways, writing in the first person feels like the most natural way to tell a story. After all, we create stories “in first” every day—over drinks with friends, describing our weekends to colleagues, and complaining about our jobs to our partners at night. “I did this…” and “I told him that…” we say,… Read more »
Hey word nerd! Jeanette the DIY MFA Curriculum Unicorn (aka Curriculum Director) here. I’ve been a fellow word nerd since early 2018 when I ran across Gabriela’s Stop Dreaming, Start Doing video series. At the end of the videos, I flipped to the next blank page in the journal where I had furiously been scribbling… Read more »
If you remember my previous post, I said everyone has their own Writer’s Intuition. However, it takes conscious effort to become aware of this intuition. As such, I am going to share with you an exercise I did that helped me raise my own awareness. A few years ago, I realized that I needed to… Read more »
Web Editor’s Note: Hey there word nerds! I’m so excited to introduce our newest columnist, Laura Highcove. Laura is a long time word nerd who will be sharing all about writer’s intuition. What’s that, you ask? Read on to find out about this powerful writing tool. I wrote a book one time that contained a… Read more »
