Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Scott Gates. We’ll be talking about his novel, Gone, the Redeemer. Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter, especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of… Read more »
Welcome back, poets! Today, I’m excited to talk about confessional poetry: a brief history, some defining characteristics, and a couple of exercises to help you get started writing confessional-style poetry of your own. A (Very) Brief History of Confessional Poetry In 1959, Robert Lowell’s Life Studies was published, a collection that would later be described… Read more »
In most collective storytelling games I have played we’ve worked toward a happy ending. More often than I would like, a campaign will fade to nothing after one too many scheduling conflicts—such is the nature of a game played by Busy Adults with Many Important Things to Do™. And sure, there is the occasional TPK… Read more »
Consistency and prioritizing our writing are so hard, aren’t they? You would think it gets easier, but honestly, it just gets different. Here are five ways I’ve found helpful to maximize the time I set aside to write, and hopefully, something in here helps you too. (Hint: It’s all about developing a creative ritual!) 1…. Read more »
In my last post, we talked about the characteristics of the romance genre. Today, I am going to break things down even further and talk about the various romance subgenres. Before I dive into popular romance subgenres and how to choose one, let’s define our term. A subgenre is a way of organizing a larger… Read more »
What are revisions? An edit by any other name would be just as damn difficult. But seriously. What do we mean by “writing” and “editing”? Are they really as black and white as the separate words make them appear? Yes, and no. Writing and editing are forever intertwined, causing debate and confusion over what these… Read more »
It’s been almost ten years since I graduated with my MFA in Creative Writing, so I’ve had a little time to reflect on the experience. Fresh from my graduation in 2012, I was certain I’d whip through finishing my novel and the book would be out the next year. Right? Wrong. It’s 2022, and my… Read more »
What do you think you haven’t been told about the sometimes called “What-if” stories? Assuming you’ve read the last four segments of Worldly Wise (Welcome Back, BTW!), you already know the basics… or perhaps you already know more. However, if you’re here for the first time, hello there! Welcome to Worldly Wise, where we work… Read more »
There is often a temptation to give your reader more than they really need, or, more importantly, want to know. For example, you describe a garden that is just coming into bloom and then go into minute detail about the flowers and trees. Your description includes the botanical names of three species from one genus,… Read more »
In some fiction, authors describe a place down to the color and quality of the dirt. In other books, specifics on the setting are barely incorporated and the goal is to infuse just the right amount of detail of place to connect it to the character’s journey. Personally, I had a crush on Vermont long… Read more »
