Uplevel Your Life: Using Poetry for Shadow Work

Uplevel Your Life: Using Poetry for Shadow Work

Why do we do the things we do? Or, why don’t we do the things we say we most want to do? We all want to eat healthier and exercise, and anyone reading this article wants more magic and writing in their lives. So, why is it so difficult to wake up early to write,… Read more »

Take the Sting Out of Writing Errors | DIY MFA Blog | AK Nevermore

Take the Sting Out of Writing Errors

You’ve pulled your hair out. Bled on the page. Gone over your WIP six ways til Sunday. Maybe you’ve even put it through one of those AI editing programs or had someone read it. One last comb through for typos or other writing errors. Yeah. That’s it. Time to submit. You hit send, and then… Read more »

Crafting the Parents in Your YA Novel | DIY MFA Blog | Dominique Richardson

Crafting the Parents in Your YA Novel

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 »

How to Nail Character Development in Picture Books

How to Nail Character Development in Picture Books

Picture books are their own unique art form, and often it’s a memorable main character that makes a picture book feel so special that you want to read it again and again and share it with everyone you know.  Whether the protagonist embodies the theme and goes on a singular adventure, or gets in trouble… Read more »

Four Plot Twist Ideas to Get Your Act II Going

Four Plot Twist Ideas to Get Your Act II Going

Happy New Year beautiful people on the Internet! I hope 2023 is treating you right and you are ready to finish that novel before the end of this year. Admittedly, I did not have much time to work on my WIP last year. Most of it came out of the frustration I felt every time… Read more »

Research: The Key to Immersive World Building

When World Building, What Size is Your Canvas?  If I were a painter, I would daub oil paint across a large canvas. I am not a miniaturist, not one for too much introspection. Back in my dancing days, my dance partner and I choreographed ambitious full-length productions with just the two of us. Later, as… Read more »

Five More Creativity Exercises for Writers

Five More Creativity Exercises for Writers

Inspiration and imagination fuel every story we write. The events and characters flow through our minds and fingers with ease on the best days. On the days when your idea pipe clogs, here are some creativity exercises for writers to pop your brain and get the stories flowing again! Add a Goblin Goblins are little… Read more »

12 Steps to Getting that Book Written

12 Steps to Getting that Book Written

It’s the new year, and you may have made a new year’s resolution that this would be the year you’d finish that novel or memoir. Book-length projects can start with great intentions, but something dwindles halfway through, or three-quarters of the way, or anywhere along the way. Or, maybe just the whole idea of starting… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Things Pixar Teaches about Cause and Effect

#5onFri: Five Things Pixar Teaches about Cause and Effect

I’m going to admit it: I fell hard for Pixar.   It was the original Toy Story that punched me in the heart first; the nostalgia and sweet characters, blended with a lifelike style of animation I’d never seen before. I then dove headfirst into their collection of short movies, many of which I showed over… Read more »