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The Star Wars franchise is one of my favorites of all time, and while Rogue One and The Empire Strikes Back are at the top of my list, I have a special place in my heart for Episode IV: A New Hope. We’ve done a bunch of 3-act analyses over the past few months, and I thought that it might be fun to dive into this movie and look at how that structure applies here. As always, if you’re wondering about the three-act structure (or want a refresher on how it works), check out this article to learn more about this framework.

Spoiler Alert! This movie came out in 1977, so it’s been around for a long time. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?!? There will be spoilers in this article, so don’t read on unless you’ve watched the film or don’t care about spoilers. Got it? Cool. Okay, let’s dive into our analysis of Star Wars IV: A New Hope.

ACT 1: One of the things that is most significant about the opening of this film is that it starts in medias res (i.e., in the middle of things). We get a little bit of backstory, which appears on screen as rolling text, but then we’re immediately thrown into a space battle between an imperial Star Destroyer and a small Corellian Corvette. There are laser blasts flying left and right and eventually, the smaller ship gets captured.

In the next scene, we are on the Corellian Corvette, watching as the crew desperately tries to defend the ship from the invading stormtroopers and the main antagonist, Darth Vader. Before being captured, Princess Leia (of the rebellion) manages to put some information into a small droid, R2-D2. That droid, along with his counterpart C-3PO, get into an escape pod and fly down to Tatooine, the planet below where the ships are fighting. On Tatooine, the droids get picked up by a sandcrawler filled with Jawas, who ultimately sell them to a moisture farmer.

CHARACTER: Luke Skywalker is a young moisture farmer, living on Tatooine with his aunt and uncle. He dreams of leaving the desolate planet for adventures in the stars, but his uncle insists that it’s too dangerous and he’s better off staying home.

VOICE: As with Die Hard, because this is a film and not a book, there isn’t really a voice. It’s more like a mood. We get the sense that this is an elaborate story, with a lot of moving parts and interesting characters. From the first moment, we get a feeling of adventure and excitement about the story.

WORLD: This is an elaborate world, with many different planets and bits and pieces of lore. In Act 1 we only get a small taste of this world, but already we can tell that it sprawls far beyond the tiny slice we get at the beginning of the story.

PROBLEM: Luke wants to go to the Imperial Academy to learn how to be a pilot. His uncle insists he needs to stay one more season to help on the farm.

EVENT: Luke’s uncle buys the two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, not knowing about their background and ties to the rebellion.

R2-D2 insists he is on a mission to find Obi-Wan Kenobi, to whom he must deliver a message. While Luke is at dinner, R2-D2 runs away into the desert. Unable to go after R2-D2 after dark, Luke must wait until morning, at which time he and C-3PO go searching. They find R2-D2 in a valley and get ambushed by sand people. Luke is injured but the sand people are scared away by a loud noise made by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan helps Luke and takes him back to his house. Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father and gives him his father’s lightsaber. He also views the message from the princess and tells Luke that he must come with him to the planet Alderaan to deliver the droid (and the secret plans it contains) to the rebellion. Luke says he can’t.

PIVOT POINT 1: They leave and in the desert they find a destroyed sandcrawler—the same one that sold the droids to Luke and his uncle. Obi-Wan says that it must have been Imperial troops that destroyed the sandcrawler. Worried for his aunt and uncle, Luke takes his landspeeder back home only to find his home destroyed and his aunt and uncle killed. There is nothing keeping him on Tatooine now, so Luke agrees to go with Obi-Wan.

ACT 2: At this point in the story, we shift gears into “spaceships and monsters” mode. We meet new characters, see all sorts of different alien species, and spend a fair amount of time flying around in space. Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids go to Mos Eisley spaceport, where they look for a ship to take them to Alderaan. There, they meet Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca (a Wookiee). They hire their ship, the Millennium Falcon, to go to Alderaan, but as they are leaving the spaceport, they get chased by stormtroopers. Once they leave Tatooine, they manage to evade the Imperial ships surrounding the planet by making a jump to light speed.

Meanwhile, back with Princess Leia in captivity with Darth Vader, she gets taken to the Death Star and handed over to Grand Moff Tarkin, who asks her to reveal the location of the hidden rebel base. When she refuses, he threatens to destroy Alderaan. Leia lies and gives the location of an abandoned rebel base. Tarkin tells the Death Star to fire on Alderaan anyway, destroying the planet.

Back with Luke en route to Alderaan, Obi-Wan teaches him the ways of the “Force” and trains him on how to use the lightsaber. Han Solo insists that the “Force” is hokum and that he’d rather depend on his blaster. They finally arrive at Alderaan only to find the planet isn’t there.

SUPPORTING CAST: Act 2 is where we see a lot of the supporting characters come into their own. These characters get increasingly more important, and the story goes from focusing primarily on Luke to being more of an ensemble cast.

PRINCESS LEIA: Leading up to her rescue, Leia appears in only a few short scenes, but already we can tell she is a force to be reckoned with. She is a strong character with a powerful ability to withstand the various forms of “persuasion” Darth Vader uses to pry the information he wants from her. She is good with a blaster and has a keen mind when it comes to battle strategy. She might be a princess but she’s certainly not a damsel in distress.

HAN SOLO: This guy is a rogue who’s not above shooting first if the situation calls for it. We get hints that he’s got money problems, and in a short scene we discover he is in debt to the mobster Jabba the Hutt. He’s a great pilot who knows a lot about how to fly (and how to get out of sticky situations), but unlike Luke—who’s fairly innocent and sees the world as black and white—Han is all about the grey areas.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: The wisened mentor, Obi-Wan, has been through a lot. He fought in the Clone Wars and lost his best friend, Anakin Skywalker, when he was killed by Darth Vader. By the time we meet him in this story, we get the sense that Obi-Wan is tired and that this is likely to be his last adventure.

DARTH VADER: He might seem imposing with his big, scary helmet, but in this story, Darth Vader is not the main source of evil. You could probably point to the Death Star as the primary antagonist, with Grand Moff Tarkin as the human stand-in primary villain and Vader as more of his second-in-command. We get the sense that Vader is a bit impulsive and quick to anger, often choking people first and asking questions later. As the series progresses, Vader becomes a more complex character, but in this film he is just a straight-up “bad guy.”

CHEWBACCA, C-3PO, and R2-D2: These three round out the group on the Millennium Falcon, and they are primarily used as comic relief.

W.O.R.S.T.: As the story progresses, things get worse and worse for Luke and his friends.

WANT: Luke does not start out wanting to be part of the rebellion, but slowly events unfold that pull him more and more into the role of a rebel. At first, he just wants to take the secret plans on R2-D2 to Alderaan. Once he realizes that the planet is destroyed and the Millennium Falcon gets captured by the Death Star, Luke’s primary motivation is survival. Once on the Death Star, he discovers that the princess is there, so his goal shifts to rescuing her. Finally, once they make a successful rescue and get away from the Death Star, Luke gets fully pulled into the rebellion and helps lead the attack on the battle station.

OBSTACLE: The primary obstacle in this story is the Death Star itself. It starts out in the background, with only a few scenes taking place on it. Once Alderaan is destroyed, however, the battle station becomes more prominent, first as something that Luke and his friends need to escape, then later as something they need to destroy.

RISK: Once Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed, he has very little left to lose. They were his only family, and there was nothing else keeping him on Tatooine. When they get captured by the Death Star, he is willing to risk his own life in order to rescue the princess and escape with his friends.

STAKES: The stakes become clear once we find out what the Death Star can do. It’s a battle station that can destroy an entire planet in a single blast. Unless this power is eliminated, no planet will be safe from the Empire.

TRANSFORMATION: Luke’s transformation is relatively subtle in this film. We know from the beginning that he’s a pretty decent pilot, but in the grand finale of the movie we see just how skilled he really is. We also discover that the Force runs strong in his family (his father was a Jedi) and by the end of the film, he has begun to learn how to channel the Force and use it to defeat the Empire.

MIDPOINT: The midpoint of the story is the moment the Millennium Falcon comes out of light speed at Alderaan’s location only to find a bunch of debris and no planet in sight. In the distance, they see a “small moon” that turns out to be the Death Star. This moment is a Temporary Triumph in that it appears Luke and his friends have succeeded in their mission, only to realize that the planet they seek isn’t there.

Because this is an action-adventure story, there isn’t a whole lot of introspection at this moment, but we do get a hint of it when the Millennium Falcon gets trapped in the Death Star’s tractor beam and Luke says, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

The rest of Act 2 consists of Luke and his friends working together to escape the Death Star and rescue the princess from the prison block. In the process, they have to impersonate stormtroopers, get caught in a garbage compactor, and eventually blast their way free of the battle station.

PIVOT POINT 2: After turning off the tractor beam, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader have a lightsaber duel in which Obi-Wan allows himself to get killed, saying: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Luke witnesses Obi-Wan’s death and is distraught, but he has no time for grief. Instead, he has to jump into one of the Millennium Falcon’s gunner chairs and help Han Solo shoot down TIE fighters so they can escape. This is the moment when Luke first begins to embrace his role as a part of the Rebellion.

ACT 3: The third act of this film is one of the most epic in all of storytelling because there’s not one, but multiple overlapping rules of 3. How awesome is that? But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In Act 3, Luke and his friends arrive at the secret rebel base and analyze the plans R2-D2 is carrying. It turns out that while the Death Star seems impenetrable, it does have one small weakness, which they can exploit. Because the Death Star is built for large-scale attacks, it’s not prepared for small ships approaching it. This means the rebels can send in single-person fighters to fly down a trench until they find a small shaft where they can send proton torpedoes, causing a chain reaction that would destroy the entire battle station. Luke immediately volunteers to go on the mission while Han Solo decides to leave with Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon.

Act 3 of the three-act structure generally has three components, which I call the 3Cs. These are: crisis, climax, and closure (or denouement). The crisis is the build-up leading to the climax. The climax is the grand finale scene where the central conflict of the story comes to a head. Finally, the closure (or denouement) is the “sigh of relief” following the climax.

CRISIS: This is one of my favorite parts of this film because we have multiple overlapping Rules of 3. As the small ships approach the Death Star, they attack in groups of three. In fact, we see three separate runs where a group of three ships attacks the battle station. The first run includes three Y-wings from Gold Group that attempt to destroy the Death Star and fail. The second group to make the run is a subset of Red Group (the group Luke is part of) and consists of three X-wings. The third group is also from Red Group and includes Luke, his best friend Biggs from Tatooine, and a third pilot called Wedge. The first two groups of fighters get shot down, so it is up to Luke and his group to destroy the battle station.

The overlapping Rules of 3 work as follows. We have three groups of ships and the first two groups fail while the third (Luke’s group) succeeds. In addition, Luke’s group consists of three ships. Two of the three ships are unable to complete the mission, but the third ship (Luke’s) is finally successful.

CLIMAX: After the first two groups of ships are destroyed, we have Luke’s climactic run to destroy the Death Star. We have three pilots attempting to complete this run. Wedge is the first to be eliminated, though he does not die; his ship is damaged and he is unable to help the others so he retreats. Next, we have Biggs, who is covering Luke from Darth Vader (in his special bent-wing TIE Fighter) along with two other enemy ships. Biggs is able to hold the enemy off for a while, but eventually he is shot down. Finally, we have Luke, who at first tries to use the targeting computer to aim the torpedoes. Then he hears Obi-Wan’s voice telling him to “use the Force” so he turns off his computer and follows his instincts.

Just as he’s about to shoot, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter closes in. But before Vader is able to shoot at Luke, the Millennium Falcon appears and shoots at Vader’s ship, sending it flying off into space. Luke aims and the torpedoes go into the shaft. The Death Star explodes as the remaining rebel ships fly away.

ENDING TYPE: This is a happy ending. While Luke doesn’t start out trying to destroy the Death Star (he doesn’t even know it exists), he does want to stand up to the Empire. Once he realizes what the Death Star can do, his goal becomes to destroy it, which he does, making this a Happy Ending. He gets what he wants (to stand up to the Empire) and still wants it.

We could argue that this film is also a Change of Heart ending because Luke’s goal does shift as the story progresses. That said, because his underlying goal (standing up to the Empire) stays the same throughout the film, I would still call this a Happy Ending instead.

DENOUEMENT: The film ends with a scene back on the 4th moon of Yavin, where the rebel base is located. All the rebels have congregated in what appears to be a temple of sorts. The Princess is at the front and Luke, Han Solo, and Chewbacca walk up the aisle toward her. She awards Luke and Han medals. We see that the droids are repaired and happy (R2-D2 had been damaged in the Death Star battle). Everyone applauds and the credits roll.

CONCLUSION: This film is a great example of how to use the Rule of 3 to build tension in the crisis and climax of a story. In this case we have multiple Rules of 3 in play: the three groups of ships attacking the Death Star, each group containing three ships. This means that each run down the Death Star trench is like a little mini-Rule of 3. Then, of course, we also have the final group of three ships which includes Luke, and ultimately is able to destroy the battle station.

We could also argue that we have rules of 3 with various groupings of characters. For example, on Tatooine, we have Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids (who operate as a unit in most scenes). Later when we are in the Death Star and the characters are rescuing the princess, we have Luke, Leia, and Han Solo as the primary characters. Yes, we also have Chewbacca, but in the Death Star escape section of this film, he acts almost as an extension of Han rather than a separate character in his own right.

So, in the end, we have Rules of 3 surrounding the plot structure as well as Rules of 3 in terms of character groupings, making this film a wonderful example of the many ways the Rule of 3 might come into play in a story.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about all the writing resources that are out there on the web—both free and not free. This got me wondering: “How do we manage it all? How do we tell what’s good from what’s not? And how do we know our time and money will be well spent?” In other words, how do we make the most of all our writing resources?

That’s what this essay is all about: how to make the most of the resources we have, and how to know what to invest in next. Today, I’ll walk you through my signature “double-take” method for absorbing materials, so you can multitask while you learn, but still zero in on the things that matter. I’ll also give you some suggestions on how to vet resources before you invest in them, so you can make sure your time and money are well spent. Let’s dive in.

The Curse of Being a “Good Student”I don’t know about you, but I’m a “Hermione” through and through, so when I take classes I go all in. I do all the assignments (including extra credit!) and I turn my schedule upside down so I can attend as many class sessions as possible. I take school very seriously.

But being a good student like this can take its toll. Sometimes, we get so caught up in cramming all that knowledge into our heads that we forget to make sense of it and implement what we learn. This is why at DIY MFA there is no such thing as “falling behind” in our courses. Wherever you are is where you’re supposed to be. The point of workshops and classes is to help facilitate learning and encourage implementation. It’s not about hoarding information while we pet it and whisper to it “my precioussss.” It’s about putting what we learn into practice.

So, if you’re a “good student” like me, I recommend shifting the paradigm. We need to recognize that it’s not the knowledge we acquire, but what we do with that knowledge that makes all the difference. Yes, being a “good student” can be a positive thing. (After all, Hermione and her smarts saved Harry and Ron’s backsides on more than one occasion.) But when that “good student” impulse overshadows implementation, that’s when things can become a problem.

This is why at DIY MFA, we place emphasis on practice rather than just learning the facts. Our courses have lots of implementation exercises, and our focused workshops include writing prompts. The goal is always to give writers ample opportunities to put what they learn into action. Many of us, after all, learn by doing, not just by studying.

We need to make the most of our writing resources—be they courses, books on the craft, webinars, summits, or anything else. But how exactly do we do that? This is where my “Double-Take” Method comes in.

Use the “Double-Take” MethodMy daughter, Lady Bug, is in fifth grade and is learning how to annotate her reading. As part of her reading assignments, she’s tasked with highlighting her book in three different colors. One color indicates facts she wants to remember. Another color is for text that conveys the author’s opinions. The third color represents passages that she can relate to her own life. One of the skills she’s had to practice is learning not to highlight everything. After all, the whole purpose of highlighting is for some items to stand out over others, and that won’t happen if you highlight all the words on the page.

The same thing is true when we take in information. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of trying to capture everything. Like good students, we take copious notes and we try hard not to let any details fall by the wayside. (As someone who is both a recovering “good student” and a perfectionist, this approach is totally my jam.)

The point of the “Double-Take” Method is to break you out of that pattern. With this method you let all the information wash over you and catch just one or two pieces that really make an impact. Here’s how it works.

You start by taking in the information via a format that allows the material to wash over you. For me, that’s listening to lessons in audio form, usually while I’m multi-tasking like riding the subway, out for a walk, or doing things around the house. I multi-task on purpose—not as a distraction, but rather to prevent myself from stopping every thirty seconds to take copious notes. While I’m listening, I’m paying attention and trying to capture 1-2 of the most important points conveyed in that lesson.

After listening, I let the lesson marinate in my brain for a little while, then I go back and revisit it, this time with a notebook in hand. (Hence the name “Double-Take.”) But this time, I don’t consume the entire lesson—I fast-forward through it and stop to listen only to those spots where those 1-2 most important points come up. That’s when I take notes, but I’m not taking notes on everything, just the most important things.

This “Double-Take” Method is based on the Pareto Principle (or 80/20 rule), which is the idea that 80% of results come from 20% of the input or effort. There’s debate about whether those percentages are exact, but the point of the Pareto Principle is that a small percentage of input will yield a large amount of output, while the rest of the input won’t lead to very much. So, when we use the “Double-Take” Method, we’re allowing a small percentage of the information gained to have a big impact on our overall learning.

But how do we know that we’ve picked the right 20%? What if we choose the wrong 20% and then we’re learning something that’s completely irrelevant?

The beauty of writing is that it’s subjective. The 20% of information that’s relevant to you might not apply to me, and that’s okay. The point isn’t to pick the “right” 1-2 pieces of information to focus on, but to prevent ourselves from getting bogged down in our learning. After all, while learning is great, it is time spent away from writing. We want to make sure that the time we spend building our craft is productive, useful, and efficient, so we can get back to writing as soon as possible.

Revisit Your LearningOne of the other habits that can be very useful to us as writers is to revisit things we think we already know. Periodically, I’ll pull up a learning resource I’ve already consumed (maybe a lesson from a course or a PDF download) and I’ll skim through it again. Inevitably, I’ll see something new in that resource, something I hadn’t noticed before.

That’s the great thing about learning. Some pieces of information might not be relevant right this minute, but if we come back and revisit that lesson down the road, those will be the pieces that stand out as most important. This is one of the reasons why we offer continuing access in our signature courses, because we know writers may need to come back to the materials again and again.

One of the things I’ve heard over and over from various course alums is “I skipped such-and-such module the first time I did the class, but now I’m taking it again and that module is exactly what I need.” In other words, different lessons or pieces of information will be relevant to us at different points in our journey. This means every so often we should revisit the writing resources we have to see what new insights we might gain from them.

Vet Resources Before You InvestIf you’re anything like me, your computer is probably overflowing with webinar recordings, writing summit replays, PDF freebies, eBooks on writing, and other learning materials. With so much information at our fingertips, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed, and when that happens most of us end up ignoring those resources altogether. So, how do we know where to invest our time (and money)?

The way I go about it is to find some trusted advisors. There are certain people in the writing space whose taste and judgment I trust, and when they recommend something, I’m likely to give it a second look. You need to find a couple of writing experts whose recommendations you trust. I hope DIY MFA can be that resource for you, but I also encourage you to look to other people so you can get a broader range of perspectives.

Now, I wouldn’t advise you to include too many experts in that inner circle of trust, because then the volume of recommendations and opinions will be dizzying. Choose 2-3 people whose work you really admire and follow them. Watch your inbox for their emails, and when they recommend something, give it a closer look.

Don’t get me wrong, you can still follow other experts and be on other people’s newsletter lists. That’s great! Just choose 2-3 people who really resonate with you and follow them more closely. Those are the recommendations you should really pay attention to, and when they share a resource, there’s a good chance that it may be one where you want to invest.

Again, it’s all about finding that small amount of input that will yield the most output for you. In this case, instead of paying attention to dozens or hundreds of experts, you choose two or three. You can still keep other experts on your radar, but those 2-3 “inner circle” experts are the ones where you’ll really focus your attention.

What you’ll find, when you emphasize a limited number of resources is you’ll actually make more progress than when you scatter your attention across the board. That 20% of effort and attention will yield 80% of your results, and by zeroing in on a few key resources or experts, you’ll actually have the bandwidth and energy to implement what you’re learning rather than simply stuffing your brain with information.

Make Time for Implementation The last thing I’ll share with you is about the importance of implementation. All that learning you do will mean nothing if you don’t put it into action. This is why at DIY MFA, we make a point of including implementation exercises in our courses and writing exercises in our workshops. We believe that in order to learn, we can’t just talk about writing, we have to do the writing.

Whenever you take a class, go to a conference, participate in a summit, or consume any sort of writing resource, make sure you schedule time for implementation. Put it on the calendar. Carve out 30-40 minutes after you’ve consumed the information and use that time to implement what you learned. Don’t just take notes, but spend time actually putting the concepts into practice.

There you have it, a series of tips to help you make the most of your writing resources. Use the “Double-Take” Method to zero in on the most important parts of any given lesson or resource. Also, go back and revisit different materials from time to time to see if you get new insights. Make sure you vet the resources you consume, and the best way to do that is to follow a couple of experts whose taste and judgment you trust. Finally, remember to schedule some time for implementation so you can put what you learn into action.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: Make the Most of Writing Resources appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Over the past few months, I’ve shared some 3-Act analyses of various different movies, books, and stories. These analyses have included things like the book Pride and Prejudice, the movie Die Hard, and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” It can be useful to look at examples of the three-act structure in action, but once we’ve got a handle on how the theory works, what do we do with it? How do you apply it to your own writing and get your manuscript organized?

That’s the topic we’re going to tackle today. Since it’s spring, I’ve got spring cleaning on the brain and I thought I’d do a quick rundown on how to go from brainstorming ideas to planning out a concrete story.

This process works best if you have a manuscript started and have at least a few scenes already written. In other words, if you’re a “pantser” (i.e. you write by the seat of your pants) this approach could be a great fit for you. That said, if you’re a “plotter” and you like to pre-plan your story before you write it, you can also use this step-by-step system and use it to plan your story from scratch. And, of course, if you’re a mix of the two extremes, this process is also a great fit for that “plotter-pantser” middle ground.

1) Take an InventoryIf you’re a pantser, and you’ve already written part (or all) of your story, this step will be easy-peasy. Basically, all you have to do is sit down with a blank sheet of paper and make a list of every single scene you’ve written. If you’re a plotter and you haven’t started writing yet, just sketch out the scenes you think your story needs.

As you do this exercise, don’t worry about including a ton of details, just jot down a few words for each scene that will help you identify which scene is which. You also don’t necessarily need to list all the characters for each scene, but in some cases you may want to include initials with the scenes so you remember which key characters are in play.

For example, your list might look something like this:

• Scene with B alone in the park
• Dinner party (B, V, C, P)
• Scene where B shares the bad news with V
• Etc.

Don’t panic if you can’t remember each and every last scene you’ve written (or plan to write) and don’t worry about listing things in order. The goal here is just to do a quick inventory so you get a sense for all the different scenes that are part of your story.

2) Make Scene CardsOnce you’ve taken an inventory of scenes, the best next step is to make scene cards. You can do scene cards with index cards or sticky notes (hooray for office supplies!) or virtually by using a program like Scrivener.

Here’s what I put on each card:

• Scene Name (usually taken directly from the inventory)
• Major Players (just the most important characters)
• What Happens (1-2 sentences max.)
• Setting (when/where the scene takes place)
• Purpose (why is the scene in the story?)

Make cards for scenes you’ve already written as well as scenes you think you might want to write in the future. The reason I love this method is because if you haven’t written all your scenes, you can use the scene cards almost like cue cards: pick one at random, then write that scene.

I personally like index cards the best because I love office supplies and they are the most portable option, but you should use whatever method works best for you. The goal here is for each scene to be its own separate unit (sticky note or index card) so you can move things around.

Some writers like to do a more detailed inventory (or outline) where they list out characters and events for each scene in a more granular way than just a list. If that’s the case, you can just print out your inventory and cut it up so that each scene is a separate piece of paper. Voilá! You’ve got instant scene cards.

3) Lay Out Your ScenesAfter making scene cards, lay everything out on a table or other larger surface. The goal is to be able to see the whole story at a glance. The reason for doing this as scene cards (rather than a static outline) is that it allows you to move things around if need be.

Leave the scenes laid out for a couple of days and look at your story from time to time. If any scenes seem out of place, try moving them around to see if they work better somewhere else. Let the story “settle” for a few days before moving on to the next step.

4) Mark the Landmark ScenesOnce you’ve laid out your scene cards, it’s time to mark your story landmarks. This includes the three acts, two pivot points (where the acts transition from one to the next), as well as the midpoint, climax, and denouement. Use sticky notes or a brightly colored pen to mark those key points in your story.

Next, it’s time to consider pacing. How long are each of your acts? On average, Act 1 is usually around 20-25% of the story, Act 2 is 50-60%, and Act 3 is 20-25%. This is not an exact science, of course, and some books might have an Act 2 that is 80% of the entire story while others might be broken up almost into thirds. The goal here is to get an overall sense for where those transition points fall and how long each of the acts are relative to the size of the entire book.

You’ll also want to look carefully at the placement of your midpoint. Usually this point in the story falls right at the halfway mark, give or take a few scenes. Sometimes, though, the midpoint might actually span multiple scenes. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, the midpoint begins with the False Failure and Mr. Darcy’s failed proposal, then spans until Elizabeth reads Mr. Darcy’s letter, and finally culminates with her famous line: “‘Til this moment, I never knew myself.”

In addition to marking the midpoint, you’ll also want to note where the climax falls in your story. Usually, the climax falls around the 85-90% mark, though there is plenty of wiggle room. The key is that the climax must occur somewhere in Act 3 and there should still be a scene (or two or more) following it as part of the closure that follows. You don’t want the climax to be the absolute last scene because the story may feel truncated. You want to make sure you leave room for that “sigh of relief” that is the denouement.

5) Map Out Your StoryBy the time you reach this point in the process, you should have a pretty good idea of the shape of your story and how everything fits together. Still, if you’re a visual person (like me) you may want to take this one step further and draw a story map. To map out your story you must first identify the Major Dramatic Question (MDQ), which is the main question that drives the primary thread of your story forward. You’ll also want to identify 1-3 Lesser Dramatic Questions (LDQs), which are questions that drive the subplots. Once you have the MDQ and LDQs identified, assign each thread a color and mark the scenes that belong to that thread with a dot in that color pen.

For example, if we were doing this exercise with The Hunger Games we might say the main thread of the story (“Will Katniss survive the games?”) is orange, while the subplots might be blue and pink. Then we mark the scenes with a dot indicating whether they belong to a particular thread. For instance, the Reaping scene, which belongs to all three threads, would have dots in each color: orange, pink, and blue. If a scene does not have any dots on it, then you need to consider seriously whether that scene belongs in the story at all, since it doesn’t contribute to any of the story threads.

After you’ve identified which thread(s) each scene belongs to, you can map your story out like a subway map. Each scene is represented by a stop on the map and each thread is a subway line. The “local stops” are scenes that only appear in one story thread, while the “express stops” are scenes that appear as intersections between two or more threads. You can map out your story like a subway, like this example from The Hunger Games. It might look something like this:

Why do we map out our stories in this way? Aside from making a pretty diagram, what’s the point? The reason we do this is because once you’ve mapped out your story, you can separate out the subway lines and look at each story thread individually. This allows you to make sure whether there are any places where a particular thread sags. When we tease apart the three threads in The Hunger Games map, we get something that looks like this:

As we can see, in the pink line there is a long gap where there are no scenes. Now, in the case of this particular story, it works because that stretch of the story is when Katniss is training for the Games and then the first part when she is in the Arena. For that section of the book, it makes sense that she’s not focusing on her family because her own survival is front and center. It’s only later in Act 2 of the story, where she connects with Rue, that the family story thread becomes more important.

What’s the purpose of this exercise? When we tease apart our story threads, we can see if there are places where a bunch of scenes lump together or if there is a long gap between scenes. Once we identify those places, we can make an informed, artistic decision. It’s possible that we decide to leave it exactly as is because it works for the story… and that’s okay. But the point is that this becomes an intentional choice, rather than a haphazard outcome that “just happened that way.”

Instinct to IntentionAt DIY MFA, we talk a lot about making the shift from instinct to intention. If you’re part of our word nerd community, you’ve already got good instincts. I say this with confidence because I know that DIY MFA attracts writers like you, who are dedicated to learning the craft and becoming the best writers they can be.

But instincts alone are not enough. We can write stories on instinct alone, but that would make our process random. Sometimes, we’d get it “right” and other times we might miss the mark. But once we take the time to understand what’s going on in our story and really analyze the breakdown of all the parts, we can start to make intentional choices.

When we shift from instinct to intention, our process goes from random to precise. We are no longer making decisions through trial and error. Nothing in our book will be there by accident, but because we consciously put it there. This gives us artistic control over the outcome and allows us to make our book the best it can possibly be.

There you have it: a step-by-step process to help you get your manuscript organized. You can use this process whether you are a “plotter” and you like to pre-plan every detail of your book, or if you are a “pantser” and you write by the seat of your pants. The goal of this method is not to pigeonhole you or impose a set structure and squash the life out of your story. Rather, the purpose of this exercise is for you to gain clarity on what you’re already doing so you can make intentional choices about your book.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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For the last few months, we’ve been doing three-act analyses of various books and films. We examined Pride and Prejudice, the movie Die Hard, and Kate Chopin’s fabulous story “The Story of an Hour.” Today I thought I’d do an analysis of one of my favorite books: The Hunger Games.

This book (along with Pride and Prejudice) has been a classic DIY MFA example and one that I use when talking about lots of different aspects of the craft. I like to put The Hunger Games side-by-side with Pride and Prejudice in particular because it shows that these craft elements are not arbitrary and they apply to vastly different types of literature.

I’ve been talking about the three-act structure a lot lately, but if you’re not familiar with the framework (or want a refresher on how it works), check out this article.

Spoiler Alert! Okay, since this book was published in 2008, I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has long since expired. But just in case, let me say this: there will be spoilers. It’s impossible to talk about a book’s story structure without giving away key plot twists or the ending. So if you’ve been waiting to read The Hunger Games and you don’t want spoilers… well, you have been warned.

Alright, let’s dive into our analysis of The Hunger Games.

ACT 1: The Hunger Games has one of the shortest first acts in all of literature. The entirety of Act 1 is compressed into the first chapter. By the time we get to chapter two, we are already at the pivot point and well on our way into Act 2. But just because Act 1 is short doesn’t make it incomplete or ineffective. Act 1 of The Hunger Games fulfills all five promises that the reader expects, and it does so with laser-sharp efficiency.

CHARACTER: Katniss Everdeen is our protagonist. We don’t know much about her in Act 1, but we know she’s good at hunting and she cares deeply about her younger sister Prim. She and her best friend, Gale, talk about running away to someplace where they (and their younger siblings) could be safe.

VOICE: The story is narrated in first person present tense, so we feel like we are right there in the middle of the action. There is an immediacy to the first person present tense that draws readers into the story.

WORLD: We learn a lot about the world of Panem in that first chapter. We learn that there has been a revolution during the “Dark Days” where the districts rose up against the Capitol. Twelve of these districts were defeated and returned to Capitol rule, while the thirteenth district was destroyed and eliminated altogether. Now, as a way to celebrate the peace (and remind the districts of who’s in charge) they have the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in an outdoor arena where each district sends one male and one female tribute to participate. The games continue until only one tribute is left standing.

PROBLEM: It’s Reaping day and the odds are definitely not in Katniss’ favor. In order to keep her family fed, she had to put her name in the tribute jar extra times, meaning that it’s quite possible she will be chosen as tribute. The other, bigger problem is that her younger sister, Prim, is eligible for the reaping for the first time. Her name is only in the jar once, but Katniss is still worried.

EVENT: All eligible young people go to the town square for the Reaping ceremony.

PIVOT POINT 1: Primrose (Prim) Everdeen’s name is chosen from the tribute jar. Katniss gets turned into a tailspin. All she has ever wanted to do is protect her sister and now her sister has been chosen for The Hunger Games. In a moment of panic, not knowing what else to do, Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place.

ACT 2: Katniss is thrust full-speed into the world of the Games. After barely being able to say goodbye to her family, she boards a high-speed train to the Capitol, where she is introduced to her stylists and mentor, as well as the other tributes. After a few chapters in the Capitol, Katniss is sent to the arena, where most of the rest of the story takes place.

SUPPORTING CAST: There are several key characters in The Hunger Games who we meet in Act 2. First we have Peeta Mellark, Katniss’s fellow tribute from District 12. We learn that Peeta has always been secretly in love with Katniss and at one time he saved her (and her family) from starvation.

In addition, we have several mentor-like characters including Effie Trinket (the Capitol liaison with District 12), Haymitch Abernathy (the only living Hunger Games victor from District 12), and Cinna (the head stylist and trusted friend to Katniss). While these mentor characters cannot come with Katniss into the arena, the short span of time she spends with them in the Capitol has a strong influence on her.

Finally, we also have other tributes who play important roles in the story. The career tributes—in particular, Cato—are the primary antagonists when Katniss enters the arena. Plus, Rue (the young tribute from District 11) becomes an important ally for Katniss. Rue reminds Katniss a lot of her sister Prim and serves as a stand-in character who fills the same role, even though Prim is back home in District 12.

RULE OF 3: There’s a Rule of 3 where Katniss faces off against the career tributes (the most vicious tributes, those from districts 1 and 2). The first incident is when she cuts down a branch that has a tracker jacker’s nest on it and it falls right on top of where the career tributes are sleeping. In this case, Katniss is just trying to survive because the careers had her cornered in a tree.

The second time she faces off against the career tributes is when she and Rue plot to destroy their supplies. Here, Katniss doesn’t actually deal with any career tributes directly. She waits for Rue to cause a distraction and when the careers leave their supplies unattended, she destroys them by setting off a landmine.

The third incident where she faces off against the career tributes is at the very end, when she, Peeta, and Cato are at the cornucopia. Katniss and Peeta have formed an alliance, and Cato is the only other tribute remaining. They are on top of the cornucopia, surrounded by muttations (mutant monsters). Katniss and Peeta fight Cato and Katniss finally vanquishes him.

W.O.R.S.T.: Katniss wants more than anything to survive and also to protect her family, especially Prim. The primary obstacle getting in her way is that she’s stuck in the Hunger Games, having to fight with the vicious career tributes who want nothing more than to see her dead. Despite starting out not wanting to harm any other tributes, Katniss is willing to do anything to protect her family—even kill. If she doesn’t survive the Games, she can’t go home to her family and there’s a good chance her mother and sister will starve. Katniss starts out a loner in the games, but eventually starts forging alliances (first with Rue, then with Peeta) and those alliances are what ultimately help her survive.

MIDPOINT: Katniss is injured and trapped up in a tree, with the career tributes down below, waiting to kill her. She sees a tracker jacker nest on one of the branches and cuts it down. In the process of doing so, she gets bitten by the insects and starts to hallucinate. She’s able to knock down the branch and the tracker jackers drive away the career tributes, killing one. In the chaos of the moment, Katniss gets down from the tree, grabs a bow and some arrows from the dead tribute, and runs into the forest. She runs directly into Peeta, who up until that point she thought was in cahoots with the career tributes. Peeta tells her to run, showing that he’s still on her side. Katniss runs until she collapses in a hallucinatory stupor. This is her first real victory against the career tributes and it serves as a Temporary Triumph.

PIVOT POINT 2: After destroying the career tributes’ supplies, Katniss regroups with Rue, when suddenly Rue is shot by a spear from one of the career tributes. Katniss quickly retaliates and kills the career tribute, but Rue is far too wounded to survive. Katniss sings to her as she dies, then does a burial ritual surrounding her with flowers. Finally, Katniss gets up and gives a peace signal to the camera televising the Games.

This is the first time Katniss has stood up to the Capitol in any way. Up until now, she has tried to keep her head down and survive so she can go home to her family. But losing Rue feels almost as if she’s lost her sister. She reaches her lowest point when Rue dies, and once she pulls herself together she takes her first step toward standing up to the Capitol.

Interestingly enough, this Pivot Point 2 for book one of the series also serves as Pivot Point 1 for the entire trilogy. It is the moment when Katniss goes from being “the girl on fire” to becoming “the mockingjay” and symbol of the revolution.

ACT 3: After Rue dies, the Gamemakers change the rules and state that two tributes may emerge as victors, so long as they are from the same district. At this point, Katniss realizes she needs to find Peeta because they can now survive the games together.

Katniss finds Peeta badly injured and she hides with him in a cave. They have a tender moment where they kiss, and Katniss begins to have feelings for him. Peeta is still very sick from his injuries, and the Gamemakers announce that there are “gifts” for each of the remaining tributes at the cornucopia. Certain that this “gift” is medicine for Peeta, Katniss risks her life to get it.

CLIMAX: Once Peeta has recovered, the tension of the story begins to rise. The Gamemakers let loose muttations on the remaining tributes, driving them toward the cornucopia for the “grand finale.” Katniss and Peeta fight Cato (the one remaining tribute) atop the cornucopia and they win. Suddenly the Gamemakers change the rules again and say that only one tribute can be a victor. Katniss refuses to let the Gamemakers have their way. She has poison berries in her pocket and she divides them between herself and Peeta. Just as they are about to eat the poison berries, the Gamemakers announce that they are, in fact, the victors after all.

ENDING TYPE: Despite all the dark, painful moments, this story has a “happy ending.” Katniss wants to survive and that desire carries her through to the end of the story. She gets what she wants (survival) and she still wants it, making this a happy ending.

DENOUEMENT: After the climax, the story concludes rather quickly. There’s a short interview where Katniss and Peeta appear on a talk show with Cesar Flickerman and discuss their experience in the games. Then they head back to their home in District 12.

The important consideration with the denouement is that Katniss has to mask the reason why she pulled the poison berries stunt. We readers know that it was her way of making the Capitol look bad, but both she and Peeta insist publicly that they did it out of pure love for each other. They couldn’t stand the idea of being without the other and would have rather died than lose one another.

While this is a small detail in this book, it becomes increasingly important for book two of the trilogy. In Catching Fire (book 2), Katniss has to work hard to convince the authorities in the Capitol (especially President Snow) that she is not trying to cause trouble. The relationship between Peeta and Katniss continues to develop, becoming more and more important as the trilogy continues. In Mockingjay (book 3) Katniss and Peeta are separated with Katniss in a district and Peeta imprisoned in the Capitol, and the Capitol uses Peeta as a pawn, a way to get revenge on Katniss by harming someone she loves.

CONCLUSION: Many people talk about the three-act structure and how much of the story should occur in each act. The typical framework is 25% of the story in Act 1, 50% in Act 2, and 25% in Act 3. This book is proof that you don’t have to follow the framework to a T for your story to work. In The Hunger Games, Act 1 is only the first chapter, and after that we dive right into Act 2. This goes to show that, as long as you set the scene right and draw in the reader, you don’t have to follow the typical framework to the letter.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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“Where do you get your ideas?” People are always curious how writers can come up with unique new stories, especially when those writers are producing books at a fast clip. This is especially true when writing genre fiction, where tropes and genre conventions are prevalent. How do you keep from repeating yourself? How do you come up with fresh concepts? And how do you know if your story ideas are truly unique, or if they’re just a regurgitated product of the collective unconscious?

These are the questions that came up for me early last month when I read this New Yorker article. It discusses a copyright infringement lawsuit between two authors (also involving at least one agent and a publishing house). What it all comes down to is that both authors work in the same genre—Romantasy—and that genre is governed by tropes, conventions, and expectations. This means there’s inevitably a lot of overlap between different stories. The question is, when does overlap become more than mere coincidence, and what are potential stumbling blocks for authors (aside from possible infringement)?

It’s a fine line between following genre conventions and giving readers what they want versus repeating yourself or sounding derivative. Most genre readers want things fresh and interesting, but also familiar—“the same, but different.” In other words, when they pick up a book, they want to know what they’re getting and they want to know what to expect. Of course, they don’t want an exact repeat of something they’ve read before, but they want something that follows similar conventions and gives those conventions a new spin.

Remember: for many readers, reading books is like eating comfort food. Yes, they want stories that feel fresh and new, but they also want that familiar feeling they always get when they read other stories in the same genre. A romance reader wants the Happily Ever After. The mystery reader wants to solve the puzzle along with the sleuth. And the thriller reader wants that urgency of the protagonist’s race against the clock. So if tropes and genre conventions are so important, but we also want to be original, how do we walk that fine line?

Voice and Reading Experience MatterWhen reading the New Yorker article, one element that struck me was how the defendants emphasized the difference in voice between the two books. One author’s book is “sassy, fun, commercial, and hot” while the other’s is “raw, ruminative, [and] interior.” In other words, these two books seem to differ dramatically in terms of voice and they each offer very different reading experiences.

This is where we can make our stories unique. Tropes are like cookie cutters, producing the same shape again and again. Voice is like the icing that decorates the cookies, making each one unique. A cookie with chocolate icing will provide a very different taste experience than one with vanilla.

So too is it with voice. A book with a dreamy, sentimental voice and lush descriptions will feel nothing like an action-packed book with a crisp, satirical voice, even if they use the exact same tropes. In fact, these books will also likely attract and resonate with a different pool of readers.

If you’re wondering about how to make your story unique, hone your voice first and foremost. Not sure how to do that? This article can help you jumpstart the process.

Understand the Tropes and Genre ConventionsIf you’re going to play in the genre fiction sandbox, you have to understand how your genre operates. This means reading a lot and understanding the tropes, conventions, and expectations readers have for that genre. You have to know what themes and ideas fit those conventions without letting them feel stale or overdone. To complicate things further, tropes that seem fun and familiar to some readers might feel cliche to others, so even if you walk that tightrope perfectly, you might still disappoint some people.

To understand tropes and genre conventions, you first need to know what they are. Today we’ll take a look at some tropes that come up most frequently in different genres, but before we do that, we need to talk about what a trope actually is.

What is a Trope?According to Merriam-Webster, a trope is a “common or overused theme or device,” i.e., a cliche. I beg to differ. I think of tropes as a useful shorthand, giving us a snapshot of some aspect of a story that is far more complex within the story itself. For example, if I told you a romance novel was enemies to lovers, you instantly get the gist of what the story is about but you wouldn’t get the specifics. On the other hand, if you were to watch the film When Harry Met Sally you would see a much more complex execution of that trope. After all, the trope doesn’t come close to capturing the idea of that famous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene.

Tropes come in many different flavors, including: premise tropes, structural tropes, pacing tropes and character tropes. These tropes can be found in several different genres and can be a useful shortcut to help us quickly express a complex aspect of the story without getting into all the details. Let’s take a look at some of the different types of tropes.

Premise TropesThese are tropes that give us an idea of what the story is about. Premise tropes are sometimes also considered subgenres. When you define a book by one of these tropes, people instantly have a sense for the overall story. In some genres, the sub-genres also operate like premise tropes, giving us a quick snapshot of what the story is going to be about. Some examples of premise tropes include:

ROMANCE: Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, fake relationship, love triangle, forbidden love, opposites attract (sometimes called “grumpy-sunshine”), and second chance.

MYSTERY: (often considered subgenres) amateur sleuth or cozy, police procedural, hardboiled or noir, locked room, and caper.

THRILLER: (again, often considered subgenres) spy/international, legal/political, science/medical, military, psychological, paranormal, and domestic suspense.

SCI-FI / FANTASY / HORROR: outsider (fish-out-of-water), quest (including side quests!), hidden truth (i.e., a prophecy or inheritance), weird things are happening, good vs. evil, coming into power.

HISTORICAL: war or political/social conflict, current events of time period, long journey.

Structural TropesThese are tropes that impact the actual structure of the story, or how the story is told. These tropes relate to specific moments in the story that the genre reader will expect to see. While not all stories might include all of these tropes or expected story moments, they tend to come up frequently in their respective genres.

ROMANCE: In this genre, you often have the meet-cute at the beginning and a grand gesture at the end (at the climax of the story). Many stories also include a break-up, usually around 75% of the way into the story, where the characters are forced apart for some reason. Often this break-up stems from a misunderstanding (another structural trope) where one or both of the characters misreads a situation, leading them to break up.

Another structural trope that we often see in romance is forced proximity, where the couple is forced to be together in close quarters, leading them to fall in love. This trope is especially important in stories using the enemies to lovers premise, because there needs to be a reason for these two people who dislike each other to spend time together… and later fall in love. Forced proximity allows that to happen.

MYSTERY: There are certain structural expectations specific to mystery stories. These include the discovery of the crime/body at the beginning and the moment when the solution to the crime is revealed at the end. Many mysteries also include structural elements like collecting evidence and interviewing suspects, and of course, we also have red herrings which serve to set the reader off track for a bit. Some mysteries also include a moment where the crime becomes personal for the sleuth. This is often a moment where someone the sleuth cares about becomes a suspect and it’s up to the sleuth to clear their name.

THRILLER: I once heard agent Donald Maass say that most thrillers boil down to one of two storylines: “Stop!” and “Run!” With the “Stop!” type of story, the hero is trying to stop a big bad thing from happening (a bomb from going off, an assassination from happening, a serial killer from striking again). With the “Run!” type of story, the hero is trying to get away from some sort of monster or other bad thing (think horror/slasher movies where the characters are running away from the killer). Both of these structural tropes dictate how the story will unfold and what the protagonist needs to do to save the day.

Sometimes, in thrillers or adventure stories, we also see a trope called the MacGuffin—a plot device (or object/character) that moves the plot forward but is not actually important to the story itself. An example might be the Ark in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, which creates a reason for the adventure to happen, but doesn’t contribute very much to the overall story.

SCI-FI / FANTASY: Perhaps the most famous structural trope of all is one we often see in science fiction and fantasy. This is the hero’s journey. Originally developed by Joseph Campbell, this trope begins with the character living in an ordinary world. They get called to adventure and eventually meet a guide who will help them on their journey. Their journey takes them through various highs and lows, finally bringing them home, changed by their experience. While the hero’s journey is by no means the only possible storyline for these genres, it is one that appears quite often.

HISTORICAL: In historical fiction, one trope that sometimes comes up is the dual timeline, where you have two different time periods that are intertwined in some way. Historical fiction also sometimes overlaps with other genres, in which case it might pull structural tropes from another genre. For example, a historical mystery might include things like the discovery of the body or the sleuth announcing the solution to the crime.

Pacing TropesNot all genres have pacing-related tropes. The most common occur in romance—where you have insta-love and the slow burn—and with the ticking clock in thrillers. Other genres might borrow these tropes if they have a romance subplot or a thriller component.

Character TropesThere are certain character types that tend to come up again and again in different genres. Here are some examples (with their typical genres in parentheses):

• Unexpected Love Interest (Romance)
• Plucky Best Friend (Romance)
• Someone Incapable of Love (Romance)
• Alpha Hero (Romance)
• Wisened Mentor (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Chosen One (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Unexpected Hero (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Source of All Evil (Fantasy)
• Reluctant Hero (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Unknowing Heir to the Throne (Fantasy)
• Found Family (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Monsters or Aliens (Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror)
• Expendable Minor Character (Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror)
• Hero/Sleuth with a Troubled Past (Mystery / Thriller)
• Unlikeable Victim (Mystery / Thriller)
• Bumbling Law Enforcement (Mystery / Thriller)
• Unlikely Hero/Sleuth (Mystery / Thriller as well as some Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
• Criminal Mastermind (Mystery / Thriller)
• Protagonist Ahead of Their Time (Historical)
• Historical Figures as Characters (Historical)

Using Tropes and Navigating Genre ConventionsI share these tropes and genre conventions with you, not to make you feel pigeon-holed or limited, but rather to give you ideas of elements you could include in your story. Keep in mind, stories don’t need to include all the tropes listed above (because that would be overkill!) and what helps make stories unique are the different combinations of these elements.

Remember too, that your voice is what will make your story truly stand out from all the other books using the same tropes and formulas. In the end, tropes and genre conventions are just there to guide you and give you a sense for your options. It’s up to you to make your story sparkle!

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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If you’re like me—and many writers—you might sometimes feel like you’re writing in a vacuum. Sure, we might love to envision ourselves huddled away in a cabin in the woods penning the next big bestseller, but the reality is that we need to connect with a greater writing community if we want to build a career. The key is to build a writing network, a safe haven that will feed your creativity and support your writing.

Your writing network is more than just a critique group or a set of writer friends, it encompasses your entire writing life. It includes both fellow writers, who understand what this kooky writing life is all about, and non-writers, who may not get the whole writing thing but can support you in other ways. By casting a wide net, you’ll assemble a network that feeds all aspects of your creative career.

There are four components that you need in your writing network. I like to use the acronym CASA to make sure that all areas of the writing life are present and accounted for. If you don’t already know this about me, my family is Brazilian and Portuguese is my first language. Incidentally, CASA means home in Portuguese, which is significant because your writing network is like a home for your writing soul. CASA represents the four elements of a complete writing community:

• C is for Critique
• A is for Accountability
• S is for Support
• A is for Advice

Keep in mind, it’s very rare to have one group or person fulfill all four elements. Most writers have different people or groups representing each CASA component. Sometimes a person can fulfill more than one CASA role, but it’s extremely rare to find a one-stop-shop that represents every piece of the CASA puzzle. Let’s take a closer look at each of these components and what they entail.

C is for CritiqueCritique is at the center of many writing programs and workshops, including MFAs. This is because one of the best ways to improve our craft and build our skills is to get feedback from fellow writers and readers. Oftentimes we can’t quite tell what’s working in our writing and it’s good to get an outside opinion.

Now, don’t get me wrong, getting feedback on your work is an important part of the writing process, but I think many writers get sucked into critique too early. You need to develop your writing chops first, before you start getting other people’s input.

I once had a writing teacher who said: “Workshops are like driving a van with fourteen backseat drivers.” And there’s something to that. You can get conflicting feedback from different people and sometimes it’s hard to identify the best way forward.

This is why I always recommend that writers wait until they have established their own voice and developed their taste before diving into critique. This way, you can weigh out the input you receive and determine for yourself what to implement and what to let go.

In general, I recommend that writers start adding critique to their writing repertoire once they have begun working on a longer project in earnest (or have completed and revised at least three shorter pieces). At this point in their writing journey, writers have already figured out who they are and what kind of writing they want to focus on, so feedback can be more purposeful. If you haven’t already reached this point in your development as a writer, I would hold off on critique, at least for now.

A is for AccountabilitySocial accountability is one of the most powerful motivational tools. When we announce our goals publicly, we are more likely to stick to them. We don’t want to look like a slacker by not doing the work, and we don’t want to lose face with our friends if we don’t reach our goals. This “positive peer pressure” makes us knuckle down and it challenges us to do what we need to do to make our goals a reality.

One way to use accountability as part of your writing community is to do what I call “writing in tandem.” This is where writers get together—either in person or via video chat—and write quietly side-by-side.

I used to do this when I first graduated from the MFA program with some of my writing friends. We called ourselves the “Write Nite Ladies” and we’d get together once a week at a coffee shop to write. Our meetups would start with a quick check-in where we’d catch up briefly with each other, then we’d pull out our laptops and start writing. After an hour or so, we’d wrap things up with a little chit-chat and head home.

I know several writers who do the same thing over video chat. They get together on a call and after a short check-in everyone mutes themselves and starts writing. At the end of a one-hour sprint, the writers regroup and share a little about what they worked on during the writing session.

The reason writing in tandem is so effective is that it’s that much harder to check social media or hop on YouTube when you’re working alongside a bunch of other writers. There’s a collective energy that happens when you write in tandem that makes it much more likely for you to focus and stay on task. Whether you choose to write in tandem virtually or in person, this is a great way to build community and use positive peer pressure to keep yourself motivated.

S is for SupportSupport for your writing career comes in many forms and from many different sources. It’s tempting to think of support as only coming from fellow writers, but our non-writers friends and family members can be just as crucial sources of support as our writerly “birds of a feather.” For example, a friend or family member might agree to sit with your kids, so you have a few hours to write. Or your spouse might volunteer to do the laundry or cook some meals, so you have some extra writing time. These are all examples of support that non-writers can offer.

At the same time, your writing colleagues can offer support that regular, non-writers may not be able to give. For example, only a writer really understands what it’s like to get your seventy-eighth rejection letter from an agent. And only a writer can truly appreciate how monumental a milestone it is to finish a rough draft. Fellow writers can help you celebrate your wins and can offer a shoulder to lean on when things don’t go well. Yes, our non-writer friends and family might mean well, but they will never have that same level of appreciation for the hard work and dedication that writing requires.

This is why it’s important to have a broad support network, one that includes both writers and non-writers. The writers will lend support around the things that directly relate to your writing career, while non-writers can offer that all-important support that grants you the time and flexibility to get those words on the page. As writers, we need both sources of support in our lives.

A is for AdviceFinally, it’s critical for us to have trusted advisors and mentors who can help us hone our craft and cultivate our careers. While critique is great, and it is certainly valuable to get feedback on your writing from your peers, sometimes you need to bring in an expert. This is where the A for advice comes into play.

When choosing your advisors and mentors, make sure you go to someone who is truly an expert in the area where you need help. There are a lot of sources of information on the internet, and not all of them are of the same high caliber. It’s important to vet your sources of advice carefully. This is why at DIY MFA, we are very deliberate with the resources we share with our audience, and we only recommend people who we know and whose work we trust.

DIY MFA Members HUBI know I said earlier that it’s very rare for one person or resource to fulfill all four of the CASA elements, but here at DIY MFA, we have one resource that does just that. This is the DIY MFA Members HUB, and it’s a membership community where you can connect with me, my team, and other members of the DIY MFA community.

This community covers all four CASA elements. Our Critique Sessions offer opportunities for you to receive feedback on your work. The Writing Clinics not only give you a chance to write in tandem and focus on specific aspects of the craft, but sharing next steps at the end of the call is a great source of social accountability. The Discussion Calls are an excellent way to get your writing questions answered and also get support from fellow members of the community. Plus, throughout all the resources—on-demand webinars and mini-courses, summit interview archive, and our monthly calls—you have me as the primary source of advice and instruction.

If you’re interested in joining this awesome community, click the link below and you’ll get a more detailed overview of what the HUB is all about. You can also sign up right on that page.

Click here for more information about the HUB.Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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One of my favorite short stories is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, which is probably one of the most tightly plotted narratives of all time. Barely two pages long, this story incorporates all three acts, plus the pivot points, midpoint, climax, and denouement. It doesn’t miss a single beat and it does all that in a mere two pages.

For the last few months, we’ve been doing three-act analyses of various books and films. Today I thought I’d do an analysis of this fantastic short story. If you’re not familiar with the three-act structure (or want a refresher on how it works), check out this article.

Spoiler Alert! Thankfully, this time around I don’t have to warn you of spoilers because the story is so short that before you read this email you can click the link at the top and read it for yourself. There is a fabulous surprise twist at the climax of the story, so if you don’t want the analysis to ruin the ending for you, read the story first.

Alright, let’s dive into our analysis of “The Story of an Hour.”

ACT 1: The first act of this story is no more than two and a half paragraphs long. It begins with a line that hooks the readers and draws us in. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” This opening line is essential to the story, as it makes the stakes very clear.

As with most stories, “The Story of an Hour” makes five promises to the reader. These promises are: character, voice, world, problem, and event. Let’s look closer.

CHARACTER: Mrs. Mallard is the main character. Notice how she doesn’t have a first name, at least not at the opening. Her entire identity is wrapped up in being her husband’s wife and she has no identity of her own. As the story progresses, we eventually learn her first name is Louise, but at the end of the story, she goes back to being “his wife.”

VOICE: The voice here is typical of stories written at this time. It’s a third person narrator, who starts off feeling rather distant and omniscient in Act 1, but the author plays with narrative distance and eventually moves closer to Mrs. Mallard’s point of view in Act 2. That closer perspective continues until we get to Act 3, where we shift back into a more distant, omniscient narrator.

WORLD: The world of this story is not very expansive. We are in Mrs. Mallard’s house and the story begins with us downstairs in a parlor or some other such room. In Act 2, Mrs. Mallard retreats upstairs to her room where she sits and contemplates. We come back downstairs in Act 3 where the climax occurs just as she has descended the stairs.

PROBLEM: This is the substance of the opening sentence. Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, making her fragile. This means that great care must be taken to break the news of her husband’s death.

EVENT: The event that kicks off the story is that Mrs. Mallard’s husband has died in a train crash.

PIVOT POINT 1: After receiving the news from her sister (Josephine) and a family friend (Richards), Mrs. Mallard retreats upstairs to her room and she “would have no one follow her.” As with all pivot points, this one has both an external and internal component. The external factor is the breaking of the news; Josephine and Richards tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died.

The internal choice is how she reacts to the news. At first, she “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment.” The narrator makes a point of saying that she does not receive the news as many other women would “with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” She gives in to grief right away. Then, once she has composed herself, she chooses to go to her room alone.

ACT 2: Most of Act 2 is Louise Mallard sitting alone in her room. Now I don’t know about you, but writing a character alone in a room is just about the most challenging thing there is. There’s no one else in the scene for the character to interact with, and they are confined to a small space so there is little room for exploring the story’s world. Yet, the bulk of Act 2—and of this entire story, in fact—is Louise Mallard alone in her room, contemplating her future.

This second act starts with some ambiance. The window in her room is open, with an armchair in front of it. She sits down and looks out the window. Even though it’s a quiet moment, there is a fair amount of activity. There is a feeling of anticipation, like something big is brewing.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

As she sits alone in her room, a thought begins to materialize. She realizes that without her husband, she will have a greater degree of freedom. Even though she at first tries to fight this notion “striving to beat it back with her will,” when she finally lets go of her self-restraint she says again and again “free, free, free!” She looks ahead to her future and sees “a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

The narrator makes it clear that it’s not as though Louise Mallard dislikes her husband. She would likely cry again at his funeral and she had even loved him at times in the past. But what matters to her in this moment is the realization of her future freedom. As the narrator says: “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.”

MIDPOINT: Interestingly enough, we can look at this story as one giant midpoint. The majority of the narrative takes place during Act 2, where Louise Mallard is up in her room. And the bulk of that second act is taken up with her coming to grips with her future freedom. The midpoint begins with the section:

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

Later, when she says the words “free, free, free!” under her breath, the midpoint realization comes into focus. Remember, the midpoint is a moment of self-reflection, a place in the story where the character examines their own life and asks themselves do I like what I see? Eventually, she recognizes that her husband’s death means her freedom. The pinnacle of that realization is when she whispers: “Free! Body and soul free!”

The end of Act 2 is rather interesting because we get the only piece of true dialogue in the entire story. Louise’s sister, Josephine, comes to her door and begs to be let in. There’s a nice rule of three where she says “open the door” three times. The first time she simply says “Louise, open the door!” The second time is a little more forceful, where she brings up Louise’s health: “I beg, open the door—you will make yourself ill.” Finally, the third iteration is the most forceful of all: “What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”

Of course, to all of this, Louise tells her to go away, saying she is not making herself ill. In fact, as the narrator says “she was drinking the very elixir of life.” Louise looks ahead at her life, at all the days in front of her that would be her own and the midpoint culminates with: “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she thought with a shudder that life might be long.” In other words, now that she has her freedom before her, she wants to enjoy it for as long as possible, whereas before, when her husband was alive, she shuddered at the idea of a long life.

PIVOT POINT 2: The second pivot point is a mirror image of the first. In the first pivot point, Louise Mallard walks up the stairs to her room, now in the second pivot point, she opens the door and, together with her sister, walks back down the stairs. As she descends the staircase, she carries “herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” In other words, she is a very changed woman from the one who ascended the staircase at the first pivot point.

ACT 3: At this stage of the story, the point of view telescopes back out to a more omniscient, distant perspective. In Act 2, we are deeply entrenched in Louise Mallard’s thoughts, but now we are back with a more bird’s-eye-view perspective of the scene. There’s someone at the door. We find out it’s Brently Mallard, Louise’s husband, and that he had been nowhere near the scene of the train crash when it happened. Josephine screams. Richards tries to intercept Brently and Louise. All of this action happens in a single paragraph.

A note about Richards: Aside from Louise, I find Richards to be the most fascinating character in this story. In Act 1, he takes it upon himself to be the one to deliver the news, and “had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.” He seems to take a certain level of pride in his relationship to the family, and I can’t help but wonder at his motives. Is he really just a friend, or does he want to be something more now that Brently Mallard is out of the picture?

Interestingly enough, at the end of Act 3, when Brently Mallard arrives back at home, what does Richards do? He steps between Louise and Brently, trying to “screen him from the view of his wife.” Notice how that’s phrased. Is he trying to screen Brently from seeing Louise or the other way around? It’s deliberately ambiguous. The only thing that’s not ambiguous is Richards’ choice to step between them. If his motivations were open to interpretation before, they now seem a bit more clear. He tries to appear as a dutiful friend, but there’s more to his true motivations than first meets the eye.

CLIMAX: The climax of the story is fascinating because it’s the only beat that doesn’t happen on the page. Every other moment (the pivot points, midpoint, denouement) all happen within the compressed scope of the story. The climax, on the other hand, is merely implied.

At this crucial point, Louise Mallard dies. We don’t actually see her die on the page, but we know it has happened because of the final sentence: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.”

The fact that Louise Mallard’s death happens off the page creates all sorts of ambiguities. Does she die from the “joy that kills” when she learned that her husband is still alive? Does she die from a sudden pang of grief at losing her freedom? Does she throw herself down the stairs in a moment of sheer desperation? We don’t know. We can infer—based on everything that has passed in Act 2—that the most likely cause of her death is her lost freedom, but we can’t be absolutely certain.

DENOUEMENT: The denouement, of course, is that final sentence when the doctors arrive on the scene. We don’t need much beyond that sentence because the story ends when Louise dies. After everything the reader has seen of Louise in Act 2, we don’t really need to know how the other characters carry on without her. All we need to know is that she is dead. That is all that matters.

Notice, also, how that closing sentence pulls back into a truly omniscient point of view, almost as though the narrator is telling us all of this after the fact, after the action has already happened. This final sentence, by necessity, has to be distant and omniscient. This is because with our primary, focal character dead, there is no other way for the point of view to work. It would be too jarring to jump suddenly into Brently’s head (or Richards’ or Josephine’s for that matter). The only option is to pull back into an omniscient point of view.

CONCLUSION: If you take only one thing away from this analysis, it’s that in only two pages, this story covers all components of the three-act structure. Sometimes, writers complain that they need more room to tell their story in full. And yet, this short piece manages to do it all in a compressed space. (In fact, the irony is not lost on me that this analysis is longer than the story itself.) So, when you struggle with word count and you need to keep your story tight, just think of “The Story of an Hour” and channel your inner Kate Chopin. If she could tell a full story in just two pages, you can do it, too.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Whether you’re brand new to writing or have been working at it for quite some time, you know how important it is to craft a compelling main character who propels the story forward.

I’ve been working with writers for well over a decade and over that time I’ve seen again and again just how crucial the main character can be to make—or break—a story. After all, readers won’t remember every last detail of a story’s plot, but they’ll remember the characters and they’ll remember how those characters made them feel.

This is why I wanted to take some time today to talk about your main character (i.e. your protagonist) and why they are so important to your writing. In this email, I’ll dive into different facets of character development, so by the end of it, you will know how to craft a unique and engaging main character for your story.

Why Your Main Character MattersNot everyone recognizes the importance of the main character. Some believe the thing that really matters is the plot and how gripping and interesting the story events are. But the truth is, events are only interesting insofar as they happen to a person.

If we don’t have a character then the story is nothing more than “this happened, then this happened, and then this happened….” Well, that’s not a story—it’s a newsreel. And while newsreels can certainly be interesting, those events take on much deeper meaning when we see how they impact a specific person.

The protagonist of a story provides a lens through which we readers experience that narrative, Without that lens the story falls out of focus. The main character makes the story feel personal, and that, in turn, makes us more invested in it.

Plot and Character Operate in TandemSome writing teachers focus on plot more so than character, while other story experts say the opposite and put all their eggs in the character basket. In fact, some people even go so far as to break it down by genre, saying that literary fiction is more character-driven and genre fiction (like thrillers, mysteries, or romance novels) tend to be more plot-driven. Truthfully, I think good storytelling requires both elements.

If you have a character, but nothing interesting happens to them, then there’s little opportunity for conflict and tension. Without conflict or tension the story will be boring. Characters need opportunities to misbehave and create trouble.

On the other hand, if all you have are events buffeting the characters to and fro, then these characters have no agency. Story events need to stem from character choices, not just random things that happen outside of their control. It is far more interesting to see a character make a choice that turns out badly than to have a random event happen for no reason whatsoever.

A good story is not just character or plot in isolation, but the two elements intertwined and working together to create an engaging narrative.

Understanding Character ArchetypesWhen you understand the type of character that you’re writing, you can craft your narrative around that character, creating story events that will cause conflict or force them into uncomfortable situations. Remember, we can’t just be nice to our characters. We have to cause trouble for them and create bad situations that make them act out. “No one wants to read about happy people in happy-land,” as my friend and colleague James Scott Bell has been known to say. People want to read about characters who are dealing with problems or facing trouble. Conflict is what makes the story world go round.

This is where it can be extremely valuable to understand the type of character you are writing. You see, not all characters are created the same. There are distinct types of characters and each type has particular qualities that will make them behave in specific ways. There are essentially two types of protagonists. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Relatable CharactersThe first type of protagonist is the relatable character. This is a regular person caught in extraordinary circumstances, where they need to rise to the occasion and do something amazing. Examples of this type of character are: Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the original Star Wars saga, Anne Elliot from Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and Katniss Everdeen at the start of the Hunger Games trilogy.

Readers love these relatable characters because they can identify with them. Readers see a part of themselves in these characters, making them want to root for them. The goal with a relatable protagonist is to show their potential for greatness. When a relatable character does something extraordinary, the reader thinks: “Wow, if they can do that, maybe I can do something special, too.”

Aspirational CharactersThe second type of protagonist is the aspirational character, and this character is almost the polar opposite of their relatable counterparts. Instead of being a regular person caught in extraordinary circumstances, the aspirational character is larger-than-life, almost like a superhero of sorts. With this character, it’s not about making them rise to the occasion and do something great (because they’re already great), but to show their humanity, some hint of vulnerability that makes this superhero-esque character seem more relatable, more human. Examples of this type of character are: Superman, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

Readers love aspirational characters because they show what’s possible. These larger-than-life characters may not reflect readers as they are right now, but they reflect what readers would like to become. The goal with these aspirational characters is to show their potential to be vulnerable, making them seem more human and relatable.

The Opposite Is Possible TheoryI have a theory that in order to show the potential for change and growth in a character, you have to show that it’s possible for the character to be the opposite of what they are. No, this does not mean you’re making your character behave out of character, but it does mean that you give a sense that the opposite is possible. With a relatable character it’s all about showing that hint of greatness while with the aspirational character needs to show some vulnerability or humanity.

If you think about it, relatable and aspirational characters are essentially two ends of the same spectrum. If a relatable character becomes extraordinary enough, they can eventually become aspirational, while the converse is true with an aspirational character.

This Opposite Is Possible Theory works in large part because the potential for change is baked right into the character. And we’ve all heard the writing class cliché that characters should change over the course of the story. This Opposite Is Possible Theory means that the change is woven right into the fabric of the story from the very start.

Think about the character you are writing and try to identify whether they are relatable or aspirational. Your character may not fit neatly into one box versus the other—remember this is a spectrum—but see if you can determine which category best fits.

Some folks object to categorizing characters in this way. “My character is a unique individual,” they say. “I can’t fit them neatly into a box.” Keep in mind, this is not an exact science and a character might be relatable in some respects but aspirational in others. The thing is, if we can fit our character into one of these two broad categories, then it makes it all the more straightforward to figure out how that character should change.

Of course, it’s a little reductive to pile characters into one of two categories, but when we know whether our character is relatable or aspirational, we know what direction their change needs to take. A relatable character will have to rise up and do something extraordinary, while an aspirational character needs to show their humanity. Having an overall sense of which type of character you have will give you an idea for how to craft that character’s emotional journey.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Today I wanted to talk about a process I go through every winter season to set goals and break them down into manageable pieces. Every year, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I take some time out with my journal and iPad in hand, and I map out my coming year.

Mapping Out the CalendarBefore I set goals, I do a calendar exercise where I put a copy of the upcoming year’s calendar all on one page. Each row represents a month, and the numbers in that row are the individual days. Using a marker or highlighter (or a more high-tech option, an Apple pencil and app called Paper), I block off windows of time that I need for various projects. I also color-code things so that each type of DIY MFA project (workshops, courses, HUB) gets a different color. This way I can see at a glance where my calendar is already full and where I have space to play.

I used to do this exercise on paper with different colored markers, but nowadays I use the more high-tech option, which makes it easy for me to edit things as plans ebb and flow throughout the year. My team and I call this the “kooky calendar” and it’s not set in stone, it gives us an overall roadmap for the year ahead so we have a general sense of what’s happening and when.

Climbing the MountainI like to think of writing books as being like climbing a mountain. Now, truth be told, I’ve never scaled a major mountain myself (the most I’ve done is hike up to the top of a small hill near campus when I was in college). Still, I think the analogy holds true. When you think about a big project—like climbing a mountain—there are a couple of different considerations.

Choose the Right MountainYour mountain is your “big vision” and the first thing you have to do is make sure you’re climbing the right mountain. After all, it does you no good to scale Everest if what you really wanted to do was reach the top of Kilimanjaro. The same thing is true with a big project. You have to make sure you’re tackling the right project, and for the right reasons. Writing a book is a big project, one that should not be taken on out of obligation or guilt. If you want to write a book, you need to want to write that book.

You also want to make sure you’re writing the right kind of book for you. Sure, it’s important to consider the market and what may or may not sell, but if you write a book solely based on market trends, you are fighting a losing battle. First off, things that are trending now won’t be trending two or three years from now (when your book finally hits the shelves). Plus, you have to live with your book for a long time, reading and rereading it throughout the drafting and revision process. If you don’t love the project, it’s going to be painful.

Plant the FlagWhen people climb mountains and they get to the top, what do they do? They plant a flag to signal that they were there, that they reached the peak. Planting a flag is a symbol that you’ve conquered one mountain and are ready to pursue the next goal.

Writing a book is very similar. It’s important to have a symbol, something that signals that you’ve reached your goal and are ready to move onto the next thing. This plant-the-flag moment is going to be different for every writer. For one it might be holding a printed copy of the book in their hand. For another, it might be doing their first author signing. For still another it might be getting an award.

Regardless of what that plant-the-flag moment is, it should be a tangible, concrete event. Something that you can point to and say, “Yes! I did that.”

Determine the MilestonesThe milestones are the big phases of your larger project, kind of like the places you set up camp when you scale a big mountain. You don’t try to climb the whole thing bottom to top, you just focus on getting to the next place where you’ll set up camp for the night. In terms of goal setting, basically you take your larger project and break it down into three-to-five overarching steps. For example, if your goal is to write and traditionally publish a novel, your milestones might be:

1. Finish a rough draft.
2. Do revisions.
3. Query agents.
4. Go through the publisher’s editorial process.
5. Launch the book.

These are not small action steps, but larger sub-projects leading to your big vision of writing and publishing your book. It’s important to break the big vision into smaller milestones because it makes the overall project feel more manageable. After all, “write and publish a book” can feel overwhelming to many writers, but finishing a draft—though still a big task—can feel a little less daunting.

Still, it’s important to recognize that these milestones are not small steps that can get done in a day. Rather, they are sub-projects that might take weeks or months to complete. This is why we must break our milestones down into action steps.

Break Things into Action StepsHere is where the rubber meets the road. The key to completing your milestones (and thereby also reaching your big vision) is to break those milestones down into manageable action steps. These should be bite-sized steps that you can start and finish in one sitting. The idea is for you to feel that sense of accomplishment when you complete an action step. This is why action steps should be small, concrete, and easy to complete.

For example, let’s suppose your milestone is “finish a rough draft.” Unless you’re incredibly prolific (or are willing to sacrifice your sleep and sanity), you won’t be able to finish a draft in a day. But what you can do is break that draft down into manageable chunks.

Let’s suppose you can easily write 1,000 words per weekday. That means that in one week you’ll have 5,000 words. If a typical novel is 80,000 words, then it’s just simple math: 80,000 divided by 5,000 is 16. This means it will take you 16 weeks of writing (or a little under four months) to complete your draft. Then, all you have to do is stick to the program and knock out those 1,000 daily words.

Or as another example, let’s imagine you’re gearing up for your book launch and you want to weave podcast appearances into your launch strategy. First you may want to do some research on how to give good podcast interviews. (Here’s a post that walks you through the before, during, and after.) Next, you need to make a list of potential podcasts you’ll want to pitch. Making the list might be quick, but researching the various shows may take more time, so you may want to break that task into small batches of 2-3 podcasts.

After that, you need to start pitching. One action step might be to write a pitch letter template. (While you’ll want to personalize each pitch, it can help to have a template to work from.) Then you’ll need to start sending out pitches, one at a time.

When it comes to tracking complex action steps, I’m a big fan of using project management software. Currently, my team uses a program called Asana. It’s a great piece of software and has a lot of bells and whistles, but for many writers it’s likely much more than you need. Other software I’ve used in the past is Trello and ToDoist (both of which offer free plans). For many, even just a simple spreadsheet tracking daily word count can be sufficient. The point is, that it’s incredibly easy to lose track of how much progress you’ve made if you don’t keep a written record. So, find a way to record your progress and keep track of how far you’ve come.

Here’s a diagram showing the big vision broken down into milestones and then further separated into action steps:

What If You Hate to Set Goals?Many writers—particularly “pantsers” who write by the seat of their pants—tend to resist goal setting. They want to throw themselves into their projects and write with abandon, not worrying about where that project might lead.

This is all well and good, and some creative exploration is important, particularly at the early stages of a career. But at some point, you’ll need to have a plan if you want to make good progress. It’s important to plan and set goals, especially if you’re juggling more than one big project at the same time.

At DIY MFA, we often have multiple projects in the hopper simultaneously. We might be gearing up to launch a workshop and have a course on the back-burner, ready to be launched soon thereafter. Plus, I often have multiple writers I’m working with one-on-one, and we have regular “maintenance work” we need to keep up with, like producing these Writer Fuel newsletters and the subsequent posts on our website.

Without setting goals, it’s hard to tell what’s important and will make the most impact, versus what’s just urgent and needs to get done right away. There’s a concept in time management called the Eisenhower Matrix, which looks at projects in terms of their importance and urgency.

Things that are neither important nor urgent can be removed from your task list altogether. Similarly, things that are urgent but not necessarily important can get delegated. The problem is, we often conflate urgency with importance and we’ll get tied up doing unimportant-but-urgent tasks when we should be focusing on the tasks that really matter.

This is where things get tricky. The temptation is to swat flies and focus all our energy on the urgent tasks that need to be done right now. But what about those important long-term tasks? They may not be urgent right this second, but they are often the things that move us closer to our goals.

Writing a book is an important-but-not-urgent task. Unless you’re under contract and on a deadline, you probably don’t have anyone waiting with bated breath for you to finish your manuscript. The task may not have an immediate deadline and it’s up to you to keep moving the ball down the field. With important-but-not-urgent tasks, the key is to schedule the time. You have to make sure you carve out room in your schedule and break that big project into small, manageable tasks so you can. Get. It. Done.

This is why goal setting matters. Without goals, we don’t know what tasks are important and what tasks are just urgent. Goal setting allows us to see the difference.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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We’re back with another 3-act structure analysis. Last time I did one of these, it was a deep dive into Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. But three-act structure doesn’t just apply to books written hundreds of years ago. To underscore that point, I thought I’d switch things up and do a three-act analysis of Die Hard, one of my favorite movies of all time.

Spoiler Alert! Okay, I always have to do one of these spoiler alert warnings, because the last thing I want is to ruin a book or movie for someone else. So consider this your spoiler warning. If you haven’t watched Die Hard (for shame!) go stream it now.

Okay, let’s dive into our analysis. But first, here’s a quick diagram showing the key components of the three-act structure. For an in-depth look at the three-act structure and how it works, check out this article on our website.

ACT 1: On Christmas Eve, NYPD officer John McClane arrives in LA to see his estranged wife, Holly. They’re still married, but his wife has moved to the West Coast for a fancy job and has taken the kids with her. McClane gets picked up in a limo by a driver called Argyle who takes him to Nakatomi Plaza. When they get to Nakatomi Plaza, Argyle offers to stay and wait for McClane, in case the reunion with his wife doesn’t go well and he needs a ride elsewhere. Let’s run through the five promises.

CHARACTER: John McClane is your typical tough guy action hero character. He’s a great cop and the kind of person you want to have on your side in a crisis, but when it comes to matters of the heart, he’s a bit clueless.

VOICE: Since it’s a film, we don’t really have a voice per se, but we do have a mood. It starts out very Christmas-y with holiday music, decorations, and people having fun at the Christmas party… but we get the uneasy feeling that something evil is brewing. Even the music in some spots turns a bit dark. We also see snippets of the bad guys starting to put their plan into action.

WORLD: With the exception of a couple of short scenes, the bulk of the movie takes place in Nakatomi Plaza, a large, fancy office building in Century City. At the start of the movie, the employees of the Nakatomi Corporation are having their Christmas party.

PROBLEM: McClane’s wife has moved across the country, but he’s a New York cop through and through. How can they possibly make this relationship work? When McClane arrives at Nakatomi Plaza, he discovers his wife has been using her maiden name (Holly Gennaro), further cementing that their relationship is on the rocks.

EVENT: Upon arriving at Nakatomi Plaza, McClane goes up to his wife’s office. He meets his wife and one of her coworkers, Harry Ellis, who brags about the Rolex Holly got from the company as a holiday present. McClane washes up, takes off his shoes and squishes the carpet beneath his feet, making “fists with [his] toes.” (This is something a fellow passenger on his plane recommended to feel better after a long flight.)

PIVOT POINT 1: Thieves—who behave like terrorists—enter the building and take all the Nakatomi employees hostage, including McClane’s wife. McClane is still in the bathroom and when he hears the commotion, he manages to stay hidden and escape to another floor. At first he’s unsure of what to do—after all, he’s a lone, unarmed cop while the bad guys all have machine guns pointed at the hostages—but then he has an idea. If he pulls the fire alarm, he’ll also summon the cavalry because the fire department will have to respond. He pulls the alarm, thereby alerting the bad guys to his presence.

ACT 2: The bad guys manage to convince the emergency responders that there is nothing wrong and they turn back. Now criminal mastermind Hans Gruber and his goons know that someone is there in the building with them and the cat-and-mouse game begins. Throughout Act 2 McClane manages to hold his own against the bad guys. He sneaks into various places, trying to collect as much intel as he can about them.

One of the things that keeps the story moving throughout Act 2 is the supporting cast, which becomes increasingly more important as the story evolves. Let’s take a closer look at the supporting characters who come into play in Act 2.

HANS GRUBER & HIS CREW: The most significant supporting character in the story is our villain, Hans Gruber. We don’t know much about Hans except that he’s a criminal mastermind and his focus is 100% on getting the job done. He doesn’t have any grand political purpose—all he wants is to steal the bearer bonds that are in the vault at Nakatomi Plaza, and he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Throughout Act 2, he continually sends one or more of his goons after McClane, but McClane thwarts them and starts to pick them off one by one. In addition to decimating the ranks of the bad guys, he also managed to take a radio (so he can now communicate with the outside world) as well as a machine gun and other supplies.

At one point (late in Act 2), Hans separates from his men and goes to the roof to check on some explosives. While he’s there, he comes across McClane and pretends he’s a hostage who also managed to escape. He and McClane talk for a bit and McClane gives him a gun, at which point he turns on McClane and tries to shoot him. But McClane has tricked him and the gun isn’t loaded. Hans manages to escape when his men arrive and go after McClane. They shoot through glass partitions leaving shattered fragments everywhere, forcing McClane to walk over them in his bare feet to get away.

HOLLY GENNARO: While she is captured by Hans Gruber and his men, Holly Gennaro (McClane’s wife) is not particularly active, but she does take on an important role. After Hans kills the office head, Mr. Takagi, she becomes a leader of sorts among the hostages, negotiating with Hans for certain necessities. She also keeps her identity as John McClane’s wife a secret because if Hans is aware of their relationship, he could use her to get to McClane.

AL POWELL: Perhaps the most important new character in Act 2 is Al, a sergeant who gets called in to Nakatomi Plaza to check things out. At first, when he gets there it seems like everything is fine, but then McClane gets his attention by dropping the corpse of a bad guy onto his car. McClane and Al form an alliance as they talk over the radio. Al becomes a liaison between McClane and the outside world. We later learn that Al refuses to pull his gun on anyone because he once shot someone by mistake.

ARGYLE: We don’t see much of Argyle throughout the beginning of Act 2, but periodically we get snippets of him in his limo, listening to music and talking to his girlfriend on the phone. At first, he is completely oblivious to what is happening in the building above the garage. It is only when he sees a news report about Nakatomi Plaza on the limo TV that he realizes what is going on. Unfortunately, he can’t get out of the garage because all the gates are closed, so he quietly waits in the limo.

MIDPOINT: The police finally realize there’s something serious going on. The deputy chief arrives with the SWAT team and they prepare to attack the building. Both Al and McClane know that an attack would be a disaster because the criminals are too well-armed. The deputy chief refuses to listen and the SWAT team attacks anyway. They get completely destroyed by the criminals and in the middle of the fight, McClane asks Hans to let the SWAT team pull back but Hans orders his men to fire again.

McClane is furious. He takes some explosives he got off one of the criminals and builds a makeshift bomb, throwing it down an elevator shaft. It creates a massive explosion and kills two of the criminals. For a moment it seems like McClane has had a small victory, but when he calls on the radio, the Deputy Chief gets angry at him.

This midpoint is an example of a temporary triumph. The character has a moment of victory where it seems like they’ve gotten what they want, but that triumph is short-lived. In this case, because it’s an action movie, we don’t have much of a moment of self-reflection. The emphasis is on the temporary triumph and we get right back to the action afterwards.

PIVOT POINT 2: This plot point occurs over the course of a series of tightly woven scenes. McClane is wounded and his feet are bleeding from the broken glass. He and Al talk over the radio and Al confesses to him why he had a desk job. This sequence of scenes is a moment of vulnerability for both Al and McClane. At this point, McClane is at his lowest and it looks like the thieves have won. In his darkest moment, McClane asks Al to give his wife a message:

“She was the best thing that ever happened to a bum like me. She’s heard me say I love you a thousand times, but she never got to hear this…Honey…I’m sorry.”

This is just about as classic a Dark Night of the Soul monologue if there ever was one. After giving Al this message, in true action hero fashion, McClane rallies his strength and continues to go after Hans and his crew.

Interestingly enough, McClane and Al have opposite trajectories for their stories and they are almost mirror images of each other as characters. Al is a super-supportive husband, stopping at the convenience store on his way home to pick up snacks for his pregnant wife. At the same time, because of his accident on the job, he’s afraid to draw his gun on anyone and needs to regain his confidence as a cop. McClane, on the other hand, has the cop thing down and is taking on a building full of criminals all by himself. His problem is that he needs to be more supportive of his wife. It’s no surprise that both Al and McClane verbalize their weaknesses during this sequence of scenes at the second pivot point, or Dark Night of the Soul.

ACT 3: As the crisis for Act 3 builds, we get more and more quick cuts from one scene to another. This gives us the sense that multiple things are happening at the same time. Here’s a summary:

A few of Hans’ men take the hostages up to the roof but the roof has been rigged with explosives. McClane, thinking his wife is among the hostages, heads to the roof as well. Meanwhile, Hans now has Holly and he takes her away from the roof to the (now open) vault. At the same time, a couple of Hans’ goons have been loading the bearer bonds from the vault into a truck.

Karl, whose brother was killed earlier in the film (and now has a particular vendetta against McClane), goes after him in the stairwell to the roof and tries to kill him. He and McClane fight and it seems like Karl is dead. McClane goes to the roof in search of his wife.

McClane gets the hostages off the roof, but he’s cornered by an FBI helicopter and he knows the roof is about to blow. Just in the nick of time, he jumps off the roof tied to a fire hose and manages to break in through one of the windows on a floor below.

Just before the climax, one of the criminals takes a truck (now loaded with bearer bonds from the vault) and gets ready to get away. Argyle, who has been hanging out in the garage all this time, crashes the limo into the truck and foils the escape.

CLIMAX: McClane comes after Hans to get his wife. He surrenders and it looks like everything is over when he pulls a concealed gun he has duct taped to his back and shoots Hans. The wounded Hans falls out a window, hanging onto Holly’s watch. He pulls a gun, trying to take Holly and McClane down with him, but McClane unlatches the watch clasp just in time and Hans falls to his death.

ENDING TYPE: This is a happy ending because McClane gets what he wants (to stop the thieves and save the hostages) and he still wants that at the end of the film.

DENOUEMENT: As McClane and his wife walk out of Nakatomi Plaza, Karl (who didn’t die previously) ambushes them and tries to kill them. Al shoots Karl and saves McClane and Holly, thus tying up the loose end of his story. Then Argyle comes tearing out of the garage and takes McClane and Holly off in the limo.

RULE OF 3: There is a Rule of 3 that spans the entire movie, starting at the beginning of Act 2 and going through to the very end. There are three instances where an individual hostage is in peril and McClane wants (or tries) to save them. The first is Mr. Takagi, who gets taken by Hans right at the start of Act 2 so that the criminals can get the code to the vault. When he doesn’t reveal the code, Hans kills him. At that point in the story, McClane has not yet pulled the fire alarm and revealed his presence to Hans and his crew. He’s furious at himself for not trying to stop Takagi’s murder but he also knows there’s nothing he could have done.

The second instance is with Harry Ellis, one of Holly’s co-workers, who tries to negotiate with Hans by saying he and McClane are old friends. In the process, Ellis gives up information to the criminals about McClane, including his name and the fact that he’s a police officer. Knowing that this is not going to end well for Ellis, McClane insists he doesn’t know him but Hans doesn’t believe it. Ellis tries to smooth-talk his way through the situation and ends up getting killed.

The third and final instance is when Holly gets taken by Hans at the end of the film. At that point, Hans has put together that Holly is McClane’s wife and he kidnaps her as added insurance so he and his crew can get away. Unlike the two previous instances where McClane was unable to save the hostage, in this case, he successfully saves his wife.

CONCLUSION: It’s indisputable that Die Hard is one of the tightest, most perfectly plotted films out there. The three acts are well-paced and the two pivot points include both external events and internal choices from the protagonist. The only thing it might be missing is that moment of introspection at the midpoint, which plays out purely as a Temporary Triumph without much self-reflection. That said, because this is a high-action film it makes sense that McClane does not have time to pause and reflect because he has to go after the bad guys and save his wife.

This film also adheres closely to Chekov’s gun, a principle in which every element must be significant to the story. Notice that not a single detail gets introduced that doesn’t have payoff later in the film. For example, the Rolex watch that we see mentioned briefly at the beginning becomes a key detail in the climax of the film. Also, Argyle, who all but disappears for most of the film, only to reappear at a key moment when one of the bad guys is about to get away and he thwarts the escape. Finally, when McClane makes “fists with [his] toes,” it means he’s barefoot when the criminals attack. This means he spends most of the film running around barefoot and later when they shoot the glass, it injures his feet. As you can see, not a single detail is added to the film that does not have follow-through later.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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As a podcaster, people often ask me what it takes to give good interviews. The truth is, interviewing is a skill, and one that writers need to learn and practice. Sooner or later you will have books to promote and you’ll need to do interviews in order to reach your readers.

So, how do you go about landing interviews and doing a great job (so you get even more opportunities)? It’s all about understanding the interview process before, during, and after. The first few interviews are the hardest, because it’s new for you and also because once you have a couple of interview credits, it becomes easier to get more. Let’s walk through the process step-by-step.

Before: The PitchThe first thing you need in order to get some great interviews is an excellent pitch. Writing a pitch email is not a whole lot different from writing a query letter. You want to describe your book succinctly and also make it clear what value you bring to the show. Why are you an ideal guest for the show and what are some topics you could discuss that would appeal to the show’s listeners?

It’s incredibly important that you research the shows you pitch, both so you understand who their listeners are and also so you are familiar with their format. For instance, it does you no good to pitch a show that only does solo episodes with an interview idea. In fact, it will make you look a little bit silly because it will be obvious you didn’t do your homework. Take the time to listen to an episode or two and look at their line-up to make sure they’re taking interviews and that you would be a fit.

As an interviewer, I love it when publicists or guests would include a list of talking points in the pitch email. While I rarely used those talking points verbatim, they gave me an idea of what direction to take the conversation and how to frame my questions. Whatever you can do to make the interviewer’s life easier will only work in your favor.

Before: The AssetsIn addition to a great pitch, you also need a few other assets. First and foremost, you need a website. Any interviewer worth their salt will Google you, so you want to make sure you have a “home base” online in the form of a website. You also need a great bio and a headshot, because most shows will ask you for both of these things.

In terms of your bio, make sure you read it out loud a few times. If you stumble on any words, rework it, because chances are the show host will stumble too. You want your bio to sound good and not just look good in written form. Remember: the host will likely read your bio out loud when they introduce you on the show.

Any links you share during the show should be “audio friendly” in that they should be easy to say on the air. For example, whenever I’m in an interview and I’m asked where people should go to learn more about my work, I always direct them to DIYMFA.com/join and I spell the word “join” so it’s super-clear. I have this short link created explicitly for the purpose of sharing it in interviews

With respect to your headshot, you want something that looks professional and that looks like you. Don’t crop your friends out of a group shot you took at your high school reunion. Have a photo taken for the explicit purpose of being used as your headshot. If you’re on a tight budget, it doesn’t have to be super-fancy. These days, smart phones have excellent cameras and “portrait mode” can make the photo look almost as though it were taken by a pro. In a pinch, just have a friend take a photo with a good camera. Just avoid harsh lighting and a super-busy background, and you’ll be good to go.

Before: The TechSo you pitched a podcast and got a “yes.” Take a moment to do a happy dance, then get back down to business. Before you hop on that interview call, you need to have your tech figured out. First and foremost, you need an excellent microphone. If it’s a video interview, you’ll also need to make sure you have a good camera and lighting setup.

Perhaps the most important piece of equipment you need is the microphone. People will forgive so-so lighting or a mediocre camera, but if they can’t hear you, your interview will flop. These days, a good microphone doesn’t have to cost a lot. I use the Audiotechnica ATR 2100 and it is a fantastic little microphone. It’s a carotid dynamic mic which means it zeroes in on your voice but doesn’t pick up tons of extraneous noise. It’s also super-portable, so when I had to record podcasts on the go, I could just slip it in my bag and I’d be off and running.

For my camera setup, I use a ring light with a phone holder. Then I hook up my smartphone to my computer and make them talk to each other using an app called “Camo.” This allows me to use my smartphone camera, which is a thousand times better than the webcam on my computer. I don’t use this “fancy” setup for regular zoom calls, but I do when I have to teach a workshop or give a webinar as well as giving interviews.

Before: The PrepFirst off, make sure to ask whether the interview is recording audio only or also video. If it’s video, make sure you show up camera-ready. The last thing you want is to show up in your jammies only to find out they’re recording video as well as audio.

Also, not all interviews share questions or talking points in advance, but if they do, take a little time to think of your answers. If they don’t give you questions or talking points, don’t panic. Lots of interviewers (myself included) don’t like to give questions in advance because they want to keep things fresh. But there are a couple of questions that many interviewers will ask, so make sure you have answers.

• What inspired you to write this specific book?
• In a nutshell, what is your book about?
• How did you become a writer?
• Where can listeners go to learn more about you?

While not all interviewers will ask any (or all) of these questions, these tend to be pretty common, so make sure you have answers ready. Also, if there are current events or timely “ripped from the headlines” topics that tie to your book, make sure you can speak intelligently about them.

During: The InterviewNow you’re at the interview. Woohoo! You’ve made it! At this stage in the game, all you really need to do is relax and have fun. Listen to the questions and focus on having a great conversation. Remember: what the host wants most of all is to create a great listening experience for their audience, so just relax and have fun. Your attitude will have a ripple effect and the audience will feel it.

One trick that I learned from all these years of podcasting is to smile while I speak into the mic. When you smile, your face relaxes and your tone of voice changes and feels more positive. The audience may not see you smiling, but they’ll feel your warmth through the audio.

If the interviewer is good, they’ll probably let you do most of the talking. A good interview is usually the guest talking at least two thirds of the time and less than one third of the time with the host talking. So don’t be surprised if the host asks a question and then gives you lots of space to answer. At the same time, you don’t want your answers to ramble on forever, so find that middle ground. The best way to do this is to do a practice interview or two with a friend, so you can get used to answering questions in a way that feels thorough but also to the point.

What if you stumble? Don’t panic. Most podcasts will edit out the blips and blops. Remember: their goal is for you to sound great in the finished version. That said, you can make it easier for their editor to clean up the audio. If you stumble just pause, take a beat, then say the thing again and keep going. It’s that simple.

After: The Air DateWhen your episode airs, the host or producer will likely let you know so you can share the interview with your audience. Make sure you share! Not only is this great social proof showing that you’ve given this awesome interview, but it will also help drive listeners to the interview which will make the host and producer happy.

One of the best ways to share the episode is to list it on your media page. Once you have 2-3 media appearances (guest posts, podcast interviews, magazine articles, video interviews, etc.) put together a media page on your website where you list all these things. A media page is great because when potential interviewers Google you, they can easily see where else you’ve been featured. Here’s DIY MFA’s media page: DIYMFA.com/media. (Keep in mind, there’s a lot on it because I’ve been doing this for a while, but when I first started, it only had 2-3 things listed.) Also, notice that when you scroll to the bottom, I list my bio along with links to headshots. This is designed to make interviewers’ lives easier by making it super-streamlined for them to get the assets they might need for our interview.

Also, it doesn’t hurt to send a “thank you” email after you do the interview or after it airs, especially if the producer or interviewer went out of their way to help you set the interview up. I’ve given hundreds of interviews in the lifetime of DIY MFA Radio and I can probably count the number of “thank yous” I’ve gotten on my fingers and toes. A lot of folks forget this step, but if you do it, it will make you stand out in a good way.

So, there you have it, a step-by-step guide for how to get and deliver great podcast and radio interviews. As you can see, there’s a lot of prep up front, but once you get your pitch, your assets, and your tech in place, the process becomes a lot simpler. By the time you get to the interview phase, all you really have to do is show up as your best self and then relax and have fun. Finally, don’t forget to follow up after the fact. If they give you a link or images you can share, do so. And once you have a couple of media appearances, start putting together a media page.

Remember: the first few interviews are always the hardest, so don’t be afraid to take the leap. If you’re thinking about podcasts to pitch, check out the DIY MFA media page for ideas and inspiration. I’ve been featured on many podcasts and maybe one of them will be a fit for you.

If you want to catch up on our latest episodes, hop on over to DIYMFA.com/listen or check out DIY MFA Radio on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any of the usual places where you might listen to a podcast.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: How to Give Good Interviews for Podcasts and Radio appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 4 – Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the “knowledge without the college.” You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also receive Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode I discuss:* Why complacency is the enemy of personal and professional growth. * The growing pains that come from failing better and why failure is so hard. * How I embraced failure for an entire year, and how it helped me grow DIY MFA. * The malleable nature of comfort zones, and why we must keep challenging ourselves.

Link to Episode 479(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to Apple or Spotify and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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Some years ago, I developed a framework that I dubbed the “Storytelling Superpower.” This framework is designed to help you figure out what character archetype you are writing, so you can create a story that is most likely to resonate and be compatible with that character. To figure out your character’s archetype, you must take into consideration two factors: the character’s type and their desire.

Define Your Character’s TypeIn terms of type, there are essentially only two types of protagonists in all of storytelling: the relatable character and the aspirational character. Sure, you can also have an antihero (who doesn’t really fit either of these types) but these are rare and not likely to appear in most types of stories. In most stories, though, the main character usually falls in one of two buckets: relatable or aspirational.

The relatable character is like a Bilbo Baggins or a Luke Skywalker type. They may seem like a regular person at first, but when we get to know them more deeply we come to realize that there’s more to them than first appears. In fact, as writers, our job is to show that these relatable characters have the potential for greatness. For instance, Bilbo Baggins outsmarts the stone trolls early on The Hobbit, and we learn fairly early in the Star Wars saga that Luke’s family is strong with the force. It turns out while these may seem like everyday characters, there is nothing ordinary about them.

The thing that makes the relatable type so compelling is that we readers see ourselves in these characters. When we see a relatable character overcome great odds and win the day, we think: “If they can do that, maybe I can do something extraordinary myself.” We identify with these characters and relate to them on a deep, emotional level because they are regular people, just like us.

Aspirational characters, on the other hand, are essentially the opposite of their relatable counterparts. Readers don’t see themselves in these characters, but they see what they would like to become. These are larger-than-life heroes who don’t reflect readers as they are, but who instead show readers what is possible. Aspirational characters include superheroes like Superman and Batman, as well as characters with big personalities or unique abilities like Jay Gatsby and Sherlock Holmes.

The key with aspirational characters is not to make them seem extraordinary (they already are) but to show their vulnerability and reveal a chink in their armor. Every Superman has their kryptonite, after all. Just as we must show a relatable character’s potential or greatness, we need to show the aspirational character’s vulnerability, something that makes them seem more human.

In other words, with each of the character types, our goal is to show their potential to be the opposite of who they are. A relatable character must demonstrate the possibility of doing something extraordinary, whereas the aspirational character needs to show some characteristic that makes them more human, more relatable.

In truth, both relatable and aspirational characters are at opposite ends of the same spectrum. The key to crafting a compelling protagonist is to make it possible for that character to become the opposite of who they first appear. In other words, if both types of characters are on the same spectrum, our job as a writer is to nudge them gently in the opposite direction.

Determine Your Character’s DesireThe second parameter in identifying your character’s archetype is to determine their desire. What does your character want? This want should drive the story forward and be tied to the major dramatic question (MDQ) of the story. For example, in The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen wants to win the games. This is directly tied to the MDQ which is “Will Katniss survive the Hunger Games?” Similarly, in The Wizard of Oz movie, Dorothy wants to get home from Oz. This again is directly tied to the MDQ, which is “Will Dorothy get home to Kansas?”

When it comes to identifying your character’s desire, there are basically two possibilities. Either the character wants to change something in themselves, their surroundings, or the world at large, or the character wants to preserve something in themselves, their surroundings, or the world at large. Pretty much any character’s desire boils down to one of these two options.

For example, in The Hunger Games, Katniss wants to win the games. This is essentially a change-driven desire because she wants to go from a humble tribute from one of the outermost districts to being the victor of the entire games. Similarly, in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet wants to find happiness, which at first starts out as simply helping her sister Jane find true love with Mr. Bingley, but eventually leads to Lizzie finding true love herself in Mr. Darcy.

On the other hand, some characters’ desires are focused on preservation. For example, superheroes like Superman and Batman want to save people or bring criminals to justice, thus reestablishing a sense of law and order. Any desire that is at its core about protecting others or creating order are preservation-based desires.

Notice that depending on how you frame a desire, it could be either change or preservation-driven. For instance, if we consider Katniss’ desire to be one of survival, it would be a preservation-based want, whereas if we think of it as a desire to win the games, it could be considered a change-driven want. Often change and preservation are two sides of the same coin and the main difference between them is how we frame the desire.

Figure Out Your Character ArchetypeWhy do we care about character type and desire? Well, if you cross these two parameters together, you get a 2×2 matrix where each cell of that matrix represents a different character archetype. The underdog is a relatable character who wants change, while the disruptor is their aspirational counterpart. The survivor is also relatable, but now this character seeks preservation, while the protector is their aspirational equivalent. (See the image below.)

What’s the point of these character archetypes? Different archetypes are compatible with different “signature stories” and when you pair the right character with the right story, you get storytelling magic. For example, underdogs do well in rags to riches narratives or “us vs. them” (big guy vs. little guy) types of stories. Disruptors and protectors often appear in stories about epic quests—disruptors wanting to change the world while protectors strive to save it. Survivor characters are most compatible with survival stories or narratives about overcoming adversity.

Just because you have a certain character archetype does not mean you have to adhere strictly to its signature stories. For example, you might have an underdog character who appears in an “overcoming adversity” type of story. This is perfectly doable. The key is that you make small, subtle shifts to the character archetype so that it better aligns with the story you want to tell. In this case, it may mean making a small shift in how you present the character’s desire so that it feels more driven by preservation than change.

For example, at the start of The Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen is very clearly an underdog type of character: she is a relatable character who wants to win the games and change her life circumstances. That said, if we shifted the focus from winning the games to survival, her desire goes from being change-focused to all about preservation. In that way, you could easily reposition her character archetype from underdog to survivor.

The point of these archetypes is not to constrain your writing. It’s not about making you feel like you have to paint-by-numbers or are stuck with limited options for your story. Instead, by understanding your character’s archetype you can get a better handle on their motivations and you can craft the narrative in a way that is more compatible with the character that you have. And if the character is somehow at odds with the story you want to tell, you can make subtle shifts in the character’s archetype to better align it with your narrative.

Now, it’s your turn…Consider the following questions about your current project:

• What archetype is the main character of your current work-in-progress? You can figure this out by determining both character’s type and want, then plotting it on the archetype matrix.
• What type of story are you telling and is it compatible with the archetype of your main character? If not, how can you shift the character’s archetype to help it align with the story you want to tell?

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: What Character Archetype Are You Writing? appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 3 – Embrace the Power of Iteration

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the “knowledge without the college.” You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also receive Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode I discuss:* Two competing philosophies on failure from Yoda and Samuel Beckett. * How these two highly-quotable figures are actually not all that different from each other. * What it really means to make a commitment to the work and to your writing. * Why it’s so important to embrace imperfection and accept potential failure.

Link to Episode 478(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to Apple or Spotify and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 478: Lesson 3 – Embrace the Power of Iteration appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Writing—and reading—dialogue is one of my favorite things. I love how it allows the story to zip along, plus it makes me feel extra-smart because I read it so much faster than regular prose. I love how I can hear the characters’ voices in my head as though they are real people. I love how dialogue lets me feel like I’m right there in the scene with the characters, watching things unfold like a movie in my mind.

Writing dialogue is a fundamental and essential skill that writers need to develop, but first and foremost we need to consider why dialogue is important to storytelling. There are three primary reasons why dialogue matters.

(1) Grounding in a SceneDialogue grounds us in a scene and makes us feel like we are right there with the characters. It gives the scene verisimilitude, making it feel almost as though it’s really happening right in front of us. Dialogue puts us where the action is. Instead of being told what’s happening, we see the scene unfold as the events occur. Dialogue makes a scene feel real.

In addition, when we read dialogue we feel like we are part of the characters’ conversation, especially when we are in a first person or close third person point of view. In that type of point of view, it is as though we are inside a character’s head, so the dialogue feels almost participatory, like we are the character having that conversation. Ultimately, dialogue makes us feel like we’re part of a scene and like that scene is really happening.

Without dialogue, it would be that much harder to craft a compelling scene, and scenes are the fundamental building blocks that make up a story. Scenes are like a microcosm of a full story, and as such, they need to have the three basic elements that a full story must also have. These elements are: character, plot, and world.

If one of these elements are missing, we don’t have an actual story, nor do we have a true scene. If there is character but no plot or world, then what we have is a character sketch, not a story. If there’s a plot, without world or character, then what we really have is a newsreel. And a world without character or plot is a wonderful world building exercise, but again, not an actual story.

Like a story, a scene also requires all three of these elements, and dialogue—when done well—brings character, plot, and world into play. For starters, in order to have dialogue, you need to have characters present. Not only that, but great dialogue also grounds us in time and space, making us feel like we are in a specific place, watching the scene unfold. When written well, dialogue also helps to advance the plot and move the story forward. Unlike real-life dialogue, where people might make inane small talk, story dialogue exists to ratchet up tension and move the plot along.

(2) Showing CharacterI’ve often talked about the TADA method and the four main ways of showing character. These are thoughts (T), action (A), dialogue (D), and appearance (A). When you do all four of these things… tada! You have a well-rounded character.

Dialogue is a fundamental way of showing your character and letting them come alive on the page. Without dialogue, we wouldn’t be able to hear the voices of the characters and we would be left with only description and narration at our disposal. This would make it all the more difficult to bring your characters to life and make them feel like real, three-dimensional people. Without dialogue, we are left without an essential tool that would otherwise help us bring our characters to life.

Dialogue also allows you to create subtext, which is when somebody says one thing but they mean another. Subtext is a powerful storytelling tool because it forces the reader to “read between the lines” and that draws the reader further into the story. When the reader has to make inferences and intuitive mental leaps, they become more engaged, which means they are more immersed in the narrative.

(3) Primary Layer of Voice In addition to being a primary way of showing character, dialogue is also one of the primary layers of voice. You see, I believe that voice occurs in layers. At its most basic level, we have the voices of the characters in the story, and these voices come across in dialogue.

In addition to the characters’ voices, we also have the narrator’s voice, which operates almost like a frame or container, holding the story together. The narrator’s voice can be a character’s voice (like when you have a first person narration) but it can also be a third person entity, telling the story like an outside observer looking in.

Finally, you have the author’s voice, and this is that essence of voice that is the same from one book to the next. This is how we know when we’re reading a Jane Austen novel versus one by Stephen King. The voice of the author feels unique and specific to that one writer.

With this layered structure in mind, we realize just how important dialogue is. Dialogue allows us to hear the characters’ voices, so we can better understand who they are. Without the voices of the characters coming across in dialogue, the story would be pure narration, and while that can certainly work (think of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart) it can also feel a little hollow, as though the story is being told to us but we don’t really have a sense of the people in it.

Note: The Tell-Tale Heart works as a story made up almost entirely of narration because we are in a deep first person point of view. This point of view allows us to experience the protagonist’s thoughts, and those thoughts almost feel as though the narrator is having a conversation with himself. The story works as pure narration, but it’s a form of narration that allows us access into the character’s mind. In TADA terms, we may not have a whole lot of D, but the story makes up for it with a lot of T instead.

It’s Like Real-World Dialogue, Only BetterThere are a lot of things we can do (and mistakes we should avoid) in order to write great dialogue. The most important thing, though, is to remember that story dialogue is not the same as real-world dialogue. The latter often has a rambling nature and goes off on random tangents, sometimes never to return. The truth is that story dialogue is like real-world dialogue, only without the boring parts.

Exercise: Go to a public place like a park or a cafe and sit near some people who are talking. Pull out a notebook (or computer) and start to write down verbatim everything those people say. (I know, I know, eavesdropping might be a little weird… but it’s in service of art! Plus, if their subject is something super-private, it’s their fault for talking about it in a public space.) Sit and take dictation for 5-10 minutes, then go back and reread.

My guess is that while there might be a great one-liner or two in there, the majority of the dialogue you captured will be unreadable. It will probably go off on weird tangents or change subjects randomly. There will likely be a lot of ums and ahs and other filler words that make the dialogue feel clunky. That’s normal. Real dialogue is not supposed to be polished like story dialogue.

The truth is, story dialogue flows smoothly in a way that real-world dialogue never does. It stays on point and doesn’t have a lot of fluff to it. Story dialogue is designed to develop the characters and also move the plot forward, so it has to be focused and purposeful. Real-world dialogue doesn’t need to do any of that so it can ramble on and on or loop around in circles.

As you think about writing dialogue, think about how you can make it smoother and more focused. Sure, in some cases the characters might talk around each other, but this is always done with a purpose—usually with an eye toward creating subtext or developing character in some way. Ultimately, dialogue is an important tool to have in your writer’s toolbox and it can accomplish many different things at the same time. Great dialogue advances the story but also deepens the characters, and sometimes uses subtext to pull the reader further into the story.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: Why Dialogue Is Important in Writing appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 2 – Act “As If”

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the “knowledge without the college.” You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also receive Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode I discuss:* How acting “as if” is not the same as “fake it ‘til you make it.” * Ways in which acting “as if” helped me build DIY MFA and this podcast. * Why it’s important to be completely truthful when you act “as if.” * How when you step forward with confidence, eventually your mindset catches up.

Link to Episode 477(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to Apple or Spotify and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 477: Lesson 2 – Act “As If” appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about writing-life balance, and what it looks like to live an author life. This topic has been on my mind because I’ve been secretly working on a new project for DIY MFA. This project is a free event that we’re planning for this Fall where I’m interviewing a bunch of different writers and experts about the author life. So far, we’ve had some amazing guests and I can’t wait to share this event with you later this year!

Living the Author LifeThe life of a writer isn’t easy. As you may recall from my last newsletter, publishing is a tough business and you have to be resilient to stick with it for the long haul. There’s a lot of rejection and heartache on the path to publication, and sometimes we lose sight of why we’re doing all of this in the first place.

It’s also a challenge to balance writing against all the other things we have going on in our lives. Most of us don’t have the luxury of writing full time and doing nothing else. Even if we are able to make writing our “day job” there’s a lot of other peripheral stuff we have to do, like marketing our work, building our platform, etc. And this doesn’t even take into account all of that personal life stuff that can sometimes get in the way of our writing dreams.

Many of us have families and home responsibilities. As you may already know, I’ve got two kiddos of my own, Little Man and Lady Bug. Little Man is now 12 (so turning into a “Big Man”) and Lady Bug is 9 (going on 19… yeesh!). Between music practice, school concerts and homework help, this spring has felt like a marathon of “kid stuff.” Don’t get me wrong, I love these kiddos more than anything, but all that love doesn’t make it any less exhausting. (If you’re a parent, you know exactly what I’m talking about…)

I know for a lot of folks in our community, caring for aging parents and relatives is a big part of their lives. Those responsibilities can take up a lot of time, energy, and mental bandwidth. And a lot of word nerds have extremely time-consuming day jobs that make it hard to work writing into their schedule. Many of them have to get their writing done in the wee hours of morning or night, or eke out a few words during their daily commutes.

All in all, we have a lot on our plates. And that’s life.

Honor Your RealityAt DIY MFA we have a saying: “Honor Your Reality.” This means that yes, life is part of our reality and sometimes it gets in the way of our writing. But we also have to acknowledge that writing is part of our reality. Without writing, we don’t feel complete. Our creative work is not just a luxury we squeeze into the off hours between items on our schedule. It matters. It’s important. When we are not writing, we are not being our authentic selves.

A lot of people talk about writing-life balance as though it were something rigid and precise. They act like our existence is a set of scales, with our life responsibilities on one side and our writing on the other. According to this model, the only way to find “balance” is if both sides of the scale are perfectly level.

But life isn’t like that. It’s messy. It’s weird. It’s constantly throwing things at us that we least expect.

I think of “balance” as being on a boat. If you try to stand rigidly upright, the rocking of the waves will knock you off balance and make you fall flat on your face. Instead, the way to stay on your feet is to rock with the boat. When a wave pushes one side of the boat up, we lean into that side. When the other side rises, we lean that way. We can’t fight the waves or make them go away, so the only way to deal with them is to lean in.

This means that we have to acknowledge the role that life plays in our reality, but we also have to attend to those writing “waves” when they come up. If we never address the waves on the writing side of our boat, then our lives will be lopsided and the boat will capsize. The way to find “balance” is to recognize that writing and life are a messy mix, but somehow we’ve got to fit both things into our reality.

One way to do that is…

Don’t Write Every Day(At least, not unless you want to.)

A lot of big-name authors and writing experts say that in order to be a “real” writer, you have to write every day. Personally, I beg to differ. I don’t think that writing every day is necessary—or even healthy—for some writers. Sure, some writers might clock in a precise number of words every single day, but for others (like myself) writing is more like feast or famine. There are days when the muses smile down on me and I knock out thousands of words in one go, and then there are others where a hundred words feels like a slog. If I had to clock in an exact word count every single day, I’d probably have given up on writing a long time ago.

I’ve also heard of many writers who need thinking time before the writing can occur. One writer friend of mine says she spends a lot of time thinking through her book and mapping out each scene in her head. Then when she sits down to write, all the words pour out in a rush. For me, thinking time is also crucial. It’s where I work through different ideas—sometimes sketching them out on paper, sometimes just in my head—and it’s how I discover ideas for new projects as well.

For me, a lot of this thinking time is spent journaling, which I don’t really consider writing per se, even though I am putting pen to paper. I journal just about every day, in the morning before I get out of bed. Most of my journaling is whiny, boring, repetitive stuff, like me complaining about mundane things that probably won’t matter beyond that instant. Yet sometimes, in my journal, I hit on a random idea that I can mine for gold. If I didn’t spill all that whiny, boring garbage onto the page first, I probably never would land on that golden nugget of an idea.

But let’s get back to “write every day” and why maybe it’s not the best strategy. Another thing to consider is that there’s a certain luxury associated with writing every day. Many of us have messy, busy lives that make writing every day an unrealistic goal. Sure, for some writers, writing every day is doable, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if we can’t do it.

Let me tell you a story about writing every day. I remember reading the book On Writing by Stephen King many years ago when I was just beginning to take writing seriously. This was back in 2006 or 2007, and this book had a huge impact on my writing, but not in the way you would expect. Now, let me be perfectly clear: this is a wonderful book that paints a picture of what it really takes to be a writer. I love this book and constantly recommend it to new writers. But… there’s one tiny spot that I have to quibble with. This is the place where Stephen King says you have to write 2,000 words per day and read 80-100 books per year, or else you’re not a “real” writer.

When I first read that, I thought I had stumbled on The Answer. After all, if Stephen King said it, it had to be true, right? Well, the truth is, that method might work for Stephen King, but it didn’t work for me. I started out okay, writing 2,000 words per day for a couple of days. Then I had a major rush of inspiration and poured out 4,000 words in a day. Yay! But after that I hit the wall and had a bunch of 200-400 word days. That’s when I started to spiral.

You see, I had this idea in my head that I had to write 2,000 words, like clockwork. Every. Single. Day. But I couldn’t do it consistently. Some days I exceeded my goal; others I could barely eke out a tenth of the required word count.

So, I started to beat myself up. Thoughts popped up in my head, like: “Well, if you can’t do 2,000 words every day, you’re not a real writer.” Or “See? I knew you couldn’t do it. You’ll never publish anything.” Or “Sooner or later, people are going to find out you’re a fraud and you can’t write anything.”

Here’s the truth: Beating ourselves up for not writing does not make the words magically appear on the page. I know. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work.

Not everybody writes with Stephen King precision. I admire the people who do, but I’m definitely not one of them. And that’s okay, because the writing still gets done, it’s just a messier process.

So if we shouldn’t “write every day,” what should we do?

The key is to write some days. Maybe it’s not every day, but a few times a week. Or maybe your weekdays are a hot mess and the only time you have for writing is on the weekends. Some writers might clock in word counts with laser-like precision. Others (like me) may have more of a rollercoaster process. All of this is okay.

We all have different lives, with different goals and challenges. To assume that one method would work for every writer is shortsighted. Instead, the key is to find the method that works best for you.

What Makes an Author Life?The author life consists of a lot of things—productivity, motivation, mindset, time management, and more—but it looks different for each person. Of course we have to write. If we never wrote anything, we’d have to reconsider why we’re even trying to do this in the first place. The writing itself is non-negotiable. If we want to be writers we have to write. The place where things get messy is in the “how.”

For a lot of us, it takes trial and error to find a process that works. When I first started writing the DIY MFA book, I had a newborn and a toddler at home, so I knew that the only way I would be able to do it was if I could get out of the house. At first, I thought the most efficient way to do this was to go to a hotel, check in early, check out late, and write write write for the hours in between. We had some points from a hotel chain so I figured I’d give it a shot.

The first time I did that, I knocked out over 7,000 words. I did my happy dance, went home, then came back a few weeks later to try a second time. That session didn’t go so well and I only made about 4,000 words. Not bad, but not as good as the first time. Then the third time I tried this I only managed about 1,500 words, plus the hotel points had just about run out. It became very clear that if I had to hide away in a hotel every time I needed to write, this was going to be a very expensive book.

So I tried a different method. Every weekday, after dropping Little Man off at preschool, I started going to the local coffee shop around the corner and writing for a few hours until it was time to go pick him up. Another mom from his class was also a writer, so we teamed up and started hanging out at the coffee shop together, working side-by-side. I didn’t knock out 7,000 words at a time, but I made respectable progress on the book five days a week, eventually getting it done. Plus, knowing that I only had that short, preschool-time window to do my writing motivated me to stay focused. Also, having a writing buddy also helped make the process less lonely.

Keep in mind, this approach worked back then because my life was the way it was at the time. Now, it would be a different story. The kiddos may require a lot less grunt work these days, but there are other challenges, like activities and schoolwork. Plus, DIY MFA is in a whole different place now than it was in 2015 when I was writing the book. Back then, the business was just getting started and we didn’t offer nearly as many courses or programs. Now, DIY MFA truly is a full-time job, and taking away an entire morning five days a week would not be feasible. Instead, I have to sneak in my writing during those nooks and crannies between other DIY MFA stuff.

I share all of this because I think it’s important to realize that there’s an ebb and flow to the writing process. You can’t just take writing advice at face value. You have to try different things out and see what works for you. You also have to recognize that what works at one stage in your writing career, may not carry over to a later stage. Your process for writing book one will be very different from the process for books two and beyond. In the end, we have to acknowledge that the author life is unpredictable and we have to embrace the wild, messy adventure that it is!

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: Living the Author Life appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today’s episode kicks off our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 1 – Jump First, Build After.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the “knowledge without the college.” You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also receive Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode I discuss:* Why it’s important not just to build something, but build the right thing. * How failure plays into innovation, and why we should accept it rather than avoid it. * How originality is about the execution of the idea, rather than the idea itself. * Why it’s crucial to embrace the concept of “good enough.”

Link to Episode 476(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to Apple or Spotify and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 476: Lesson 1 – Jump First, Build After appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Before we dive in, I have a short warning. What I’m about to share here is not a glowing, rose-colored-glasses view of being an author, but the sometimes-tough realities of the publishing business. If you’re living blissfully in denial—and that denial helps keep you motivated—keep doing that! Seriously, if not knowing the cold, hard numbers keeps you motivated, don’t read this newsletter. Sometimes denial and blissful ignorance can be helpful in that they let you dream big, even when things are hard.

But for some of us, it’s useful to understand the nuts and bolts of how things work, so I thought it might be useful to share a short primer on the publishing business. For some this subject may be review, but for others this may be completely new information. My hope is that it will help you make informed decisions about your own path to publishing, so you can build an author life that works for you.

Traditional vs. Indie PublishingFirst things first: when folks talk about publishing, the conversation often breaks down into a debate between independent (indie) and traditional publishing. The truth is, there are certain factors that these two paths have in common. In both traditional and indie publishing, someone has to cover the upfront costs of producing the book. These costs include (but are not limited to) editing, cover design, book layout, marketing, and so forth. The main difference in these two models comes down to who covers those costs. In traditional publishing, all those costs are covered by the publisher, not the author. This is why the author usually makes a much smaller percentage from each copy of their book sold.

In indie publishing, on the other hand, the author gets a much larger percentage, but they also have to cover all of these upfront costs. On one hand, this means they have much more control over the final product, because as publisher, everything is under their purview. On the other hand, it does mean that indie publishing is an investment and author-publishers often have to spend some amount of money before seeing a nickel in royalties.

Think of it this way: indie publishing essentially means you have to take off your “author hat” and put on your “publisher hat” because now you are in charge of a publishing imprint of one author. That author just happens to be you. This means that an indie author has to juggle two separate roles. As publisher, they have to coordinate the production of the book, and as author, they have to manage the artistic side of creating a great story. For some authors, this approach is exciting and they love the idea of being completely in control of their book’s production. Other authors don’t want to juggle, so they prefer to go the traditional route and partner with a publisher.

When authors ask me for advice about whether they should pursue traditional or indie publishing, I always say the same thing. Indie publishing should not be treated as a second-best option. If you choose to indie publish, choose it proactively and with agency. Don’t default to it simply because you tried the traditional route and it didn’t work out. Indie publishing is a big commitment, and it deserves to be treated as a first-place option, not as the runner-up.

I will add that there’s also a third option called hybrid publishing, which falls in the gray area between traditional and indie publishing. Every hybrid publisher is different, so it’s hard to give an exact overview of how this works. In some cases, they provide certain services—like editing or cover design—a la carte. In other cases, the hybrid publisher splits the costs with the author in some way. The main things to consider with all three publishing models are twofold: (1) What percent of the profit does the author get? (2) Who retains what rights to the work? No matter which publishing path you choose, you need to be very clear about the answer to both of these questions.

Let’s Do Some Trad Pub MathI think the best way to understand how different publishing models work is to put some numbers to it. First, let’s talk about traditional publishing. Some of the time (not always) the author receives an advance as part of their book deal. Let me make one thing very clear: the advance is not “free money,” it is simply the author being paid in advance for royalties they have not yet earned.

This means that in order for the author to start getting royalty checks for their book, they have to sell enough copies to pay back the advance they have already received. This is called “earning out” and only around 20-30% of books reach that milestone. This means that anywhere between 70-80% of books do not earn out their advance. In other words, the books did not sell enough copies for the author to pay back the advance they already received, meaning that the author gets no additional royalties on top of that advance.

The reason so many books don’t earn out is because a lot of traditional publishing operates in a manner akin to venture capital. For example, if a publisher acquires 10 books, they’re banking on maybe one of those books going through the roof and selling a bazillion copies. Another two might earn out, but maybe not by much. The rest of the books don’t earn out at all, but the book that sold the bazillion copies makes enough profit to cover the costs of producing those seven other books.

Because the publisher is not looking to make a huge profit on every single book, it does mean that some books—quieter or more niche books—still have a chance of getting published, even though their anticipated sales might not be super-high. Not earning out, however, does hurt the author’s chances of getting another book deal down the road. If an author’s last book didn’t earn out, it makes it that much harder for them to get their next book published because publishers may be concerned with their sales record.

Let’s get back to talking about advances (Note: these numbers are purely hypothetical.) Suppose you get a $1,000 advance, your book is priced at $10 per print copy, and your percentage is 10% of the list price. This means that for every print copy sold, you get $1, so you have to sell 1,000 books in order to earn out your advance. When you get to book 1,001, then and only then do you start seeing additional royalty checks.

Now, the numbers can get tricky pretty quick, because they depend on a lot of different factors. For example, if your royalties are based on net profit versus list price, your royalty comes from the profit the publisher makes after the costs have been factored in, rather than being a percentage of your book’s cover price. You might also have a variable royalty schedule, where your percentage grows once you hit certain sales numbers. (Like, you might make 10% for the first 1,000 copies, 12.5% for copies 1,001-3,000, 15% after that, etc.)

Keep in mind also that ebook sales have a different royalty rate—and a different price point—than print books. So, depending on the type of book, print books might be your primary source of sales, or it might be ebooks. Certain genres or categories tend to do better in one format over the other, so understand your market and get a good sense for where the bulk of your book earnings will come from.

What I always recommend writers do if they have a traditional book deal is to calculate their “magic number,” i.e. how many books they need to sell in order to earn out. Sit down, do the mathy-math, and figure out exactly how many books that is. When I got the DIY MFA book deal, I calculated my magic number and it gave me a manageable goal to aim for, so that within a year I had earned out my advance.

Indie Publishing Math Looks a Little DifferentFor indie publishing, the numbers work a little differently, but there’s still that same factor of the upfront costs. The main difference here is that the author covers those costs, because the author is also the publisher. In addition, unless you run a kickstarter or other crowdfunding campaign, you won’t get an advance, so the only money you make is after your book is already on the market. This means that the publication costs are an upfront investment and you’ll need to sell a certain number of books after the fact just to break even.

Here, again, you need to do the mathy-math. First, you have to calculate all your costs for producing the book. This includes all the editing costs (often for multiple rounds with more than one editor), as well as cover design and interior book layout. Depending on the type of book, you may be able to do some of the interior layout yourself using a tool like Atticus or Vellum, but in other cases—like if you have a lot of diagrams or illustrations—your book may require a more detailed layout and you may need to hire a designer to do it.

According to several sources, the average cost to indie publish a high-quality book is anywhere between $2,000-$4,000, but that amount can vary wildly depending on many factors. For example, some genres have higher costs. Nonfiction books require indexing which adds a whole other step to the publishing process and also increases the costs. Sci-Fi/Fantasy books are generally longer than novels in other genres, so the cost of printing will be higher as will the cost of editing. Historical Fiction novels require a lot of fact checking, and picture books have illustrations. All these costs can add up quickly.

Still, for the sake of an example, let’s suppose your book falls on the high end of that average range and all the publishing costs add up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000. (Again, these numbers are hypothetical.) Your next step would be to figure out your “magic number,” which is the number of books you need to sell in order to break even and cover all of your production costs.

To calculate that number, first you need to figure out how much profit you will earn per copy of your book. Let’s say that number is $2. Then you just need to divide your total costs by the profit-per-book to get the total number of books you need to sell. In this case that would be 2,000 copies. Poof! You have your “magic number.”

Why the Numbers Are ImportantThe numbers make a huge difference when it comes to thinking about building a writing life and developing a sustainable career as a writer. Not only do you need to know your “magic number” so you can break even or earn out your advance, but you also need to consider what you need to earn in order to make a livable wage as a writer. For many writers, book writing by itself will not be sufficient to sustain a career. This is why so many writers write as a side hustle and have “day jobs” that pay the bills (or at the very least, jobs that provide health insurance).

The hard truth that most of us don’t want to admit is that it’s very difficult to make a living just by publishing books. Publishing one book is probably not going to be enough to sustain us. For most of us, we have to do something else that will supplement our writing.

In some cases, this means getting a regular 9-5 job, where you can clock in and clock out and spend the rest of your time writing. I know many people who write on their commutes. They have 30 or 45 minutes on a train each morning and evening, and instead of zoning out or listening to podcasts, they spend that time working on their books. Some writers teach writing as a way to supplement their incomes. For me, teaching has always been my primary work and writing has been something I do on the side, but for some writers it’s the other way around, and teaching is the thing they do to sustain their writing careers.

The truth is, unless you’re one of the lucky few, it’s very difficult to make a career as a writer doing nothing but writing.

Even if you’re one of the lucky ones and you get a big, splashy book deal, that still doesn’t add up quite as much when you consider how publishing works. Suppose for example, that you got an awesome $100,000 traditional book deal. Yay! Let’s do a happy dance!

Then let’s get down to reality and look at how the money gets parceled out. For starters, you’re not getting that $100,000 right up front. Most book contracts stipulate that the advance is delivered in parts, usually tied to specific deadlines. You might get one-third upon signing, another third when you’ve delivered your edits, and the last portion when your book finally gets published. It could be upwards of two years between when you first sign your contract and when your book is finally out in the world. This means that this advance could be spread out over three calendar years, amounting essentially to an income of $33,333 per year, a far cry from that original six figure number.

The math gets even stickier if it’s a multiple book contract. Imagine you got $100,000 for a two-book deal. This means you’re really only getting $50,000 per book, and that number will get divided up over multiple installments, as described above. This means you might be getting only around $15,000 per year while that publication journey plays out. Now, I don’t know about you, but while that’s a perfectly fine income bump, it’s not enough to sustain someone all by itself.

“But, but, but, Gabriela, what about all those indie authors who make tons of money every month and don’t do anything but write books? Can’t I be like them?” First off, let me be very clear, these authors are not just writing books. As indie authors, they are doing publishing-related activities, like getting their books edited and formatted, and they are also doing tons of marketing and promotion to build their network of readers. Many of these indie authors are also self-instructed experts at Facebook and Amazon ads and they spend as much of their time (or more!) building their brand as they do writing.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the authors who do well are also incredibly prolific, with many indie authors writing upwards of eight or nine books per year. These authors often have multiple series, each with several books already published, and it’s the cumulative sales of all these books (plus their new releases) that make them able to sustain a full-time writing career.

I share all this today not to be all doom and gloom, but because I think it’s important for writers to understand the realities of the business we’re operating in. For many writers, the key to career success is diversifying their revenue streams. This means having multiple irons in the fire and finding creative ways to bring in additional income. I know for me with DIY MFA, diversification has been an important part of our business strategy and it’s the reason why I’ve been able to do the work that I do.

So, to recap, you’ll first want to start by choosing the publishing path that most resonates with you. Next, don’t be afraid of the mathy-math. Get nerdy with those numbers and figure out exactly how many copies you need to sell either to earn out your advance or to cover your upfront costs. Finally, diversify your income streams so you’re not wholly dependent on only one thing. Basically, don’t put all your eggs in one publishing basket, but juggle a few different revenue streams.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about endings, in particular the denouement. The denouement is that “sigh of relief” that happens after the climax, that extra scene or two (or many) that allows the story to wrap up and come to a satisfying conclusion. It got me wondering why we even need a denouement. After all, why not just have the story end right at the climax?

Here’s what I realized: If we chop the story and cut off the narrative at the moment of the climax, we leave the reader with one very unsatisfying ending. The purpose of the climax is to answer the major dramatic question (MDQ) of the story, the question that drives the story forward and gives it momentum. The denouement, on the other hand, provides follow-through that gives context to the MDQ’s answer, in addition to giving the story closure. In other words, while the climax answers the MDQ, the denouement answers the question: “So what? What was the whole point of this story anyway?”

Consider the moment of the climax in The Hunger Games. This is the moment when we discover whether Katniss Everdeen manages to survive those horrific Games. Now imagine the story cut off right at that climactic moment when Katniss and Peeta are about to eat the poison berries. Think about how frustrating it would feel for the reader if the story ended at that moment and we didn’t get those few key scenes that follow. Sure, we would know that Katniss survives, but that survival doesn’t really mean anything if we don’t have the denouement.

The denouement provides follow-through. Different stories have different lengths of denouement. In cozy mysteries, for example, the denouement might only be one short scene after the sleuth reveals whodunnit. In some romance, the denouement may not even happen in the story proper, but may be included as an epilogue where the story flashes forward and we see the couple after they have been in the relationship for some time.

Consider our example of The Hunger Games above. In this book,we get one additional chapter after the scene with the berries. In this chapter, Katniss and Peeta are interviewed by the talk show host, Caesar Flickerman, in the Capitol and Katniss has to try her best not to anger President Snow more than she already has. This chapter gives us a sense of much-needed closure and raises the stakes for the ending, making us realize the potential consequences of Katniss and Peeta standing up to the Capitol. That chapter also ties up some—though not all—of the loose ends in the story.

Notice that though the book is the first in a trilogy, it still has a denouement. The denouement does not have to tie together every last detail and there are many questions still left unanswered, questions which get addressed in subsequent books of the series. The purpose of the denouement is to tie the story up enough so that we have a sense of closure. It also needs to make us feel as though the story and the characters extend beyond the pages of that one book. In other words, the purpose of the denouement is seemingly contradictory: while it provides closure, it also creates a feeling of expansiveness, as though the story could keep going on, even after we’ve put the book down.

The Meaning of the DenouementIf we look at the etymology of the word “denouement” we’ll find that it originates from the French verb “denouer” which means to untie or unknot. This is interesting because a lot of times when we think of endings, we think of tying up loose ends, but the truth is almost exactly the opposite. A true denouement is about release and expansion. It’s about untying the knots we’ve created in our story.

If you’ve ever watched Murder, She Wrote, you know exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to the denouement. At the very end of every episode, after Jessica Fletcher has revealed whodunnit and the case has been closed, there’s always one last quick scene where Jessica and her friends sit around and talk. Most of the time they’re not even talking about the case, but simply discussing other life-related things. And the scene always ends with a freeze-frame of Jessica throwing her head back and laughing. This short scene is what makes it clear that Jessica and her friends are regular people, who have lives beyond solving murders. It’s what makes the story feel like it expands beyond the scope of the show.

If denouement is about unknotting, then the reveal about whodunnit would be that first pull when you’re trying to undo a particularly tight knot. That first pull puts the resolution into motion, but it doesn’t untie the knot entirely. The purpose of the denouement is to finish slackening that knot, to give us that feeling of freedom, such that the story isn’t all tied up but, rather, has a sense of relaxation at the end.

This concept of a denouement may seem to be something of a contradiction. After all, how can you “tie up loose ends” and also “unknot” a story at the same time. To me, this all comes down to that feeling of expansiveness, that idea that the world and the characters extend beyond the edges of the page and continue on long after we have stopped reading. The denouement provides that feeling of loosening. It’s that “sigh of relief” that gives the story closure while also making it feel as though the world and characters can live on in our imaginations.

Denouement in MarketingThe denouement is not just something we see in storytelling; it happens in marketing as well. In any marketing campaign, the climax is that moment when the customer finally makes the purchase. In terms of book sales, this might be the point where a customer brings your book to the cash register and takes their credit card from their wallet. Or maybe it’s the moment when they pull your book from a library shelf, or click the “place order” button via an online retailer.

You would think the story ends there, but it doesn’t. Sure, the customer has made their purchase, so we may wonder why we need to worry about what comes next. The truth is that the story isn’t over at the climax or point of sale. In fact, that’s only the beginning. Just as your customer goes on a journey from when they first discover you to that moment when they buy your book, they also start a whole new journey once they’ve made that purchase. In other words, they go from being a prospective customer on their journey to the point of sale, to starting a new journey where they go from being a recent customer to potentially becoming a superfan of your work.

That start of the new journey is the denouement of the previous journey, meaning that the two journeys overlap slightly. Just as the denouement in storytelling gives us a sense of expansiveness and makes us feel like the story extends beyond the page, so too does the denouement in marketing create a similar feeling. In the latter case, we know the story keeps going because the customer is beginning a whole new journey.

Denouement in LifeIn life, we often experience moments when one chapter ends and a new chapter begins. In early May, I shared that my beloved Office Cat had gone to what we in the DIY MFA household dub the “giant tuna buffet in the sky.” She was with me for almost twenty-one years (which is about 100 in “cat years”) and saw me through many life transitions, from the birth of both of my two kids to the start of DIY MFA. While I felt tremendous grief that the chapter with Office Cat had ended, I also held out hope that her story didn’t end then and that there would be some continuation “beyond the page” where I might see her again.

And although no other creature could ever take Office Cat’s place in my heart, I looked ahead with anticipation and hope to give another cat a forever home. To that end, we brought home a new member of our family.

This new kitty is super-sweet and affectionate. She clearly picked us, because when we came to her cage at the shelter, she practically jumped into my arms. We could tell right away that she was meant to be part of our family. She loves sitting on the windowsill, soaking up sunshine and watching the world go by. She also purrs constantly and has the cutest little high-pitched mew. As with all members of our family, this cat has an online nickname and we’ve dubbed her Office Cat 2.0. We’re still adjusting to our new family dynamic, and I’ll keep you posted on how that process develops.

Just as the denouement creates a sense of expansiveness and makes it feel as though the story extends beyond the page, so too does this new kitty open up new possibilities in our lives and make it feel as though a new chapter is beginning.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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I’ve been thinking about supporting characters a lot lately. These are the unsung heroes of storytelling, and yet they are often misunderstood. We might call them “side” characters or “secondary” characters as if they play second fiddle to our main character, but the truth is they play a very specific purpose in the story.

You see, I believe that most stories have one—and only one—main character. I say most stories because there are some exceptions. For example, many romance stories involve two protagonists who make up the couple and the story is told equally from both characters’ perspectives. Regardless of whether there is one (or more than one) main character, the supporting characters still serve the same purpose: to support the journey of the protagonist(s).

One thing to keep in mind is that while supporting characters may not be the stars of your story’s show, they don’t know that. After all, no one wakes up in the morning and thinks: “Gee, I want to be a supporting character in someone else’s life today.” Every character believes they are the protagonist of their own life, which means they will behave according to their own motivations or desires. Yet, for the purpose of your specific story, the protagonist is the star and all other characters exist to support that character’s journey.

So, why do we need supporting characters, anyway? Why not just focus all of our attention on the protagonist? There are a few reasons why stories need supporting characters, but they all boil down to the way these characters support the development of the main character.

(1) They prevent the story from getting boring.A story with no supporting characters could be extremely boring if not done well. In fact, even in a story where the character is alone for most of the time, it can help to have a supporting character. Consider the film Castaway, for example. Even though the protagonist is stranded on an island, he’s not completely alone. He has Wilson, the volleyball that he personifies and turns into a “friend.” Not only does Wilson help keep the protagonist from losing his mind, but he also serves as a supporting character of sorts and keeps the story interesting.

(2) They have backstories and goals.Supporting characters are characters in their own right. Fully fleshed out supporting characters bring with them a history and at least one goal, and these are different from those of the protagonist. These elements can lead to subplots that add depth and dimension to your story. When you explore where your supporting characters have come from (history) and where they want to go (goal), you can potentially uncover material for an interesting subplot.

(3) They give us an alternate view of the protagonist.When supporting characters interact with the protagonist, they give us a new perspective on that main character. Note that we do not necessarily need to experience the story from the supporting character’s point of view. Simply by bouncing the two characters off each other, we get a more objective view of the protagonist because we see them in relation to that supporting character. When characters interact, we see a side of the protagonist that we may not have seen otherwise.

(4) They give the protagonist the opportunity to grow.Supporting characters bring their own set of motivations and these motivations are different from those of the protagonist. When a supporting character’s motivations are at odds with the protagonist’s, we get tension, which in turn keeps the story interesting. Supporting characters’ motivations will affect how they behave, which means that even when they are trying to help the protagonist, they might actually create conflict instead. This conflict gives the protagonist the opportunity to develop and grow as a character.

(5) They have specific roles in the story.Different supporting characters play different roles in a story. The antagonist exists primarily to cause trouble for the protagonist, while allies are often used to raise the stakes or bring out a specific side of the protagonist’s personality. Advisor characters can sometimes provide much-needed information to the protagonist or fill in parts of the backstory. Some supporting characters don’t even need to appear on the page in order to have an impact on the story. The key to remember is that different types of supporting characters serve different functions and contribute to the story in different ways.

One question that a lot of writers wonder about is regarding the number of supporting characters. How many is too many? And when you have a large supporting cast, what should you do? The truth is, there is no hard and fast rule for how many characters you should have; it should be whatever number your story needs. The key is to consider the roles your characters play. If you have multiple characters that fill the same purpose, maybe you can fold them together into one composite character. Keep in mind that you can have one character serve multiple functions in your story, e.g. a mentor character who turns out to be the villain, or a BFF who eventually becomes the love interest.

In terms of managing a large supporting cast, there are techniques that authors use to help readers get a handle on who’s who. For example, some stories (like a family saga) might provide a family tree or other type of diagram so the reader understands who the characters are and how they are related to each other. Or in other cases, the author might list the characters along with their pictures so the reader gets a sense for who they are. An example of the latter would be Karen Hesse’s novel-in-poems Witness. The important thing is that readers understand who the characters are and how they relate to each other. After all, any moment when the reader is wondering, “who is this person?” is a moment when they get pulled out of the story. Ultimately, the goal is to keep the reader immersed in the story as much as possible.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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About a month ago, I wrote a Writer Fuel on creative burnout and wow did that hit a nerve! I got a bunch of emails from folks sharing how much the newsletter resonated with them and telling me about their own experiences with burnout.

One of the patterns I noticed as I read some of those emails is that we, as writers and creatives, tend to gaslight ourselves. A lot. We’ll say things to ourselves like “You’re not really burnt out, you’re just being lazy.” Or “You haven’t accomplished enough to say you’re burnt out.” Or, my favorite: “It’s not really burnout… it’s all in your head.”

I call this phenomenon creative gaslighting, because even though we’re experiencing creative blocks, we act as though on some level those blocks aren’t real.

It’s bad enough that the world around us doesn’t believe that writing is “real work.” It’s bad enough that writers are being told left and right that they shouldn’t quit their day jobs or that their English degrees are actually worthless. It’s bad enough that the rest of the world treats writing like it’s a joke and says things like, ”I’d love to write a novel, if I could only find the time.” In the face of all this, we have to be determined enough to convince everybody else (and ourselves!) that writing is important, that it has value.

In light of all these obstacles, we have to be the #1 champion of our own work. After all, if we don’t take our writing seriously, if we don’t act like it matters, why would anyone else think any differently?

This is why creative gaslighting is so insidious. When we allow ourselves to think this way, we become our own worst enemy. We chip away at our creative soul and we capitulate to the blocks that stand in our way.

When I wrote the DIY MFA book, I came down pretty hard on the idea of writer’s block. Here’s what I had to say.

Many writers believe that writer’s block is an external obstacle that prevents them from doing their work. Here’s the truth no one wants to hear: Writer’s block is a scapegoat. We blame writer’s block because we can’t bring ourselves to sit down and do the hard work of being a writer. If we’re not writing, it’s not because we’re “blocked” or we’ve lost our creative mojo. The problem is inside of us—but that’s actually a good thing.

When we blame writer’s block for our failure to do the work, it takes the power away from us and instead puts our writing at the mercy of external circumstances. We tell ourselves that it’s okay that we’re not writing because we’ve got a busy day job, or our kid came down with the flu, or we’ve run out of good ideas. But whatever excuses we dream up, that’s all they are: excuses. The only reason writers don’t write is because they just don’t want it badly enough.

Boy, did I get some major pushback because of those two paragraphs. I can’t tell you how many angry—even nasty—emails I received because some folks didn’t like what I said. The truth is, while these paragraphs are a bit like “tough love” I still stand by them. If we’re not writing, there’s usually a reason for that, and if we dig deep and look at the heart of that reason, we’ll probably find that we are ultimately the cause—and the solution—of the problem.

We may not have infinite free time to do our writing, and many of us deal with external obstacles that are very real. Still, when given a block of empty time, we’re faced with a choice: am I going to write, or will I do something else? It’s okay to choose something else, but we have to acknowledge that we are making that choice. No one else is forcing us not to write, and if we really wanted to do it, we’d choose writing instead.

Looking back on those two paragraphs, I realize that they omit one very important piece. Yes, it’s true that “the only reason writers don’t write is because they don’t want it badly enough” but what I didn’t add is that it’s okay not to want it sometimes. It’s okay not to choose writing some of the time, as long as we don’t make that a permanent habit. After all, if we never choose writing at all, then maybe we need to reconsider whether that path is really meant for us.

Whatever obstacles we face, whether they are internal or external, whether they are within our control or completely outside of it, we can choose whether or not to write through the obstacles. I can probably guess what you’re going to say. “But Gabriela, I have a chronic illness and I can’t write every day.” Or “I have ten kids and five dogs and no room for writing.” Or “My day-job requires extensive travel and I can never find the time.”

I get it. I have faced my own set of obstacles. (As you probably already know I have bipolar disorder, and the past six months or so have been especially challenging.) I’m not saying that the obstacles don’t matter; all I’m saying is we have a choice. Every day, we have to ask ourselves: will writing be part of my day? Some days you might say “yes” and find ways to squeeze the writing in. And some days you simply say “no, thanks.” And that’s okay. But the point is that the choice was up to you.

It’s okay not to write sometimes when other aspects of life demand your attention. This is called “honoring your reality” and it’s essential to living a balanced life. This means you have to go with the ebb and flow of life, and turn your attention to the things that are most important at that moment. Sometimes writing takes the spotlight. Sometimes it’s off stage, waiting in the wings.

Writing doesn’t have to take center stage all the time.

You don’t have to write every day. In fact, I have a bone to pick with anyone who says that. Some writers (like me) don’t have the luxury of writing as a full-time job. Some writers have to squeeze in writing before the sun comes up, or while they sit in their car in front of their kid’s school, or late at night after the whole house has gone to bed. Some writers can only write on the weekends. The point isn’t when they write, but that they write.

It’s very easy for us to beat ourselves up for not writing enough, to tell ourselves we’re not a real writer because we haven’t published yet, or we don’t write often enough, or we don’t have a big enough platform. This, my friends, is creative gaslighting at its most insidious, and we have to stop doing this to ourselves.

Instead, look at all the amazing things you already have accomplished. Maybe you’ve finished writing a short story, or you added three paragraphs to your current work-in-progress. Maybe you submitted a short story to a literary magazine. Or maybe you sent out a newsletter to a loyal group of readers. Whatever your accomplishments, be they big or small, celebrate them! However you choose to fit writing into your life, remember to give yourself permission to do it your way.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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I was at a writing conference this past March (the Women in Publishing Summit, which was amazing!) and during one of the networking sessions one of the other writers mentioned they were writing a knitting cozy mystery. As an avid knitter myself, I immediately asked, “Do you knit?” From there, immediately my fellow writer/knitter and I hit it off like we were long-lost besties.

I share this story because just as knitters have a tendency to flock together, so do writers. Put a couple of writers in a cocktail party full of “muggles” and they will immediately find each other and bond over their love of words. (And yes, I did just refer to non-writers as the non-magic folk in the Harry Potter books.) There’s something about writing that brings people together, like they have a writing radar or “wradar.”

For centuries—maybe millennia—writers have been coming together to share their work. Think of the Grand Cafe in Oslo, the Abbey Theater in Dublin, or the Algonquin Round Table in New York. People talk about writing as a solitary lifestyle, yet for many of us, community is a huge part of the creative process.

So, what makes a writing community effective? And where can writers find this illusive thing called “community”? Here are three components that, in my mind, make a writing community work particularly well.

(1) More Give than TakeWhenever I’m exploring new communities, I look for places where there is an attitude of generosity among the members, a place where people give more than they take. In these types of communities, members offer feedback, share resources, and celebrate each other’s wins without expectation of reciprocation. This spirit of generosity creates a safe space where members can form strong connections with each other and everyone can thrive side-by-side. It sets a positive tone that both appeals to the more gregarious members and also makes even the shyest members more likely to participate.

Communities founded on a principle of generosity tend to be the ones that last the longest. They also attract the best members. After all, no one wants to be in a space where a handful of people monopolize the conversation. When the members are good literary citizens who lead with generosity, the community is most likely to thrive.

(2) Constructive, Not CompetitiveMany writing communities are founded around a workshop model where members share their work with each other and offer feedback. In this type of space, constructive critique is key. I’ve seen many a workshop devolve into a cesspool of competitiveness, where members constantly compare themselves to each other. I myself have been in workshops where the leader or teacher believed in “tearing writers down in order to build them back up.” It was a workshop like this that made me stop writing in college and it took me seven years (seven years!) to build up the guts to try again.

While harsh judgements can certainly tear a writer down, empty cheerleading is no better. When writers do nothing but gush about how great a work is, it does nothing to help that writer improve. Instead, it’s important not just to say what works in a piece, but also explain why it works. By explaining the “why” behind the praise or suggestions for improvement, writers can help each other refine their craft.

(3) Broad Range of Genres and Writing StylesAs writers we often are attracted to communities that focus on a specific genre or type of writing. This makes sense on one level, because publishing is itself a genre-focused industry and it can be useful to connect and trade ideas with fellow writers in the same niche.

That said, we also have to acknowledge that writers from different genres bring unique insights to the storytelling process. Romance writers, for example, are phenomenal at marketing and promoting their work. Sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction writers are amazing at world building. Thriller and mystery writers are fantastic at plot and story structure. And literary fiction writers are excellent at character development.

While it is perfectly fair game to build your community around a specific genre, I want to encourage you to stretch your boundaries and try to connect with writers outside your niche as well. Every genre has its strengths and weaknesses, after all, and when we connect with writers of other genres we can gain new perspectives and improve our craft.

Why do we care about community?Writing is a solitary exercise. Sure, we can commune with fellow writers, but when it comes to putting words on the page, we do that work on our own. Still, finding community is an essential part of the writing life for a few reasons:

1. Community will give you support. Writing is lonely and “muggles” don’t always understand the ups and downs of the creative process. When we connect with fellow writers, we can see that we’re not struggling in isolation. Yes, writing is a wacky, wild journey, but we are not alone.
2. Community will keep you accountable. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of peer pressure to get your backside in the chair and make you start churning out words. That has certainly worked for me. For years, I participated in a group that met in a coffee shop and wrote side-by-side. Just seeing my writing buddies focused and working on their books gave me that little extra push to keep pouring words onto the page.
3. Community will motivate you. When we work in solitude, it can feel like we’re never going to reach our goals, but when we see a friend or colleague get published or win an award, it reminds us that success is possible. Sure, you don’t want to be competitive and constantly compare yourself to others, but seeing what’s possible for fellow writers can help you stay motivated, even when your goals feel out of reach.
4. Community will build your network. I hate the word “networking” because it makes me think of “schmoozing” at cocktail parties. (Gross!) Still, there is something to be said about building a network of friends and colleagues and getting to know key players in the industry. The way to do this organically and authentically is through community. When you contribute to a writing community as a good literary citizen, people start to take notice and they’ll want to connect with you. Slowly but surely, your network will grow.

Finding a good community is a key step in any writer’s journey. Still, not all communities are created equal, and it can be hard to find a good one. Here are a few resources to help you get started.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Certain social networks can be great for building community. It used to be that Twitter was where most writers liked to hang out, but ever since the switch to X, I’ve noticed a lot of writers migrating elsewhere. I myself have found that Threads seems to be a very welcoming writing space. Use the BookThreads or WriterThreads hashtags to connect with fellow writers and book lovers. Click here if you want to connect with me on Threads. I haven’t posted much yet; I’m mostly reading other people’s posts and liking/commenting on them.

ASSOCIATIONS: These groups can be a great resource both in terms of helping you develop your knowledge base and for building community. Many writing associations tend to either be genre focused or centered around a particular geographic location. Start by looking in your area to see if there’s a writing association in your city or state. If you can’t find anything local, check out some genre-based associations listed below. Many of them have local chapters.

• AWP: Association of Writers and Writing Programs – mostly for literary fiction but includes a lot of MFA programs, literary magazines, and small presses.
• ITW: International Thriller Writers
• MWA: Mystery Writers of America
• RWA: Romance Writers of America
• SFWA: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association
• HWA: Horror Writers Association
• SCBWI: Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (includes books for all age groups, including Young Adult)
• SinC: Sisters In Crime

Of course, this is just a small sampling of writing associations, but it can help you get started.

DIY MFA: Did you know that DIY MFA has its own unique community? Our DIY MFA Members HUB is a close-knit group of writers who are committed to their craft and want to learn and grow together. We meet twice a month via zoom calls, plus the membership offers a ton of resources like access to the entire DIY MFA webinar library and all of our Writer Igniter Summit interviews.

To keep the community tight, we only open the doors to new members a few select times per year. Curious about the HUB and want to learn more? Click here for more info and to get on the waiting list.

There you have it: three components of a good community, along with four reasons why community matters, and three different places you can go to find your birds of a feather. If you haven’t found a writing community yet, I want to encourage you to take the leap. Choose one of the resources I shared above and check it out.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Sometimes we lose our writing mojo and, try as we might, we struggle with building momentum around our writing. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to get in a writing mood. This state of creative paralysis can happen for any number of reasons, including:

1. You hit a point of burnout and your creativity fizzles
2. Your non-writing life is full-to-the-brim and your writing gets squeezed out
3. You are multi-passionate and have a hard time focusing on one project
4. A looming deadline has got you stuck and shaking in your boots
5. Something with your health (or mental health) is impeding your writing
6. You’re just not “in the mood”

In the last Writer Fuel, I talked about creative burnout, which is the first item on the above list. While the techniques I’m about to share may not help with all the creative struggles mentioned above, they can help with creative burnout, when we’ve lost that “writing feeling” and we’re just not in the mood to put pen to page. These are all techniques that I’ve used at various points in my writing career, and while no one technique is a cure-all, using a few of them in concert can help get you out of a writing rut and get you back in the writing mood.

1) Create Writing RitualsPerhaps one of the best ways to get yourself in that writing mood is to create a ritual around it. I know writers who light a scented candle before they begin a writing session. Others might have a special hat or accessory they wear when they’re writing. Some folks might even listen to a special writing playlist.

Right now, my own writing ritual is that I like to brew a pot of tea and bring it to my desk so I can sip while I write. I’m especially loving the Literary Tea Collection from Simpson and Vail, with my favorite varieties being Jane Austen (obviously), William Shakespeare (of course!), and Edgar Allan Poe (why not?). These teas make me feel like I’m channeling my inner Austen, Shakespeare, or Poe and give me that extra kick of inspiration.

The point of writing rituals is that they need to be simple and quick to complete. If your ritual is too complex or takes too long, then that will only get in the way of your writing. Instead, you want it to be something fairly easy that you can build into your writing routine and do without thinking too hard.

It’s even better when these rituals tap into one or more of the five senses. This is because sensory cues create a visceral, almost automated response in us. They tell us: “Pay attention, writer! It’s time to get to work.” For me, the tea ritual fulfills all five senses. Taste, smell, and touch are obvious, but the teapot also serves as a visual cue and when my cup clinks against the saucer, it gives me a little auditory reminder that it’s time to work.

2) Use Classical ConditioningThe reason writing rituals work so well is because they can sometimes act as a form of classical conditioning. Let me explain. Remember Pavlov’s dogs? Pavlov, an experimental neurologist and physiologist, discovered that when he rang a bell and simultaneously fed his dogs, eventually the dogs would begin to salivate at the sound of the bell alone.

We can create a similar effect in ourselves as writers. If we pair a certain sensory cue with our writing practice, eventually just the presence of that cue will snap our brains into “writing mode.” The key to classical conditioning is pairing the sensory cue with the desired behavior enough times that the link between the two becomes automatic.

Also, you want to avoid using that same sensory cue for other behaviors aside from writing. For example, if you wear a special writing hat, you want to avoid wearing that same hat in other contexts. This creates a stronger association between writing and the hat.

Not all of your writing rituals will serve as a form of classical conditioning. My tea ritual, for example, doesn’t pass muster because I can’t just reserve tea-drinking for writing time alone. I must have my tea at all hours of the day! I can’t help myself. For this reason, my tea drinking is a ritual but it doesn’t create classical conditioning.

Instead, for classical conditioning I have used a writing playlist. When I was writing the DIY MFA book, I had a special playlist that I listened to every time I sat down to write. Seriously. Every. Single. Time. That playlist started with the song “Everything Is Awesome” from the Lego Movie and after a few weeks of listening to that music, as soon as that song would start to play, my brain would snap into writing mode and I’d find the words starting to flow.

3) Think Beyond RoutineWhen I’ve spent long periods of time writing, routine has been my best friend. When I wrote the DIY MFA book, I had a toddler and a baby at home, so I needed a routine to help me stay organized and motivated. I got into the rhythm of walking my son, Little Man, to preschool, then going to a coffee shop around the corner from his school. Then I would write, write, write until the time came to go pick him up. (I’ll admit, there were times when I got on such a roll with my writing that I had to sprint to get to pick-up on time!) That routine saw me through six or seven months of solid writing and it helped me get that book done.

That said, sometimes routine can get you into a rut. In those moments, the best thing you can do is break out of that routine altogether. So if you usually write at home, try writing in a coffee shop or library. If you listen to music when you write, try working in silence. Even something as simple as turning your writing chair so it faces a different direction can help rev up your creativity and give you a new perspective.

Keep in mind that rituals and routines are not mutually exclusive. You can still incorporate writing rituals while breaking out of routine. For example, one writer I know does a three-minute meditation before she starts writing. That meditation practice is 100% portable, so she can take it with her whether she’s writing at home, at the library, or somewhere else altogether. As you come up with your writing rituals, try to come up with something that you can take with you across different writing contexts or environments. This way, you can tap into the benefits of having a writing ritual while also being able to shake up your regular routine.

4) Clock in the TimeSometimes the best tool in our arsenal is a good, old-fashioned clock. There are days when my writing mojo is completely gone, but I know I need to get some writing done. When that happens, I sit myself down at my desk and set a timer for 10 minutes. I don’t necessarily have to write during that time, but also I’m not allowed to do anything else. I can sit at my desk and stare into space, or I can start writing. Usually, I start writing out of sheer boredom.

Another way to use a clock to boost our writing is with the Pomodoro Technique. With this technique, you do one—and only one—task for 25 minutes, then take a five minute break. The key to making this technique work is training yourself not to do anything else during those 25 minutes. (I won’t even let myself get up to go to the bathroom! It’s just 25 minutes after all.) During the five minute break you can do whatever you want. Then when the timer rings, you go back into another 25-minute sprint.

A clock or timer can be a powerful tool, and these are just a couple of ways to use it with your writing. You can go old-school with a kitchen timer, or you can use the timer on your phone or mobile device. And if you want to try Pomodoro, there are some great mobile apps out there as well. My personal favorite is an app called “Focus Time.” Not only is it great for writing, but it’s also super-helpful in helping my kids practice their instruments.

5) Engage in Stealth WritingMy favorite thing to do to rev up my writing is to do it when I’m supposed to be doing something else. I call this “stealth writing” because I’m sneaking it in when I’m really meant to be working on something entirely different.

I first developed this habit in college, when I had to juggle a lot of different writing assignments for my various courses. I realized that if I worked on the assignment that was due next, I always found myself getting stuck. But if I worked on another project due later on, suddenly the words started flowing. The original assignment that was due sooner always seemed to get done somehow (it’s amazing how motivating last-minute panic can be!) but the benefit of this productive procrastination is that I would make headway on a later assignment, so when the time came to work on that, I already had some momentum.

As I write this newsletter, I’m actually supposed to be working on something else. I have a series of documents that need review and I have back-to-back meetings filling up my day. But, I’ve decided to sneak in some writing before reviewing those documents and also squeeze it in the downtime between meetings. Between all this stealth writing in fits and spurts, I’ve already eked out about 1,600 words. Not bad for a day when I thought I wouldn’t get any writing done.

Make Your Own “Best Practice”One of our catch-phrases at DIY MFA is “There’s no such thing as a ‘best practice,’ just what works best for you.” Writing advice is not one-size-fits all. What works for one writer might not work for another. You have to try out the advice and determine whether it works for you.

This is true for all advice, including the techniques I’ve shared here today. Some of these tools will work for you, some might not, and that’s okay. What matters is that you find the right advice and put it into action. You can understand the techniques, but that knowledge is academic if you don’t apply it. Tools are meant to be used. They are meaningless if they stay stored up in the toolbox. So, choose the advice that’s useful to you, and implement it.

Most of the techniques I’ve shared here today focus on external factors, like when/where/how you write. But, it’s also important to consider internal conditions—your mindset, your emotional state, or other factors that are unique to you. Sure, external factors can give you the tools to unlock your writing potential, but the way you will make lasting change to your process is by internalizing these techniques and making them part of your regular repertoire.

Remember: there is no such thing as the “right mood” to write. You create that mood. So get going and create something awesome!

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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For the past several months, I have been going through a period of creative burnout. Maybe it’s the aftermath of COVID and how it has changed the way we learn and interact online. Or maybe it’s because some things in my non-writing life have just been really hard lately. Or maybe it’s the result of having been working at building DIY MFA for fourteen years and a part of me is starting to itch for something new. Whatever the reason, the last six months or so have been really tough on the creative front and I’ve had to change up my process to fit this new creative drought paradigm.

As I reflect on my own experience with burnout, it occurs to me that a lot of other writers might be facing a similar situation. I’ve certainly heard a few of my colleagues express that they were experiencing burnout, and I’m guessing some folks in our word nerd community might be going through that as well. Today, I want to share a few techniques I’ve been using to help me work through this creative drought and get back into the flow of writing and building creative things.

1) Take baby steps toward incremental progress.As writers, we often like to dream big and set lofty goals. These ambitions can motivate us in times of creative flow, but when we face burnout they can feel overwhelming and unattainable. This is where baby steps come into play. Instead of focusing on the horizon, lately I’ve been looking just one or two steps ahead of where I am. Breaking big goals down into smaller, more manageable increments, is like chipping away at a mountain one pebble at a time. Each step doesn’t feel like much, but over the course of a few weeks or a month, you can see real progress happen.

I was once at a conference where a speaker said: “Dream big, execute small.” This phrase has since become a mantra for me. Yes, big goals are great, but in the end, these are no more than vaporous aspirations. It’s with the day-to-day action steps that true progress happens. Not only that, when you’re in a state of burnout, it’s a lot easier to focus on baby steps than a big, lofty goal.

It’s easy for us to ignore those incremental steps and focus our attention only on the end goal. The problem is, when we do that, everyday work can start to feel like a grind. This is why it’s so important not just to take baby steps, but to celebrate the small milestones as well as the big.

2) Zoom in on what lights you up.This period of creative burnout has made me realize which aspects of my work I truly love, and I’ve made a commitment to myself to focus more on the parts of DIY MFA that light me up. My creative passions are twofold: I love building curriculum and I love working with writers on their books. On the other hand, the marketing and sales side of the business is really draining for me, as I’m sure it is for many writers.

For this reason, I’ve decided to step away from our bigger marketing and sales-related projects. We haven’t done a big course enrollment in almost six months and we’ve shifted our attention to smaller, one-off workshops where I can focus my energy more on building new material and less on the marketing and sales. I’ve also shifted my teaching focus primarily to the DIY MFA Members HUB, using that community as an outlet where I can flex my creative muscles and build new craft-related curriculum every month. If you’re interested in learning more about the HUB and getting notified when it reopens, click here.

In addition, I’ve been feeding my love of working with writers on their books by doubling down on my one-on-one book coaching. Because I can only take a few clients at a time, I don’t generally advertise that I do this work, but it’s probably one of my favorite parts of my work at DIY MFA. I love stepping into different stories and helping writers problem-solve and come up with new possibilities for their books. I love seeing the amazing progress that my clients have made. Milestones include getting book deals, publishing their work in prestigious magazines, and winning awards.

As writers, we need to figure out what aspect of our work ignites our passion and we need to zoom in on the things that light us up. Whether it be crafting compelling characters, painting vivid settings, or weaving intricate plots, when we reach a point of creative drought, we must rediscover the elements that bring us joy and purpose. This is how we refuel our creativity.

3) Set constraints on what wears you down.The creative life is full of ups and downs. Yes, there are moments of creative euphoria where we reach a state of flow and the words pour out of us as though channeled from a muse. Yet, not every part of writing is fun. We all have aspects of the process that we dislike or find draining, and while we can focus our energy on the things that light us up, sometimes we have to grit our teeth and do the not-fun stuff as well.

For me, the things that tire me out are short but intense writing projects, like crafting a newsletter or other in-depth email. In the past, I used to delegate some of this writing to my team, so I only had to write a long essay once every 4-6 weeks. Now that I have taken on all the writing myself, I have to get creative on demand and knock out an essay every 1-2 weeks. I still feel strongly that I need to be the one to write these newsletters and they have to get done, so the key has been finding a way to contain this project so as to minimize the stress.

What helps is to set constraints and limit the task to a set time frame. I set a “Writer Fuel day” every couple of weeks and on that day, I focus on just writing newsletters. Sometimes, I can knock out a couple of them in one sitting. Sometimes, I can barely get through one. But the point is that by containing the task to a specific time frame, it frees me up to not have to worry about it at other times. I do the same thing with marketing tasks, where I set aside a single day to work on a marketing campaign and just get it done once and for all. This approach helps to lower my stress because it means I don’t have these more challenging projects constantly looming over me. Setting constraints allows me to reclaim my creative energy and channel it toward the things that I truly love.

4) Find moments of quiet joy.Creative burnout is a prickly beast, in particular because it leads to so much chaos and uncertainty in our lives. If we’re not sure where our next great idea is coming from, that can fill us with a sense of panic. We start to operate from a place of creative scarcity rather than abundance, and we start to work on whether this good idea will be the last one we’ll ever have.

In moments like these, it’s important to find hidden pockets of quiet joy. This joy can be related to our writing, or it can be something completely separate. For me, moments of quiet joy include knitting socks (you would not believe how many pairs of socks I own!), snuggling with Office Cat, or playing cards in the evenings with my kids.

I’ve also been on a massive tea kick lately; hubby gave me a sampler set for my birthday and I’ve been drinking 2-3 pots per day. I drink tea mostly while I’m writing and it adds that little extra bit of warmth to my day. The point is you need to find the little things that bring you joy, and weave them into your creative life.

Now, let me make one thing perfectly clear: self-care doesn’t solve everything. You can’t burst your way out of depression or revamp your mental health with a spa day. Still, these small bits of happiness can give you that extra boost of comfort you need to get through a challenging creative moment.

5) Use mindful distractions to keep stressful thoughts at bay.Related to the previous point, sometimes the stress is so much that you just have to distract yourself. When that happens, I like to find distraction by burying myself in a good book (or two, or ten!). The more stressful life gets, the more “comfort food” I need on my reading menu.

Right now, I’m devouring romance novels and cozy mysteries because they’re the most comforting things to read. With romance I know there’s going to be a “happily ever after” and when real life gets stressful, I find it’s nice to read something where you know it will all turn out okay. The same is true with cozy mysteries. Yes, there’s usually a murder that spurs the story into motion, but we all know the sleuth will solve the crime in the end and the criminal will be brought to justice.

Some people find these genres too predictable and formulaic, but I find the structure of these books give me comfort. I know what to expect and I can trust the book to deliver. This is probably why I especially love reading series: it’s like coming home to old friends and I don’t have to meet a whole new cast of characters every time I start a new book.

Some years ago, I did an 8-month program of DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and one of the main things we discussed was the use of distraction as a way to get through tough moments. Of course, the goal is not to avoid the negative circumstances altogether; that would be illogical. Distraction is not an excuse, but rather a mindful choice. This is how I use reading. It’s not purely an escape, but instead serves as a brief respite from the stress of real life.

6) Don’t be afraid to ask for help.Asking for help is not one of my finer qualities. I have a hard time admitting when I can’t do something and asking someone for help means coming to grips with the fact that I can’t do it on my own. Still, there are times when you need to lean on someone (or something) else. This might mean delegating some tasks that are outside your skillset, or using a tool to help you get something done faster and more easily.

For this particular essay, I decided to ask for help. In particular, I used an AI tool called Magic Bookifier to help me get the creative juices flowing. I fed the tool a five-point outline just to see how it would work and what the results would be. Truth be told, most of what it produced was not useful—I ended up not using 99%—but in a few small instances, it gave me an interesting turn of phrase that I could shape into something that was my own. But that wasn’t the most useful aspect of this tool.

The one big help this tool provided was that I didn’t have to face a blank page. For me, getting started is the hardest part of writing, so having something on the screen in front of me—even if I wasn’t going to use most of it—helped me break through mental blocks so I could start getting words down.

Navigating Through Creative BurnoutFinding our way through moments of creative burnout can be hard, particularly because with drought there often comes self-doubt. By using some (or all) of the techniques I’ve outlined here, writers can traverse this difficult terrain with resilience and grace.

Finally, we have to remember why we write in the first place. Most of us don’t just do it for ourselves. Rather, we have a deep desire to connect with readers. We want to transport these readers to the worlds we create and we want to help them engage in new experiences vicariously through our characters on the page. We write because we want to be read.

Sometimes all it takes to break through our self-doubt is to imagine that person who will receive our words, that person who will think: “Wow, this author gets it. It’s like they wrote this book just for me.” We’ve all had books that changed our lives, and we need to trust there’s a reader out there who will feel the same way about our books.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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If you’ve ever taken a writing class, you’ve probably heard the adage “show, don’t tell.” But what does that even mean?

What “show, don’t tell” really boils down to is a question of scene versus exposition. “Show” puts readers right in the middle of the action so they can see the scene unfold almost as if in real time. “Tell,” on the other hand, allows the writer to gloss over unimportant details via exposition, thus being able to jump to more important parts of the story.

Show vs. TellPersonally, I have a bone to pick with that advice, “show, don’t tell.” It implies that showing is more important than telling, when the truth is that both scene and exposition are powerful craft tools, each with distinct advantages and uses. We can do things in a scene that we can’t do in exposition, just as exposition allows us to accomplish things that we can’t do in a scene.

A scene allows us to experience a moment in the story as if it is happening right in front of us. We see characters interact and we might even get a window into some of their thoughts. We experience the setting all around us and we see the events of the story unfold almost as though we are there with the characters.

This is all well and good, but imagine you had to do this for every last, insignificant moment of your story. Imagine you had to show your character wiping the sleep crud from their eyes and brushing their teeth in the morning. Imagine you had to describe every crack in the sidewalk that they passed on their walk to work. Imagine you were forced to show everything, from the character soaping their hair in the shower, to them tossing out takeout containers and cleaning up after dinner.

That would get boring very quickly.

You see, there’s a benefit to being able to skip time or jump from one location to another. Sometimes all you want to do is gloss over the unimportant stuff so you can get to the juicy moments in the next full scene. This is where exposition can be useful.

Exposition is the unsung hero of storytelling. Without it, we would have to show everything and it would take thousands of pages just to get our characters through a single day. With exposition we can say things like “later that day” or “he went to work” and give readers important information in a compressed amount of space.

The main danger of exposition is that writers sometimes overuse it. They rely too heavily on spelling things out rather than showing a scene and allowing the reader to interpret it as they will. Scenes bring readers into the story, almost like they are active participants observing the characters and drawing inferences for themselves. As writers, of course we want readers to become immersed in our stories. We want them to feel as though they are right there with the characters. This is why we need to be strategic with what we show in scenes, versus what we summarize through exposition. Writing is a delicate balance between the two.

One of the keys to striking this balance is understanding what a scene is… and what it isn’t. In order to do so, we need to examine the fundamental components of story itself.

Three Essential Elements of StoryI believe stories exist in a three-dimensional space, where each dimension is a fundamental element of storytelling. These three elements are character, plot, and world. Imagine we could plot stories on a three-axis diagram, not unlike the ones we used to draw in high school geometry class. The X axis represents character, the Y axis represents plot, and the Z axis represents world. We can then map where a given story “lives” in that three-dimensional space based on how much (or how little) of each element is present.

Let’s consider some examples. Adventure stories, like the Indiana Jones films, have a lot happening in terms of plot and also have vivid, sprawling settings. Thus these stories would be high on plot and world, but somewhat lower in terms of character. Literary fiction, on the other hand, is usually very high in character and also often has intricate descriptions of the world, but the plot component is less prominent. Finally, if you have a lot of character and plot, but practically no world… well, that would be Dante’s Paradiso (and we all know that’s the least popular installment of his Divine comedy).

This is all well and good, but what does it have to do with scenes?

A Definition of SceneI believe that a scene is the smallest component of a story that still retains all of that story’s properties. This is not unlike how a cell has all the same DNA as the rest of the organism, thus making it the smallest building block of that living thing. So too is a scene the smallest comprehensive component of a story. This means that, like stories, scenes must also have those three essential elements: character, plot, and world. If one of those elements is missing, we don’t have a true scene.

I like to think of scenes as satisfying the five W’s: who, what, when, where, and why. The “who” is the character or characters in the given scene. The “what” is what happens in the course of that scene. The “when” and “where” represent the setting or location where that part of the story happens. The “who,” “what” and “when/where” represent the character, plot, and world dimensions respectively. If one of those elements is missing, that passage in the story is no longer an actual scene.

Finally, we have the “why.” This is the one component that belongs to the writer alone. It is the purpose of the scene, why the scene exists in the story. Readers will never experience this “why” because it never actually appears in the scene itself. Yet, the writer needs to know it in order to justify that scene’s existence in the narrative. If we cannot express why a particular scene exists in the story, then we must consider whether it should be in that story at all.

Show AND TellWriting great scenes is an important part of the storytelling process and something that all writers need to learn. Because scenes are the fundamental building blocks of a story, we need to make sure our scenes are strong, otherwise our narrative will fall flat. That said, we also need to appreciate the role of exposition in our storytelling. Yes, scenes are important, but if we show everything we will bore our readers to tears. Sometimes we have to tell, not show.

The key is to be strategic about what we show and what we tell, finding a balance between the two. We need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of scenes and exposition in order to use both techniques to their best effect. Ultimately, our goal is to create a great story that draws our readers in and keeps them turning pages. To do this, we need to show and tell.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

**P.S.** For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her **profile page**.

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Writing a book is like making a contract with our readers. We agree to craft a great story and our readers in turn agree to suspend their disbelief and keep turning pages. Furthermore, I believe that at the start of every book, we must make five promises to our readers. These promises are not hard-and-fast rules (we can break or delay these promises for a desired effect). They are instead more like guidelines that we as writers might follow to help make our books as engaging as possible.

Keep in mind that if we break one or more of these promises, we will stretch our readers’ trust in us. That doesn’t mean that readers will instantly stop reading our books, but simply that the trust between reader and writer has been tested and it will take some time and effort to build that trust back up. If there is a particular effect we want to create, we may strategically choose to break one of these promises, but we must do so with intent and not simply on a whim.

Promise #1: The CharacterThe first thing we promise to our readers is a character to follow. In most cases, the protagonist of the story appears right away on page one. Sometimes, however, an author might choose to delay that character’s appearance. Think of the way Mr. Darcy, the love interest in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, doesn’t appear until well into the story. This delay underscores Darcy’s reticent nature and introverted personality. It would not have been true to the character had he appeared right away at the opening of the book.

In a similar fashion, the main character (Bagley) of Tor Seidler’s The Wainscott Weasel does not appear until the second chapter. In fact, when I first read the book, it took me a while to figure out that he was even the main character at all. Since Tor Seidler happened to be my MFA professor at the time, I had the benefit of asking him why he crafted the story in that way. His answer was that Bagley was such a shy character, it would not have been true to his personality to put him front and center on page one. Instead, it made more sense to delay his appearance until chapter two to resonate more with that aspect of his personality.

When it comes to crafting our stories, most of us will introduce the main character right away in the first chapter—perhaps even on the first page. There is no requirement that the main character must appear on page one and we can delay the appearance of that character to a point. That said, we must consider why we are choosing to delay that character’s appearance and we must do so for strategic reasons.

Promise #2: The VoiceI’ve written about voice in previous Writer Fuels so I won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that the opening of a story is where we as writers must establish the voice of the narrative. Who is narrating the story, and how does that narration come across? Is the narrator opinionated and in-your-face? Or is that narrator so subtle they seem almost invisible?

Along with voice we must also consider the point of view. Is the story being narrated in the first person by a character in the story? Or is the narrator an entity outside the story describing the events in third person? Also, how close to the story is the narrator? Are they in the thick of things, or are we viewing the story from a bird’s eye view perspective?

Depending on the point of view we choose, the voice of the story can be different. For example, it is far easier to give the narrator a personality when we write in the first person because the narrator is, by necessity, a character in the story. With the third person, on the other hand, it is much easier to make the narrator feel invisible, especially when we use the omniscient form.

When we promise the voice, we establish for our readers how we will tell the story. Narration is the element of the craft that most directly connects the reader to the story. This is because the narration is what dictates how the reader receives the story. For this reason, it is important that we keep our narration as consistent as possible and only change things up when it serves a strategic purpose.

Promise #3: The WorldAt the start of every story, we must promise readers the world. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about the whole wide world. I’m talking about your world, the one you’ve created for this story. From the very beginning, we must establish what the world of our story is like and we need to make our readers feel like that world is real.

It can be tempting to use the dreaded info-dump to bring our readers up to speed. Yet throwing too much world building exposition on the page (especially early in the story) will only bore our readers and make them more likely to put down the book. Instead, the key to good world building is to drop the reader into that world and have them follow a character as they navigate through it. When it comes to world building, we must keep our readers on a need-to-know basis, giving them only the information they need to understand the story in that moment. All other details can wait until they become necessary to the story.

Promise #4: The ProblemAt some point early in the story, the character will need to face some sort of problem. After all, no one wants to read about happy characters being happy all the time. (That’s boring!) Instead, we need some hint that the character’s world is not perfect and that they will have to overcome at least one obstacle over the course of the story.

Keep in mind that this problem does not have to be directly related to the main conflict of the story (though it can be). Consider the opening chapter of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The protagonist, Katniss, goes hunting with her best friend Gale and right away we know that they are facing a big problem. We know that food is scarce for them by the way Katniss reacts when Gale gives her a piece of bread. We also know that there is something scary looming in their immediate future (the Reaping) though we do not know exactly what that thing is. In this case, the problem (scarcity of food and looming danger) is directly related to the central conflict of the story which is whether or not Katniss will survive the games.

In other scenarios, the problem at the beginning of the story is not directly related to the central conflict but affects that conflict in a more indirect manner. Consider the problem at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice. In this case, the problem is that at that time in England, women could not inherit land, which meant that if a father did not have a male heir, the estate would be entailed away from the family to a distant relative. In the Bennet family, where there are five daughters and no sons, this is a very real problem and the best way to secure the family’s future is for one of the daughters to marry well.

This problem regarding the family’s estate is not directly related to the story’s central conflict, which is whether or not Lizzie and Darcy will get together. Yet because the mother, Mrs. Bennet, is so desperate to marry off one of her daughters, she creates circumstances that force Lizzie and Darcy into each other’s company, thus causing their relationship to take root.

Promise #5: The EventAt some point in the first few pages of a novel, something needs to happen. After all, a story cannot exist in a state of stasis. Sooner or later there needs to be an event that kicks off the story and sets things in motion. This event makes it clear why the story starts at this particular point in time and not two weeks before or three days later. There needs to be a reason why you are starting the narrative at this point in the timeline, and that reason is the opening event.

Consider the opening of the film The Wizard of Oz. The very first image we see is of Dorothy running down a dirt road back to her aunt and uncle’s house. We find out soon thereafter that Dorothy’s dog, Toto, had some sort of confrontation with their grumpy neighbor and that did not end well. In fact, the neighbor has called the local authorities and they want to take Toto away. We get the sense that this conflict with the neighbor is nothing new and that Toto has gotten into the neighbor’s yard many times in the past. The difference now is that this is the day when things are a little bit different. This is the day when Dorothy might actually lose Toto.

Similarly, both in Pride and Prejudice and The Hunger Games, the story begins on the day where everything changes. In Pride and Prejudice, the story begins with the arrival of an eligible bachelor who has moved into the house next door to the Bennets. In The Hunger Games, we don’t see weeks and weeks of Katniss and Gale living in District 12 and fighting to survive. Instead, the story starts the morning of the Reaping—and not just any Reapling, but the one where Katniss’ little sister Prim has her name in the lottery for the first time.

Ultimately, these promises are about building trust with your readers. Yes, we can stretch that trust at times, but we need to have a good reason for doing it. Remember that most readers are rooting for you—they want your book to be good—which means they’re willing to go along for the ride when you try something that pushes the envelope. Just make sure that when you take those creative risks, it’s with an eye toward making the story as good as possible. Every time you consider breaking one of these five promises, ask yourself: “Will this make my story the best it can possibly be?” If the answer is YES, then go for it! But if the answer is NO, you may want to reconsider. At the end of the day, it’s all about writing a good story.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Story marketing has been all the buzz for the past several years. More than snappy taglines and fancy graphics, companies have been relying on storytelling to engage their audiences. As writers, we can also do the same with our author platforms, using stories to connect with our readers.

Now, I don’t need to sell you on the idea that stories are important. We are all word nerds here. We already know that stories are important; it’s our job to write them, after all. The thing I want to address today is why stories resonate so deeply. What is it about storytelling that makes it so compelling, so powerful? Here are a few reasons why this might be the case:

1) Storytelling is associated with higher levels of empathy.There’s a whole area of psychological research that looks at the connection between reading and empathy. In particular, this research shows that people who read fiction have higher levels of empathy than those who read nonfiction. The idea here is that fiction creates something akin to a “life simulator,” allowing readers to engage in experiences that might otherwise be out of their reach.

Reading fiction allows us to step into a character’s shoes and see the world through their eyes. This experience stretches our worldview and increases our ability to empathize with others. When marketers use storytelling in their promotions, they tap into the consumer’s empathy and create an emotional connection between the product and the audience.

2) Story tropes make a narrative feel familiar.Tropes in storytelling serve as mental shortcuts, allowing us to understand quickly what the story is about. Think of the “Get a Mac” campaign from the early 2000s. In these commercials we have a buttoned-up guy in a suit and glasses as the PC and a relaxed, hipster dude playing the part of the Mac. These commercials tell micro-stories where the rivalry between the two characters plays out. The PC is supposed to be the big, powerful character, and the soft-spoken, chilled-out Mac is positioned as the underdog. People like rooting for the underdog, so it’s easy for the audience to align themselves with the Mac character. The Mac also comes across as more empathetic, where in some commercials he even wants to set their competition aside, but PC continues to show his competitive streak.

This campaign uses an “us vs. them” trope and creates a David and Goliath type of dynamic. We’ve seen this story trope time and again. A seemingly all-powerful villain is thwarted by a humble hobbit and his companions in The Lord of the Rings. A small country school basketball team faces off against a big city school in Hoosiers. And just about every Rocky movie ever made. This trope feels familiar, so when we see a commercial from this “Get a Mac” campaign, we recognize it right away. Immediately we understand what the story is about, with little explanation necessary.

3) Story makes it feel less sales-y.This past holiday season, I went with my kiddos to Rockefeller Center and to see the windows at Saks. Now, if you’ve ever been to NYC during the holidays, you know that the best windows are always at Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s down on 34th street. The thing that makes these windows so great is that they often tell a story. One year, one store showed scenes from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Another time, one of these stores did an homage to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. For most of the year, these windows are designed to show off the store’s wares, but during the holidays, they take a break from pure promotion and tell a story instead.

That is, until this year. While it pains me to say so, the Saks windows left much to be desired, because they didn’t tell a story. Instead, they had these abstract displays showing products from the store, but there was no narrative, no sense of fun. Sure, there was a fancy intricate lightshow, where at times the whole front of the building was lit up, but that felt empty to me. It was all glitz and glitter without any substance.

You see, without the charming characters and the whimsical story, these windows felt like any other set of store windows on Fifth Avenue. Sure, they promoted the products inside, but the thing that usually made those windows feel special was missing. Not only that, you could tell that the windows didn’t resonate because even the week between Christmas and New Years—one of the busiest tourism weeks of the year—there was no line of people waiting to see the windows. Usually, the lines for these store windows stretch around the block, but this time there was nothing because the windows fell flat, all because there was no story.

When we tell stories, it takes the edge off of the marketing and makes it feel a little bit less salesy. Now don’t get me wrong, our readers aren’t ding-dongs; they still know there’s a promotional angle embedded in the story, but for some reason that angle doesn’t feel quite so sharp. Stories are entertaining, they pique our curiosity and make us want to learn more. When we weave our promotions into a narrative, our audience is more likely to want to hear what we have to say. They are also more likely to remember something that’s told as a story, rather than pure facts and figures.

Why It MattersWhether we choose to publish traditionally or we go the indie route, we must all face the fact that we need to market our books. Some time ago, social media lit up with readers complaining that writers self-promoted too much. What these readers didn’t understand is that marketing is part of our job as writers, and if we want our work to reach our audience we have to be ready to do some self-promotion. Like it or not, it’s just part of the job.

This is why story marketing is such a game-changer. Not only does it tap into empathy, use tropes to our advantage, and feel less salesy, but it also plays to our strengths. We are writers. Words and stories are our jam. This type of marketing taps into what we do best. So let’s use our storytelling superpowers not only in our writing projects, but also to get our words out into the world and our books in the hands of our readers.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Point of view is one of the trickiest and most technical aspects of writing, but it’s also my favorite. There are so many choices and possibilities—it’s like being in the literary version of a candy store! At the same time, however, this variety of options can be overwhelming, making us feel like we’re being pulled in a million different directions.

In the latter case, the best approach is to have some ground rules or guidelines. These will keep us focused amid the myriad of choices and help us select the best point of view for our story. Here are three point of view “rules” or guidelines to keep in mind.

1) Keep It ConsistentOne of the most important things to remember about point of view is to keep things consistent. If you start out in first person (the “I” perspective) and then suddenly switch to third person (the “he/she/they” perspective) halfway through your novel, you’re going to throw your reader for a loop. You see, when you switch the point of view without any warning, the reader won’t know whose perspective the story is supposed to be in. This leads to confusion, and it might even lead the reader to put down the book altogether.

Part of keeping things consistent is also keeping a similar pattern to how the point of view plays out in your story. Imagine, for example, that you are writing a book with two alternating points of view. If you alternate between only characters A and B, adding a third perspective (character C) partway through the book will create similar confusion as described above.

In addition, you might have certain formats that you need to keep consistent. For instance, if you have multiple points of view, you might use the name of the character as the chapter heading, to clue your reader in a little bit. If your story has timeline jumps, you might also want to include dates in the chapter heading, or any other information that might be pertinent to the story. Consider the book Shiver by Maggie Steifvater, which alternates between the points of view of two teenagers: Grace and Sam. At the start of every chapter, we find the name of the point of view character, as well as the temperature. This is because temperature plays an important part in the paranormal aspect of the story.

The beautiful thing about point of view is that there is room to experiment. Usually, by the time you have completed draft zero (the first messy draft), you will have a good sense for what point of view you want to use. From there, the only thing you need to do is go back and rework the scenes where you might have experimented with a different point of view. Once you have figured out the point of view you want, you need to make sure all the scenes in your story are consistent with it.

2) Keep It SustainableIt can be a lot of fun to try different point of view options, like: second person (the “you” perspective), diary or epistolary, interwoven story threads, you name it. The place where things get tricky is keeping the point of view choice sustainable, something you can keep up for the length of an entire book.

Using the second person is a great example. While many short stories use this point of view, very few novels do. The most famous, perhaps, is Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. This book is told entirely in the second person, and I can only imagine how challenging it must have been for the author to sustain. The second person perspective equates the reader with the protagonist, shoving the reader into that character’s shoes. This point of view talks directly to the reader as though they are the main character of the story. Consider the opening of Bright Lights, Big City:

You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. The club is either Heartbreak or the Lizard Lounge. All might come clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more Bolivian Marching Powder. Then again it might not.

Notice how, although we know the “you” character is not us, we feel as though we are being shoved into that character’s perspective. In the case of this story, it works, because the character is a bit unlikable, so this perspective helps the reader relate. The danger, of course, with a point of view like this is that it could feel gimmicky, as though the author is using that point of view to prove they can, and not necessarily because it is the best choice for the story.

Another place where it’s important to keep things sustainable is when thinking through the strategy of the point of view. Consider, for instance, the peripheral first person. This is the point of view where the narrator is a supporting character in the story, rather than the main character. An example of this point of view in action is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

When you have a peripheral first person point of view, there will be certain pieces of information or episodes in the narrative that the point of view character will not be able to access. This means that you, the writer, must be strategic in what you show the reader. You may have to maneuver the plot to get that point of view character into a scene, or you may have to get creative in terms of conveying certain information to the reader if the narrator doesn’t have access to it.

Consider the following excerpt from The Great Gatsby with the exchange about the shirts. This scene is really about Gatsby and Daisy, and narrator Nick Carraway has no real reason to be in it. The only reason he is present is because he is the point of view character, and that means the only way to make the scene work is to include him as a quiet observer.

Recovering himself in a minute he opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed suits and dressing-gowns and ties, and his shirts, piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high.

“I’ve got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall.”

He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.

“They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.”

This type of strategic thinking is not reserved solely for the peripheral first person. No matter what point of view option you choose, you will have to think strategically about what information you can convey to your reader while staying within the constraints of that perspective. If there is information your point of view character does not have access to, you may have to do some storytelling acrobatics to make it work.

3) Keep It RealWhen we consider point of view, we need to remember why different points of view came into use in the first place. I once had a fabulous conversation with author David Morrell about this very subject. He shared that the reason different points of view came into use is because they created varying degrees of verisimilitude, i.e. the feeling that the story could be real.

Consider Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, a work which many consider the first English novel. This book is written in first person and that point of view choice creates the sense that we are getting a firsthand account from Crusoe himself. Pamela (or Virtue Rewarded) by Samuel Richardson creates a sense of verisimilitude in a different way. In this case, the story is told in epistolary form, so it feels almost as though we are snooping in the characters’ private correspondence. Later on, many novels by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen use an omniscient third person point of view, creating a sense of distance objectivity. The story feels true because we are getting “just the facts” from an objective source.

As you choose the point of view for your story, ask yourself: “How does this choice contribute to the authenticity of my story? How does it make my story feel real?”

Perhaps the most important “rule” about point of view is that you make the rules. As the author, you have artistic license to choose whatever point of view you like, and you get to decide parameters for how you will keep that perspective consistent and sustainable. Once you set up those rules, however, you will need to stick to them, unless you have a good artistic reason for breaking them.

Consider the book The High King by Lloyd Alexander. This is the final book of the Prydain Chronicles, and perhaps also the most epic in terms of the story’s scope. Up until this point in the series, the books have used a limited third person point of view, following the protagonist Taran on his adventures. In The High King, however, we shift to a multiple third person perspective, and it definitely threw me for a loop when I first read it.

All things considered, though, the shift in point of view makes artistic sense. The story’s scope expands in such a way that it is impossible for a limited third person perspective to convey everything that is going on. The only way to show all the different supporting characters (and all the battles they are fighting) is to shift to a multiple third person point of view that allows for all these characters’ perspectives to come into play. This means that while you want to do your best to stick to the point of view “rules” you set out for yourself, you should not be afraid to break them when there is good reason in your story.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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You may not know this about me, but I am a die-hard Twilight Zone fan. The showrepresents some of the finest writing in television and I especially love that it’s kid-friendly so I can watch with the nerdlings. Sure, a couple of episodes might be duds, but what show doesn’t hit the occasional bump in the road? In the case of The Twilight Zone, while you might get a few misses now and then, many (if not most) of the episodes are spectacular.

Here are some of my favorites:

“To Serve Man” Benevolent aliens come to earth and fix all our problems. What’s not to love, right? But things aren’t exactly what they seem. As a total word nerd, the wordplay and double-entendre in this episode tickles me pink. Not sure what I mean? I can’t tell you more without giving away the twist, so you’ll have to watch the episode. Let’s just say the title has special significance.

“Time Enough at Last” It’s about books! The poor protagonist is antagonized by everyone in his life and all he wants to do is read. Every book lover can relate to this. After all, how many times in your life have you wanted nothing more than to curl up with a good book and life just kept getting in the way? Plus, I can’t get over the twist at the end. I’ve seen this episode dozens of times and that final sequence does me in. Every. Single. Time.

“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up” This episode is like a closed room Agatha Christie novel with a sci-fi twist. A bunch of people are stuck at a roadside diner during a snowstorm. One of them is supposedly an alien, but no one knows who and the alien’s not giving it up either. Suspicions rise in typical Twilight Zone fashion, with us finally learning the truth at the end. My favorite part about this episode? Watching my kids watch it and seeing the look on their faces when we got to the twist. Little Man was so excited, he practically fell out of his chair.

Key Insights Writers Can Draw from The Twilight ZoneSo, why all this talk about The Twilight Zone? Why do we care? When I watch TV I’m not just looking to it for entertainment, I’m also inspecting the writing. I want to try to get at the heart of how the story is crafted. Here are some key insights I’ve gleaned from watching The Twilight Zone.

1) Stay True to Your VoiceOne of the things that makes The Twilight Zone so engaging is that the show has a consistent voice. For starters, there’s Rod Serling who is not only the creator but also the narrator, the literal voice of the show. But, Rod Serling aside, there still is a consistent vibe to every episode, such that when we’re watching, it feels undeniably like The Twilight Zone and can’t be mistaken for anything else.

As writers, we can play with our voice to some degree, but if we learn anything from The Twilight Zone it’s that honing our voice and keeping it consistent is key to making story magic. Yes, we can modulate our voice now and again, but we want to retain that core essence, that special something that makes our stories our stories.

2) It’s Okay to Explore Many Genres and FormatsPart of what makes The Twilight Zone interesting is that it doesn’t just stick to a single genre. There might be aliens and space travel in one story while the next one might be a western or a historical narrative. Others are set in the present day (i.e., the 1960s).

The show also explores many different storytelling styles and formats. Some episodes are character-focused and not much really happens in terms of plot. Other episodes are all about the plot twist at the end. On a similar note, the use of dialogue varies across the different episodes, with some being very talky and dialogue-heavy, and others (like “Two” and “The Invaders”) having no dialogue whatsoever.

We can take a page from The Twilight Zone playbook and change things up a little bit in our writing. This is especially important when we get stuck in a creative rut. In those cases, sometimes the best solution is to break away from our usual fare and try something completely different, like a new genre or format. We can even blend genres together to create something completely new.

3) If You Want to Add a Twist, You Have to Earn ItIf I were to sum up The Twilight Zone in only one sentence, I would put it like this: It’s about regular people living regular lives, only there’s something weird in every episode and there’s usually a twist at the end. There’s always that emotional punchline, that moment at the end where everything seems to turn on its head. The best Twilight Zone episodes are ones where the twist is earned, where the story has set the audience up for that gut-plunging moment.

There’s one particular episode—”It’s a Good Life”—where, in my opinion, the twist comes too soon. It happens right up front in Rod Serling’s introduction. I suppose the goal for that reveal is to surprise the audience from the start, but for me it makes the rest of the episode plod along without much purpose and the ending feels a little bit blah. If the reveal had come later, like during the television gathering, I think it would have made the story all the more terrifying. In my mind, this episode is an example of a twist that wasn’t earned.

This is something we should always keep in mind in our own writing. When we want to create a twist in our story, we need to make sure the narrative has earned that element. As my friend and colleague Steven James once told me: “A twist must be surprising but also inevitable.” This means that the audience can’t see the twist coming, but when it happens, it feels like the story could not have gone any other way.

4) Go All-InOne of the things I so admire about Rod Serling is that he not only created the show, but he also wrote many of the episodes (92 in total) and narrated all of them. Yes, the sheer volume of episodes did eventually lead to burnout, but there’s still something admirable about being so dedicated to a project that you go all-in.

As writers, we build stories and entire worlds on the page, and these are inhabited by characters that feel real to us. These stories, worlds, and characters also feel real to our readers. To create this effect, we need to go all-in. Yes, we need to keep it reasonable (to avoid burnout and honor other aspects of our lives) but we still have to commit. Even if that commitment is only a small slice of our life, in those moments we do reserve for our writing, we have to put in everything we’ve got. This is how we breathe life into our stories.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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As a New Year’s resolution in January of 2007, I decided I was a writer and would start acting like one. No more excuses. I was going to stop complaining and saying that I’d start writing “someday.” I would glue my backside to the chair and start writing right now. The problem was, I had no idea where to start. Then I stumbled on a system of doing writing prompts that built up my stamina and got me tangible results. This system is what I now call the Writer Igniter Method.

The Writer Igniter Method boils down to one simple concept: writing comes from practice, and the best way to develop your skills is by doing the work and getting those words on the page. The key to the method is using prompts or exercises to guide your writing. When I first began using prompts, I had no system. Instead, I chose exercises at random from the books in my writer’s library.

At first, I would work my way through prompt books one at a time, forcing myself to write something for each and every exercise, even if the result was terrible. Before I knew it, I had produced several short stories (some of which eventually got published), I had put together a writing sample that helped me get accepted into an MFA program, and I even completed my first finished draft of a novel. All because of a few writing prompts.

Writing prompts are not for everyone. Sure, some writers love them and sit in class, pencils poised, waiting for the teacher to give an assignment. These are the same writers who love the sound of their own writing. Their hands shoot into the air as soon as the exercise is over, lest the teacher overlook them and not let them share what they wrote.

Other writers—mere mortals (like myself), who do not have the muse on speed dial—are not as enthusiastic about writing exercises. To them, prompts are the writing equivalent of eating your vegetables: not fun but good for you. Just like the veggies that fill you up and leave no room for dessert, prompts take up time that could be used to write something that matters. Something epic and important, like that book of your dreams. Prompts might be about as appealing to you as soggy brussels sprouts but they do serve a purpose. Here are seven good reasons you should use prompts in your writing.

Lower stakes means higher output.When we work on a project that we care about, the stakes are high. We want to produce something worthy of this amazing idea, so we put all sorts of pressure on ourselves. This kind of pressure can actually decrease our ability to write, sometimes leading to full-blown writer’s block. Instead, if we warm up with an exercise, there’s little pressure and mistakes are expected so we’re less likely to get performance anxiety.

Prompts are like the writing equivalent of a musician practicing their scales or an actor doing vocalization exercises. You would never do this on stage in a performance, but it helps you loosen up and get ready to perform.

Prompts can boost your confidence.Most of the time when you write from a prompt, you go into it knowing that the writing will be awful. Once you reread what you wrote, you may discover a handful of gems buried in the garble. Suddenly your writing isn’t quite as hopeless as you thought. If you go into a writing session expecting the result to be truly horrible, then it’s a pleasant surprise when what you get is not so bad. Writing prompts can help you learn to set those first-draft expectations extra-low.

Less attachment means more room for improvement.Prompts are usually “throw-away” writing. You’re just warming up; you’re not writing for real. This means that what you produce is not going to be as dear to your heart as that turn of phrase in your work-in-progress that you agonized over for the last two hours. The more darling something is to you, the harder it will be for you to kill, if necessary. On the other hand, if you’re revising something you just tossed on the page during a ten-minute exercise, you’ll be much more open to making broad, sweeping changes. Who cares if you have to rewrite it? It’s just an exercise.

You will learn to think “on the fly.”Want to learn how to write on demand? Here’s a secret no one tells you: creativity has nothing to do with being a “creative person,” it’s all about practice. Forget being inspired by the muse. If you want to be creative, you have to build discipline through practice. The more you train your brain to produce ideas and throw them on the page, the better at it you will get. One of the best ways to build up your writing practice is by doing prompts.

You can hone your craft.Is there a particular writing technique that has you stumped? Rather than trying to learn it as you work on your novel, do a practice run (or two, or ten) using writing prompts. Is point of view confusing? Write the same prompt using different points of view until you get it straight. Need practice writing dialogue? Choose a couple of prompts and write all of them with nothing but dialogue. Use a prompt as a low-pressure testing ground, where you can try out techniques without fear of failure. This will allow you to hone your craft without the risk of breaking your book in the process.

It can be fun to try something wild.Prompts are a great way to get the sillies out of your system. You can use prompts as a forum for trying ideas that might seem out of place in your work-in-progress. I’ve done this many times with my own characters, letting them go wild in a writing prompt, then dialing it back and channeling that prompt into something I can actually use in my novel or short story. Use prompts to try ideas on for size or to let your characters do something that might seem completely out-of-character.

Use prompts to write freely and see where it leads. In the end, you’ll probably find something of value buried amid the silliness and you’ll be able to extract it and mold it into something that you can use. This is a great way to test your characters’ boundaries and see how far you can push them until they break, and it can be less intimidating to try something wild in the low-pressure environment of an exercise than to try it in your novel or story.

Think on paper instead of in your head.The other day I was scribbling in my notebook when someone asked me what I was writing. I replied with: “I’m not writing, I’m thinking.” Thinking on paper can be far more effective than thinking in your head. For starters, thinking on paper engages more senses: you see the words and doodles on the page, feel your hand holding the pen and forming the words, even hear the words in your mind as you write them.

Why is sensory input important? First, associating these sensory stimuli with writing will help you be more productive and make you better able to get creative on demand. Also the more senses you use to process your ideas, the more likely you will be to come up with creative new ideas or solutions. By engaging as many senses as possible in your creative process, you can increase your creative output. Thinking on paper is a great way to do this.

And guess what? Writing prompts are a great way to learn how to think on paper.

Writer Igniter AppWriting prompts are a great way to build a regular writing practice. If you’re looking for some exercises to help you get that writing practice going, we have a resource at DIY MFA that can help. Go to WriterIgniter.com and click the “shuffle” button on the web app for a nearly endless supply of prompts and story ideas.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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You might not know this about me, but DIY MFA was not my first choice as a career. In fact, I was forced to walk away from my dream job, but founded DIY MFA and created a career of a lifetime. Let me tell you the story.

From when I was in elementary school until my late-twenties, I had a singular career goal: I wanted to be a toy designer. Every class I took, every extracurricular activity I participated in, everything was with that clear goal in mind. I studied developmental psychology in college and in grad school. I took countless courses in product and graphic design. And each of these was a calculated, strategic choice designed to bring me one step closer to my dream job.

Then, in my late twenties, everything changed.

I thought I had made it. I was newly married and living in New York, my favorite city. I had also finally landed the job I always wanted. I was a product manager in a leading specialty toy company, supervising over 100 different products. It looked like things were really going my way.

Here’s the thing with life: occasionally chance rears its ugly head and throws a wrench into even the best laid plans. In my case, the thing that ultimately wreaked havoc on my life was biology.

You see, while everything on the outside seemed to be going perfectly, on the inside I was a complete mess. My bipolar disorder—a disease I’d lived with since my early teens—was out of control and I could not be medicated because it rendered me incapable of commuting safely to work. Driving a car, something that most people take for granted, was impossible (and unsafe) when I was on medication, which meant I had to make a difficult choice: stay at work and forgo treatment or walk away from the career I had spent my life building toward.

I wish I could say I made the right choice from the outset, but for over a year I opted to stay unmedicated just so I could keep my career on track. And telling anyone at work about my dilemma was a nonstarter. At the time, the stigma against bipolar disorder was so bad that there was no way I felt I could tell any of my colleagues about my situation, let alone my boss. So for a year I struggled through until I hit my breaking point and realized I had to walk away from that dream career.

Why am I sharing this?

Because for a long time, I was angry at my bipolar, angry that it derailed my career and made so many aspects of my life complicated. Then I realized something: without the bipolar, I would have stayed on that career path and I never would have started DIY MFA. If it weren’t for having bipolar, DIY MFA would not exist and I would have missed out on a career of a lifetime.

For so many of us, life doesn’t go as planned. It doesn’t work out the way we would like, and we get caught up in “what if” thinking. What if such-and-such part of my life were different? What if I were different? What if I had made a different choice?

What we don’t realize is that sometimes those life detours aren’t actually detours, they’re the right path all along, it just took us a while to get there.

DIY MFA was part of me long before I even had the idea of it. How do I know this? Because even as a little kid, I knew I wanted to be a writer and a teacher.

I discovered my literary drive in first grade when I ran out of books to read and had a meltdown in the school library. My teacher came up with an activity where we could write our own stories, then bind them together like real books and read them to our classmates. In that moment, I realized that I would never again run out of stories to read because if I did, I could always write new ones. (In my first grade brain, this logic somehow made sense.) That was the day I realized that writing was something I could do as a job. The seed was planted in my mind so that years later when I walked away from my toy design career, the first place I turned was to writing.

As for teaching, I knew I wanted to teach from a young age as well, but I was always very clear that I didn’t want to do it in a traditional classroom. At first, I thought toy design would get me there, that I could design educational toys and become a teacher of sorts in a roundabout way. DIY MFA simply connected the dots more directly, allowing me to be in a classroom, but an untraditional one, one that stretches the limits of what “classroom” really means.

Looking back, I realize that DIY MFA checks all the boxes. All the things I wanted to be when I “grew up” are interwoven at DIY MFA, from writing, to teaching, and even toy design. In fact, not a day goes by without using some aspect of my product management knowledge or design skills. So even though I am no longer working in the toy design field, I’ve managed to bring elements of it into my current work.

This reminds me of something a DIY MFA student once said: “Nothing is ever wasted in writing.” This student meant that even when some piece of writing doesn’t make it to publication, it doesn’t mean that writing was wasted. It was still valuable in getting you, the writer, to the place where you could produce your next work, and the one after that.

I’d like to amend this student’s insight slightly and say: Nothing is ever wasted in life. Sometimes it feels like nothing makes sense and we’re spinning our wheels or starting from scratch. Even if the dots don’t neatly connect, remember that nothing is ever wasted. Everything that has happened in the past has brought you to this precise moment and you are exactly where you need to be, in your writing and in life. Those life detours are not detours at all, but the road you are meant to take.

Most people who come to DIY MFA approach writing as a second or even third career. Maybe you have a day job that consumes most of your time, and you squeeze the writing in those off-hours around it. Or maybe you are a stay-at-home parent whose youngest has just started kindergarten and you suddenly have some breathing room in your life to try out writing. Or perhaps parenting is your full-time gig and you fit writing in during naptime or other brief respites. You might even be newly retired and have chosen to take up writing as part of your next chapter.

My point is, whatever your circumstances, it’s okay if writing was not your first career choice. It wasn’t mine either. But who says second choice is such a bad thing? Whether we’re adding writing to our lives alongside all our other commitments or we’re pivoting to it from another career, we’re making this “second choice” with all the knowledge and experience that came from our life leading up to it.

Writing connects the dots in our lives. It allows us to look back and create meaning from what might seem like unrelated, random events. This article is a perfect example. When I sat down to write it, I had a vague idea that the events of my past were somehow interconnected, but I wasn’t sure what it all meant. It was the very act of writing that allowed me to sort through it all and find the deeper meaning.

Whether you are new to writing or have been working at it your whole life, remember that this is important work. When we write, we take ink squiggles on a page or ones and zeros in a computer and turn those concrete elements into ideas. We then plant those ideas in another person. This is magic and we have the honor of wielding this incredible power. Our stories have the power to change the hearts and the minds of others. And when we do that, we come one step closer to changing the world for the better.

Writing is nothing short of heroic. Never forget that.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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The topic of voice has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s a subject that writers are expected to understand, but rarely does anyone actually explain what it really is. Until now.

Voice is the feel, the vibe, the sound, the essence of your writing. It’s that quality that makes your writing unmistakably yours. I think of it as being the literary equivalent of DNA. Everybody has it, and it manifests itself differently for each individual. It’s the thing that makes us unique.

When we talk about voice, there are a couple of important factors we need to keep in mind.

1) There is no such thing as “find your voice.”A lot of writing teachers talk about needing to “find your voice” as if voice was loose change caught between the couch cushions. (“Hey look! I found a nickel!”) But the truth is, voice is something we already have. Our job isn’t to find it, but to hone it.

The problem I have with “find your voice” is that it implies that your voice is somehow missing and it’s up to you to find it again. This is a fallacy. You don’t need to find your voice because it never left in the first place. Just like Dorothy’s friends in The Wizard of Oz, you’ve had what you needed all along. You have a voice already, you just need to know how to use it.

Teachers often say “find your voice” when a student’s voice is clunky, stilted, or not yet polished. Really, this is a cop-out, because instead of trying to help the student hone their voice and make it better, the teacher throws their hands in the air and says, “You have no voice! Go out and find it.” This advice is completely unhelpful.

What is helpful is when a teacher shows the student how to hone their voice. This work might happen at the sentence level, where they study word choice, cadence, rhythm, and other techniques. Or it might also take place at the paragraph level, where they look at sentence structure and length, and consider how the meaning of a sentence is reflected in the style of the writing itself. The point is that voice isn’t something you find, it’s something you develop through persistent practice.

2) Honing your voice is all about modulation.There is another danger with this “find your voice” attitude. It implies that our voice can be anything we want it to be. It’s as though we can find one voice, then find a different voice, and change from one to another as quickly as a supermodel changes outfits.

That is not the reality of voice. You see, your voice has a core essence that is the same no matter what you write. Just as you can’t grow roses from sunflower seeds, you can’t change your voice from one extreme to another. Instead, what you can do is modulate your voice, making subtle shifts rather than radical changes.

Let me give you an example. The voice I use when I give presentations (like webinars and workshops), is what I call “Professor Valley Girl.” It has a lot of punchy energy and is just a little bit silly, while still sharing an info-rich presentation and going deep into craft techniques. I used to use this same kind of voice in my newsletters, but over time, my newsletter voice has mellowed out a bit. It’s more relaxed, as though we were sitting across from each other, having a cup of coffee.

Am I a different person when I use “Professor Valley Girl” versus my coffee shop voice? No, of course not. I’m still me, which means my voice still has that same core essence. That said, there are subtle differences between those two different voices. This is what I mean when I talk about modulating voice: we can make small shifts in tone and style, but the core essence of the voice remains the same.

3) There are multiple layers of voice in narrative writing.Pick up a piece of fiction or creative nonfiction and you will likely find that the voice has at least two layers. In fact, pieces of writing that have only one layer of voice are exceptionally rare. In general, the two layers that come into play in a piece of narrative writing are character voices and the narrator’s voice.

The voices of the characters most often come across in dialogue. Yes, you might also have the inner monologue of a first person narrator, but that is not the voice of the character. That’s the voice of the narrator—that narrator just happens also to be a character in the story. In fact, it is typical for the voice of a first person narrator to feel dramatically different from the character’s voice in dialogue.

Think of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The diary part is the version of events that the main character wants us to believe happened, while the doodles show how things really went down. The humor comes across in the contrast between the two narrative threads. In this case, the author uses two different modes of language for the different layers of voice: verbal language for the diary narration and a visual language of doodles for many of the interactions between characters.

With the voices of our characters, we want to make sure they sound like distinct human beings and not feel like they are all the same person. A great example of this in action is the opening chapters of Pride and Prejudice, where we have multiple characters in a group scene, but each character sounds like a distinct person.

When it comes to narratorial voice, there are many artistic choices we as writers can make. Do we want the narrator to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the reader? Is the narrator opinionated and very in-your-face? Or is the narrator so subtle and invisible that we barely notice they are there? These effects don’t happen by accident. They are a conscious choice that a writer must make. The key is to make these choices intentional, rather than accidental.

Your voice will develop over time, but you need to put in the mileage—or the word count—to give your voice room to flourish and grow. In my previous article, How Writing Is Like Playing the Violin, I talked about the importance of practice in writing, and this is especially important when it comes to voice. In case you missed it, click here to read my article on practice.

Remember: you can’t grow roses from sunflower seeds, but with lots of sunshine and plenty of water you can grow some awesome sunflowers.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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I have played the violin since I was four years old, and my son and daughter play piano and violin respectively. They both go to a Suzuki music school—the same school I attended from ages 4-18. In fact, my daughter’s violin teacher was my orchestra conductor and chamber music coach when I was a teen. All of this means that I have a tendency to view the world through a Suzuki lens, an outlook that centers on incremental practice over progress made by leaps and bounds. This perspective is also especially useful when it comes to writing, particularly when building a writing practice.

We all know full well that no one can write a book in a day. It takes time and continuous persistence. There’s no glamorous solution. Rather, we just have to show up at the page on a regular basis and clock in the hours. It’s that simple.

And yet, there are a lot of sources out there that glamorize the “overnight success” approach to writing. This attitude is best summed up by an episode that happened in my traditional MFA program. One time in workshop, a writer whose story was on deck for critique said to the class: “I wanted to apologize in advance for any typos. I just threw this piece together on my phone, while standing in line at a movie theater last weekend.”

I’ll be honest, the possibility of typos was not the thing that concerned me about this writer’s statement. What bothered me most was the attitude, as though this writer was bragging about how little time they had spent on their submission. It was as if their goal wasn’t to write something good, but rather to write something with as little effort as possible.

This kind of attitude is dangerous because it lulls us into believing that writing should be “easy,” and if it’s not, then there must be something wrong with us. Let me make one thing very clear: the problem is not with us.

Now, don’t confuse writing fast with writing easily. Personally, I happen to be a naturally fast writer. Once I get an idea of what I want to say, it tends to pour out of me fairly quickly. Similar to other writers, I know many individuals who are like this with their fiction and can crank out multiple books a year at a furious pace.

Build speed and stamina through practice.The speed at which we write has nothing to do with the ease with which we write. Just because I tend to write fast doesn’t mean that the process is “easy” for me. People who see me crank out words so quickly might think that all writing should be a snap. What they don’t see are the years of practice that got me to the point where I write at this pace, the countless hours before I put pen to page, or when the ideas needed to incubate and take shape in my mind.

Speed and ease are two very different things. The speed at which we write and the quality of the words we produce, these things come with practice. Ease, on the other hand, is a fickle beast. Some days it might feel like words just flow out of you, while on other days, each syllable can be a slog.

This is where persistent, incremental practice can be a game changer. We have to train ourselves to produce words—whether we “feel like it” or not. We have to practice showing up to the page, regardless of whether the writing comes easily.

This reminds me of something I learned practicing the violin with my daughter. I’m not going to lie, the past five years of violin have been brutal. Lady Bug is a strong-willed girl and when she decides she’s not going to practice, no amount of cajoling, begging, arguing, or even threatening will get her to do it. If she weren’t so darn talented, we probably would have let her quit ages ago, but when she picks up the instrument, it’s like it was made for her. The trick, of course, is getting her to pick up the instrument in the first place.

In the beginning, when she would blatantly refuse to practice, the teacher suggested a strategy. “Just have her open the box. Don’t make her pick up the violin or the bow. Just open the box and leave it there on the floor.” The idea was not to attach any expectations to the practice, but to get her used to the idea of opening the box. Eventually, curiosity would win out and she would pick up the violin and try to practice. (I wish I could say this strategy worked every time. It didn’t. But it worked enough that we kept at it.)

Normalize the practice.We can use a similar strategy with our writing, especially when the writing feels like a challenge. Boot up the computer or pull out the notebook and pen, then just sit and wait. Don’t attach any expectations as to whether it will be a productive writing day or not. Just show up and see what happens.

When we practice showing up, we lower the barrier to entry. We normalize the process and the practice. For example, at this stage, my kids practice their instruments because it’s just something we do in our family. Everyone plays an instrument. Everyone practices. It’s our version of normal. As writers, we need to do the same thing: we need to normalize the practice of writing, and make it “just something we do” rather than turning it into a big deal.

In the past, you may have tried your hand at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a challenge where you write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. What I love about this challenge is that it forces you to show up and write, whether you feel like it or not. With such a tight timeline, there’s no room for dawdling or taking the day off. You have to pour those words onto the page one way or another. For many writers, this challenge is the spark that lights the fire under their backsides and gets them to write that book once and for all.

My one small concern with challenges like this is that there is no room for granting ourselves grace and showing up without expectation. Yes, you have to show up with these challenges, but you also have to produce something and sometimes that’s not in the cards. Just like some days you open the box and don’t pick up the violin, sometimes the writing is just plain hard and no matter what you try, nothing comes out. This is why I myself have never done this challenge in earnest. The few times I have tried, I buckled under the pressure to produce and gave up within a few days.

If you have ever tried this writing challenge (or one like it), I tip my hat to you. While I myself have never gotten past the first few days, I have tremendous admiration for folks who are able to get to the finish line. It is an impressive feat, to be sure.

If you have not done the challenge, I want to propose a low-impact alternative. If you’re into resolutions, practice opening the box, at least for the next month. Show up at the computer and give yourself ten minutes. If no words come, then consider your time clocked in and go about the rest of your day. Chances are, though, after a few days of showing up, the words will eventually start to flow.

Remember, practice is not about rote repetition. When I think of practice, I think of a meditation practice or a yoga practice, where 90% of the work is showing up and being present. Let’s make this new year the one where we show up for ourselves and for our writing.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: How a Writing Practice is Like Playing the Violin appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome, today is DIY MFA’s monthly Craft Jam. Once a month, Christa and I jam about the craft. In these episodes, we do a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more.

This month’s episode is a deep dive into how to craft the perfect book ending.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Christa and I discuss:* The three major components of an ending * Types of endings for your story * My top tip when choosing the the right ending

Link to Episode 475(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Christa and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a... Read more »

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I can’t encircle the trunk with my arms or see the top. Douglas Fir trees are like that. 500-year old giants, they stretch straight to the sky, snag clouds, and create their own weather. The bark smells of cinnamon and moisture, and if I am not careful, it will leave a scratch or two on my forearms. It would be easier to measure the circumference with a measuring tape, but then we couldn’t trade breaths, the tree and I.

A single tree holds enough wood to build three or four houses. If I press my ear to the trunk, I can hear the water going up, and feel the great heart of the tree beat in time with the wind. I am too close to count branches. I have to step back, way back, build distance. Only then can I see the tree, and hear all the species she houses and feeds.

Douglas Fir distance, I call it—the distance required for perspective, learning, and growth.

Kamm Prongay

I love reading essays almost as much as I love Douglas Fir trees. I require an afternoon snack of tea and cookies for my body, an essay or two for my brain. But to read like a writer, I must move from mere consumer to student, and to do that, I need a deep understanding of an essay’s conventions, structures and expectations.

When I Google “Essential Essay Collections” and get more ‘top 10, top 25, top 100 collections’ than my eyes or pocketbook can handle. Do I start with Montaigne or Didion, short form or long, formal or informal, personal or travel? If I read this author, what other authors do I ignore?

I need distance, Douglas Fir distance, to sort out which writers deserve my attention and space on my bookshelf. But how?

After several days of overwhelm, cross referencing various ‘must read’ lists, I find a solution. Combining Anthologies, ‘Best Of’ Collections, and a select few favorite authors lets me approach the richness of essay without feeling guilty about all the authors and essays I don’t have time to read.

AnthologiesEssay anthologies offer an easy entry into the genre. Most collections provide examples of early essay forms and topics. Anthologies are also available in various subgenres, but I prefer more inclusive collections.

My first acquisition was Phillip Lopate’s The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present. In one (admittedly large) volume, I have 2000 years of personal essay examples on everything from ambition to education and death. Part I introduces me to early essayists, like Seneca, Plutarch, and Michel de Montaigne. The anthology also includes writers from multiple continents, and provides examples by form, including memoir, book review, humor, and lecture. Complementing the rich collection, Lopate’s introduction highlights the key components of a good essay, conversational element, honesty, egotism, irony, and other questions of form and style.

Samuel Cohen’s 50 Essays, a Portable Anthology, is a nice compromise between size, price, and variety. At 503 pages, the text is one-third of Lopate’s, was updated in 2023, and includes some newer writers.

‘Best Of’ and Literary MagazinesAnthologies are great for understanding past writing trends, but don’t include new writers or diverse voices. To fill this gap, I look to current work. HarperCollins’ Best American Series showcases the best non-fiction from the preceding year. Series editors select works from online and print, then a guest editor chooses the final pieces for publication. The nonfiction has been so popular it recently expanded to include two other essay collections, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Best American Food Writing.

I also search for collections published by nontraditional houses. Two recent discoveries are Shapes of Native Nonfiction, a curated collection of non-fiction writing by 27 contemporary Native writers, and Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction, a collection of essays exploring the notion of genre and creative nonfiction.

Literary magazines (Orion, Brevity, and Hippocampus, among others) also include diverse writers, and help me understand what editors are accepting. I flag essays I like, and ones I don’t, then study them to understand why.

Favorite AuthorsThe third section of my bookshelf is devoted to Shadow Mentors, writers whose work I read, reread, and dissect. I am picky about who gets these seats. These writers have a deep and broad body of work, create pieces that touch my thin space, remind me of the great joy and terrible aches of life.

My favorite essayists leave me wondering why I hadn’t seen a thing that way, or that I had felt exactly that way. I sample one or two pieces in an afternoon, analyze style, image, tempo, and voice.

Joan Didion’s A Year of Magical Thinking taught me to write about grief and loss with honesty and clarity. I also enjoy the breadth of Didion’s work. Her essays touch upon life and death, politics, and writing.

Shadow Mentors also inspire. When words elude me, I pick up Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voadoras. I marvel all over again how he moves from a hummingbird’s heart to a whale’s, then ties the two together with pancakes.

Populate your bookshelfI’ve touched on a few of the anthologies and collections that inspire me, and my author shadow mentors. But essay is an expansive form, and it will continue to branch. Populate your bookshelf with whatever works resonate, inspire, and delight. As for me, I am sitting with Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song in one hand, and a cup of English Breakfast tea in the other. I’ll go back to work, just as soon as I finish reading.

Kamm Prongay is a writer and veterinarian whose essays intertwine science, nature, people, and place. A child of the South, raised in the Pacific Northwest, Kamm spent time at sea as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer before coming ashore to pursue veterinary school, clinical practice, teaching and research. Kamm lives with her wife, Liz, and two curious cats in Portland, Oregon.

You can find her on her website.

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You’ve finished your manuscript, congratulations! Now what?

After all these months or years spent on your book, you’re fairly close to the material and it can be hard to objectively assess your own work. So, it’s time for others’ feedback.

TIME FOR FEEDBACKFeedback will help you make the book the best it can be. Just like you’d want feedback on your schoolwork or at your job, feedback on your writing is an important step.

SHOULD YOU ASK FAMILY?Your mind might jump to the idea of asking your spouse, best friend, or family members. After all, you have access to these people.

This can sometimes work, however, be mindful that:

• They care about their relationship with you and may be hesitant to provide critical comments
• They may not be your target reader and therefore may comment on aspects that wouldn’t be an issue for readers in your genre

The most objective sources for feedback will come from a combination of editing professionals and beta readers.

This article won’t go into details on hiring editing professionals like developmental and copy-line editors. It also won’t cover how to find and work with sensitivity readers. Just know that all of these roles can be really important to the quality of your work. The key is to find professionals that you work well with.

Rather, this article will address a question that a pre-published author asked me: “How do I find beta readers?”

WHAT ARE BETA READERS?First, what are beta readers? Beta readers are people who read your manuscript before it goes to the printer for publication. The term comes from information technology, where beta testing is used to find and eliminate problems before launching new computer programs.

Beta readers are different than publishing industry professionals whom you’d hire. They’re “ordinary” readers who can point out places where your story is confusing, where the continuity is awry, where plot points are missing or where there are factual errors. Remember though, that it’s unlikely for any single person to find all of these things, so be grateful for any issues a reader finds but don’t expect one person to find them all.

WHEN TO USE BETA READERSFor me, I find beta readers helpful at several stages. Having one or two trusted readers look at an early manuscript can help iron out big issues like plot holes, unlikable characters or action-reactions that don’t make sense. However, they will have to understand that the manuscript may be messy. You may need to get them in the right mindset to overlook any typos or grammatical issues and ask them to focus on the big picture.

Secondly, I appreciate having beta readers after developmental editing and after copy-line edits. The beauty of great beta readers is getting fresh sets of eyes on the work, since you’ll be very close to the material after having been through multiple rounds of edits.

By the way, it’s also validating to hear when readers enjoy the story. Don’t underestimate the joy of getting positive feedback!

HOW TO BRIEF BETA READERSOne key to helpful feedback is to specify what input you want. Your questions may differ at different stages of the editing process. To get honest input, make clear that your feelings won’t be hurt by critical comments. Critique is what you need to make the work stronger!

Here’s are some sample questions you could ask beta readers. Use these as thought starters and customize for your own need:

• How early in the story did you feel a connection with a character?
• Which parts, if any, made you feel bored and want to stop reading?
• Which parts evoked emotion for you?
• Did anything confuse you? What needs to be clarified? Please highlight the confusing sections.
• Any scenes that feel authentic emotionally?
• Any parts where the person’s actions didn’t make sense?
• Which character(s) were your favorite? Why?
• Which character(s) did you not like? Why?
• Did any scene, dialog, or event seem awkward? Perhaps a character does or says something that does not fit with his/her personality.
• What emotion(s) were you left with at the end? Were you satisfied with the way the story ended?

You can personalize your questions to hone in on a specific area where you think there may be issues, or where you’d like your readers to focus.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE FEEDBACKWhen you get feedback from beta readers, it can be fraught with tension, like the experience of getting feedback from your editors. Some of it may be hard to hear, or you may not agree with the input. Of course, the book is yours, so whether you accept or make changes is ultimately up to you. However, you’ve asked for the input for a reason so you should read through every comment, consider its validity, and make a judgment call whether you’d like to make edits as a result of the feedback.

It’s helpful to get feedback from several sources, so that you can look for patterns or themes. In addition, it can be the case that readers can identify where the issues are, but the solutions they offer may not be relevant, so make sure you’re differentiating between the two.

As you work with your beta readers, you’ll get to know what different individuals focus on. Some readers comment on the big picture. You may want to save these readers for your early drafts. Some readers notice when the physical actions don’t make sense, for instance, if the characters had moved to another room without noting their travel to a new place. Other readers notice emotional inconsistencies. (When you trust someone’s judgment on your character’s emotional journey, that beta reader is worth their weight in gold!) Still others are more focused on the details of punctuation and verb tense. This can be helpful for your final proofreading steps.

WHERE TO FIND BETA READERSLet’s get to my friend’s question – where do you find beta readers?

First, you can leverage your network. Swap manuscripts with other writers who read in your genre. Ask your local librarian to introduce you to avid readers. Seek out book club members. Post requests on social media. Some people love to give input on early work!

Over time, you’ll learn who you enjoy working with, who provides valuable feedback, and who you’d like to return to again and again. You’ll likely also want to replenish your pool of beta readers over time, as fresh perspectives can be helpful.

There are also matching services for finding beta readers online. Some sites that author friends and editor John Matthew Fox have mentioned include:

• Critiquematch.com (you can swap critiques or pay for one)
• Critiquecircle.com (based on reciprocity, author members critique each other’s work. Free unless you want to upgrade to a paid model which unlocks more features)
• Betareader.io (there’s a free level that provides 3 readers to start, and then a paid Premium level with unlimited beta readers for $9.99/month)
• Heybeta.com ($7/month for 25 readers or $14/month for 100 readers)

I haven’t tried these yet but feel free to check them out and please thank or follow John @Bookfox for listing the last few on TikTok!

MOST IMPORTANTLY, EXPRESS GRATITUDE!Beta readers are wonderful. They’ve spent a lot of time reading your manuscript, considering what feedback to give and how to provide it. They’re invested in your success. So make sure to express your gratitude!

This can start with a heartfelt note. Additional ways include:

• Recognize your early readers in your book acknowledgements
• Thank them on social media
• Provide ebooks, signed copies of your finished books, or other gifts

How you thank beta readers is an individual decision. The important thing is to express your sincere appreciation. They have earned it!

Carol Van Den Hende is the award-winning author of the Goodbye, Orchid series. She’s also a speaker, global marketer, digital strategist, Climate Reality Leader and Board Trustee. One secret to her good fortune? Her humorous husband and twins, who prove that love really does conquer all.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, and Facebook. Please sign up for Carol’s newsletter at https://carolvandenhende.com/contact or linktr.ee/cvdh.

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Writing through thick and thin is not easy. Every writer’s life has thin stretches which overwhelm the importance of writing. Illness, death of a loved one, financial disaster, and now in climate change, weather related disasters: all overwhelm. All terrible, all distracting. Life has thick stretches too, joyous events such as marriage, childbirth, raising happy and healthy children—all great, all distracting. But writing must be a consistent habit for a writer to grow, to produce, to succeed. So how can we write through thick and thin?

Write Every DayHabits, good and bad, are hard to break. Establishing a daily writing habit will help you write through thick and thin. Name as many good habits as you can, the ones you keep. Don’t go for difficult habits like exercise or being grateful (unless you practice both daily), but something easier, more routine. For instance, you may not get 8 hours of sleep every single night, even if you set it as a goal. If you don’t set it as a goal, however, you will never get enough sleep. Think of writing as being in the same habit genre. I may not be able to write for 6 or 4 hours every day, or even 2 hours, but if I don’t sit down and write for however long I can every day, I’ll never link those short spurts with longer ones until hey presto! the novel’s first draft is complete. Writing each day will develop your muscle memory for the activity. The consistency will not only produce completed works but will allow you the time to grow as a writer.

Honor Your RealityFounder and instigator of DIYMFA.com Gabriel Pereira related to our P2P class that as a writer she learned to “honor her reality,” https://diymfa.com/writing/honor-your-reality/. What does that mean? It means that as a human with obligations, sometimes you must recognize the situation you are in and act accordingly. In fact, you must recognize the situation and give yourself over to it: you just can’t write through thick and thin. Thin times require honoring your reality. Your child/partner/parent or you are sick—all these situations require you to leave your desk and take care of someone, including yourself. But thick times require a reality check too. If your sister is getting married and asks for your participation, you will have to plan the hen party. You will have to honor that reality and plan to write around it.

It Comes Down to PlanningMany things in life can’t be planned, but your writing time should not be one of them. Once the habit of daily writing takes hold, you can afford to lose writing hours to the care of yourself and others. It comes down to planning. The plan should hold for thick or thin, since whether you are leaving the desk for a brisk walk or spending days as a patient due to an illness, you are caring for yourself, and that is absolutely necessary. You need the care or your family does, and there’s no getting around it. You may be juggling family, your job, and writing. Everyone may be fine but there’s a lot to handle. Most situations, thick or thin, can be handled in as relaxed a way as possible with planning. Find a time of the day when routinely there are fewer demands upon you—early in the morning or late at night or when the kids are in school—and set that as your writing time. Try to make that time inviolable. If you are consistent, time can be given to honoring your reality when you need to, and you still will make progress with your writing.

Easy, Huh?Even with planning and habit making, writing consistently won’t be easy. There are extremes in life that make it impossible to write through thick and thin. Death in the family, divorce and grave illness define thin times. But in routine times, you work, cook meals, go on hikes, play music, garden—things you must do, things you like to do. You must give time to all those activities to have a healthy and happy life. In the humdrum of daily regular life, the days when everyone is blessedly well and things are smooth, even dull, it is easy to plan the time to write, to give your writing the importance it deserves. Don’t forget to include the space where this habit can form. A place that will be available, quiet, and comfortable during those hours you plan to write. A room of one’s own, if possible, but at least a solid surface in a quiet corner.

Your Brain Needs Time in PJsIf you start when life is sort of rolling along, the daily writing habit will quickly become just that. A full life requires doing the things that you like, that fill your soul, but also doing the things that make your life function. Walking the dog in the woods but also grocery shopping, cooking good meals but also doing the dishes…you get it. And in fact, the brain needs some time not writing but sitting around in pajamas to create. I am always surprised by how a thorny plot problem resolution comes to mind while folding the laundry. I’d be happy to tell you that giving your brain some time in pajamas, while essential, counts as writing time, and it does, but only sort-of, sorry. The hard graft of writing is just that: putting words on paper or editing the words you’ve put there already. The more time you consistently give to that act, the more you will accomplish, that much is simple. Good habits are hard to form but take the first steps now: stake your writing space and plan your writing time. Show up and write! Good writing!

Constance Emmett was born in Brooklyn, New York where her mother’s family landed after leaving Belfast, Northern Ireland. Constance’s debut novel, Heroine of Her Own Life (2019) and sequel, Everything Will Be All Right (2022), books 1 and 2 in the Finding Their Way Home series, were published by Next Chapter. A Massachusetts Hilltown dweller, she is writing book 3 in the series and a novel set in 18th c. New York.

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Well-crafted plot twists have the power to leave readers breathless, reeling with shock and excitement, their impact lingering long after the story’s been read. And nowhere are they more important than in horror and thriller fiction. Keeping our genre readers guessing and on the edge of their seats is absolutely crucial to our success. A good twist can make or break a career, just ask M. Night Shyamalan.

But how do we do it? What’s the magic sauce we need to catch readers by surprise in a way that seems logical and inevitable without them predicting what’s coming?

Let’s explore three essential techniques that can help you master the art of the twist.

The Bait and Switch: Look Over That WayThe reversal of expectations is a classic way to take the reader’s assumption about what’s true and flip it on its head. We accomplish this by leading our main characters down a false path while simultaneously seeding in reinforcing clues and actions that lull the reader into thinking that it isn’t a false path at all. Then, just when they start feeling confident about their predictions concerning what happens next, we reveal something to the plot or about the character that contradicts everything they thought they knew to be true.

Example: Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnOne of my all-time favorite thrillers, this book took readers by storm and has one of the most memorable and unsettling first lines ever. The protagonist, Nick Dunne, is the suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Amy. Gillian skillfully manipulates her readers into believing Nick’s guilt throughout the first half of the novel. However, just as the reader is sure Nick is done for, it’s revealed that Amy faked her own disappearance and meticulously plotted to incriminate Nick. It’s a gasp-worthy twist that transforms what appears at first to be a conventional mystery into a gripping tale of manipulation and deceit.

The Unreliable Narrator: I’m Telling the Truth, I Swear!An unreliable narrator is a character who tells their story from a distorted perspective—either intentionally or unintentionally. They don’t have to be unreliable because they’re bad. They just need to have compelling reasons to cherry pick the details they reveal to the reader with a goal of deceiving them for some hidden (to the reader) personal gain. This is an effective technique because it gives the story hidden layers and a compelling psychological element.

Example: All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana UrbanThis twisty YA thriller revolves around a group of teenagers with secrets to protect who are invited to attend a scholarship dinner only to find themselves trapped in a locked room with a ticking bomb. They have an hour to choose one among them to die if they’re going to survive. Diana’s narrator, Amber Prescott appears to be telling a straightforward story—at least at first. But as the secrets surrounding each teenager are revealed, a series of subtle revelations begin to build that suggest maybe Amber isn’t telling the whole truth. When the twist comes at the end of the book and the reason why Amber’s doing this is revealed, the entire story shifts, compelling the reader to finally see Amber for who she really is.

Twisty Foreshadowing: Set Up to Knock ‘Em DownPlanting seeds of anticipation—something’s not right, but what—is a skillful way to set the stage for a plot twist that, when revealed, feels both surprising and inevitable. This technique involves introducing subtle hints and clues throughout your story that readers don’t realize are important until the moment the twist is revealed.

Example: The Sixth Sense by M. Night ShyamalanYou knew this masterpiece of a movie was going to end up somewhere inside this article, didn’t you? It’s literally impossible to talk about effective plot twists without mentioning it, it’s that brilliant. Throughout the film, Shyamalan’s careful and deliberate use of color symbolism, careful blocking, and cleverly constructed dialogue lay a groundwork for a revelation that leaves viewers stunned, revealing how the pieces of the puzzle come together in one, gut-punching moment of realization people are still talking about years later.

Crafting Your Own TwistA successful plot twist is so much more than a surprise. It’s an element that can enhance and connect your overall narrative in a very satisfying way. And there are some tried and true tips for employing them well. Here are just a few:

Create Internal Logic: Twists need to be logical within the rules and context of your story world.

Strive for Emotional Resonance: We need to care about the characters of your story deeply and how the twist affects them for it to be powerful. The more the reader cares, the more powerful their reaction will be.

Create the Proper Timeline: Where you decide to reveal your twist matters. Too early and it might fall flat. Too late and it could feel rushed. Decide at which plot point the twist best serves your story before you start writing.

Pitch Your Twist to Betas: Memorable plot twists are nearly impossible to accomplish without multiple revisions and outside input. Reach out to trusted beta readers—different ones for each stage of revision—to gauge their reactions to what you have planned and refine your reveals according to their feedback until you achieve the impact you want.

Let the Master be Your Guides: Study successfully twisty books, movies, and television and take notes on the techniques they employ. Personally, I annotate every book I study, so I can refer back to it again when I’m working on something similar for ideas/inspiration.

With careful planning and impeccable execution, you can master the art of the twist and elevate your novel to new heights!

Some of My Favorite Twisty Media to Consume:Movies:
Frailty
The Sixth Sense
Gone Girl
The Usual Suspects
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Fight Club
The Village
Unbreakable
Buried

Television:
One Cruel Summer
You
Game of Thrones (The Red Wedding)
The Good Place

Books:
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban
The Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Amy Christine Parker is the critically acclaimed author of the thrillers Gated, Astray, Smash & Grab, and Flight 171.

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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You wrote an amazing romance novel. Your book cover is dy-no-mite, and your back cover blurb is jump-up-and-slap-your-Pappy enticing! You hooked up with IngramSpark to give your book global distribution, plus, it’s available on Amazon. But you have near ZERO sales. What went wrong? I’m guessing you failed to promote your book. Promoting your book... Read more »

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Reichs. We’ll be talking about her book The Bone Hacker and how to craft a bestselling thriller series. Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about... Read more »

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I’m in a few writers’ groups on Facebook, and at least once a day, I see someone posting that they need an editor. Social media is a powerful tool for connecting writers with qualified editors. And I’m totally an advocate for using it—correctly. Unfortunately, most of the posts asking for editors get bombarded with responses... Read more »

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Happy Sunday, Leisure Learners!! While school is literally always open here at DIY MFA, September has a special feel for passionate learning like ourselves. That sparkle filled with notebooks and pens and elevated thoughts enters the ether as we put aside the beachy reads and fall in love once again with our most substantial literary... Read more »

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What Is A Short Story?  For the most part, a short story is most often defined by word count (1,000 – 7,500 words) and the complexity of the story. It’s easiest to define a short story by comparing it to longer forms of fiction, such as novels. Short stories generally have a fewer number of... Read more »

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One of the definite downsides to living in the boonies is the wildlife. I mean, it’s great and all, but not when it’s totally batty, winging through my house emitting sonic shrieks. Yep. We’ve got actual, real-life bats, and despite having an exterminator tamp down every possible access point, somehow it’s a common occurrence. My... Read more »

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I find it very difficult to name a favorite type of mystery, but it just might be puzzle mysteries. They scratch a cognitive itch. Solving them, whether in a book, an app, or a video game, feels so satisfying. Plus, they’re just fun.  In the past, some leveled the criticism that puzzle mysteries lacked in... Read more »

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Regardless of how good your story idea is, how great your writing is, or how powerful your manuscript is, you must get past the gatekeepers of traditional publishing before an agent will read a single page of your manuscript… and hopefully fall in love with your story. Two of those gatekeepers are the query and... Read more »

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There is nothing more fun than building a world from scratch. Entire magic systems, new technology, alternate timelines, fascinating characters… And you, and only you, make the rules for your world: what creatures exist there? How does physics work (or not work)? Where in time does your world take place? We introverts are stuck in... Read more »

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Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building, and more. This month’s episode is a... Read more »

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One of my marketing clients came right out with the TRUTH recently: “I hate social media,” she said. “I don’t even know where to start, what to post, and the whole thing just gives me stomach cramps.” Writer, does this sound like you? Then take a DEEP BREATH. In this blog, you’ll get a quickstart... Read more »

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As writers, we are encouraged to go to conferences. To get the lay of the genre and the industry. To fangirl/boy with our favorite authors. To network and to take workshops. To meet and pitch to agents. In short, to find our community. I cannot think of a better one for the new or emerging... Read more »

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I am an unapologetically voracious reader, but that wasn’t always the case. When I first started writing seriously I eschewed all forms of creativity other than my own. Nuts to all that read your genre, read widely nonsense. Why? Something about not wanting to be influenced by other people’s work, or some such malarkey. And... Read more »

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Writing is a powerful tool that allows individuals to express their thoughts, emotions, and experiences. For LGBTQ+ writers, the act of writing can be even more transformative, as it provides a platform to share their unique perspectives, challenge societal norms, and foster understanding and acceptance.  Today, I want to explore the invaluable benefits of writing... Read more »

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What does Music have to do with writing you ask? For some people, nothing; for some, it is setting the Mood. Some people swear by the use of background music to stimulate their creative flow. Stephen King comes to mind with his use of heavy metal to stimulate his creativity. Other people, such as myself,... Read more »

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Hello and happy almost-August! The July 2023 Leisure Learning column is all about the literal places that literature can transport one’s self to. Get in touch with your inner Transcendentalist, talk with the kids about their summer reading, go on a few virtual tours that bring epic word nerd sites to you, and have a... Read more »

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Welcome, beautiful people on the internet! Have you ever wondered what it would seem like if fairy tales merged with science fiction to create a realm of wonder and awe? In this wondrous universe of imagination and limitless possibilities, we find ourselves surrounded by a dazzling array of subgenres. Each has its own unique flavor... Read more »

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Welcome back to The Messy Middle, where we focus on crafting complex characters and building dynamic worlds that connect with readers from marginalized communities. In a previous post, The Messy Middle: Luna & The Rise of Trans Narratives, we examined the pitfalls of the young adult (YA) novel Luna, which provided a compelling “case study”... Read more »

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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 »

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We’re back for another episode of our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s... Read more »

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Welcome back! If you’ve been following this blog series, you know why studying stories is imperative to your ability to improve your writing craft. The short answer: By studying books, particularly ones that exemplify bestsellers, breakout novels, and, perhaps most importantly, masterworks in a genre, we can recognize patterns and invaluable, key elements in fiction... Read more »

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Though it may come as a surprise to some, I’ve only been reading romance novels for a few years now. I’ve always secretly enjoyed romance plots when they come up in other books I’ve read or movies I watched, and I’m the first to worship two characters at the barest hint of chemistry, but it... Read more »

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Writer wellness is a journey, not a goal. It is an attainable path for a sustainable writing routine that is built in small ways of taking care of yourself. I teach at an adaptive sports and fitness center. I wake up every day with the purpose of making Tai Chi possible for anyone in any... Read more »

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Welcome back, poets!  This will be my final post as a columnist for DIY MFA. This is a bittersweet departure for me, but I’m excited to begin another chapter of my life! It’s truly been an honor writing for you all and I thought I’d leave you with some of the lessons I’ve learned from... Read more »

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing MT Anderson. We’ll be talking about his book, Elf Dog and Owl Head, and raising your story’s stakes. Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how... Read more »

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You know that part of you that seems to roar to the surface and lead you to be your worst self? It might be from a series of small triggers that tumbleweed into a berserker rage over time, or one big conversation or event that sets you off. But regardless, you react out of instinct... Read more »

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Word nerds, please grab a mimosa and join me as I raise a glass to that super special time of year: (to be read with your best Oprah impression)SUMMER READING SEASON!!  Like ghost stories in October, summer reading carries with it the indulgence of being simply delightful. It’s a time to break free of books related only... Read more »

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In our last article, we introduced ourselves, described how we formed within the crucible of DIY MFA, and touched on how we’ve benefited. We recognized that our writing group has strengthened our identities as writers. Today we’re exploring how we bring the diversity of our knowledge, skills, and personalities to our metaphorical table and use... Read more »

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Today we have another monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a... Read more »

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An important question, for a column devoted to the essay.  Also, it seems, a rhetorical question, as easily answered as what makes tea, tea. I love both tea and essays. One nourishes my body, the other my soul. I consume both, savoring flavors and words without much thought. Tea was the robust, brown liquid I... Read more »

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If you’re a writer of a certain age (i.e., not young), pitching face-to-face to a young agent or editor, your understandable anxiety may include the subject of your appearance. Seated across from the agent, you may misinterpret the look on her face, while imagining the agent’s internal voice wondering: “Just how old is she?”  Whether... Read more »

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Bianca Marais, CeCe Lyra, and Carly Watters. We’ll be taking an inside look at the publishing industry. Before diving in, I wanted to make a quick note. Our wonderful guests are the co-hosts of a fantastic podcast that has a particular word in its title. It would be... Read more »

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Location, location, location. Choosing the right setting is one of the most important decisions we storytellers are faced with. Make the wrong selection and no matter how strong your plot and characters, your story will fall flat without a credible, engaging world underpinning them. This is especially true when it comes to horror where a good... Read more »

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Disclaimer: DIY MFA does not provide legal, tax accounting, or financial advice. In making decisions regarding whether and when to use brand names in fiction or other decisions that may have legal and/or financial ramifications, we strongly urge you to speak to a licensed IP attorney for the most accurate information. As an author, it... Read more »

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I wish I may, I wish I might.  Stargaze to find your hero and heroine’s true romantic delight! I hope by the time you finish reading this article; you are excited to use celestial-inspired characterization with the help of the astrological sun signs, the wisdom of the universe, and a barrel full of doggone, genuine... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Mary Pascual. They’ll be talking about her debut novel, The Byways, and creating multi-dimensional characters. Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with... Read more »

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I am a copyeditor through and through. I live, eat, and breathe punctuation and grammar. As such, I love the feeling of finding a moment in the manuscript where it can be strengthened. Depending on the writing, these changes and suggestions can reach the thousands.

But what’s average? And what are all the changes this entails? Let’s look first at the numbers…

Number of Average Changes for a CopyeditAuthors worry about receiving a manuscript back simply bleeding with red pen corrections. Is that the truth? Here are some specific stats from real books I’ve edited. Keep in mind, this does not involve “silent changes” (e.g., removing double spaces after sentences), which are made with Track Changes turned off.

72,500-word nonfiction book… * 3,319 insertions * 2,993 deletions * 70 formatting changes * 50 comments

That’s 1 change per every 11 words. The author of this manuscript is a successful businessperson who runs multiple companies. I would consider them a decent writer.

46,500-word nonfiction book…* 954 insertions * 719 deletions * 83 formatting changes * 2 comments

That’s 1 change per every 26 words. This writer is a marketer, and I would consider them a very good writer.

A 128,000-word historical fiction novel…* 1,178 insertions * 1,098 deletions * 420 formatting changes * 8 comments

That’s 1 change per every 47 words. This writer is also a professional editor.

A 63,000-word nonfiction book…* 820 insertions * 682 deletions * 96 formatting changes * 11 comments

That’s 1 change per every 39 words. This author is the founder and CEO of a successful company. This was their fourth published book.

An 82,000-word thriller…* 937 insertions * 983 deletions * 130 formatting changes * 8 comments

That’s 1 change per every 40 words. This author is very good, and this was a light copyedit.

Whoa! Were Those All Corrections?Yes, and no. Many of the changes I make as a copyeditor are to conform the writing to standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation so the reader can understand your meaning. We might call these “corrections.” But copyediting involves way more than this.

Copyediting also makes or suggests changes for style, consistency, and clarity. This might mean selecting a different word to better fit the reading level of your audience—definitely not a “mistake,” but still something that should be changed. We also might reorder clauses and sentences to supply better flow or to enhance the author’s style.

Very few copyeditors conform strictly to a style guide because we know that all authors have their own style and voice, which we aim to never erase. Instead, copyediting is about enriching a writer’s words. Thus, I like to think of each insertion and deletion as an “enhancement,” not a “correction.”

So, Copyediting Is Useful?Gosh, I hope you think so by now! As you can see, the number of changes and suggestions can vary widely between manuscripts. But even the cleanest manuscripts from the most experienced authors still needed hundreds of changes. Don’t be discouraged if you find your manuscript greatly altered by a copyeditor. We’re here to enhance, not just correct, your words.

Jeanette the Writer is a freelance editor and writer based in Dallas, TX. When not at her computer, you can find her crafting, scuba diving, or posting videos of her cats on TikTok. Visit JeanettetheWriter.com for more info and follow @Jeanettediting on TikTok or find her on LinkedIn.

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It may seem counterintuitive, but as a writer, you have to tackle many job descriptions that go far beyond putting pen to paper. When you’ve finished writing a book, the real work begins. With so much competition out there in the self-publishing world, you need to boost your visibility and revenue—from there you can keep focusing on what you love to do for a lifetime.

However, it can take a lot of time, effort, and even some of your own income to effectively market yourself. That being said, merchandising is a great marketing method. It can build your brand, generate revenue, and help you get noticed across the globe.

1. Optimize Your Book CoversTalk to a successful chef, and they’ll tell you that people eat with their eyes first. While you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can certainly decide whether it catches your eye or not.

Your book cover can be the central component of your marketing endeavors once it’s published. It can be used to create marketing merchandise like posters, shirts, buttons, and so much more.

Luckily, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or artist to optimize your cover. However, you may want to outsource someone with that same gift. Some of the essential elements of an effective book cover design include:

• An intriguing title
• Unique typography
• A coherent design
• Captivating colors
• A well-placed biography

Don’t forget about the spine! If your book is on the shelf somewhere, the average reader will likely only see the spine first. Make sure it stands out and clearly states your name and the title of your book.

1. Create Accompanying MerchandiseWhile you likely didn’t get into writing to sell anything but your books, other merchandise can help you in that endeavor. It gives readers more avenues to connect with your book, and ultimately with you.

When books become popular, fans often create their own merchandise and cosplay equipment. While this can be flattering, it also represents lost revenue and promotion and even a lack of control over your artistic image.

A couple of ideas for book merchandise might include:

• Mugs
• Glasses and shot glasses
• Keychains
• T-shirts & apparel
• Clothing and Cosplay accessories
• Posters, maps, and wall hangings

If you do end up creating extra merchandise to increase visibility, you can utilize these other steps in tandem to maximize your reach, such as utilizing social media.

1. Utilize Social MediaIf you know you need to market your book (and yourself) but you’re on a tight budget, use social media to your advantage. You can not only use it to boost your book and its associated merchandise, but you can build more of a connection with your reader base.

If you use social platforms to boost your sales and visibility, post high-quality photographs and videos that make sense for your brand. Thanks to today’s technology, it’s easier than you might think to take high-quality photos. Use a clean background, understand the importance of composition, and make sure your photos look consistent so people will associate them with your brand.

You can take your creativity a step further by orchestrating a book trailer—yes, like a movie trailer for your book. It’s a unique way to capture more attention and further engage with your followers. Think of your book as an award-winning film, and make sure your trailer has a hook, an overall theme and feel, and a call to action for people to purchase and read it.

1. Manage Your InventoryOne of the hats you have to wear as an author is keeping track of your merchandise, including books and any marketing materials you choose to sell. On top of everything else you’re trying to take care of, this can sometimes feel a little overwhelming!

Thankfully, technology comes to the rescue once again. Nowadays, you can set up an online shop easily, and some platforms will effectively take care of inventory management for you. If you plan to sell your books in person or at different shops, however, it’s helpful to have a barcode system in place. Setting up your own barcode system and bringing a handheld scanner makes inventory management easier to track.

There are also barcode systems that connect with cloud-based software—you’ll be able to look at your sales and inventory at any given point. This will also make your inventory all the more accurate, and you’ll be able to determine how much you’ve sold and how much profit you’ve made each month.

1. Get Involved With EventsIt can be tempting to be a “behind the screen” author. Today, anyone can write a book, self-publish it online, and build a digital following. While that can be an effective marketing strategy, nothing will ever beat connecting with people in person and holding a signing event. Some of the advantages of holding an in-person event include:

2. Added value for your fans

3. Signed books can’t be returned
4. Better engagement and stronger relationships
5. More opportunities to pull in new readers
6. Shared publicity with signing locations

When you host or go to in-person events, bring more than just your books with you. Invest in marketing materials like flyers, banners, and even business cards you can hand out to fans with contact and social media information.

When people see you in-person and get to know you on a more personal level, you’ll create more lifelong fans. You can also build network connections with word-of-mouth advertisers who will tell friends and family about your books.

Being an independent writer takes consistent work that goes well beyond telling great stories. Keep these tips in mind to boost your visibility and revenue, and to build a fanbase that will stick with you from book to book.

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time, she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on Twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com.

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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 can’t resist the temptation to take one more—

GASP

Ok, maybe a totally different four letter word just echoed through the room, but say it ain’t so! Right there, staring at you in black and white, is a blaring frickin’ error.

A word repeated twice in the same paragraph. The wrong to, their, or your. Punctuation gone horribly awry. You used a different agent’s name in your query letter, or spelled your comp title wrong.

Long story short, you screwed up. Makes you cringe just thinking about it, doesn’t it? And I can guarantee every single person reading this has got not so fond memories of one, if not more, of those examples.

Me? Oh, I’m guilty of every single one of those writing errors on more than one occasion.

Which is why I’m here to tell you that none of them are the end of the world, and are only as bad as you make them out to be.

Here’s some things to think about that will take the sting out of writing errors.

Sin #1: Repeat WordsUgh I get it, and was just guilty of this in a recent Writer Fuel, which inspired this article. Check it out:

“Not like pig in a tutu weird, but a little lipstick isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. I’d introduce myself, but I’m gonna bet you’ve already figured out that it’s not Gabriela or Lori typing this up.”

Yup, I double loaded on the buts and seriously winced when I read it. Especially since the sentence structure was so similar.

BUT, you know what? Most readers read for enjoyment. Unless it’s super egregious, most people will cut you some slack over your writing errors.

Overall, that article got some great feedback, and the only person looking at buts was me.

Ahem.

Which leads me to Sin #2.

Sin #2: The Wrong WordThis one is a straight up groan, and though AI programs are pretty good, not even a computer will catch all of these all the time. And yeah, sure, there are the usual suspects I mentioned above, but what about the sneaky ones like compliment (a polite expression of praise or admiration) vs. complement (a thing that completes or brings to perfection)?

Why yes, that is a super specific example. I wonder how I could have chosen it…

Look, unless you’re swimming in the Mensa side of the gene pool, you can’t expect yourself to know every single in and out of the English language, or any other language for that matter.

That’s what editors are for, and even they miss stuff, which is why the publishing process goes through so many rounds of revisions.

And I’m gonna bet you’ve picked up a traditionally published book at some point in your life and there’s been an error that snuck through. Speaking of which, let’s check out Sin #3

Sin #3: Punctuation Gone Horribly AwryCommas, I’m looking at you. True story, the last time I had a full-length manuscript professionally copyedited, it came back with over two-thousand corrected commas. To add insult to injury, I had run it through one of those AI programs before I sent it off.

If a computer is fallible when following specifically programmed algorithms, how can you expect yourself to be perfect every time?

I mean, I get it. Those stupid little sickles of doom have given me a complex, and quite frankly, I’m so terrified of semicolons I won’t even use them.

See the above editors / publishers comment and give yourself some grace.

Sin #4: Wrong Names and MisspellingUsing the wrong name on a query letter. Seriously, come on! You’ve researched the living daylights out of this person, agonized over toeing the line between informed and stalker-ish, the tears you’ve shed trying to distill your book into a frickin’ paragraph—

And instead of addressing it to Jack, you spelt it Jac, or called him Karen.

For the record, at this point, it is entirely acceptable to curl up into a fetal ball of misery. Oh yeah, been there done that. Twice, actually. Repeating the experience doesn’t make it any easier in case you were wondering. And that also goes for misspelling a comp title or author name.

So how do you deal with it? Well, at some point, you just have to laugh at yourself, and you know what? Agents are people, too. They have good days and bad, and they can tell a carefully crafted query with an oops from some schmuck just whipping out form letters.

In cases like this, you have to trust that the rest of your query will shine. And if the agent isn’t able or willing to look beyond that one flub, I’m gonna bet they’re not someone you want to tie your career to.

Trust me, especially with the misspelled name thing. I’m kind of an expert with that. I mean what kind of a sadistic parent would saddle their kid with Alysen?

Um, this girl’s.

So, as someone whose family members can’t even spell her name correctly, it really isn’t that big of a deal. People who freak out about it generally have a chip on their shoulder and are best avoided.

Sin #5: Something You Wrote Rubbed Someone the Wrong WayAre you laughing? I’m laughing. Because um, yeah, I’ve been here too. On numerous occasions and sometimes purposefully. Like, I have Lori scan all of my copy just to make sure I’m not saying something that’s too over the top.

Look, almost none of us want to be hurtful or upset other people, but it’s inevitable that you’re going to unintentionally put your foot in it with someone at some point.

And I will be the first to admit that my writing style and voice can sometimes be shocking.

But I like pushing my readers to look at the not so pretty and safe side of things. I write gritty books with edgy characters, and though my editorial prose is much lighter, there’s some bite to the self-deprecation.

It’s not going to be for everyone, and neither is your work. That’s ok.

For me, writing is about eliciting emotion and making my readers feel something. A lot of the time, I want them to feel like they’re not so alone on this journey, and that they’re definitely not the only one making mistakes. Other times, I want them to question a preconceived notion. And I’ll admit it, sometimes I just want the shock value and a burst of startled laughter.

That’s not without risks, and I’ve absolutely had people unsubscribe from my mailing list. But again, that’s ok. Not everyone liked you in high school and it doesn’t happen in real life either.

If you didn’t learn your lesson then, I’m here to tell you now: if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, least of all yourself.

And at the end of the day?Institute a ritual, and celebrate your writing errors.

Order nachos, break out the fancy bourbon, and text your BFF about what a bonehead you are.

Promise yourself you’ll never do that again, knowing full well it isn’t a promise you’ll be able to keep.

You’ll be in good company. I, and every other writer, will be bumbling along right beside you, muttering the immortal words of Homer Simpson: “D’oh!”

AK Nevermore writes science fiction and urban fantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes about dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining.

You can find her on her website or follow her on her sadly neglected Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds.

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Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a deep dive into how to create compelling characters.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:* Using method writing to get inside your characters’ heads. * How to create balanced scenes using the TADA! method. * The different types of voice and how to use each.

Plus, our #1 reading recommendation on compelling characters.Link to Episode 464(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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Writing an entire novel is a lot of work, but it can be a truly satisfying accomplishment. Seeing your characters come to life, pursuing their primary motivations while overcoming (or not) their greatest obstacles, makes for some amazing storytelling when sustained for at least 50,000 words.

But novels aren’t for everyone, so enter short form fiction.

Writing short form fiction is equally, if not more rewarding. It takes less time than writing a novel.

What is Short Form Fiction?According to the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors, “There is no universal standard for the different classifications” of short form fiction. I’ve found numerous, differing descriptions of word counts and what is or isn’t included in shorter forms of storytelling. As a writer, check out the guidelines for whatever contest or publication you want to submit to as you are writing your shorter pieces.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that a piece of short fiction is more than just words. The short fiction piece, no matter how few words are used, must tell a story.

There is, however, some debate as to what is needed to make a string of words “a story.” I think we’re safe to say that, at the very least, a story includes:

• A beginning, a middle, and an end.
• One or more motivated characters who experience conflict and a resolution of some kind.

As far as the shorter forms of fiction (flash, short stories, novelettes and novellas), what seems to differentiate them first and foremost is word count. Second, is the complexity of the piece.

Why You Should Write Short Form FictionShort fiction can be completed while we’re finishing our longer WIPs. This is a major boost to our confidence levels, especially if you’ve got that completist mentality, like me, and thrive on getting projects done.

Short stories, some flash fiction, a novelette or a novella are not only shorter, but are less complex when it comes to characters and plot so they can be written in less time.

You can submit shorter fiction for publication while you’re finishing your novel. The market for short stories, especially online, has grown exponentially in the last few years. There are thousands of publications looking for literary and genre-influenced stories from new and established writers. Many short fiction publications are searching for writers from traditionally marginalized communities such as BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQ+. Some editors even provide valuable feedback when they don’t accept your story for publication.

Writing and publishing short fiction helps you build your reader base and may help you sell your novel. Get your name out there by writing and publishing some shorter fiction. That way, when you’re searching for an agent or going directly to a publishing house, you have something to add to your query letter about your potential marketability. It’s more likely that an agent or traditional publisher will want to back a writer that’s already sold some shorter pieces. It’s not impossible to be traditionally published as a complete newbie but any way you can get your name out there is beneficial to your writing career.

Writing short form fiction allows you to focus your stories more intently on singular or fewer characters and subplots. As a writer, I find that extremely refreshing. It’s like a vacation from the more complex, many-charactered and multi-sub-plotty novels I might be writing at the same time.

Finally, writing short stories, especially flash, is a great way to hone your writing skills. Smaller word counts call for even more diligent word choices. Every word counts even more when you have fewer numbers of words to play with. Writing shorter fiction forces you to choose, to make better decisions about how to invoke thoughts and emotions through your stories. This frugal use of language will bring more clarity to your longer fiction pieces.

The Different Forms of Short FictionFrom the least to the greatest number of words, here’s my down and dirty description of short form fiction. I’ll cover each of these in more depth in future articles.

Flash FictionThis is the shortest type of short fiction. Generally, any story of up to 1,000 (sometimes 1,500) words is considered “flash.”

You’ll hear flash also referred to as sudden fiction, short-short stories, micro-fiction, or micro-stories. Flash is so short that it’s most often focused on a single experience or moment in time. You can easily read and write many flash fiction pieces in one sitting.

There are four types of flash fiction that come in under 1,000 words. Have you heard of any others?

1. Six-word stories are (you guessed it) only six words long.
2. Drabbles are up to 100 words. In some cases, exactly 100 words.
3. Twitterature is generally 280 characters or less. This means spaces and punctuation marks are also counted.
4. Sudden Fiction is 750 words, max.

By the way, Angela Yeh wrote a fabulous post about Flash Fiction for the DIY MFA blog. You can read her article here: Flash Fiction – No Flash In the Pan.

Short StoriesI have always remembered how a literature teacher told me that short stories were intended to be read “in one sitting.” I’ve read some longish short stories that took me a few days to get through, so I don’t think that applies across the board.

Short stories are really about the word count and how the story is crafted. Short stories are generally 1,000 – 7,500 words, although I’ve seen some publications that accept short stories of up to 10,000 words. A 10,000-word story is really getting into novelette territory.

Short stories tend to have a surprise ending, and there are many authors today experimenting with alternative forms, telling their stories through diary entries, email, even bibliographies for fake books.

A quick search of the Internet will provide you with numerous websites where you can read short stories for free. For one of my absolute favorite “read in one sitting” stories, see “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, first published in The New Yorker, which rings in at 3,775 words.

NovelettesI’ve heard novelettes referred to as long short stories or short novellas.

As you can imagine from the name, these are “tiny novels” that are shorter and less complex than novellas. Novelettes are generally 7,500 – 19,000 words long and focus on a small cast of characters with few (if any) subplots.

You might be surprised, as I was, to learn that some pieces considered short stories are novelettes. Check out The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (13,500 words and 54 pages).

NovellasNovellas are the longest form of short fiction. Anything longer than a novelette (19,000 words) and shorter than a novel (50,000 words), is generally considered a novella.

Just like with novelettes, novellas usually follow the main story of only one or two characters. Novellas by lesser-known authors are a safer bet for publishers and are often used as books in a series.

For a chilling, gothic novella, see The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (42,000 words and 120 pages).

Now It’s Your Turn!

My deeper dives into each of these short forms of fiction are coming, so watch this space! I’ll include some examples in case you’d like to read or try your hand at writing in these different forms. I’ll also share some ideas about where to find inspiration and some pointers on where you can read and submit your shorter stories.

For now, I’d love to hear about your favorite short form fiction pieces. Is there some flash fiction that really made you think or feel something unexpected? A short story that stays with you? How about a novelette or novella that you’d recommend to others?

I look forward to reading about your short fiction finds in the comments below!

A.H. Plotts writes and watches horror and dark sci-fi stories. She also likes playing in her garden, catching the waves, and eating delicious food on the California coast. Find her rantings all about it at www.ahplottsthecoast.com.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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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 parents in Young Adult literature—can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Teens are exploring their world for the first time, attempting to establish their own identity separate from their families of origin, so you will find almost all characters going on adventures independent of their parents.

If you are writing a young adult novel, it’s important to consider your characters’ parents on the front end, and develop them into three-dimensional, well rounded, fully fleshed out people to avoid stereotypes and cookie cutter plot devices.

Where it Started, Where We AreWhen some of the first young adult novels came out in the 1960s, Julie Just from the New York Times said the parent narrative “fit in neatly with the classic narratives: its strongest stories were about orphans and lost boys of one kind or another.” In these novels, issues weren’t with parents but with other kids.

But by the 70s and 80s, the narrative started to shift the conflict from friendships to what was happening at home. This is where the problem parent narrative entered the scene, and has never left. It’s not to say all parents should be problematic, because surely there are still supportive parents out there, but you do have to consider the role the parents will play because it’s a significant part of young adults lives…and of course, how to get rid of them so teens characters can go on their adventures.

Approaches to Developing Your Characters’ ParentsActive and supportive parents By all means, you can make the parents a positive force in your protagonist’s life. Or even if the protagonist’s parents aren’t the greatest, one of the side characters could have supportive parents. They can serve as mentors, confidants, or sources of guidance for the protagonist.

This approach emphasizes a positive parent-child relationship and showcases the protagonist’s growth while navigating challenges.

Here are a few examples of novels who took this approach:

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: The protagonist, Starr, has parents who are actively involved in her life, providing support and guidance as she navigates the aftermath of witnessing a police shooting.
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: Although Harry’s parents are deceased so you wouldn’t consider them active, their love and sacrifice play a significant role throughout the series, shaping Harry’s journey and providing emotional support.

Tips for crafting Active and Supportive Parents

• Show moments of emotional connection between the parents and your characters.
• Illustrate how the parents’ guidance and presence positively impact the protagonist’s journey.
• Use the parents’ wisdom or advice to provide insights and lessons for your characters’ growth.

Absent or Neglectful ParentsAbsent or neglectful parents create a ton of opportunities for tension and conflict. This can lead the protagonist down the path of having to fend for themselves or seek support from alternative sources, such as friends, mentors, or other family members. It allows for a greater sense of independence and self-discovery as the protagonist overcomes obstacles.

And the reality for a lot of kids is this is their lived experience, so experiencing a character overcoming this struggle can help them process their own life circumstances.

Check out these novels for examples of this approach to parents:

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: The main character, Feyre, has a neglectful and unsupportive family. Her journey takes her into the magical Fae realm where she finds a new family and discovers her own strength.
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: The novel tells the story of two misfit teenagers, Eleanor and Park, who bond over music and comics. Eleanor comes from a troubled home with neglectful and abusive parents, which adds to the challenges they face in their relationship.

Tips for crafting Absent or Neglectful Parents

• Explore the protagonist’s emotions and reactions to their parents’ absence, such as feelings of abandonment or independence.
• Emphasize the impact of the absent or neglectful parents on the protagonist’s self-reliance and resilience.
• Showcase the protagonist seeking alternative sources of support and building relationships with other characters.

Overprotective or Controlling Parents This is basically the opposite of the parental figure we just explored. There are so many challenges characters can face when dealing with overprotective or controlling parents, and a tremendous amount of conflict can come from this.

In some novels, this role of the parents actually creates the plot in the novel. Obstacles arise as the main character tries to assert her independence, make her own choices, or pursue her dreams. The positive side, it creates opportunities for the protagonist to develop resilience and assertiveness.

Here are a couple novels that wrote this kind of parental figure well:

• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon: This is a novel where the main character’s overprotective mom creates the plot for the whole novel. Olly has a rare disease, where she is allergic to basically the whole world, and her mother keeps her protected from it. But when the new boy next door catches Olly’s eye, she begins to push the boundaries of her mother’s rules thus setting the story into motion.
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: The story features a wealthy family known as the Sinclairs, and the main character, Cadence, has overprotective parents who try to control her life. Their actions and secrets play a significant role in the unfolding mystery.

Tips for Crafting Overprotective or Controlling Parents

• Highlight the tension and conflict arising from the overprotective or controlling behavior.
• Explore the internal struggle of the protagonist, torn between their desire for independence and their parents’ restrictions.
• Allow the protagonist to assert their autonomy and challenge their parents’ control throughout the story, creating opportunities for the protagonist to defy their parents’ expectations and find their own path.

Complex Parent-Child RelationshipsNo one is really all good or all bad, right? Creating nuanced parent-child relationships that blend positive and negative aspects might be the most realistic approach to developing parents in young adult novels.

Showing the complexities of family dynamics, with parents who have their own flaws, conflicting expectations, or differing values from the protagonist can add depth and realism to the story.

A couple examples of novels that did this well are:

• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: The main character, Samantha, experiences a time loop, reliving the last day of her life repeatedly. Her complex relationship with her parents, including their expectations and conflicts, contributes to the overall narrative and Samantha’s self-discovery.
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: The characters in this novel come from various backgrounds with complex relationships with their parents or parental figures. Kaz Brekker, for example, has a complicated history with his deceased parents, which shapes his actions and motivations.

Tips for Crafting Complex Parent-Child Relationships

• Unveil the layers of the relationship through meaningful dialogue, flashbacks, or shared experiences.
• Explore the conflicts, misunderstandings, or differing values that shape the complexity of the parent-child dynamic.
• Show instances where the protagonist learns from their parents or reevaluates their relationship as they grow and change.

Parental Absence Due to External Factors Sometimes parents might be absent, but it’s not because they don’t care or are neglectful. External circumstances could be forcing the parental absence, such as work commitments, illness, death, or other external factors.

This can create a sense of longing or loss for the protagonist, leading them to seek understanding or fill the void in their lives. It also offers opportunities for personal growth, resilience, and the formation of unconventional support networks.

Check out these novels that show this type of parental relationship:

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: In this West African-inspired fantasy, Zélie’s mother is absent due to being killed in a brutal raid. Her absence fuels Zélie’s desire for justice and sets her on a quest to restore magic to her world.
• The Clock Strikes by Dominique Richardson and Sorboni Banerjee: This is the fourth novel in my Everbeach series, and Elle’s father is absent but not because he doesn’t want to be there, but because he’s a truck driver and his work takes him on the road. This leaves Elle at the mercy of her soon-to-be-step mother Juniper, and she seeks guidance and comfort with her godmother, Titania.

Tips for Crafting Parental Absence Due to External Factors

• Establish the reasons behind the parental absence, such as work, illness, or other circumstances.
• Depict the protagonist’s emotional response to the absence, capturing their longing, grief, or resilience.
• Introduce surrogate parental figures or unconventional support networks to fill the void left by the absent parents.

Whether the parents in your young adult novel will have a positive or negative impact (or even a mix of both) is yours to determine. Hopefully these ideas, examples, and tips will help you craft well-rounded, three dimensional parents for your young adult novel.

Dominique Richardson is the coauthor of The Everbeach Series—a young adult, romantic suspense series full of forbidden romance, deadly twists, and scandalous secrets that will keep you turning pages into the night. The fourth and final book in the series comes out June 6th. Check out the first book, Red as Blood, if you’re looking for your next bingeable read. Passionate about all things books and giving back to the community, she is also the Executive Director and cofounder of YA by the Bay, a nonprofit young adult reading and leadership festival, dedicated to inspiring teens to “be the author of your own life.” Raised between Jamaica and the United States, her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. She now lives in Tampa, Florida with her family.

She would love to connect with you! Find her online on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. If you’d like to stay in the know about her upcoming book releases, sign-up for her email list. To learn more about the YA by the Bay Young Adult Book Festival, check out the website.

The post Crafting the Parents in Your YA Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Greetings and felicitations, fellow nerds of the word! The May 2023 Leisure Learning column focuses on literary contributions somehow related to the past. Gain insight into William Blake’s process for resurrecting the illuminated manuscript, meet some lesser-known family members chronically overshadowed by their famous relations, and see how Walt Disney’s soldiering days influenced early Disney films.

Finally, if you grew up writing when paper was all the rage (or the only thing available) and struggle with the technological nature of contemporary life, have a laugh at what it must’ve been like when we switched from scrolls to books via The Helpeth Desk.

May 2023 Leisure Learning PicksDisney Rocks the RococoA while back, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibit showcasing Walt Disney’s inspiration from the French Rococo period. This overview of the exhibit demonstrates how Disney translated not just the style but the ideas found flowing within the French decorative arts into some of the works that are now part of our cinematic canon (i.e., Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella).

This is worth showing younger children to help them understand how real life objects can inspire different forms of art and introduces just about everyone to the overlooked woman behind Cinderella’s concept art. While the exhibit video constitutes my family pick for the month, these elegant, erudite 26 minutes are best to take in with the adolescent artist in your life or simply to enjoy on your own with a nice cup of tea.

**Close ups of pieces mentioned in the video are available here.

Hernando Colón: Son of Columbus & Creator of BookshelvesHernando Colón (aka Ferdinand Columbus) is best known for being Christopher Columbus’s second illegitimate son as well as a dutiful biographer. However, he is rarely credited with what he considered his life’s work: creating the first European library.

Although he was illegitimate, Hernando was acknowledged and given everything a son could be given. Notably, he grew up in a number of different homes, always having access to aristocratic and even royal tutors. Early on, it was clear that, while his father was an explorer of the world, Hernando was an explorer of the mind.

As such, Hernando passionately attempted to incorporate all that he had learned with all that was being discovered. Europe’s first library held three times as many books as the largest private book collection at the time. Still, one of his overarching contributions often gets lost in his own narrative, and that is his innovative implementation of how to access this knowledge.

Hernando sought to put all of the world in order. After assembling numerous volumes of books, pamphlets, and anything else that could essentially be read, he paid an army of readers to write synopses and then log the various holdings.

In The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books, biographer Edward Wilson-Lee explains that prior to Hernando, bookshelves weren’t a thing. People walked into Hernando’s library and were astounded by not only the books but bookshelves! Prior to this, retrieving a tome from a tall stack was like playing an involuntary game of Jenga. His father might’ve found the New World, but Hernando made a new world. We owe the vertical placing of books to this guy.

If you’d like to see the floor plans and other visuals, this lecture by Wilson-Lee offers the best images available.

Normally, this would be the end of the write-up for Hernando Colón, godfather of the library (we can’t overlook the original in Alexandria). Yet, shortly after The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books was published, Hernando came into prominence again. In the spring of 2019, the codex containing his library holdings (El Libro de los Epítomes) resurfaced when accidentally purchased along with a collection of antiquarian Icelandic manuscripts. See a pic of the nearly foot-high volume and get up to speed with this NPR segment.

Letters Live Letters Live is a UK based organization that revives the art of written correspondence. Very much in the tradition of Mortified or The Moth, Letters Live has actors read letters that people have actually written or received. Their twist on it provides us with extremely well-dramatized, often humorous performances of something that has been largely lost in the age of texts and email.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Coleman, and Ian McKellan are just some of the actors who infuse written letters with new lives. The curated collection of readings runs the gamut from personal correspondence to legendary letters written to departments, companies, and institutions.

Here, Keegan Michael Key reads a response from The Smithsonian to the man who kept sending them “artifacts” from his backyard. Taika Waititi gives dramatic justice to an Auckland man replying to an inquiry from the Wellington Police Department. Re-live what a WWI captain wrote to his wife just as opposing forces called a truce on Christmas Eve.

If you are having a blah day, this is the perfect way to awaken your soul. Most YouTube clips are under five minutes and guaranteed to be emotionally gripping. Should you care to make an entire night of letters read live, entire performances of the show are available for free.

Medieval Words Worth RevivingRemember when you were a kid and simply saying “shenanigans” or “bamboozle” occupied a terrific few seconds of time? Just between you and me, words can be fun. I still regard saying silly things such as flibbertigibbet as a simple but great joy in life.

BBC newscaster Rob Watts feels the same. He is fascinated by words, and in this clip has done fellow linguaphiles the service of selecting top words from medieval English worth slipping into a conversation, manuscript or epic-ly controversial game of Scrabble.

Find out when “mango” didn’t refer to a fruit, consider adding “russin” into your routine, or wryly name a parrot “Papa Jay” after listening to this “Best of” 13th century Anglo-English ever recorded.

Viewers should note that Watts’s list was compiled from an original contribution made by die hard word nerd, Herbert Coleridge who, at age 17, cataloged all of the known words from medieval England (specifically, 1250-1300 AD).

BTW, if you were wondering, this does happen to be the grandson of the famed poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Love of English run in the family much?

William Blake, Mixed Media ArtistWilliam Blake is the Romantic poet best known forThe Tyger, his idiosyncratic revival of the illuminated manuscript form, and that one time he and his wife got caught reading Paradise Lost in the nude.

Well, maybe not so much that last one.

During his lifetime, Blake worked as an engraver while also practicing poetry and painting. His mind dwelled in the realm of the fantastic, favoring Heaven and Hell. Even today, his personal style is considered captivating and it is worth mentioning that Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris drew upon Blake’s Great Red Dragon paintings for his own book, Red Dragon.

These days, Blake might be considered a mixed media artist. This video contextualizes what that meant in the 18th century and how Blake achieved his still stunning effects.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post May 2023 Leisure Learning: Way, Way Back in the Day appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Writing a captivating novel (one that grabs readers like a new episode of Stranger Things) is perhaps the most challenging personal project you’ll willingly embark on.

Why? Because it demands a unique blend of creativity, craftsmanship, storytelling finesse, resilience, and the unwavering belief that you’re a literary genius, even when your words feel as lackluster as a soggy sandwich.

It requires you to juggle plot, character arcs, and prose, all while navigating your own rollercoaster of emotions.

It calls for unwavering motivation (potentially spanning years) in the face of exhaustion and burnout. It entails countless hours of writing, rewriting, and polishing until the words are etched into your brain, transforming into something unrecognizable.

That’s precisely why so few people actually complete and publish a novel, despite a whopping 81% of Americans believing they have a book within them, as revealed in the 2022 New York Times survey. But is there a way to make this arduous process more manageable?

Truth be told, there is: hire a book coach.

What Is a Book Coach?If the term “book coach” is new to you, let me shed some light on who they are and what they do.

You know how the world’s top athletes, like the legendary Serena Williams, work with personal coaches to enhance their skills in a particular sport? Well, a book coach fulfills a similar role, but for writers. They assist writers in developing the necessary skills, confidence, and mindset to navigate the chaos and frustration of novel writing. In essence, they keep writers invested in their projects, preventing them from throwing in the towel prematurely.

How do I know all this? Simple—I am a book coach myself, and I spend my days guiding writers through the treacherous pitfalls of novel writing.

Also, I’m in the middle of writing my debut novel, and I wisely invested the time and money to work with a brilliant book coach who keeps me motivated and moving in the right direction every day. I have been working with her for several years now, and she is the only reason I finished the first draft of my novel and confidently began chugging through the second draft a few months ago. She also made me a far, far better writer.

So, as you can see, I eat, sleep, and breathe book coaching, and I 100% believe in its power.

But for anyone who is still curious about how (exactly) a book coach can help a writer, let’s dig in.

Five Reasons You Should Hire a Book Coach1. A book coach is an experienced writing mentor who can help you improve your prose and storytelling abilities.Book coaches are the superheroes of the writing world, equipped with the ability to spot exceptional writing and storytelling. They possess the expertise to help writers shape their narratives, ensuring the perfect blend of structure, logic, and cause-and-effect flow. And let’s not forget their mystical power to unlock the elusive Voice that mesmerizes readers and keeps them glued to the pages of a novel.

The best part? A book coach is like your personal story physician, armed with x-ray vision to peer into the depths of your tale and diagnose any lurking issues. They have the knack for identifying what’s not working in your novel and, most importantly, they provide precise guidance on how to fix it. No more wasting endless weeks, months, or years wrestling with small uncertainties and stumbling blocks.

During my weekly readings of my clients’ pages, I’m always on the hunt for opportunities to make their writing shine in my comments and editorial letters.

Believe me, a book coach is an unparalleled champion of your work. No one will ever scrutinize your writing with such precision and dedication. With their focused attention, you have the power to elevate your craft and create a novel that will enthrall readers from start to finish.

1. A book coach is a project manager & accountability partner who can help you stay focused, motivated, and moving in a productive direction.I have the pleasure of working with writers at various stages of their journey, ranging from those who haven’t written a story in 20 years to bestselling authors in the traditional publishing world. And you know what? When it comes to taming their stubborn novels (at least in the initial stages), the process is pretty much the same across experience levels. Writers need assistance in organizing their ideas, shaping their plot, constructing their world building, developing their protagonist’s character arc, and establishing their priorities.

But here’s the secret sauce: They also need a solid deadline. They thrive when there’s someone eagerly awaiting the delivery of their pages on a specific date and time. Without that gentle push, the dreaded monster of procrastination can easily sabotage their chances of ever completing a novel.

By managing a client’s project, assisting them in prioritizing tasks, and gently holding them accountable for producing pages to be edited, a book coach becomes the driving force behind the transformation from a forgotten 30k document buried in a folder to a polished, completed novel.

1. A book coach is a brainstorming partner who can help you overcome plot and character challenges.One of the best things about having a book coach is having a brainstorming partner. Fiction writers often face obstacles when developing their stories or characters, and a coach can help them overcome those creative blocks.

For example, I’m currently working with a (very successful) author who sought my help because she’s writing a fantasy novel and knew she would struggle with the intricate world building. She knew that if she tried to do it alone, she would probably give up before she got very far.

But guess what? After just a few months of working together, she completed the crucial first stage of world building and character arc development, and had plunged into the exciting realm of crafting the opening scene of her novel.

And let me tell you, she wrote an impressive scene. It had depth and resonance. And, best of all, she felt totally confident writing it!

Why? Because she understood the importance of brainstorming in the process of creating a novel, and she made the wise decision to find an experienced book coach to assist her in completing the task.

1. A book coach is a relentless cheerleader and a support system who can help you stay motivated and see the greatness in your own work.Some days, the story flows through you like an electric current, sparking creativity onto the page. Other days, you’re convinced your novel is pure swill, questioning your skills as a writer and contemplating abandoning the whole vocation (for the sake of your mental health and readers’ innocent eyes).

That rollercoaster of emotions is all a part of the writer’s journey. Those feelings, unfortunately, are perfectly normal. However, they can tempt writers to give up on their novel.

Let’s face it, writing a novel is incredibly tough. It can be a lonely endeavor. Friends promise to read your work and provide feedback, but somehow they never quite get around to it. Or worse, they read it and only offer a noncommittal “it was great” without any constructive input.

But fear not, because a book coach is there to say, “I know this is hard. I truly understand. But you’re doing an amazing job!”

They say, “Page 38 had me laughing so hard…”

And they ask, “Did you celebrate finishing that first draft? That’s a tremendous accomplishment!”

They assure you, “Your future readers will adore this novel and be grateful you stuck with it!”

Speaking from personal experience, I look forward to every single session with my brilliant book coach. She understands the challenges, provides honest feedback, and helps me gain clarity when I’m ready to give up. Her encouragement keeps me motivated, knowing that when she praises a scene, she genuinely means it. Knowing that with her help, I will write the best novel I am capable of.

1. A book coach is an industry expert who can help you navigate pitching, publishing, and building an author platform.After pouring your heart and soul into your novel, it’s undeniably reassuring to have a support system in place, particularly if you’re a first-time author navigating uncharted territory.

By working with a book coach, you’ll benefit from expert guidance in establishing an author platform. They’ll help you navigate the intricate decision of whether to pursue traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, or self-publishing, ensuring the best path for you and your novel.

And, if you decide on traditional publishing, they’ll help you select comp titles and provide you with invaluable resources on crafting a captivating query letter and synopsis. They’ll even assist you in editing and revising those crucial documents.

Finally, your book coach will offer valuable insights on determining the most suitable literary agents for your work.

Final ThoughtsYes, finding a book coach that is a perfect fit for you might be challenging. And, yes, book coaching can be expensive. And, no, there is no guarantee that your novel will be picked up by a literary agent, published by one of the big five publishing houses, or make any bestseller list.

All those things might happen… or none of them might happen.

But I’m not convinced those are the most important things to writers, anyway. The real benefits of working with a book coach are much more profound and personal: you will learn how to be a better storyteller, and you will finish a manuscript you’re really proud of.

And to me, that’s what genuine success is all about, regardless of any accolades that may or may not come your way.

Dr. Heather Davis is a storyteller, Author Accelerator certified book coach, developmental editor, author platform expert, the founder of The Kreative Authorpreneur. She helps aspiring diversity authors from all over the world develop the skills and confidence they need to write powerful novels that turn casual readers into loyal fans.

Heather has studied under story experts Lisa Cron, Jennie Nash, and Ben Frahm. She is a contributor to Jane Friedman’s and DIY MFA’s popular writing blogs and has been featured on podcasts such as Editing Writing and Turning Readers into Writers.

Heather lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where she loves slow trail running, sipping iced mocha lattes with too much whipped cream, and binging audiobooks like some people binge Netflix.

Click here for Heather’s free 7-Step Guide to an Unputdownable First Chapter!

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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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 and solves the problem in a way only he or she can, the story feels inevitable and satisfying in the best way. We want to see that character go on adventure after adventure, even if those adventures are small things like making a gift for a friend or sleeping with the lights out.

So how can you create your own picture book magic?

I’m constantly encouraging writers to read intentionally, and with picture books, there’s no excuse not to read hundreds. Check out all the new releases at your library and visit your local indie bookstore. Look for the books that are face out and on tables to get a sense of what’s popular.

Avoid reading books that have been out for more than a few years, not because they aren’t good and there’s no value in looking back, but because it’s a good idea to understand what’s selling now.

As you read yourself these questions:1. Who is the main character? What makes this character special? It should be possible to summarize each character with a sentence. (There might be more to them than that, but the essential details can be summed up.)

Most characters in picture books are children or childlike. When you’re developing a picture book character, your character needs to be going through the same things your reader is. Even if the setting is wildly different, the struggles and the emotions will be familiar. Readers are interested in reading about characters they identify with.

1. What does this character want or need? The answer should be simple, clearly defined, kid-friendly, and relatable.

The character may or may not know what they want or need, but as the writer, you should be able to identify it.

1. How is the main character’s identity connected to the story? We often talk about character development like it’s its own separate element, and that can be helpful when we’re studying the art of writing. But in picture books, character, plot, and theme are woven together so tightly that it makes sense to think about them as a whole too.

2. How does this character learn or grow? It’s ok if the answer is “They don’t really learn or grow.” Not all picture book characters do.

With popular series, it’s common for the main character to be consistent across the series, and sometimes it’s the secondary characters that do the learning and growing.

Takes Notes on What You LikeMany picture books follow a classic format, introducing the main character and a problem. There are three attempts to solve the problem. Then there’s a big moment and the main character is brave. They grow and change in some way. Then there’s a conclusion that shows how life will move forward.

But there are LOTS of ways to be a main character, and LOTS of ways to build a story around them.

Take notes on what kinds of characters you’re drawn to. We all tend to naturally connect with some people (and characters) more than others.

Don’t overthink it or feel like you need to understand why or compensate and practice liking other kinds of people (and characters). Just trust what you like and spend some time playing around with those kinds of characters. Hopefully as you read, you’ll have some clear likes and dislikes and get to know your own taste better.

Add Layers to Your Main CharacterCreating a character isn’t something that you do at the beginning of a project and then you’re done. You continue to add layers throughout the writing process.

After you’ve written a draft that feels like it’s headed in the right direction, try making a list of everything your character does in the story. Does it all feel consistent and true to the character? What happens if the character does the opposite of what you expect? Make a list of everything the character says. Does it feel consistent and true to the character?

Pay extra attention to the way the reader meets the character. Where does the reader first get to know the character? What does your character do first?

The protagonist is the heartbeat of any story, and it can take time to get to know your character—or quiet the voices that tell you, “That’s too simple” or “That’s too wild.” But when you find yourself excited to spend time with your character and just thinking about your story makes you smile, you know you’re on the right path.

So what kind of picture book character will you create?

There’s so much room for creativity.

The books that are selling right now tend to tell simple stories that connect to bigger ideas and suggest there is more to explore in that world.

We need more she/her and they/them characters! We are far from seeing people of color well represented in picture books (on the creative side or in the books themselves). So please create characters that reflect the world we live in.

And remember you don’t need to create another Eloise or Little Blue Truck. You need to create your little weirdo. The imaginary friend you want to know everything about. The unlikely but totally relatable creature. The funny, sweet little guy who makes you smile when you picture him doing ordinary things. Your own inner beastie! That’s who you should write about.

Writer and editor Heidi Fiedler has worked on hundreds of children’s books for clients ranging from Chronicle to Bravery Magazine. She also teaches masterclasses and coaches writers, so they can move forward with confidence and ease. Take a class, download free resources, and get inspired at helloheidifiedler.com or say hi on Instagram @heidifiedler.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Daniel Weizmann. They’ll be talking about his neo-noir mystery, The Last Songbird.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Daniel Weizmann and Lori discuss:* Why you should resist the urge to explain yourself in your writing. * How to use the negative space to maximum effect. * The role of music in his process and its impact in his novel.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.About Daniel WeizmannDaniel Weizmann got his start at 13 under the nom de plume Shredder, writing for the legendary Flipside Fanzine. He went on to write for the LA Weekly, LA Times, Billboard, the Guardian, and others. He contributed to several books, including Drinking with Bukowski, Hardcore California, Too Cool, Timothy Leary’s last work, and DeeDee Ramone’s autobio. He has also written volumes for Def Jam rappers, standup comics, Mad Libs, and more. The Last Songbird is his debut mystery.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Last SongbirdA gritty, fast-paced neo-noir that explores the consumptive nature of fame, celebrity, and motherhood through the lens of a driver lost in the gig economy.

A struggling songwriter and Lyft driver, Adam Zantz’s life changes when he accepts a ride request in Malibu and 1970s music icon Annie Linden enters his dented VW Jetta. Bonding during that initial ride, the two quickly go off app— over the next three years, Adam becomes her exclusive driver and Annie listens to his music, encouraging Adam even as he finds himself driving more often than songwriting.

Then, Annie disappears, and her body washes up under a pier. Left with a final, cryptic text— ‘come to my arms’— a grieving Adam plays amateur detective, only to be charged as accomplice-after-the-fact. Desperate to clear his name and discover who killed the one person who believed in his music when no one else in his life did, Adam digs deep into Annie’s past, turning up an old guitar teacher, sworn enemies and lovers, and a long-held secret that spills into the dark world of a shocking underground Men’s Rights movement. As he drives the outskirts of Los Angeles in California, Adam comes to question how well he, or anyone else, knew Annie— if at all.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 463(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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I spent the first months of 2023 reading Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novels, most for the first time. It all started when I read The ABC Murders. I received a Nintendo Switch Lite and the video game The ABC Murders for Christmas and I didn’t want the game to spoil the book.

I enjoyed The ABC Murders and just kept going with the Poirot series. I’ve wanted to read Christie’s books for years. My grandmother loved them and so many mystery writers say they learned all about plotting from her. Christie was a plotter par excellence. Her stories are twisty and unrealistic, but they work. Every single loose end tucks in. Plus, how have I been writing this column for three years without devoting one to Dame Agatha?

It took me a while to figure out what to write about Poirot. He is a big subject. He debuted in Christie’s first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920. The fastidious Belgian (not French as he must often remind those who assume) with the magnificent mustaches, egg-shaped head, green eyes that glow when he begins to figure things out, and passion for order and symmetry endeared himself to readers, despite his enormous ego, as they reveled in Christie’s complex puzzle mysteries.

Poirot and his “little gray cells” (his preferred metaphor for brains) proved so popular that 33 of Christie’s 66 detective novels comprise part of the Poirot series. Fifty-nine short stories and a play by Christie and four new novels by author Sophie Hannah feature him as well.

Christie herself both loved and hated him, asking herself why in the world she gave him an egg-shaped head.

Prior to the publication of Poirot’s last Christie case, Curtain, the New York Times ran a front page obituary, the first time that was done for a fictional character. He’s also been portrayed on stage, radio, and screen by such actors as Albert Finney, David Suchet (considered by many to be the definitive Poirot), John Malkovich, and Kenneth Branagh, who wins the award for most outlandish Poirot mustaches.

You see my dilemma. Huge subject within another huge subject (Christie) who have both already been well-covered. I could write about my favorite Poirots. I considered writing about the twistiest plots, but that would necessitate spoilers galore.

So, welcome to the Poirot Awards. I chose four unique Poirot novels and highlighted the characteristics that make them so unique. Don your finery and walk the very straight and symmetrical red carpet. But beware. Where Poirot goes, murder follows.

Note: I want to acknowledge that Christie’s books contain racist, sexist, classist, and anti-Semitic attitudes and comments. Some are definitely worse than others. (I’m looking at you, Dumb Witness.) I in no way excuse or condone any of that and hope you will read her books with care if you choose to do so.

Twistiest Plot: The Murder on the LinksPoirot receives a letter from a Mr. Renauld in France. He says he is in danger and implores Poirot to come and help him. Unfortunately, by the time Poirot and his friend Captain Hastings arrive Mr. Renauld is already dead. Intruders broke in and bound and gagged his wife before walking him out and shooting him before an open grave. (Just over the Renauld property line on a golf course, hence the title.)

Why It Wins This Category You keep thinking you know the culprit. All signs point there. Poirot even talks as if they are the culprit. But Christie pulls the rug out from under the reader over and over. Poirot demonstrates why it is NOT so and the story twists in another direction. I kept going back and making sure I understood what happened.

Most Experimental: The ABC Murders Poirot begins receiving letters from someone called ABC. Each tells of a murder that they will commit unless Poirot stops them. The first one is Alice Archer in Andover and so on through the alphabet with the first letters of the town and of the victim’s names matching.

Why It Wins This Category This conceit could have been ridiculous with anyone but Christie. Yes, serial murderers like to play games with police sometimes, but this seems a terrifically hard one to pull off, especially in these small English towns. Plus, she experiments with the idea of Poirot losing the challenge. The murderer manages to stay one step ahead of Poirot…for a while.

Most Original Method of Murder: Death in the Clouds On a flight from France to England (on a dirigible), an old French woman is found dead. She has a mark on the side of her neck and a wasp was seen flying around earlier. But then a dart decorated like a wasp is found on the floor, as well as a blowpipe stuffed down behind the seat of fellow passenger Hercule Poirot.

No one saw anything. How did someone blow a poison dart across the full cabin and no one see anything?

Why It Wins This Category Killed by a poison dart covered in boomslang (a snake native to Africa) venom on a dirigible. Need I say more?

Most Original Plot: Cards on the Table This one employed such a clever conceit. The victim (Mr. Shaitana) claims to Poirot that he collects murderers. He invites Poirot to a dinner party to prove it.

There are eight guests at the party, including Poirot. Three are detectives like him—Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver, and Superintendent Battle. All are Christie series characters who appear in books of their own.

The two groups—four alleged murderers the host has befriended and the four detectives—are split into those two groups to play bridge. The party eventually begins to break up and they discover their host is dead. He was stabbed with a thin stiletto from one of his tables cluttered with his collections.

He must have been right about at least one of the murderers. But which? Who got spooked by the host’s speech and killed him in plain sight during a bridge game? (The four detectives were playing in the other room.)

Why It Wins This Category Collects murderers and invites them to a party full of famous detectives? If that is true, they’ve all escaped detection before. Are they actually murderers? Which one killed their host? Poirot and his fellow detectives must not only investigate the death of Mr. Shaitana, but find and investigate the other four alleged murders. Alleged murderers vs. detectives, who will win?

Christie’s plotting ability wows me. I also found that she creates deeper characters than she receives credit for, especially in the later books. The emphasis is on the puzzle, but she doesn’t skimp on the other important elements of fiction. I think I see more Christie columns in my future. In the meantime, let me know your favorite Poirot novels and on-screen portrayals!

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

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This installment of the Book Coach Corner series addresses two common misconceptions writers have about when to start writing a novel and when to hire a book coach. Sometimes a book coach is the missing resource a writer needs to help them start their novel.

Book Coach RecapBook coaches can support writers throughout the novel-writing process because one of their superpowers is determining what a writer needs to move forward. They will meet a writer where the writer is at any point in time: when the writer is first starting to work with them; when the writer shifts from one phase of writing their novel to the next; and at any time the writer needs to pivot—a mindset, writing process, story structure, story line, or character that’s no longer working for them.

This flexibility is one of the key advantages of working with a book coach since it allows a writer to work with a partner before they have completed a draft, much less completed a revised manuscript that’s deemed clean enough for another’s eyes. This is when most writers first reach out to work with a book editor to get feedback on what they’ve written.

Instead, a book coach can be there to back up a writer to make sure they finish that first draft or round of revisions and don’t succumb to the internal and external forces that will inevitably throw up roadblocks before a writer finishes writing their book.

The “I Must Be Ready Before I Start My Novel” Roadblocks: 1. “My Novel Must Be My Top Priority. I Must Have the Perfect Writing Routine.”Many beginning writers think they must make their novel their top priority, and they must have everything figured out before they start to write it—or before they ask someone else to support them in writing it.

One way this attitude manifests is that some writers take an all or nothing approach, where they feel pressured to take time off, toil away in a cabin in the woods, and write a best-selling novel. This is one shared by many writers, yet it’s a reality for very few published authors.

Rather, most writers must juggle writing their novel with their already chaotic life. It’s easy to get down on ourselves when we can’t stick to a perfect schedule for something as important to us as our own dreams.

Another way this attitude appears is when writers feel like the universe is the enemy, putting up roadblocks everywhere. And sometimes that just might be the case for a short while, but using this as an excuse to avoid making progress on your dreams will get you nowhere fast.

In fact, most of us would be hard-pressed to find any aspect of our life where we’ve shown up 100%… forever. So, why should writing a novel be any different?

New Perspectives To Try

• Fluid and Flexible: Start writing your novel now even though you know that your writing life and goals will need to be treated with the same fluidity and flexibility that apply to the rest of your life’s responsibilities and aspirations.
• Open-Minded: Be open-minded to new ways of doing things and reimagine what writing productivity and progress means to you.
• Recover the Fumble and Try Again: When you drop the ball, mess up, or fail, cut yourself some slack, pick up the ball—or yourself—reboot, and start over.

How Can a Book Coach Help?

• Roadmap: A book coach will figure out what you need to move forward, design the roadmap, provide guidance and recommendations on next steps and new things to try, and identify how to course correct and get you back on the road when you hit a detour.

• Slow and Steady Scheduling: Many coaches recommend one to two submission deadlines per month (instead of weekly deadlines) to give their writers the space they need to meet all their responsibilities, including their writing assignments. Although you may take twice as long to complete a draft, you will still reach your goal faster than waiting until you think you have enough time to focus on your story to start.

• “I Must Have a Fully Baked Story… I Must Know Every Step in The Process…”Some writers think they must have the plot, every storyline, and every character figured out—plus how to get from idea to publication—before they start to write their novel or share anything with anyone. There are three ways this roadblock rears its ugly head.

First, some writers will delay starting a novel because they lack clarity on where they’re headed. This can be as simple as not knowing what next step to take. It can be as complicated as not knowing what happens in the story, or why they can’t shake the story even though they don’t know why they want to write it. And everything in between.

Secondly, many writers hope that writing their novel will be a straight line from start to finish. Instead, the writing process is a constant state of creation and iteration. Each idea becomes words on the paper that ebb and flow over many rounds of revision.

Ideas rarely end up in the same form as where they started, assuming they don’t end up on the cutting room floor. Trying to figure out every step at the start is inefficient because the steps will change over time.

And, if a writer’s goal is to wait until their ideas, much less their words, are fully baked before writing or sharing, they will inevitably be waiting until they’ve completed multiple revisions of their draft manuscript before seeking feedback.

Finally, writers who decide to delay asking for feedback often wait until they can no longer deny that something they’re doing is not working. Ultimately, they need to pivot and change their approach. But it’s much easier for a writer to pivot when they’re in the idea-generating zone and brainstorming a novel from 30,000 feet than after they’ve invested months or years in writing a draft manuscript that doesn’t work.

New Perspectives To Try

• Just Start: Start now, regardless of where you’re at, knowing that you will need to problem solve as you go.
• Stay in Motion and Curious: Keeping your mind and ideas in motion is critical to writing the best story you can. Looking at your writing from different angles throughout the drafting process, and not just at set intervals (such as a new round of revisions), will help you avoid detours down dead-end streets.
• Keep Pivoting: At times, you will need to discover and implement a new perspective, whether it’s one you come up with on your own or with help from others.

How Can a Book Coach Help?

• Focused Framework: A book coach can provide a methodology for brainstorming and structuring a novel before you begin to write it, which will save you time in the long-run. Then, they can design an individualized roadmap to move you through the novel-writing phases as efficiently as possible.
• Increased Bandwidth: Juggling ideating and writing forward while also assessing where you are can be challenging to do in a vacuum. A book coach can help you by supplying extra hours, brain space, and fresh perspectives focused on your novel in real-time as you brainstorm ideas, write, revise, and assess whether your draft is working.

Next StepsIf you’ve been holding yourself back from writing a novel, I hope the new perspectives recommended above help you reframe and break through your resistance, so you can start writing your novel now, not someday.

Take some time to revisit and identify which common attitudes described above are your biggest roadblocks. Pick one to start with and identify one action you can take that will move you forward from where you are today. For example, if you don’t know where to start, you can start with a writing handbook or an online course, such as the ones offered in the DIY MFA universe—DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira, DIY MFA 101, or one of the other programs offered.

You can also research and interview some book coaches to see if one might be a great fit for you. If you are new to book coaching and are interested in learning more about what book coaches do and how they can help you and your writing, check out Book Coach Corner: Book Coaching 101andVirtual Writers Sabbatical: Discovering the Art of Book Coaching.

Remember, you just need to take one step forward at a time to see progress. But you must take that first step to start you on your novel-writing journey!

Until next time, happy writing!

Tell us in the comments: What’s been your biggest roadblock to starting a novel?

Richelle Lyn is a certified Author Accelerator book coach and a writer. Her favorite fiction reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer their fears while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She’s also a fan of non-fiction reads focused on personal growth and transformation. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip.

You can check her out on Instagram, Twitter, or www.MindYourGapTrip.com.

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When the writing isn’t going well, I often go to the kitchen, not to consume (well, sometimes), but to reconnect with the creative flow. Seeking kitchen inspiration, I rediscovered the seminal cooking show, The French Chef.

The first thing I noticed is that culinary icon Julia Child isn’t perfect. She loses her train of thought, grabs the wrong ingredient, and forgets to set the timer.

Instead, she’s entirely relatable, a quality that kept me watching well into writing time as she presented recipes with warmth and enthusiasm, fully confident that her viewers could do what she had learned to do. Cheerfulness, relatability, food. This is comfort TV.

Maybe it was the way she delivered her culinary bon mots, but I found they related to writing as well.

Here are five morsels of writing advice from The French Chef:1. “The only way you learn how to flip things is to flip them.”Julia is making a potato pancake in a skillet. She’s talking about having the courage of your convictions when it comes time to flip the pancake. She heaves the skillet, the pancake turns in the air, and half of it lands on the stove. She admits that she didn’t have the courage of her convictions. She then demonstrates the flip again. Parfait.

The fear of getting it wrong can be paralyzing. What if changing the POV doesn’t work? What if the battle scene falls flat? What if the potato pancake lands on my foot? Then it lands on my foot. But I won’t know where it will land if I never flip it.

Julia knew that the antidote to fear is action, and in being willing to get it wrong she shows that it’s okay not to get it right.

Maybe that battle scene will work, or maybe it will inexplicably turn into a beach party. It doesn’t matter. When I accept that it may not go to plan, I no longer have anything to lose and I’m free to take that all-important first step and let the potato pancake fly.

Recipe from The French Chef: equal measures courage and conviction; toss with gusto.

1. “It doesn’t taste good now at all because the wine is raw.”Julia has added wine to the bœuf bourguignon. She tastes it, makes a sour face, then looks pleased. The wine needs time to cook, she explains, to blend with the meat and render its flavor.

Julia says that tasting the food is a privilege of the cook. D’accord. But with that privilege comes the understanding of where you are in the process.

Too often I judge my work by unfair standards. I look at my freshly-stomped grapes and criticize them for not being prosecco. But recipes are more than their ingredients. They’re also a series of steps. Everything from roast to toast needs time to become what it will be (and no amount of hovering over the toaster makes it toast any faster).

For me, writing a first draft is like scattering breadcrumbs over a waterfall. It’s a shocking, overwritten, underwritten, undulating mess. The ideas are there, but it’s chaos. And that’s okay. The work is raw, which is exactly what it’s supposed to be right now. I don’t have to like what it is right now, but knowing and trusting the process keeps me on track.

Recipe from The French Chef: one bottle of mindfulness; decant.

1. “And then you whack off the head.”The kitchen is no place to be squeamish. Watching Julia prepare bouillabaisse and explaining how to peel an eel (I admit to momentary light-headedness), or dismember live lobster, or take defrosted frozen spinach “by the handfuls and just cruelly squeeze all the water possible out of it,” it’s clear she is a no-holds-barred cook.

To get the work done, one must sometimes do unsavory things (such as watch the entire episode on sweetbreads and brains).

There are parts of being a writer that I love. And there are parts I love to avoid. I may think I have the upper hand by actively avoiding updating my website or revising a troubled story. But by delaying the inevitable, I’ve surrendered control to a bad habit and undermined my own authority. Quel dommage.

When Julia whacks off the fish head, she is more than fearless. She is master of her kitchen, delighting in her skills and her ability to take on any job that needs doing.

Clearly, it’s much more fun to take control than to be controlled.

Recipe from The French Chef: one unpleasant task; show it who’s boss.

1. “You don’t want people ever to taste something and say, ‘Oh, nutmeg.’”Making the sauce for a spinach turnover, Julia uses “just a speck” of nutmeg, enough to take the dish to the next level, but never so much that it’s identifiable. Nutmeg is potent, but used correctly, it never announces itself. It hints, it suggests, it insinuates. Just a dash ensures that the spinach is the star of this turnover.

I love secret ingredients.

Even in writing, there are tools, tricks, and techniques that give stories that je ne sais quoi readers love. But careful measures are key. Too heavy-handed, and it’s obvious I’m foreshadowing the mentor character, or planting a red herring, or that I know how to use the rule of three.

And then there are all those interesting things I found in my research, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

If the writing elements upstage the story, the reader’s focus is on them. Just a pinch here and there, and the focus remains on the story.

Recipe from The French Chef: writer genius; sprinkle lightly.

1. “So let’s take a look at this terrifying monster, this mystery soufflé.”“And what is it, after all? Well, it’s melted chocolate. We’ve done that before. It’s white sauce, we’ve done that. As a matter of fact, I’ve news for you. You’ve known how to make a chocolate soufflé all along.”

(Le gasp!) Quoi?!

Julia drops this bombshell on her viewers at the end of the episode. The recipe is complicated, and with the looming danger of deflated egg whites, intimidating for first-time makers. But Julia lays it on the table; combine your knowledge base and voilà, chocolate soufflé.

From horror series to high fantasy to historical manga, it’s easy to think that some projects are just beyond me. Sometimes it’s the scope of the project, sometimes it’s the fact that I’ve never done it before that feels overwhelming and outside my skillset.

But even a seemingly complicated project is a combination of basic skills. Reducing the monstrous undertaking to its bare components is a quick way to relieve pressure and deflate the terrifying beast. I may even find that I already know how to write heroic cookbooks.

Recipe from The French Chef: one overwhelming project; separate into friendly portions.

I hope these tidbits whet your appetite for some scrumptious writing sessions. Borrowing from Julia’s famous sign-off, bon appétit, les écrivains!

J. M. Kessler is the author of the children’s book, The Squirrelly Nut Gig, as well as short stories and plays. She has a BA in theatre, and is a classic film fan, Whovian, knitter, and nature lover.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

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“This is my roommate, Cat. She’s a writer.”

I nearly lost my lunch the first time my friend, then roommate of six years, Ethan, introduced me that way at his birthday party. Ethan and I met in 2017 at work, folding hoodies at Lululemon in downtown Manhattan. We had both recently graduated from college. He dreamt of Broadway; I dreamt of a book with my name on it. But that wasn’t something I usually told people, certainly not at introduction.

I had been an English major (with an emphasis in Creative Writing) in college, which meant that I knew plenty about F. Scott Fitzgerald and very little about how to build an actual career as a writer.

Sure, I was writing almost every day, but my job was to hawk Energy sports bras and Align pants. It would never have occurred to me to introduce myself as a writer, because in my mind, writers were people who got paid to write things that were then published. I had never been published anywhere, with a small stack of rejections from my high school and college literary magazines to prove it.

When I moved to the city after graduation, I didn’t do so alone. I was surrounded by friends from high school and college, none of whom were taking time in retail to figure things out. They were analysts at investment banks, assistants at interior design firms, journalism students.

My coworkers at Lululemon, on the other hand, were all pursuing big, creative dreams. Suddenly, I had a community of people who had all moved to New York with aspirations they had nurtured since they were kids, since they got that first blue ribbon or won that talent show and felt something shift inside them that could never be undone. Most of this community consisted of performers, which I am most certainly not (this is a good reminder to burn the home video footage of a sixth grade talent fiasco I will not detail further) but for the first time, I had people to connect with about my somewhat ill-advised, thus far fruitless, and straight up unrealistic goals.

I had been working on a collection of short stories about some teenagers and then a young adult novel that both belong in the firepit right next to that home video footage. Then, Ethan and I moved in together.

And then the pandemic hit. I had this idea for a novel I thought could be something, and suddenly, a lot of time on my hands. And most importantly, I had someone I had to face every day who knew these things.

Ethan did two really important things for me here, and these things are the difference between my having a novel out in the world and not. The first is that he recognized me, out loud, as a writer even before I felt comfortable recognizing myself as one, though of course, if you’re writing every day, whether you’re paid to do it or not: you’re a writer.

The second thing he did was hold me accountable. Every day during lockdown, we would toil away at our day jobs, then eat dinner, drink several glasses of wine, and demand that the other person go into their room and not come out until they had gotten their writing done for the day. I’d go into my bedroom, try to figure out who this family was that wouldn’t shut up in my head, and he’d sit at his keyboard and write songs.

My debut novel came out last week, and those songs that Ethan wrote have been performed all over the world, including most recently at the Public. He also recently returned from a Broadway tour (let me brag on him, okay?).

There are plenty of statistics out there that detail how much more likely people are to reach their goals when they declare them, out loud, to other people. I know that I would not have been able to complete a whole draft of a novel without him breathing down my neck (as I had requested), would not have had the bravery to really go for it had I not met all those other creatives I used to fold leggings alongside in Downtown Manhattan.

If you want to be a writer, institute a community for yourself. And they don’t have to be other writers; I think any creative pursuit will do.

In fact, if you’re the competitive type, it may be better for you to find a community of people who aren’t trying to do exactly what you’re trying to do.

Either way, find a community who understands what it is you’re going for. Who you can complain to when things get tough. Who will encourage you, and who will not let you watch an episode of The Comeback until you’ve eked out 250 more words. You’ll do the same for them.

And then, if you keep trying and get really lucky, you may be standing next to them on the corner of 87th and York one day, and your phone is ringing because there are offers on your novel, and you just might get to receive the news that your biggest, most closely held dream is coming true, right beside the person you couldn’t have done it without.

Catherine Shook graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016 with degrees in Creative Writing and Mass Media Arts. Born and raised in Georgia, she now lives in Manhattan. If We’re Being Honest is her first novel.

You can follow her on Instagram.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Jolene Mcilwain. They’ll be talking about Sidle Creek and centering a short story collection around a place.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Jolene Mcilwain and Lori discuss:* Why the length of a story doesn’t equate its emotional impact. * How to center a collection around a place and add enough grounding details. * Taking on stereotypes and going deeper in your writing.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Jolene McilwainJolene McIlwain’s fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appears in West Branch, Florida Review, Cincinnati Review, New Orleans Review, Northern Appalachia Review, and 2019’s Best Small Fictions Anthology. Her work was named finalist for 2018’s Best of the Net, Glimmer Train’s and River Styx’s contests, and semifinalist in Nimrod’s Katherine Anne Porter Prize and two American Short Fiction’s contests. She’s received a Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council grant, the Georgia Court Chautauqua faculty scholarship, and Tinker Mountain’s merit scholarship. She taught literary theory/analysis at Duquesne and Chatham Universities and she worked as a radiologic technologist before attending college (BS English, minor in sculpture, MA Literature). She was born, raised, and currently lives in a small town in the Appalachian plateau of Western Pennsylvania.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Sidle CreekSet in the bruised, mined, and timbered hills of Appalachia in western Pennsylvania, Sidle Creek is a tender, truthful exploration of a small town and the people who live there, told by a brilliant new voice in fiction.

In Sidle Creek, McIlwain skillfully interrogates the myths and stereotypes of the mining, mill, and farming towns where she grew up. With stories that take place in diners and dive bars, town halls and bait shops, McIlwain’s writing explores themes of class, work, health, and trauma, and the unexpected human connections of small, close-knit communities. All the while, the wild beauty of the natural world weaves its way in, a source of the town’s livelihood – and vulnerable to natural resource exploitation.

With an alchemic blend of taut prose, gorgeous imagery, and deep sensitivity for all of the living beings within its pages, Sidle Creek will sit snugly on bookshelves between Annie Proulx, Joy Williams, and Louise Erdrich.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 462(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 462: Organize a Short Story Collection as a Full Experience – Interview with Jolene Mcilwain appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Long before coming to terms with being an introvert, I worked theworst job ever. Each morning, my boss gave me a list of names and phone numbers to “cold call.” That meant picking up the phone and trying to get past a gatekeeping administrative assistant to talk to travel coordinators. These people had no idea who I was and most of them hung up before I said more than three words. It was awful.

My boss measured my cold calling success rate to the industry standard of ten percent: one of every ten calls that didn’t hang up and asked for more information. My own success rate was far lower, more like three or four percent.

I didn’t last long in that job.

Fast forward to 2022. My manuscript was polished, and it was ready to send to agents and editors. I died a little when I read that cold querying has the same success rate as cold-calling: if one of ten queries gets a response asking for a full or partial manuscript, I’m doing great.

Ouch. One out of ten… that’s a lot of work, and it brings back memories of that awful little office I shared with my boss. I can still smell the raw onions she ate all the time. Shudder.

So, I looked for ways to stand out to literary agents and acquiring editors without cold querying. Most of the advice I found was for extroverts attending writing conferences:

• Book a timeslot to pitch in person.
• Corner an agent in the elevator after pitches.
• Invite an editor out for a drink to talk about my manuscript.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds worse than smelling raw onions all day.

Thankfully, as the writing world has become more virtual, online pitch events happen throughout the year on Twitter and on other author sites like SavvyAuthors.com. These were perfect opportunities for an introvert to catch the attention of agents and editors without stalking someone at a conference.

I pitched my manuscript to a dozen agents and editors in 2022, and after two back-to-back such online pitch events, an amazing literary agent took me on as a client, and I caught the eye of a really cool small press who offered me a three-book contract. But it took a lot of work before the events to be that successful.

Want to know how I did it? Read on.

Prepare, Prepare, PrepareHaving everything prepared ahead of time saved me from a lot of worry because once manuscript requests came in, things went fast. Writer friends and my mentor had all read through and offered feedback on not only my manuscript but my whole submission package (shameless plug of my previous article: start here to find a writing community).

Don’t know what a submission package is? Here’s a quick rundown:

• Five-page, three-page, and one-page synopses of my manuscript. Each agent and editor wanted something different and I’m so glad I listened to the advice to have each of these ready.
• Query letter.
• Portions of my manuscript I saved in separate files: the first ten pages, the first chapter, the first three chapters, and the first fifty pages. They needed zero editing.
• Author bio written in third-person.

And, of course, I had my pitch nailed down. It was tight and (hopefully) made anyone who read it say, “I’m dying to know more!”

How did I write a good pitch? It was way harder than expected. After all, I’d spent months writing my awesome manuscript, so condensing it down to fifty or twenty words was a tall order. This DIY MFA article is fantastic–these pitches still give me goosebumps.

Thoroughly Research Agents and EditorsThe pitch events listed participating agents and editors next to their wish lists. I understood that these folks knew exactly who and what they wanted to represent or publish. I write queer paranormal romance, so I wouldn’t have pitched a publisher looking for cozy mysteries.

The online pitch events said they vetted their participating agents and editors, but they emphasized I had to do my due diligence. I’ll ‘fess up that I didn’t do a good job of this and pitched an agent who wouldn’t ever be a good fit in a million years for me (I’m still cringing thinking about this). I should have gone to Publishers Marketplace and QueryTracker to research each agent and editor before pitching along with a google search. Lesson learned.

Additionally, I created a spreadsheet or list of agents and editors I was going to pitch, what they were looking for, and places to note what I’d sent them and when. This spreadsheet helped me track what I’d sent out and to whom, so following up was a breeze.

The Pitch Event: Go TimeThe day of the first pitch event had arrived. My submission package was ready to go, I’d poured myself a big cup of coffee, and I was itching to get your manuscript in the hands of agents and editors.

“Hold up,” I told myself.

Before firing off pitches like crazy, I took a deep breath. I had one chance at this event, and I wanted to do it the right way because each pitch event had very specific rules.

One event required a one-sentence pitch, the other required three sentences. One required a tag or mention of my manuscripts’ genre (i.e., romance, thriller, urban fantasy) that matched what the agent or editor was looking for. I double and triple-checked each pitch before holding my breath and hitting “Send.”

Unfortunately, I saw overenthusiastic authors pitch ten sentences when the event called for a fifty-word pitch. Others attached a query letter, synopsis, and bio instead of just pitching. I also saw authors pitch manuscripts to every agent and editor in the event for genres they were not looking for. Oof.

Guess who responded to pitches that broke the rules? Nobody.

Agents and editors want authors who follow their instructions to the letter because:

• They’re super busy.
• They want clients whom they can easily work with.

I Got Manuscript Requests… Fist Pump!As requests from interested agents and editors came in over the next two days, I fired off exactly what they asked for and nothing more (except a polite email or cover letter). They were all incredibly specific as to what they wanted. One agent wanted a query letter, a three-page synopsis, and the first one hundred pages through QueryTracker. Another wanted my bio and the first three chapters in the body of an email.

…But Not All Requests Turned Into OffersPlenty of rejections came my way in the following days. Ouch. I had to remind myself that it was okay. Instead of worrying, I took a break from the business side of writing and practiced some self-care.

Then, almost magically, I got three full manuscript requests that later turned into two offers. I can’t help but think I saved myself a lot of time and heartache not going the cold query route.

Have you participated in any online pitch events? What was your experience? Sound off in the comments!

JJ Graham writes spooky romance. Strong character representation of everyone, including queer and neurodivergent characters are important to him because everybody deserves to see themselves in romance stories.
You can find him on his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

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Instagram tips for writers out on the internet can offer conflicting advice and complicated strategies. In this post, I’ll try to boil down the top three Instagram tips for writers so you can kick-start or enhance your author platform.

Over the last two months, I doubled my Instagram followers from 400 to 800+ so I could try out real strategies for real results to share with you.

Let’s jump in and explore these simple Instagram tips for writers to grow your following!

Instagram Tip for Writers #1: Set Up Your Basic ProfilePersonal Versus Professional AccountThis is where you can make your account professional in your Meta settings.

For most users just starting out, a personal account is best. You’ll get better engagement with a personal account unless you have the budget for paid advertisements. In my experience, switching to a professional account will not help you unless you are paying Instagram money.

However, if you are a self-published author and want to sell your books…Or, you’ve landed a book deal, and your publisher wants you to be active on social media…Then you might want to invest in a professional account, which will give audience insights and metrics into your post performance. Check out “Should You Switch To An Instagram Business Account?” by Susanne Rieker if you’re on the fence!

Private Versus Public AccountThis is where you adjust your privacy settings in Meta.

If you set your account to private, only your followers can see your posts. If you’re set to public, the world will see your feed.

To grow your author’s platform, you really need to set your account to be public, especially if you want to participate in follow trains (see below). It’s very hard to get a large following with a private account.

If you’re worried about being too “out there” with your Instagram, consider having two accounts, a public one for your platform and one that’s private for friends and family.

Basic Profile SetupOn your profile page, click the gear for your settings or the edit profile button to edit your picture and bio.

Before you attract your audience, you’ll need to prove that your profile is one to follow (and not a spam bot!). In order to do that:

1. Upload a Picture of Yourself.

Nothing says spam bot like an account without a picture or a photo of some random object.

I use my professional headshot across all of my platforms, on my website, and even as my static photo on my Zoom account, which helps people recognize me. However, a simple, smiling selfie will do nicely!

2. Make It Clear You Are a Writer in Your Bio.

If you want to attract like-minded followers, let them know that you belong in the #AuthorsOfInstagram community!

• State right away that you’re an author and what genre you write in.
• Mention your professional organizations, like DIY MFA, so other members can find you.
• You can even use hashtags like #CreativeWriting.
• Lastly, link to your blog or website if you have one.

For example, my bio reads, “Writer of fantasy and YA, MFA candidate at Lesley University. Volunteer for #nanowrimo, lover of #bookstagram. #CreativeWriting is my jam! lettersandfeathers.wordpress.com.”

As you can see, I use book emojis, so at a glance, potential followers instantly understand what they can expect from my feed.

Keep in mind: You only have 150 characters for your bio, so make every word count!

3. Create 5 Relevant Posts.

Before attracting followers, make sure you have at least 5 Instagram posts in your feed to show the valuable content your account will provide.

Speaking of content…

Instagram Tip for Writers #2: Make a Posting Game PlanMaking your Instagram content strategy is a big topic that I plan to cover in my next article. But to get started, try these simple smart Instagram tips:

Have a Regular Schedule

As my sister’s yoga teacher says, we want consistency, not intensity. It will be more effective to grow your following if you post a little bit on a regular schedule rather than doing a huge content blast and burning out.

I post at least once a week on Wednesday mornings at 11:00 AM when my calendar and scheduling app send me reminders. (More about third-party scheduling apps in my next article. But, spoiler alert: I like using Later!)

Be Consistent

Remember all the hard work you did in your bio, telling the world who you are in just 150 characters? In marketing, we call that your “brand.” Your brand is that you are a certain kind of author, so your audience expects you to post author-ish content.

My bio mentions that I write YA and love #bookstagram, which is Instagram-speak for reviewing books. So, a lot of my content is reviewing YA books I love! Since I’m always reading, I figured short book reviews would be an easy way to generate social content.

As a bonus, if you tag them, many authors will follow you back after you give them a glowing review, which builds your network!

Instagram Tip for Writers #3: How to Create and Manage Your Instagram FollowingNow that you’re on Instagram, how can you attract more followers?

HashtagsHashtags are live links that cross-reference related content that you can include in your posts. On Instagram, you can even follow hashtags like #AmWriting, and posts from users who use that hashtag will show up in your home feed.

You can include up to 30 hashtags on your Instagram posts, but Hubspot recommends using three to five per post in their article, The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Hashtags for 2022.

Here are some of my favorite Instagram hashtags you can include in your posts:

• writersofinstagram

• writingcommunity

• writing

• writerscommunity

• WritingCommunityOfInstagram

• AmWriting

Follow TrainsA follow train is when a group of like-minded users gets together and all agree to follow each other. When you’re just starting out, follow trains can help grow your audience quickly. I’ve gained as many as 100 followers in just one train!

How to Participate in Follow Trains:

• You can visit hashtag index pages like #authorfollowtrain and #bookfollowtrain to find opportunities.
• Instructions will vary by host, so make sure to read them carefully! Usually, a train will require you to post the train image and caption on a certain day and time.
• When you’re brand new, feel free to participate in a ton of trains to grow your audience.
• However, once you’re established, you don’t want to gum up your feed with too many posts for follow trains, as it can be spammy.

My personal rule is to participate in a few follow trains a year, no more than one every three months. But I’ll often follow users who are hosting a follow train without actually being a participant.

Instagram Follower StrategyYou don’t want to just follow everyone willy-nilly, hoping they’ll return the favor. While an unlimited number of people can follow you, you can only follow 7,500 people max on Instagram!

This means that people who are near their 7,500 cap likely won’t follow you back…even if you are on a follow train with them.

So, when you are following a new user in the hopes that they will follow you back, consider the following:

• Is this person someone who aligns with my interests (like reading and writing) or someone who might buy my book one day?
• What is their following-to-follower ratio? If they have more people they are following than followers, or if the ratio between the two is about even, they are a safe bet. But if they have 10,000 followers and are only following back 5,000 people, don’t waste your time unless you are interested in their feed!

Final Thoughts on Instagram Tips for WritersNow you have everything you need to make your Instagram shine! And if you want a video guide covering everything we talked about here, including an even deeper dive into more Instagram tips to increase your follower count, check out my blog!

Please keep your eyes peeled for my next DIY article, where you’ll learn how to make an editorial calendar to keep your social on track, make a killer content plan, and target audiences to help grow your following!

Rachel Teferet (lettersandfeathers.wordpress.com) is a marketing copywriter and content manager, novelist, and poet. Their work has been published by Subprimal Poetry Art, Zoetic Press’ NonBinary Review, and more.

You can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

The post The Top 3 Simple Instagram Tips for Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Hey guys! It’s Alysen back with you, and boy, did you have a lot to say about my last article on Defining SFF. Overwhelmingly, the feedback was a massive group sigh of relief that you are not alone in that vague fog of what the heck. Well, unless you’re my mom. She prefers to be alone and just gave a half-a-shrug and a resounding “meh.” But she’s pretty much the human version of Grumpy Cat with a perm.

Yep. Just gonna leave that visual there.

Meanwhile, I had promised to give you a deep dive into the reasoning behind taking your time to understand where your work sits in that SFF morass. You remember, the whole, “it will help you land the agent that’s right for your book / tailoring your query letter / finding comp titles” spiel?

Mmm. Yeah, that one.

Well, you are in luck, people! Because not so long ago, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jonathan Oliver, officially not that John Oliver since 1978, editor extraordinaire, and all-around awesome guy. He’s also the author of The Language of Beasts, a book every SFFH fan should have on their shelves.

I’ve worked with Jon for a couple of years now, and when DIY MFA asked me to do a column on SFF, I couldn’t think of a better resource. Full disclosure, my reasons were totally selfish. The man knows his stuff, and the insight he’s able to provide into the publishing world is gold. I hope you guys find a nugget or two in here for yourselves.

About Jonathan OliverJonathan Oliver is an award-winning editor and writer. For almost thirteen years he was the Editor-in-Chief of Solaris and Abaddon Books, and also worked as a graphic novels editor for 2000 AD. After a short stint commissioning non-fiction, he decided to go freelance and now specializes in editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror for a variety of international clients.

He has worked with such authors as Audrey Niffenegger, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, and Yoon Ha Lee. Jonathan lives in the UK in Oxfordshire with his family and their cat, Minnie.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

About The Language of BeastsThose dark, glistening jewels—stomach, kidneys, liver—whispered as they fell. I only caught a few words, but what they conveyed… well, it was profound.

In a slaughterhouse a group of men find they can tell fortunes from entrails; an invisible shark haunts a children’s book author; redemptive magic is discovered in the ancient chalk horse of the Oxfordshire hills; a woman vicar is possessed by the soul of a reactionary priest—in these seventeen stories of the weird, uncanny and fantastical, British Fantasy Award winner Jonathan Oliver takes the reader into imagined lives and worlds. Horrifying, weird and darkly humorous, The Language of Beasts is the first collection of stories from this critically acclaimed editor.

Pretty frickin’ cool, right?I was seriously excited to pick his brain. I’ll spare you all the bits of banter where I jumped between topics like a squirrel in a trail mix factory and get right to the good stuff*…

AK Nevermore: Can you explain why comps are so important?

Jonathan Oliver: When you get your manuscript out on query, the comps are important because the agent, like the sales rep, wants a hook and a reason to read your book. If they just have a letter that sounds like generic fantasy, whatever. They see a hundred of those a day. It’s gonna be easy for them to pass.

Agents aren’t evil. They’re not like, looking for reasons to shoot your book down immediately. But because agents get so many submissions, they’re looking to see if there’s a quick reason for them not to pick up your manuscript. That’s easy for them. It’s the same as commissioning editors. As a commissioning editor, I would give it 50 pages to grab me, which is quite generous, I gather. People say you can tell from a first page, and sometimes you really can, but if a story hadn’t grabbed me within 50 pages, then usually it was a no from me.

They were exceptions to that. Sometimes I’d be engrossed in a novel three-quarters of it. And then the author would completely break the ending and you just spent four days reading the manuscript of your work time, and you thought, oh, got something here, and then the car went off the road in the direction you weren’t expecting. That can be very frustrating. So, yeah, when getting a query your comps are important, a short punchy synopsis is important, and clarity is important.

AK: I’ve also heard agents and publishers are looking for something that’s different, but the same.

JO: Yes, to a degree. I mean, I pushed against this a little bit. I did commission titles that occasionally go to a sales meeting and the US distributors, or even the UK Distributors occasionally said “What is this?” “Well, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” and they’re like, “Yeah, but we don’t want nothing we’ve ever seen before, we want Game of Thrones. Is it like Game of Thrones?”

You’d write these sales sheets, tip sheets, and you’d have to put marketing points on them. If you were doing Epic Fantasy, what they didn’t want to see was like, you know, “Deeply artistic expression of internal struggle,” or something. What they wanted to see was “Will appeal to fans of George RR Martin, is a bit like Game of Thrones,” because they can sell that easily.

What book reps are looking for when they’re looking to sell your title is that hook. So if you present them with something that’s a bit out there—which I sometimes did and I’ll stand by them, they’re still good books—it’s hard to give them a hook.

So, for example, one of my absolute favorite books I commissioned, and I can say this now that I’m not commissioning editor for Solaris anymore—so I can have favorites now—we published a book called Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem. He’s a World Fantasy Award-winning author. I’ve known his work since I started reading horror. So when Steve’s novel came to me through his agent, it was a name I recognized and I was like hell yes, I’ll read this.

It’s a haunted hotel novel, but it’s about family and it’s about relationships and it’s really beautiful. It’s got the air of Ray Bradbury or someone like that. It’s just gorgeous. And so when we were pitching to that, we wanted it to be unusual.

You can play that line as a commissioning editor, depending on how much power you have. And by power, I don’t mean like you’re being paid loads of money and you lord it, because Solaris was quite a small publisher. I was the Editor-in-Chief and there were only about five of us there and the owner of the company loved publishing and took a lot of commercial risks. They weren’t about to say, well these five books didn’t succeed, so let’s shut this down. It’s a passion project as well as a business. I was really lucky to have that.

But not every commissioner is going to have that especially at the very big houses. They are conservative and they don’t take risks. And yes, you’re going to get big advances for projects, but they tend to go to already tried and tested authors.

If they do go to new authors, if they spend serious money behind new authors and you see a lot of marketing, that book’s gonna have to earn out pretty quickly. A lot of titles just don’t earn out, and that’s where the mid-list publishing houses it’s not so much a problem, because the advances are more modest, the costs are more modest. But with someone like Penguin Random House, they spend 50,000 pounds, or whatever that is in dollars, on a new book and it doesn’t make that back within six months, that author’s probably gonna have to change their name or go elsewhere.

So commissioning editors at different houses have different restraints on them. I had a lot of freedom at Solaris. Whereas when I moved to nonfiction, two years of strange religious nonfiction, I had to sit through sales meetings and justify each book. That was difficult because they were always like, “Oh, what do you think it will sell in two years?” I’m like, “5,000 copies or so.” “Are you sure that’s going to sell that?” “No, this is a projection. There’s no guarantee here that how much it’s gonna sell or not.”

Commissioning editors at the big houses will have to convince all their departments, like the marketing department, finance, etc. They’ll have these big sales meetings where everybody has to agree to a title because they’ve all got to get behind it to make money. Whereas with smaller houses, it tends to be a bit more sort of, not off the cuff, but the decisions are slightly more intuitive and more creative and more sort of testing the boundaries. So that’s why, for me, you’ll see a lot more interesting fiction. The home of interesting SF and Fantasy is the mid-list and the independent publishers. No, there’s not a lot of money there, but there’s a lot of good books being produced.

Want more insight into the world of SFF publishing?The above was edited to stay within article length restrictions, but if you want the full monty, you can check out the rest of my interview with Jon on my blog, where we talk more about his book, The Language of Beasts, his stint as a stand-up comedian, what commissioning editors are looking for, a host of SFFH authors and their work, various publishers and imprints, new trends in SFFH, how romance is influencing the genre, the rise of audio books, ebooks, the importance of being able to market yourself, literary fiction as a genre, pitching series, leaving readers on a cliffhanger, cadavers, and a boatload of other stuff.

AK Nevermore writes science fiction and urban fantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes about dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining.

You can find her on her website or follow her on her sadly neglected Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds.

The post Let’s Talk SFF: An Interview with Jonathan Oliver appeared first on DIY MFA.

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You’ve written your heart out because you know you have a story to tell and you’re the only one to tell it—a story, a novel, a narrative, a memoir, an article, an essay, a letter. And then suddenly you stop.

At first, it’s not quite clear that you’re in deep trouble. This happens all the time to a writer. Hills and valleys, rushes and pauses just like always.

You’re just taking a breather. But you slump in your chair.

Then you get out of your chair, your room, your house. Make another pot of coffee, let the dog out, answer the phone, read a few emails. You think you’ll answer just one. Or two of the most urgent ones (Right now they’re all urgent). Then back to the keyboard. You start a sentence, and it suddenly goes off a cliff. You watch it crash and burn.

Or.

You’re into your first rough draft or your second or third, and suddenly, inexplicably, or perhaps predictably, you’ve just stopped. You get up the next day, determined to rise from the ashes of your own faltering self and begin again. But where exactly is that?

For the life of you, writer that you are, you cannot figure out how to go forward. You look back and it’s all a mess. It was never a good idea to begin with.

Despair descends like the proverbial brooding clouds. Suddenly your shoulders feel weighted, you find it hard to swallow, your eyes swim with tears. Your heart is thrumming. Your life is over (your writing life is over). There will never be another word from you, so why are you just sitting there?

Or maybe it’s not as dramatic as all that. Maybe you just don’t show up for your next writing time. There is always something else to do. And then the next time becomes the next and the next and then you can’t imagine you ever lived a writer’s life. You put your head down. You say “help.”

Then healing of your despairing writer’s soul begins.

You start by havening. This is a self-soothing technique that calms the amygdala inside your head and tells you that all is well. You slide one palm over the other and back again. You shut your eyes. You stroke your arms from shoulder to elbow, then your face. You think of a wonderful thing you wrote.

Then you move. You put on some jazzy music and move your body through the rhythm and beat of it. Oh, maybe five minutes or so. Shake, rattle and roll with it. You release all that trapped energy of despair and make room for a new thing.

Now you go from inside, where all those accumulated demons have taken hold, to outside. And focus intensely on what is outside the self by immersion into the five senses.

It’s really helpful to have a kind of first-aid kit, if you will, so find a nice little box and put these things in it.

Or you can just focus on the five senses, one at a time, with the things that are at hand.

Either way, you want full concentration on the sensations before you.

Here’s what’s inside my writerly first-aid kit: 5 things to hold up to the light:Amethyst crystal (protection, intuition, spirituality)
Citrine crystal (creative process, happiness, light)
Lepidolite crystal (healing, calming)
Norwegian glacier stone (eternity)
White crystal (enlightenment, guidance)

5 things to touchIrish worry stone
Petosky stone
Shiny blue polished glass. The words: To Life.
Clear, smooth crystal
Smooth Pale opaque blue stone. The word: Imagine

5 things to hear (from soft to loud)Bells on a string
Baby wind chimes
Single bell
Buddha bells
Buddha gong

5 things to smellJasmine
Lavender
Honeysuckle
Frankincense
Bookstore candle. Light it. It really does smell like a bookstore.

5 things to tasteChocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate

The sensory world has opened to everything. You are calm. You are not so much waiting, as ready. You can feel anticipation down to your fingertips. They yearn to touch the keys.

What you do now is embrace the arbitrary. Then make it inevitable. Get out of your logical, left-brain mind—it needs to be silent right now—and enter the right-brain: the intuitive, spontaneous side of you, and try these five things: You’re just playing around when no one’s looking. You don’t have to keep any of them.

1. Introduce an event that, on the face of it, has little to do with what you are writing. That is, make something improbable and unexpected happen.

If you can’t think of anything, look at the props in the setting of the narrative you’re writing, or your life—your room, your house, your office.

Something falls over, crashes, catches fire, slams shut, turns on, rings, pounds. Somebody screams, sighs, whimpers. Laughs. Why are they doing that? No matter, just describe them doing it. The phone rings. My God. What is the worst, the best it can be?

Describe what can’t possibly happen, what shouldn’t happen, what positively won’t happen. Put these in a list. Surprise yourself with the outrageousness of it all. Ask yourself, but what if it did?

1. Introduce a new, totally unexpected character. Out of your dreams, back from the dead, out of the newspaper’s front pages. The mail arrives. It’s a letter you are afraid to open. The doorbell rings. Who is it? Somebody dead? A Celebrity? Who is the last person imaginable to walk on the set of the narrative of your life, your story? Someone you dread? Love? Fear?

S/he’s already here. At the lawn, now at the door, the living room, the kitchen, yikes! into the bedroom. It’s your state senator, the mini-mart owner with buck teeth and a neck rash, Elvis Presley, Donald Trump, Oprah with a Sweepstakes check, the dead uncle with breath like stale radishes. He’s carrying an envelope. He shoves it at you.

1. Jump: If you can’t get from A to B, then jump to C or maybe V or Z. Jump in time, jump in space. See where you land. Breathe it in. There is some reason you’re here and not back there where you were lost and despairing.

Try to imagine how this place or point in time is connected to the point in the narrative that had you stopped. It may be the heart of the story, only you don’t know it yet. It may be something you need to know more about but didn’t recognize until now. You look down this rabbit hole. You jump.

Free-write for a minute or two about what you see.

1. Begin your narrative in a new place. Begin just before the end, then look back. Begin in the middle and flash forward. Begin just before everything falls apart.

2. Look at the ending, either one you’ve written or one you imagine.Write three new opening lines that echo the ending, without repeating it.

Read a poem. Underline three intriguing words. Write three opening sentences, each with one of those words in it.

Take a deep, cleansing breath that travels from head to toe. You’re back! Anything will do. Just a single, revelatory word will be all you need. Then just say “thank you.”

Ann Putnam is an internationally known Hemingway scholar who has made more than six trips to Cuba as part of the Ernest Hemingway International Colloquium. Her forthcoming novel, Cuban Quartermoon (June 2022), came, in part, from those trips, as well as a residency at Hedgebrook Writer’s Colony. She has published the memoir Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye (University of Iowa Press) and short stories in Nine by Three: Stories (Collins Press), among others. She holds a PhD from the University of Washington and has taught creative writing, gender studies, and American literature for many years. She has bred Alaskan Malamutes, which appear prominently in I Will Leave You Never. She currently lives in Gig Harbor, Washington.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Beat Writer’s Block appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Why both matter and how to get them on the page, from manuscript to query letterOn weekend evenings, when the kids are finally asleep, my husband and I turn on the TV and scroll through the streaming platforms, searching for something to watch. We have a hard time agreeing on how to spend our small window of uninterrupted TV time together, so, to lure him into watching something I want to watch, I rely heavily on movie trailers.

Movie trailers provide a snapshot of the whole movie: a sense of genre, setting, characters, story, conflict, tone. In essence, when you’re watching a trailer, you’re seeing the movie’s hook. And if the trailer is really good, you’re also seeing the heart.

The truth is, the best movies—and their trailers—ooze with both heart and hook. Because all great stories are a combination of both. We need the hook to draw us in and we need the heart to feel any sort of emotional connection to, or resonance with, the story.

In other words: come for the hook, stay for the heart.

So, what is the “hook” of your book? What is the “heart”? And more importantly, how do we make sure they’re both on the page, from your manuscript to your query letter?

The HookThe word “hook” is thrown around a lot in the publishing industry—by agents trying to discern whether a manuscript is worth pursuing; by editors deciding whether to acquire a book; by the marketing and sales teams determining how to sell it to the marketplace, etc. But what does the term really mean? How can you figure out what your book’s hook is?

Think of the hook like that movie trailer and all that it encompasses: the genre, setting, conflict, tone, story, and characters. It’s what is going to make your book stand apart from others on the shelves, and make a reader think—yes, I need to read this one!

The hook is the external story—the plot, in other words. It’s the premise, coupled with any noteworthy positioning details (genre, author, comparative titles). The hook is the essence of what happens in your book.

How to find your hookThe first question to ask yourself when drafting your novel is: What is my story about? What happens? Also: Who is the character? What do they want? What are the obstacles? And what are the stakes?

Try to answer these questions in one or two sentences—a quick 50-words-or-fewer line. In the movie industry, this is called the “log line.”

One place I look at for examples of these hooks are in the book deals announced in Publishers Weekly and Publishers Marketplace. At the time of my writing, a deal was recently announced in language that reads like this: “Jenny L. Howe‘s debut Love at Full Tilt, in which a plus-size teen secures a highly coveted spot in an exclusive scavenger hunt at a world-renowned amusement park, only to have her carefully laid plans derailed by a cute fellow competitor who’s determined to win her heart.”

Sounds fun, right? But specifically, what do we get from this language? We get:

• The character: a plus-size teen
• Their (implied) desire: to win this exclusive scavenger hunt
• The obstacles the character will face: a cute fellow competitor
• The book’s (implied) stakes: losing the hunt (and maybe her heart?)
• The setting: a world-renowned amusement park
• Audience: YA
• Genre: Romance & Adventure

To find your hook, try writing a 280-character pitch, or movie log line for your book. Now make sure to include these details in your query letter as well.

The HeartIf the hook answers the question why should I read this book?, then the heart answers the question why should I care about this book? The heart of a book is the reason why people fall in love with it. It’s what connects them on a deeper level to the reading experience. It’s the emotional resonance that keeps them pinned in the hammock as they devour your story.

A book’s heart makes readers feel seen, like they could be reading about themselves. Fiction is a mirror into real life, even if it’s set in another time or imagined place. And that thing that makes readers feel like their world is being reflected to them, well, that’s the heart.

The Heart of your book is comprised of two things: the point your story makes (its theme); and your character’s internal arc of change.

How to find your book’s heartThe first question to ask yourself here is: What is the point of my story? What am I trying to say about the world or the experience of being human? Is it that life is richer with friends? Is it that love is the best medicine? What theme are you writing about? Is it a story about redemption or forgiveness? Grief or acceptance? Learning how to trust oneself or others?

Like an article’s thesis, the point is the glue that holds everything together and is what you’re trying to prove through the events of your book. Without a point to your story, your story risks having no heart, and therefore no readers.

The second piece you want to figure out is: How does your character change throughout your book? All stories are about character transformation. They’re about that internal arc of change, or the emotional journey, the protagonist is going through as the events of the plot put them through the ringer.

An Example of the Hook and the HeartLet’s take the movie Wedding Crashers as an example.

The trailer shows scenes of two friends going from wedding to wedding they aren’t invited to, in the hopes that they can bed women, but then Owen Wilson’s character, John, meets Claire…and she’s a game-changer. He quickly learns he wants more from her than a one-night stand. In essence, that’s the movie’s hook. But the heart is the friends’ character change, as they learn that love is better than random sex with strangers. The movie’s point is that life is better when you’ve found your one person.

In the query letter and the manuscript, it’s the marriage of these two pieces…the hook and the heart, the plot and the character, the external and internal journeys…that is going to draw in readers and make them fall in love with your book.

These elements need to be front and center in both the manuscript and your query letter, for readers (and agents and editors) to read your book all the way through.

Think of your query letter like that movie trailer—it’s a tool you’re using to convey what kind of experience your audience will have with your book. Many querying writers include much of the hook in their letters, but they forget about the beating heart of the book—the character and the issue inside themselves that they must figure out by the book’s end. Their point doesn’t shine through.

But the truth is, mastering these foundational elements of fiction and learning how to convey them succinctly, is the best way to help your book find its way to the hands and hearts of readers.

Karyn Fischer is a children’s book and YA literary agent at BookStop Literary Agency and certified book coach for Story and Prose Book Coaching and Editorial Services. Before turning to agenting and coaching, she was a serial publishing intern, a bookseller and book buyer at an indie bookstore, and an agency assistant. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and writes middle grade and young adult fiction. By offering 10+ years of industry knowledge, tough love and honesty, and true passion, she helps aspiring bestselling fiction writers hone their craft and write better books so they’re more likely to get published.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

The post Your Book’s Heart and Hook appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Neely Tubati Alexander. They’ll be talking about Love Buzz and the importance of listening to your intuition when crafting a novel.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for May is Create Compelling Characters, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Neely Tubati Alexander and Lori discuss:* Pansing your way through drafts to gain a deeper understanding of your characters. * How to tease out secrets and set pacing based on your intuition. * Creating a rich cast to support your main character with purpose.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Neely Tubati AlexanderNeely Tubati Alexander is a first-generation Indian American mother of two. Originally from the Seattle area where Love Buzz, her debut novel, is largely set, she seeks to tell lighthearted, female-driven stories with diverse characters and strong women who pursue both love and careers. If she’s not tucked away at the little desk in her bedroom writing, you can find her at some kiddo activity, drinking wine, or watching reality TV, usually the last two together. She lives in sunny Arizona with her family.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

Love BuzzA chance romantic encounter during a wild night at a Mardi Gras bachelorette party sends strait-laced Serena Khan’s carefully constructed life into chaos.

A wretched maid of honor. A hangover from hell. Raucous Mardi Gras crowds. There isn’t much Serena Khan is enjoying about this four-day New Orleans destination bachelorette party for her semi-estranged cousin, the bride-to-be.

UNTIL sparks fly with a handsome stranger, who—like her—is also from Seattle, at the ladies’ last stop of the evening, a Bourbon Street bar. After their conversation is cut short, Serena is overwhelmed by the desire to find the charming man with the brooding eyebrows, but her list of clues is pretty short:

• His name is Julian
• He lives on Chamber Hill
• He works at a tech company
• He loves Lil Wayne and Nirvana

The need to find him is, for Serena, both irresistible and totally irrational. In a few short weeks, her college alumni magazine is featuring her in a “Life at Thirty” feature, cementing her as a success story. She will have officially achieved the safe, stable life her late mother insisted upon. Julian is not part of the plan.

As she combs Seattle for her New Orleans flame, stripping away the perfectly curated life that would have made her mother proud, Serena must decide if the pursuit of real passion is worth it, and fast, before she destroys the life she always thought she wanted.

In a sharply funny, thoughtful, and romantic debut, Neely Tubati Alexander prompts us all to ask if the life we’re living is a life worth loving.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 460(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 460: Pantsing Your Way to Dynamic Characters — Interview with Neely Tubati Alexander appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Transgender literature, which deals with the experiences and struggles of people whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex at birth, has a long and rich history. From ancient myths and legends to contemporary novels and memoirs, transgender literature has played a significant role in shaping our understanding of gender, sexuality, and identity.

History of Transgender LiteratureThe roots of transgender literature can be traced back to ancient mythology and folklore. In many cultures around the world, there are stories of gods and goddesses who change their gender or have ambiguous gender identities. For example, in Hindu mythology, the god Shiva is sometimes depicted as both male and female, while in Greek mythology, the god Hermaphroditos (child of Hermes and Aphrodite) is said to have been born with both male and female genitalia.

Similar stories exist in the histories and mythologies of Indigenous communities around the world. These stories reflect the fact that gender identity has been a complex and fluid concept throughout human history and across cultures.

In more recent history, transgender literature began to emerge as a distinct category in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest modern novels to address gender fluidity and expression is Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, published in 1928.

An important early science text on transgender issues was The Transsexual Phenomenon, a book published in 1966 by Harry Benjamin, a pioneering physician who specialized in transgender health care. Benjamin’s book introduced the term “transsexual” and provided the first comprehensive description of the medical and psychological aspects of gender transition. While his approach was controversial and has been criticized by some as pathologizing transgender people, his work was a crucial step forward in recognizing transgender identity as a legitimate one.

In the 1970s, as the feminist and LGBT rights movements gained momentum, transgender literature began to take on a more political and activist tone. One of the most influential works from this era is Stone Butch Blues, a novel published in 1993 by transgender author Leslie Feinberg. The book tells the story of a young butch lesbian growing up in Buffalo, New York, in the 1950s and 60s, and her struggles with gender identity, discrimination, and violence. Stone Butch Blues was one of the first novels to address the experiences of transgender people in a nuanced and sympathetic way, and it helped to inspire a new generation of transgender writers and activists.

Transgender Literature TodayTransgender literature has continued to flourish and diversify. Today, there are countless works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and scholarship that explore transgender identity from a variety of perspectives.

Some of the most notable recent works include Redefining Realness, a memoir by Janet Mock, a transgender woman and prominent activist and media personality; Nevada, a novel by Imogen Binnie that explores the experiences of a transgender woman living in New York City; and Transgender History, a scholarly book by Susan Stryker that traces the history of transgender identity and activism from ancient times to the present day.

In addition, Joanne Meyerowitz’s How Sex Changed is an important history that reminds readers of transgender issues that have been visible in the news and other media for seventy years.

Why is transgender literature important?The importance of transgender literature lies not only in its ability to raise awareness about the struggles faced by transgender individuals, but also in its ability to provide a platform for transgender voices to be heard. By sharing their experiences and perspectives, transgender authors can challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about the community and promote greater understanding and acceptance.

Transgender literature is a powerful tool for activism and social change. Through their writing, transgender authors can advocate for policy reforms, challenge discriminatory laws and policies, and promote greater inclusion and diversity in society.

One of the most important contributions of transgender literature has been its ability to help transgender individuals find a sense of community and belonging. For many transgender people, reading the works of other transgender individuals or stories about transgender characters can be a transformative experience, helping them to feel less alone and more connected to others who share their experiences.

In this way, transgender literature can serve as a source of inspiration and hope. By sharing their stories of resilience and survival, transgender authors can reach others who may be struggling with their gender identity or facing discrimination and violence.

The need for these stories and their ability to connect to readers is demonstrated well by the rise in popularity of young adult novels by and about transgender people, such as Lio Min’s Beating Heart Baby (2023), Andrew Joseph White’s Hell Followed with Us (2022), and Aiden Thomas’s The Cemetery Boys (2020). Each of these is a compelling and exciting coming-of-age narrative that just happens to feature transgender protagonists.

The history of transgender people and their stories is a fascinating one. As with any category of writing, readers are sure to benefit from writing that presents such a rich history, especially when it’s done through beautifully unique and courageously authentic storytelling.

Adam W. Burgess is an English Professor at College of Southern Nevada. He has a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing a post-doc writing certificate at the University of California, Berkeley. He loves engaging in all topics related to LGBTQ literature and craft. You can find Adam on his website or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Transgender Literature: A Rich History and a Contemporary Renaissance appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Let us begin with the very basic question: “What is world building?” If you are going to write fiction, every story needs a place to call home, where the action happens, where your characters live. This can be extraordinarily complex (as in the case of fantasy world building), or as simple as “the story takes place in the real world.”

Whatever method you choose, the most important thing to remember is to stay consistent. If the story takes place in the real world, you do not have to deal with many of the complexities which arise in a fantasy story.

It is when you are setting your story in another world that you need to be creative. This article deals with fantasy world building, although it can be used for almost any world building.

Where to Begin with World BuildingI know building a new world is quite daunting for many people. Where to begin? Do I need to make maps? Do I need to create history, religions, political and economic systems? So many questions that need answers—Whew! Right?

I have an acronym I use to start my personal process for building a new world: WHEW.

• Who?
• How?
• Effects?
• Why?

Each of these questions, when answered, makes up the basis of your world.

WHEW! Process for Fantasy World Building ExplainedWho lives in your world?The first question, the big question, I ask myself when I am building a new world, whether for a game campaign or for a story, is: Who lives there?

Now you probably already have a good idea who the characters in your book will be, so that is your starting point. If you are writing a traditional epic fantasy, you may already have your book’s races in mind: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Haflings, etc.

Your geography will probably be defined by where your races traditionally live. Elves live in the woods, Dwarves live underground, etc. This is not saying every elf is found in the forest and you will only find dwarves underground, but it is a starting point.

If you wish to create a totally unique setting, then deciding who lives in your world will be a vital first step. If you want a story set on a water-world, then you need races which can cope with being wet. Aquatic elves, Mer-folk, etc. If you want your story to take place in a desert, then you definitely want people who can cope with the lack of water.

Thus, deciding who lives in your story will set the basic parameters of your world.

How does your world work (magic, technology, etc.)?How your world works is another point which needs to be decided early on, especially in fantasy world building.

Is your world rich in magic? Or is it scarce and only available to a very few? How is it acquired? Are only some people born with the ability, or can anyone learn to cast spells? Is magic a force of mind or personality or is it a gift bestowed by the deities? Is there more than one kind of magic in your world? And what about magical objects? Does everyone and their brother carry a magic sword, or are they rare and only used by an occasional hero or villain? At what stage is technology in your world? Stone age or are there printing presses and mechanical clocks? Is some technology enhanced by magic? Or conversely, is some magic enhanced by technology?

How your world works gives you a basis to set up the systems your world needs to be a place where your story can happen. For example, if your world has an economy, then you need some kind of exchange system for goods and services. Is there money? Or is everything bartered? Does your world have civilization or is it pure barbaric savagery?

What effects make your world special and unique?The hows spelled out above give cause for whatever effects you may wish to have.

Is there a gold standard? If so, where does the gold come from? Only from Dwarven mines?

Why did this come to happen?Explaining why things happen isn’t something you need to completely lay out for your reader, perhaps not at all. But it is important that you have this well in mind for yourself.

Remember what I said before about being consistent? If you are not consistent, readers will notice.

Once you have a firm grasp of why things are the way they are in your world, you can give out bits and pieces here and there in numerous ways as needed, such as dialog, backstory, description, etc.

Unless it is vital to the story, the reader doesn’t have to know every detail as long as you keep things consistent.

Map-Making and Fantasy World BuildingI enjoy map-making, but not everyone does. A map of your world may be important for you in order to keep details consistent (there’s that word again). Was the great forest south of the mountains or to the north? You may need to know how far someone has to travel and how long it will take them to make the journey.

If you can do this all in your mind, that is fine, but you don’t want the trip to take two weeks the first time it happens and two days the next. Readers notice!

Before you get overwhelmed again by the scope of all this, remember: you do not need to create everything that exists in your world before you begin writing your story.

In fact, you do not want to have everything done and dusted before you start. You will want room to add on and grow.

What you need is a solid starting point, that’s all.

Casey Cooper is the son of two teachers, the grandson of a university professor on one side, and a jazz drummer on the other. Somehow, he escaped teaching, but not music. After retiring from his day job, just in time for COVID, he devoted his first year of ‘freedom’ to self-recording a musical concept album. In his second year, he turned to writing.

An avid reader, he averages a book a week. The usual fare is Fantasy or Sci-Fi. Sometimes Action/Adventure. He has been seen reading all kinds of things, from fairytales to super-string theory.He holds guest citizenship in The Forgotten Realms, Oz, Pellucidar, and on the Discworld. He lives alone with his two trusty cats. Liv, a lavender tortoiseshell, and Riley, an orange tiger. You can follow him on Facebook.

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Stepping into someone else’s shoes is a defined part of both creating and reading fiction. One thing no one told me was that I would change so much as a writer once I had a kid. It makes sense: becoming a parent forces someone to become an entirely different role; it broadens life experience in an immediate, all-encompassing way. There’s also the adage about children being like hearts walking around outside of your body, which is not unlike your books wandering the world, falling into the hands of readers.

One of my major worries pre-kids was how much less time I’d have to write, but as it turns out, I not only write more now that I’m a parent, but I also come up with more ideas. That includes the one for my upcoming book The Other Side of Infinity, which features a clairvoyant character inspired by my (mistaken) desire to quell anxiety by knowing everything that was coming when I had my second baby.

1. The Well of Emotion The first, the strongest: I prepared for the fact that parenthood would introduce me to all kinds of new feelings and emotions, but I did not prepare for exactly how deep I’d feel them.

To my even bigger astonishment, as a writer, I felt emotions more deeply. I understood fear more once I became a parent. And despite my history with loss, I was wildly caught off guard by the newfound fear of losing my kid or my kid losing me.

To make matters even more emotional, I had to think about a tiny-but-growing person’s feelings in new ways, too. There’s a pipeline between helping your kid navigate feelings and emotion that has a resemblance to the way you help your characters navigate their feelings and reactions, too.

1. Patience If patience is a virtue, then I am virtue-deficient. I am not a patient person by nature, but it turns out being patient helps me enjoy things more. When I figured out that patience was extremely important for decent parenting, I decided to act as if I were patient, which has helped partially.

Patience in publishing is an entirely different entity. Things are hurry up, wait, and then run. I’ll never forget pulling over to celebrate my first book deal . . . and then I did the math and figured out that my book would publish about two years later.

Ideas come at their own pace, plot points materialize when they’re ready, and writing that first draft is nothing but chipping away at something bit-by-bit. An act of patience.

1. Time ManagementMy husband and I thankfully agree on many things, and one of them is that I am an unfortunate estimator of time. (A recent experience where I guessed it would take me two hours to paint a bedroom that then not only took fourteen, but also displaced us for two nights is a great example of this).

I imagined this may get better with parenthood, but I imagined incorrectly. Parenting brought with it a whole new level of time sucking. A ten-minute rush out the door became a two-hour slog; naptimes are somehow both precious and limiting all at the same time.

It’s really hard for me to turn writing on and off at scheduled times, but I learned to dictate my work into my phone during daycare (and now school) pickups and drop-offs. If a thought struck me while out for a walk or run with a stroller, I’d speak it directly into my Notes app. When I’m back at my computer, I can then copy/paste it directly into the document I’m working on and finesse it into something legible. Every single book I’ve completed has included dictation this way, and I’m so glad it’s part of my process.

1. Expect the UnexpectedI have to roll with the unexpected so much more often as a parent. I solve countless problems a day, sometimes before I get out of bed. I find missing underwear, I send extra soap into classrooms when I hear a classmate is out with a stomach bug, I navigate friend-hardships, hurt feelings, the act of sharing. I’m not just planning my life anymore, I’m steering the lives of those around me.

As a writer, I’ve always leaned plotter—I don’t start writing a book until I know how it’s going to end. The more I outline, the faster my experience in writing goes.

Whether that comes from the amount of daily problem-solving I do or just through experience, I’m much better able to brainstorm ideas to solve problems I run into than I used to be. I’m also excellent at giving myself permission to deviate from what I’ve planned, which has led to some of the best scenes I’ve written.

1. Reader first A huge part of writing is the not-writing part: the thinking, the brainstorming, the seeking of inspiration from all walks of life.

Back when I was up nursing in the middle of the night, I noticed that I was reading a ton, which excited me because everyone said they had no time for reading once their kids were born. And then once my kids got into reading and bedtime included multiple board books, I played a silent game of predicting what would happen next in my kids’ stories. There’s a familiar cadence to storytelling, even when they’re board books. Beginnings, middles, and ends are universal.

For me, at least, parenting is a self-study in character complexity. I know a lot of people who joke that they’re at their wit’s end by the end of the night, and then when their kids are finally asleep, they miss them. Choosing to parent was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I’m so relieved that it’s only aided my writing career.

Whether or not you choose to parent, these lessons—practicing patience, reading a ton, rolling with what you can, re-strategizing your time, and working on stepping into other people’s shoes—can only aid you in your experience. Good luck!

Joan F. Smith is an author, dance instructor, and former associate dean of creative writing. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Joan lives and writes in Massachusetts, where she was the 2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Milton Public Library. When she’s not writing, she’s either wrangling her kids, embarking on a new hobby she will quickly abandon, or listening to podcasts on a run.

For more information, you can find her on her website.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways Being a Parent Taught Me to Be a Better Writer appeared first on DIY MFA.

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The first time I lost control of my bowels, I was on the platform of the Number 6 train. I was twenty-six, and a cup of coffee I’d sipped led to stomach pain I can only classify as agonizing. Though I did everything I could to get up the subway steps and into a nearby restaurant to relieve it, my cold, shaking body let go three steps from the top.

Now covered in a putrid brown film no one could mistake for anything else, I sprinted in shame to my gym, a place that had been my salvation. I rushed into the shower with all my clothes on, peeled them off, pumped bright green body soap into the crotch of my jeans, and threw away my balled-up underwear in a naked dash from the scalding shower to the metal bins.

A young woman wearing a black staff T-shirt approached me in the locker room when I finished my shower. I had seen her many times before, folding towels mostly, mopping the floor, and I always nodded my hello. She always nodded back.

“Are you okay?”I was unable to speak.

“Do you want me to wash and dry those for you?” she asked gently, pointing at the heap of wet, smelly clothes on the bench beside me.

I sighed and nodded my thanks and sat in tiny white towels for the next forty-five minutes while this beautiful woman dried my crap-stained clothes.

While the moment remains one of my most humiliating, I think it’s important to reflect on the kindness this woman showed me.

Her kindness was a work of grace. Once they were washed and dried, she handed me my clothes in a Rite Aid bag someone had left behind. Still shaken into silence, I did a sort of half bow, which in retrospect was so inadequate, it still haunts me. I put my clothes back on and started the walk home: seventy-three blocks, two avenues and one bridge, just so I didn’t have to get on the subway again.

At the time, this was the most humiliating day of my life (there would be much more humiliation in my future, but I didn’t know it yet), and my response was to bury it deep within me. It was only the beginning of the shame I would experience in the next two decades living with a number of autoimmune diseases, which triggered and caused severe, everyday pain and the total breakdown of my body.

What is Autoimmune disease?Autoimmune disease is a condition in which your body, thinking it is attacking a foreign substance or virus, instead attacks itself. In the case of Crohn’s and colitis, this battle takes place in your intestines. Sometimes the pain is mild and occurs after you eat. Other times it is severe and violent, causing your gut to react by trying to expel the food that upsets it as urgently as possible.

Crohn’s and colitis often present with arthritis of the hips and back, and both diseases are also often married to thyroid malfunction. In thyroid diseases, joints swell and hormones get out of control, causing severe muscular-skeletal pain as well as emotional and mental distress.

Because of the thyroid dysfunction, as well as the humiliation and shame of my daily life, I was left believing I was worthless, my life was a waste, and it was never going to change. I know now that is a hallmark of depression—feeling worthless—but at the time it was new to me.

And it felt like an ending. Nothing else is important when you are in severe pain. People may say, “Go to work. Stop spending too much money. Eat well. Laugh. Take good care of your children. Be a good wife. Exercise. Chill out.”

My mind screams back.

“But don’t you see what I’m already doing here? Don’t you see how hard I’m working just to remain upright? Just to be here?”

And of course, they can’t see it. Maybe they can see it in my face—the scowl misinterpreted as a bad attitude, a complaint, martyrdom, or pessimism—but they don’t see the fire, the ball burning deep in my gut, which demands I pay attention only to it. I can’t blame anyone else for not understanding the pain I feel. I can’t blame anyone for inflicting it upon me. I can’t blame nature because I realize I am insignificant in the realm of the universe, and I can’t blame my life because it has been fortunate in almost every other way.

You see where this is going, of course. If I can’t blame any of those things, then the logical place to land the blame is on myself.

Many of us living a life of pain are shamed into a state of defeat. The days stretch and time slows. We lose contact with friends and family. We are alone with the realization that the lives we imagined for ourselves will not be the lives we will live. We realize we cannot get out of this. Women in chronic pain are often on their own, hiding their pain and weakness from a world in which they are met with shame.

I wonder why we feel shame. How does shame change us? According to Brené Brown, a popular author, lecturer, pod-cast host, and researcher at the University of Houston, shame is an “intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. It’s an emotion that affects all of us and profoundly shapes the way we interact in the world. But, depending on how we deal with it, shame can either shut us down or lead us to a new sense of bravery and authenticity.”

Brown explains that “neuro-biologically, we’re wired above all else for survival, and shame is a threat to connection, a threat to survival.” Everyone has shame, but for those of us who experience it mostly around our body’s malfunction, it seems tangled up in the unfixable reality that is chronic pain. Every woman I spoke to talked about shame. Without exception, these women had experienced severe shame related to their pain, and some of them were still mired in it.

One of the major reasons I wanted to write a book on pain — mine and that of a group of other women interviewed — is that I hoped to confront some of the shame we all have. Sometimes it is buried so deep inside us, we don’t even know it’s there.

My hope was that in writing these stories, I could get us to a point where we can acknowledge that our bodies and the pain they experience do not deserve the level of shame we shroud ourselves in. And maybe, once we can look that in the eye, and knowing a community of people also feel this too, we can give ourselves permission to let some of that shame go.

Francesca Grossman is a writer and writing instructor. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Brain, Child Magazine, The Manifest Station, Ed Week, Drunken Boat, and Word Riot, among others. She runs writing retreats and workshops internationally and leads an annual intensive workshop at The Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has a BA and MA from Stanford University and a doctorate from Harvard University in education. Her acclaimed instructional manual Writing Workshop; How to Create a Culture of Useful Feedback is used in universities and workshops all over the world. Francesca lives in Newton, MA, with her husband and two children.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

The post Shame and Pain appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Anne Marie Wells. They’ll be talking about her poetry collection, Survived By: A Memoir in Verse, and using poetry as a method of dealing with heavy emotions.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Anne Marie and Lori discuss:* Choosing poems for a collection and deciding on their chronology. * Using poetry as a way to deal with grief and its power to heal. * The significance and symbolism behind white space.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Anne Marie WellsAnne Marie Wells (She | They) is an award-winning Queer poet, playwright, memoirist, and storyteller navigating the world with a chronic illness. She is a faculty member for The Community Literature Initiative through the Sims Library of Poetry and Strategic Partnership Fellow for The Poetry Lab. She earned the 2021 Peter K. Hixson Memorial Award in Poetry, the 2020 Wyoming Writers Milestone Award, and was a 2021 Wyoming Woman of Influence nominee in the arts for amplifying the voices of the LGBTQ and disabled communities with her writing. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems, debuts with Curious Corvid Publishing on April 30, 2023.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Survived By: A Memoir in VerseAnne Marie Wells’ debut collection of poetry, Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems, chronicles her experience coping with her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis, his death, and her subsequent bereavement. She will be traveling this summer on tour with her book as well as a writing workshop, Finding the Poem in the Pain, in which she provides participants writing prompts to process and explore their grief.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 459(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 459: The Power of Poetry to Survive, Heal, and Connect — Interview with Anne Marie Wells appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Hi there, beautiful people on the Internet! It’s been a while since we’ve met on Wordly Wise. I have been curious how things are going for you with your WIP? For me, I have been tinkering away at my work-in-progress, and I have discovered a powerful secret to unlock my story’s full potential: character development.

While world building and plot are crucial components of speculative fiction, it’s the characters that breathe life into the story and captivate readers. In this genre, it’s easy to get lost in the fantastical setting and thrilling plot twists, but don’t forget that it’s the complexity and relatability of your characters that will keep your audience invested and emotionally engaged.

Crafting complex and relatable characters may seem like an insurmountable challenge, but fear not, for we shall conquer this crucial task together. In this installment of Wordly Wise, we’ll unravel the mysteries of character development, exploring the key elements that bring your protagonists to life and allow your readers to form deep, emotional connections with them.

So get ready to unleash your creativity and discover the secrets of building unforgettable characters that will leave a lasting impact on your readers.

Strong FoundationTo create a realistic character amidst a speculative setting, a solid backstory is a must. Include their childhood, family, education, and any significant life events that have shaped who they are today. By giving your characters a rich backstory, you’ll be able to create fully fleshed-out characters. This is crucial as it will help you stay true to your characters’ personalities and motivations throughout the story, despite them growing and changing over time.

Flawed In PerfectI don’t mean use a flaw as a crutch or a way to make your characters more sympathetic. Instead, flaws should be an integral part of your character’s personality and help drive the plot forward. This will also make them more human-like.

Go beyond the basic flaws. Maybe even turn strengths into weaknesses.

What’s Their Motivation?Like people, characters also need to have goals and motivations. It is your duty as the writer to ensure that these motivations are authentic and meaningful. Motivations can be external, such as other’s approval or revenge, or internal, such as finding happiness.

To make sure you’re on the right track, always ask yourself: Why does my character want to achieve their goal? What are they willing to sacrifice to get there?

Make Them MingleIt is impossible for characters to exist in a vacuum and seem relatable. One of the best ways to “show, not tell” their personalities is to make them mingle with other characters. Some will be hurdles towards their goals, others will aid them. In the end, these relationships will not only make your characters richer but turn your story more dynamic too.

While you are creating these wonderful characters and an astonishing world around them, remember, you must make sure your characters fit into the larger world you’ve created.

For now I will leave you with two important questions related to character development: How does your character’s background shape their perceptions of the world around them? How does it make them interact with the other elements of the story, such as the setting or the plot?

I will wait to read your answers in the comments. Until next time!

Disha Walia is a lifelong storyteller and an enthusiastic writer and editor in love with the idea of exploring the creative world of words. While making her space in the world of non-fiction and fiction alike, Disha loves to spend even her free time daydreaming about what next to write. Connect with her on www.quillinary.com. You can also follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

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Welcome back to The Messy Middle, where we focus on crafting complex characters and building dynamic worlds that connect with readers from marginalized communities.

Out of the numerous current events that have demanded our attention (and response) lately, I could not have predicted the surge of 490 proposals for anti-trans legislation that was introduced in 47 U.S. states this year. Instead of focusing on the numerous complex challenges that our country continues to face, our leaders have waged a one-sided war against trans people, in the name of “protecting” society from drag shows, among other fictional concerns.

Well, isn’t that just special?

The “discourse” in defense of these bills highlights how willfully ignorant society remains about transgender identity (people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) and the harmful impact of misrepresenting trans communities in the media.

In a previous post, It’s Messy in the Middle: Rethinking Transgender Narratives, we reflected on the problematic publishing trend of cisgender (people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) authors profiting by writing transgender narratives. Thus, making trans characters so trendy that I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel hasn’t already optioned a YA or fantasy series with a trans vampire witch zombie that joins the Avengers. I’m joking…I hope.

However, after news anchors started referring to a singular act of tragic gun violence committed by a trans person as “trans terrorism,” followed by the rising panic over a supposed “Trans Day of Vengeance,” I felt a responsibility to refocus on deconstructing trans stereotypes in fiction.

We will do this by examining the specific pitfalls of the young adult (YA) novel Luna. Luna offers an excellent “case study” for understanding the potential impact of misrepresentation of trans identity. To be clear, I do not intend this to be an attack on the author; I am, however, offering a critical reflection on the novel.

Luna was published in 2004 by cisgender author Julia Ann Peters and is considered one of the first YA novels to center on transgender identity. Luna was quickly championed as a groundbreaking insight into trans culture and was eventually nominated for over 15 literary awards and honors. It is still one of the most highly recommended novels for understanding transgender identity, which makes my eye twitch.

However, I would argue that Peters’s portrayals in Luna provide a classic example of misrepresenting trans culture because she ultimately relies on harmful stereotypes that reinforce transphobia and transmisogyny.

Snarky Summary (With Spoilers)Luna tells the story of a 16-year-old cisgender girl named Regan and her struggle to accept her older trans sister Luna. Unlike Regan, Luna is super popular at school and inexplicably independently wealthy. Luna, who was assigned male at birth and named Liam, presents as Liam during the day to please her family and community. At night, Luna can be herself (hyper-feminine), by hoarding wigs, makeup, purses, nail polish, etc. All in an effort to perfect what can only be described as a 70’s flight attendant chic aesthetic (despite the story seeming to take place in the early aughts).

Yes, Luna checks all the boxes for contemporary standards of YA fiction. Luna is a coming-of-age story that features a teenage protagonist that experiences conflict and complex emotions in her journey of overcoming a crisis.

Consequently, selecting Regan as the protagonist of the story and Luna as a plot device that Regan must overcome inherently sends the novel down the wrong path before it starts and continues with a collection of missteps made in developing the characters, plotline, and world building.

Entering through the BasementA commonly recommended approach to inclusive writing and character development is to “enter through the side door” by adding supporting characters with marginalized identities. This can be a particularly useful way to represent marginalized identities, especially if the author does not have a direct experience with the identity that they are writing about.

However, applying this framework to Luna created multiple problems for the novel. By centering on a cisgender main character in a story that seeks to guide and inform readers about trans identity, Luna felt like muddling through the basement of trans culture.

Following Regan as our only guide for understanding trans identity not only disconnects the readers from Luna but also Luna from her own story. The reader connects, sympathizes, and roots for Regan in a way that is not possible with Luna because Luna seems to be a background character. The story would have been more powerful if the reader was also guided by Luna’s direct experiences, feelings, and opinions. If the aim of the story is to explore trans identity, then the main characters should be trans.

Additionally, placing Regan as the sole protagonist positioned her as the “expert” on trans culture, which was problematic because she held unchecked transphobic and transmisogynistic views. Regan is also a problematic expert because she is never challenged to explore her own cisgender identity, gender expression, or cis privilege. It ultimately led to the undesired effect of casting Luna as “abnormal” and Regan as “normal.”

“Entering through the side door” can be an effective way to include marginalized or diverse character experiences when characters are given a voice to narrate their own experiences and characters with majority identities are able to explore privilege and inequality.

It is also important that marginalized characters are developed beyond their marginalized identity and that their identity is not used as the inciting incident for the story.

An Unfortunate Inciting IncidentAn inciting incident is an important storytelling element that is utilized in all writing genres. Most stories are crafted to build up to a specific incident or the aftermath and impact of that incident.

In Luna, the novel is structured around the aftermath of the family suffering from an unknown incident and each chapter moves the reader closer to understanding the root of the family’s pain. This is presented through a series of flashbacks until the last third of the book when the reader is given the complete picture, in which Regan dramatically recovers a traumatic memory of Luna’s genital self-harm. Thus, Luna’s transness becomes the bomb that detonates and destroys Regan’s family.

Again, a book that seeks to offer support to transgender youth and education to cisgender youth should not portray trans identity as an inciting incident that results in the breakdown of a family. This is especially true, considering the unnecessary and punishing ways that the family languishes in the aftermath of the incident.

After the incident, Regan’s mother physically and emotionally abandons the family, by escaping into her work and ignoring her husband’s hatred for Liam. Because the father was not around when the incident happened with little Liam, he decides that his child’s feminine gender expression must mean that Liam is gay. In response, he sets out to try and “fix it” through intimidation, emotional neglect, and abuse.

Surprisingly, Regan is arguably the biggest victim of Luna’s transness and seems to suffer through life as a hostage of her sister’s secret trans identity. For example, Regan can’t sleep at night because Luna demands that she stay awake to judge her outfits. This causes Regan to be too tired to practice good hygiene or keep up with her homework. Regan has no friends because she excommunicated herself from her social circle after Luna was teased for wearing a dress to a grade school birthday party. In fact, Regan couldn’t even go on a date with her crush because of her fears about having a trans sister.

All the agony and fear that the family experiences stands in stark contrast to Luna’s life because she mostly enjoys an unburdened and carefree existence. In fact, Luna is portrayed as having a “perfect life.” She is super popular at school, dates the prettiest girl, and is adored by her teachers for her intellect. She also has tons of money to buy whatever she wants, including her own car or airfare because she runs her own computer repair business.

In isolation, these descriptions may seem like positive representations of Luna’s character. However, since they are narrated through the lens of Regan’s suffering and jealousy, Luna comes off as a self-centered character, which highlights the author’s poor character development of Luna and her tendency to info dump transgender theories throughout the story.

Info Dumping and Character Development “Info dumping” refers to an ineffective method of storytelling that involves cramming large amounts of exposition into a story. While the information can be pertinent to the story, “info dumps” are often jarring for readers, as they can remove the reader from the story, by forcing them to listen to what feels like a detailed book report. Info dumping can sometimes be a sign of poor character development or world building, which seems to be the case with Luna.

Surprisingly, we learn about trans identity from Regan in at least three instances of her info-dumping gender terminology. This method greatly interrupts the flow of the story because it is not believable that a teenage girl would suddenly ruminate on the etymology of gender theories. It would seem reasonable to assume that Luna, the only trans character, would be guiding readers in understanding trans identity. Furthermore, Regan’s impressive gender vocabulary did not often translate into how she thought about and treated her sister, as she essentially seemed to be trying to force her sister to stay in the closet.

Ultimately, to get through this book, I decided to view Regan as having intrusive thoughts about gender vocabulary or that she was sometimes possessed by a gender studies professor. Because the majority of these info dumps are delivered in exposition reflections from Regan, the reader could miss the opportunity to connect with the story as they are suddenly flooded with gender terms.

It would have been more effective to break those terms and concepts into actionable dialogue or experiences that connected with both characters. I would argue that it’s less important for readers to walk away with an exhaustive list of gender vocabulary and more about connecting with the humanity of a character.

Either way, Regan’s info dumping underscores Luna’s lack of character development and dialogue in the novel, which confined Luna to the role of a stereotypical trans girl; an empty two-dimensional puppet used to move the plot along. Instead, readers need to be able to connect with Luna as a whole person, with fears, desires, and motivations beyond being trans.

Luna does not have a lot of dialogue, but, when she does speak, it is often related to her selfish, shallow, and vain obsession with her appearance and passing (being accepted and recognized as a girl in social situations). Luna’s focus on passing often comes at a great cost to Regan and at times places them both in danger. These scenes are particularly cringey because the reader is guided by Regan’s transphobia and discomfort.

Stereotypes about transgender people, particularly casting trans women as hyper-feminine, vain, and obsessive, have a long-standing and harmful history in the media. These misrepresentations are often the fuel for transphobic legislation and violence against trans women.

I cannot unpack the entire history of transgender stereotypes here, but I highly recommend watching the 2020 Netflix documentary Disclosure by Sam Feder, Amy Scholder, and Laverne Cox to better understand the history and impact of transgender stereotypes used in the media.

We Can Do BetterHopefully, examining the specific pitfalls in Luna has provided a better understanding of what is at stake when we misrepresent a marginalized community. I hope this critical analysis did not scare you away from inclusive writing. It is possible to provide equitable and nuanced representations of marginalized communities when we are intentional with character development, world building, and plot.

There are also limitless resources available to guide our understanding of transgender identity. I am hesitant to provide an official list of these resources for understanding transgender identity for many reasons. For one thing, understanding marginalized communities’ experiences with systematic inequality and misrepresentation is less about memorizing terms and historical facts and more about understanding the humanity and resilience of each group.

We can gain that by surrounding ourselves with the stories and experiences of transgender people. Depending on how you prefer to learn and connect with others, I would start by reading trans memoirs and following trans people on social media and, because I am an academic to my core, I would also recommend reading more about theories on the social construction of gender.

Most importantly, we must elevate and support the work of trans authors and creators. Lastly, we need to hold each other accountable for appropriation and poor representation of marginalized communities, especially when the work is exploitative, inaccurate, or full of harmful stereotypes.

Please see my recommended list of memoirs and authors below.

Recommended Resources Memoirs* She’s Not There: A Life In Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan * Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Kriege * Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt * Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock * Unprotected by Billy Porter

Academic and Social Science Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us by Kate Bornstein * Undoing Gender by Judith Butler * Beyond The Binary: Thinking About Sex and Gender by Shannon Dea * Trans In College Z. Nicolazzo * Whipping Girl by Julia Serano * Transgender History by Susan Stryker * Beyond The Gender Binary Alok Vaid-Menon

Colice Sanders is a blogger and diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator. Colice writes nonfiction, poetry, and memoir. Her blog, A Reason to Rise, chronicles her journey of radical self-acceptance through the lens of childhood trauma.

You can also reach her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

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Merry April, all! I hope that by the time you read this, you have gotten a chance to experience the luxury of reading outside. (Made even more luxurious, at times, through the magic of antihistamines.)

This month’s column explores the spectrum of friends, enemies, frenemies, and simply odd relationships found within literature, both on and off the page.

In the same vein, I ask you to consider your own relationships. What author or characters have informed your idea of friendship? What moments in your own life may represent either the start or end to a Platonic relationship?

While you’re at it, take some time to consider relationships that many of us have, yet seem to go undocumented.

Add these into a WIP or make a note for future projects.

Should you need help getting started or simply want to explore secret worlds shared intimately between characters, the following is offered for fodder.

Here are your April 2023 Leisure Learning picks:Great Literary Friendships by Janet PhillipsFrodo & Sam. Watson & Holmes. Harry, Hermione, & Ron. For many of us, the bonds between these characters have been instrumental in defining our entire concept of friendship.

In the book Great Literary Friendships, Janet Phillips takes 24 partnerships from both contemporary and traditional classics out of their normal settings to focus solely on this one aspect of characters relating to one another.

The examples and their accompanying essays depict not only the warm, light-filled ties we usually associate with good buds, but also the contentious, complicated ones that can be found in great literature—as well as in life. Just what creates the alchemy between college mates in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History?

Be prepared to explore the nature of teetering partnerships that may even feel uncomfortably close to home, now that you think about it.

Great Literary Friendships boasts a beautiful, foil stamped cover, making it a wonderful gift to give to your BBF (best book friend).

For writers, the book offers a multi-faceted view of how characters can function in tandem with each other to serve emotional context and/or plot. Regardless of one’s occupation, this book offers a look at the many ways people can intimately relate to each other on a mental (rather than physical) basis. As such, anyone who has ever had a friend or been a friend will find something to relate to in this worthwhile compilation.

A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire SweeneyEvery author has that writer friend who “gets them.” This fellow author understands what the other is trying to say, but can pick out blindspots and plot holes otherwise unseen. Community is an idea heartily emphasized here at DIY MFA, and a writing partnership is one of the most important relationships an author can have.

A Secret Sisterhood details some of the greatest friendships in literary history. Written by a pair of female author friends themselves, this volume provides tremendous insight into the women who helped develop the manuscripts we’ve come to know as masterpieces.

Piecing together historical evidence, the reader is informed who Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf hashed out their ideas with. These relationships unfold as complex and dynamic, lasting over decades, always staying true to telling each other what it is she needs to hear in the service of making the work better.

Additionally, we are given a glimpse of these authors as they are just developing their styles and then get an idea of what continues to make them curious after they’ve made their mark.

If I were teaching Women’s Lit or a class on Feminine Creative Writing, I would make A Secret Sisterhood required reading. Not only is it insightful, the level of scholarship on relationships that prove themselves to be almost as central as a marriage is quite notable.

(**The audiobook version is available for free if you are a member of Audible.com.)

Legendary Literary Feuds (YouTube clip, 23 mins.)When we’re introduced to someone as one of the Great Authors, we usually aren’t told about their real life behavior, save for the occasional background on drinking.

Given that the pen is mightier than the sword, it is only reasonable to suggest that insults between authors can get pretty darn wicked.

In this YouTube video, Oxford English Lit graduate Benjamin McEvoy counts down some of the most outrageous feuds one can find in the literary arts.

(SPOILER ALERT: If you’re wondering whether or not Hemingway made the list, the answer is “Ohhhhh, yeah.”)For the Love of Books: Stories of Literary Lives, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More by Graham Tarrant For the Love of Books is a light-hearted compendium of literary trivia that contains a variety of facts and stories about …well, stories…and the people who have become legendary for penning them.

It offers a nice mix of Things You Can Bring Up At A Dinner Party in addition to providing background regarding how some of the world’s greatest authors got on with each other (e.g., Truman Capote and Harper Lee, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the very public fallout between J.K. Rowling and Stephen King).

For the Love of Books is sectioned into reads that take only a couple of minutes. As such, it’s a fine alternative to screen scrolling & perfect opportunity to use those few minutes here and there to enrich your literary life.

Barnum’s Lost Museum (CUNY website and archives)Impresario P.T. Barnum earned his place in history as “the greatest showman on Earth” by creating what may be thought of as America’s earliest, most successful Gawker page. Sometimes this was in the form of a traveling show; at other times, he worked on creating more permanent exhibits.

In 1841, Barnum scored a deal on the Scudder Museum’s acquisitions, combined them with his own and opened the controversial American Museum in the center of Manhattan’s Financial District. Its popularity at the time rivaled that of what Walt Disney World’s is now. Unfortunately, this attraction succumbed to its own spectacular fire in 1868, thereby making its re-creation go by the title of The Lost Museum.

When I stumbled upon City University of New York’s (CUNY)’s efforts to preserve what they could of this endeavor, just like people back then, I couldn’t help but stop and look—and I urge you to, as well.

Now, I’m not recommending The Lost Museum for its outrageous spectacles. In fact, the exploratory area has a rather Nancy Drew point and click quality.

Still, I am recommending this joint collaboration between CUNY and the American Social History Project because of the rich source of archives that reveal the American mentality and practices around the time of the Civil War. Whether you’re interested in the etiquette of the time, want to look at the Bowery boys in their original context, find out what is meant by “Circassian beauty,“ or just want to see what you missed via the museum’s illustrated guide, this is the place to go.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

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In the thirteen or so years that I’ve been in publishing, I’ve heard and seen it all. Working alongside #1 bestsellers and aspiring hopefuls, the similarities are a lot greater than one might expect—and the writing process isn’t too different, either. Whether you have a storied career, a collection of Creative Writing degrees, or you’re a tax accountant who woke up with a really cool idea you’d like to get down, the process is shockingly similar. And the number one question I’m asked by each of these groups is, “How do I get started with a first draft?”

Well, fear not. You can’t be in this industry as long as I have without picking up a trick or two or five. Whether it takes you ten years, or you’re looking to write your next great novel in twenty-minute sprints while your baby naps, or you have all the time in the world, here are five tips that can help anyone get through that dreaded first draft.

1. Embrace the WeirdI list this first because it is the most important step. The number one thing that stops writers from even getting started with a first draft is the fear that their idea is “too out there.” “Nobody will read this.” “It’s weird.”

Stop that right now.

The best books in literary history would sound too weird or implausible on paper. A killer clown harassing a bunch of kids into adulthood? A serial killer who lives in a family’s walls? A magical chocolate factory? A little girl with psychic powers who devours books to escape her toxic family?

If a publisher heard some of these elevator pitches, they would have told the author to take a hike. And indeed, there are about a million ways some of these concepts would have turned out incoherently. But it’s the execution that makes all the difference.

So, if you have an idea—whatever it may be—set aside the fear that nobody will want to read it, and ignore the eyebrow raises or indifferent shrugs you get when you excitedly relay it to your spouse or friend circle.

The truth is that all you have right now is the idea, and once you start writing, you’ll be hit with ideas that you hadn’t even considered yet. Trust your brain to make it make sense. And remember that if we all stopped ourselves from getting too weird, fiction wouldn’t even be a thing.

1. Develop a Support SystemWriting is—and I cannot stress this enough—very isolating.

Maybe you’re not ready to share your idea yet. Maybe you want to get 50k down before you even tell your loved ones you’re working on a book. Or maybe the only way you can get through a first draft is to write in a vacuum.

This is a sustainable model for a little while. But once that adrenaline rush that comes with a new idea dies down, you may find yourself floating in the middle of a waveless lake without a paddle. This is where many writers give up.

A big help is to find a small community of writers. The internet is great for this. You may also check the community boards at your local library or download some virtual meetup apps.

When you have someone asking, “How’s the writing going today?” it makes all the difference. And be honest when you’re struggling. It may surprise you how many others relate, and the amazing advice they can offer.

1. Support OthersThis goes hand-in-hand with the above item. Support is a two-way street (and I live in Connecticut, so I can tell you just how many construction problems are caused by one-way streets).

When you build a small community of writers, artists, etc, it isn’t just about having someone to motivate you. It’s shocking just how healing and helpful it can be to also motivate and support others. Tell them the sorts of things you’re needing to hear yourself. Inspiration and motivation aren’t in finite supply. The more you give, the more you create.

Be mindful, also, of the type of support you’re giving. Writing is a fragile balance. Some days, you want someone to give it to you straight and tell you if your writing isn’t working or your idea isn’t coming together well. This gives you the practical mindset needed to fix it. But some days, when you’re feeling especially demoralized, you just need someone to tell you that you’re doing a great job, keep going, and it’s okay to take a little break.

So before you respond to your peers’ pleas for help, ask them, “Are you wanting feedback today? Or would you just like some moral support?”

1. Give Yourself Some CompassionIn school, we’re trained to work hard and hard work becomes the standard. If you get a good grade, that’s the norm, and maybe you get a sticker. And if you get a substandard grade, you’re meant to feel like a failure.

But here’s the good news: writing isn’t school. Here, you’re going at your own pace, and you’re only here if you want to be.

While tough love and discipline may get you through a lot of professional endeavors, writing is something that has to be done with some degree of love and willingness. Push yourself too hard, do too much too fast, and you’re asking for burnout. Think of The Tortoise and the Hare.

Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to be nice to yourself during the writing process, especially during a first draft.

1. Be InspiredYou may think that in order to be a successful writer, you have to read a lot. But inspiration can come from anywhere. Nice childhood memories, operas, art museums, death metal…

Just because you’re writing a nonfiction field guide to butterfly mating patterns doesn’t mean you have to stare at butterflies all day.

Just because you’re writing about Jack the Ripper doesn’t mean you can’t pop in some Miley Cyrus and jam while you’re outlining your chapter.

In many cases, immersing yourself in your writing topic may feel like too much of a burden, and giving yourself an eclectic mix of inspiration can help you get out of your head and get more creative.

Remember, some tears may be an inevitable part of making any art (especially the first draft), but fun is important in this process, and you’re here because you have an idea that you really believe in.

Ren DeStefanolives in Connecticut, where she was born and raised. When she’s not writing thrillers, she’s listening to true crime podcasts and crocheting way too many blankets.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

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I am covered in sweat as I write this, with a heart rate around 150 beats per minute. I’m used to writing this way. In fact, I’ve come to prefer it to the keyboard, the notepad, or any other stock imagery you might find when you Google the word “writing.” This technique helps me write more words in less time with virtually zero distraction or writer’s block. It’s how I drafted my debut novel over the course of a single summer. I call it cardio-drafting.

Like most of the best inventions, cardio-drafting was born out of necessity. I would never have discovered this technique had I not been blindsided by the hook for such an urgent, time-sensitive story. We the Future isn’t just a kids’ novel about the climate crisis. It’s a novel about what kids can do to fight back—how they can organize themselves and apply people power to demand the sweeping systemic changes we’ll need to turn the tide.

From the moment I envisioned the story of a girl from 2100 traveling back to the 2020s on a mission to rewrite history, I knew I had to get this book into the hands of young readers as soon as humanly possible. Time was running out.

Mining for minutesSo I immediately started hydraulic fracturing my schedule, working to squeeze out every last cubic inch of writing time from every available day. I woke before dawn. I wrote over lunch. On a family road trip, I took the passenger seat and wrote at 85 miles per hour. After I’d exhausted every available minute, I found myself greedily sizing up the only un-mined tract of time I had left: My morning workout, which typically consumes between 45 minutes and an hour of each day.

At first, I used that daily jog for some loose brainstorming, just letting my mind explore the edges of the story. But I found myself turning out too many ideas to account for afterward. I needed some way to document my thoughts on the fly. That’s where voice-text came in. When inspiration struck, I would simply pull out my phone, tap that little microphone button on my keypad, and dictate my thoughts while running.

Before long, I had the whole story outlined beat for beat, and it was time to start drafting. And, by this point, I saw no reason to drop my morning routine.

A high-intensity, high-endurance writing schedule At the risk of sounding like some kind of Men’s Health clickbait about everything Chris Pratt eats in a day to get shredded for Jurassic World 9, I’m going to break it down for you hour by hour. Some ideas are best conveyed in chronological order.

So here’s how my cardio-drafting routine played out every day that summer, until I found myself with a finished (and surprisingly presentable) first draft:

5:00 a.m.I lurch out of bed, hop into my running shorts, and set out to jog a big loop around my neighborhood. I open the Google docs app on my phone so I can send my words straight into the cloud. From there, I simply write the book with my voice—in between panting breaths.

Most of the time I dictate the prose and dialogue word for word, but whenever I get stumped on the particulars of language, all I have to do is talk out the beat and its intended effect. That usually gets me where I’m going.

No stopping—that’s my only rule. Cardio-drafting is all gas, no breaks.

6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m.By this time, I’ve completed both a morning workout and a good few pages of pre-writing. During this hour, I focus on cleaning up those breathless, pre-written passages. Aside from a good few voice-text miswordings, these pages tend to require a lot less revision than you might think.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.During my lunch break I pick up where I’d left off at seven, this time while slurping down a creatine-infused kale and cod shake. Sorry, I’m slipping into Chris Pratt mode. It’s usually string cheese, almonds, and whatever leftovers I can wolf down between bursts of frenetic typing.

By the end of this session, I’ve usually finished translating my cardio-drafted text into slightly polished, reasonably readable prose.

9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.After I get the kids in bed, I settle down in front of my outline and review the scenes I’ll be starting the next morning. I crack into the standard Google Doc I’ll use while cardio-drafting and type up some beats and notes-to-self in all caps so I can easily dictate around them when I start my run the next day.

10:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.Binge-watch Curb Your Enthusiasm with my life-bestie until it’s time for bed.

The superhuman side effects of cardio-draftingFor me, this technique was nothing short of miraculous. And not just in terms of efficiency. I found that, while running, I was virtually immune to writer’s block.

I had compiled a killer book-themed playlist on Spotify, which would resume playing anytime I wasn’t dictating into my phone. So, if I ever briefly hit a wall, Peter Gabriel and Lizzo would be standing ready to rally me back to the text. Once I’d found the thread, I would hit that little microphone button and speak the next line.

Cardio-drafting was also a boon to the voice of my first-person narrator and every moment of dialogue throughout the book. I mean, when you’re aiming for organic and conversational, it gets a lot easier when you’re literally speaking your words onto the page.

Another advantage to cardio-drafting is a bit more elusive, harder to define. I’ll do my best. When I ran, there was something about my high BPM that kept my BS detector cranked to 11. Whenever a phoned-in line of dialogue popped into my mind, it felt like every cell in my lungs was raging against it. I was way too winded to waste my breath on a cliche.

On the flip side, whenever I found myself approaching a fresh turn of phrase, I would suddenly feel just a little lighter in my step, like when a great tune makes you feel like you’re walking on air.

While running, it felt so much easier for me to come up with language that legitimately hit the mark, especially compared to the experience of sitting in front of a blinking cursor and the yawning gulf of a blank, glowing screen.

Wherein an English major talks about scienceThere’s actually a considerable amount of research to back this up. Studies have drawn a strong link between physical activity and the readiness of your mind to enter a state of “flow”—that hyper-focused, unhurried feeling that causes you to strike up so many billion-dollar ideas while you’re standing in the shower. Flow can produce higher levels of joy, curiosity, and creativity.

But exercise can do so much more than summon a flow state. Physical activity has also been linked to higher rates of neuroplasticity (layman’s terms: wibbly wobbly stretchy bendy flexible thinking), neurogenesis (creation of new neurons), and mental focus. That’s right, kids: Focus. So, if you happen to mirror my personal case of undiagnosed adult ADD, a good jog might be just what you need to diffuse those time-killing impulses and get those pages moving.

It may not work for you, but it may work wondersMaybe cardio-drafting will work for you. But maybe you just can’t see an hour-long workout fitting into your daily routine. That’s okay! I’ve found that dictation alone, even without running, can go a very long way.

I’ve had many a rainy, snowy, or sleepy day when I simply sunk into a comfy chair, muted my notifications, and dictated pages straight into my phone.

It reminds me of how some writers swear by drafting in Comic Sans. We take up habits like these whenever we need an external force to keep ourselves from getting too precious with each individual word-choice.

For me, that force was cardio-drafting. This technique helped me complete an urgent novel just in the nick of time.

You can do it while running, walking, treadmill-ing, or elliptical-ing. If it works for you, great! If it doesn’t, go ahead and salvage whichever parts might help you crank out your draft with minimum distraction and maximum heart.

Which reminds me of one major caveat—especially relevant when you take your morning run in full view of your neighbors: If you ever find yourself cardio-drafting a novel about how your kids’ generation can fight for the future they deserve, you just might find yourself writing and crying while running. Or so I’ve been told.

Cliff Lewis is the author of We the Future, a middle grade novel about what happens when a climate-anxious boy teams up with a girl from the future to launch a climate strike big enough to rewrite history. We the Future releases from Jolly Fish Press on April 18, 2023, just in time for Earth Day.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Donnaldson Brown. They’ll be talking about Because I Loved You, and about how her background in screenwriting has influenced her prose.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Donnaldson and Lori discuss:* The impact of secrets on multiple generations. * Starting a project with an image and painting it into prose. * Directing a reader’s imagination through clues and cues.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Donnaldson BrownDonnaldson ‘s debut novel, Because I Loved You, is due out in April 2023 with She Writes Press. An attorney and former screenwriter, she worked with Robert Redford’s film development company for several years. Her spoken word pieces have been featured in The Deep Listening Institute’s Writers in Performance and Women & Identity Festivals, and in the Made in the Berkshires Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She’s been awarded several residencies.

A longtime resident of both Brooklyn, New York and western Massachusetts, Ms. Brown grew up riding horses on a family ranch in East Texas as well as in her native Connecticut. She is a facilitator and trainer with The Equus Effect, offering somatic-based experiential learning with horses for veterans, first responders and others struggling with PTSD, and is also certified to teach meditation and several forms of yoga.

She is a proud mother, and loves to sing, cycle, and hike with her dogs.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Because I Loved You At sixteen, Leni O’Hare Dreams of escaping her family’s rundown East Texas farm to become an artist, but that means leaving behind both her grey mare, Foggy, and her beloved older brother, Foy. When she rescues and returns Caleb McGrath’s horse from a storm out on the chaparral, this second son of the largest rancher in the area catches her heart with his gentle nature and his own big dreams. Together they begin to imagine and plan a future beyond the limiting confines of their small town. But Leni’s hopes soon run as dry as the land itself, driven by a family tragedy for the O’Hare’s and a secret that Leni stores deep in her heart. Hastily, Leni makes a decision that she believes will protect Caleb’s future. Her ill-conceived and painful choice transforms not only their lives but impacts the next two generations.

In this epic love story and rich family saga, Donnaldson Brown takes readers from the East Texas chaparral in 1972, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, to New York City’s vibrant downtown art scene in the mid-1980’s, to the (pre-pandemic) present day, and from dreams lost to dreams rediscovered. Brown weaves together a powerful story of abiding love—romantic love, parental love, and the kind of love that sets a person free to choose one’s own path and maybe, hopefully, return.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 458(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 458: Intuitive Writing: Capture Your Character’s Energy and Paint with Your Words — Interview with Donnaldson Brown appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Are you a practicing poet? I’m guessing if you’re reading this article, you’d love to be. But. But. The BIG BUT.

So many buts. There are bills to pay, mouths to feed, and a Starbucks/Amazon addiction to indulge in.

Well, do not despair. I have good news for you, my friend. You don’t have to quit your high-powered litigation career to wander around barefoot in the wilds, gathering words like mushrooms.

You can be a practicing poet. While you pay those bills, think of playing with poetry as a gateway drug to a more meaningful, intrinsically whole, present, and attuned life.

Everyone Can Be a Practicing PoetI am convinced the social media and real-life addictions we all have to entertainment and distractions, not to mention sugar and alcohol, are masking something real, something needful, some seed deep within us that can only be watered by stillness.

And, maybe, silliness?

Hear me out. My theory is that we are all poets. All of us. Even Aunt Shelly, the woman who irons her socks, has spreadsheets for every facet of her life, and knows the exact statistics on how much non-fiction one should be reading to stave off dementia in old age. Even engineers. Even medical malpractice lawyers might be practicing poets in disguise.

Just because you can’t spend your mornings reflecting on the sun rising over the top of your beautifully maintained orchids, out the (clean) window onto the front yard whose lawn is mowed, with no worries about a commute and/or dragging the kids kicking and screaming to the bus stop doesn’t mean you can’t find time to pen some poetry.

There is always time in the pockets. These “dead times,” like waiting in line or between appointments, pick-ups, and drop-offs, are waiting for you to put up your phone and drop some verse.

Just because these pockets are not oceans is no reason to wait until you retire. You can be a practicing poet right now while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store.

It’s Biologically Good for Youleft shoe untied
four almonds falling
a steady hand reaching out

The little Haiku poem above might not look like much, but while I was standing in line thinking of these words, rearranging them in my head, and then writing them down, something amazing was happening to me. The parts of my brain associated with memory, recall, and emotional processing lit up like Christmas. These are the same areas that are triggered when we are relaxed but focused. Think: having an interesting conversation with a good friend versus zoning out in front of the TV. Becoming a practicing poet is good for you, even at a biological level.

Writing also engages both the analytical and emotional sides of our mental processing. It’s like doing a whole-body workout, but for your brain. I think we can all use more of that.

Will People Make Fun of Me?Probably. Do you care?

If they like you, they’ll probably want to try it too. Odds are they’ll be amazed you’re writing and confess a long-buried desire of their own to write.

You might be wondering where you can practice being a poet. I am here to tell you, literally anywhere. Do you think the woman sitting beside you during that 80-minute meeting about who should be included in the next organizing committee is writing notes related to work? I guarantee she’s making her grocery list. Or figuring out how much she needs to save to make it to Barbados this winter. Or she’s read this article and is trying to figure out what rhymes with “this could have been an email.”

What Does a Beginning Practicing Poet Read?To write poetry, it helps to read it. Maybe even start by reading it. Let me assure you that poetry is not reserved for PhDs in literary theory. Poetry is humankind’s deep connection with self and nature, boiled down to snack-sized sound bites you can chew on your way to work. Or while eating that Keto, gluten-free, low-sugar breakfast bar.

Here are a few books to get you started:A Year With Rumi (Daily readings) by Coleman Barks Pull in one poem a day and watch your life transform. I have read this cover to cover and keep re-reading it. There is one poem for every day of the year. They are short, powerful, and lovely.

Here are a few others I haven’t read but are on my Bookshop waitlist. Flowers waiting to be picked, you could say.

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work. I am sold.

The 100 Best Poems of All Time by Leslie Pockell This one is rated well and benefits from many different poems and poets. I hope to find another favorite author here, and you might too. This is a good start if you aren’t sure what kind of poems you like.

I used to work on poems while I worked at a call center in my twenties between calls. I must have done something right, they made me a supervisor. So, there you are. Subjective proof that writing poetry is good not just for the brain and the soul but also for your career.

Angela Yeh is an East Coast Canadian native who grew up a stone’s throw from Stephen King’s Maine. She now lives in Texas and sees Chuck Norris on the always. Angela is a short tall-story-teller who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. If you’d like to check out her first published novel, A Phoenix Rises, she will send you cookies. She lives with her husband, two human children, and three fur babies.

You can follow her antics on Twitter and Instagram or on her website.

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The Midpoint scene is arguably one of the most important scenes in a story. Some authors and craft writers like James Scott Bell even recommend that authors write their book from the middle. Others like Jessica Brody (Save the Cat! Writes a Novel…an absolute must in a writer’s toolkit and what this article will heavily focus on as a resource) explain the importance of this scene/beat in a story’s Big Picture.

But what about the scene structure in a Midpoint scene itself? Should it differ from the structure in other scenes—assuming its significance in a story?

In today’s article, you can learn what important fiction elements should happen in a Midpoint scene—and if the structure needs anything that the average scene-by-scene doesn’t include.

The Midpoint: What it is and why it’s a big dealAs someone who has studied story and structure for over a decade, I will defend the importance of Midpoint scenes six ways to Sunday. In my opinion, it is one of the three most important scenes in a story—and also should rank as one of the most intense scenes in a plot for various reasons.

My two favorite resources on Midpoints are Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and James Scott Bell’s Super Structure (read my article on what he calls the Mirror Moment here).

These are also the two resources I use to teach writers what a Midpoint is, why it matters, and the essential elements a writer needs to include in their story’s Midpoint if they want to uphold the scene’s value and purpose.

Combined, here are six ingredients that I think a great Midpoint includes—a scene that will move the story forward and develop the main characters on the scene level and in the Big Picture story.

6 Key Ingredients of a Captivating Midpoint To pull some of Brody’s and Bell’s main points and fuse them together, here are six key ingredients a captivating Midpoint should include.

Quickly before that, let’s review what a Midpoint scene is and why it matters.

What is a Midpoint?A Midpoint scene is a single-scene beat that occurs in the exact middle of a book. It splits Act II into two equal parts and a story as a whole into two halves.

This scene is also a major moment in a story and acts as the centerpiece that a story “hangs” on, according to the famous director Sam Peckinpah.

Why does a Midpoint matter? Because a Midpoint, like every major scene, should change a main character’s direction and advance the plot—only this time, a protagonist should transform from a reactive character to an active one, which is one of a Midpoint scene’s major six ingredients.

The Midpoint: 6 Key IngredientsA captivating Midpoint should include at least these six key ingredients. I’ve pulled these from a combination of Brody’s (who got them from Blake Snyder) and Bell’s analysis of Midpoints:

1. Happens at the 50% mark: The midpoint should happen at the fifty percent mark. If a novel has dual-POVs, it might occur slightly before or after this moment, and often (if not always) there will be a Midpoint moment for each POV. One of these POVs might be the central character (versus a truly ensemble cast), and thus the Midpoint scene for the Big Picture probably happens in their chapter.

If there’s dual (or more) protagonists, the Midpoint could occur in the same scene (the Midpoint is the same for both of them, see my example below). Or,multiple midpoints happen, with one in each POV arc (in this case, look for the 50% mark for each POV and structure out a Midpoint scene for each perspective).

2. There’s a Mirror Moment: This scene forces the protagonist to look into a metaphorical mirror and reevaluate who they are as a character.

Is this the kind of person/character they want to be? If not, they will start to change with intentional effort from this moment forward. If so, they will forge ahead with a new perspective or confidence in who they are or who they are becoming.

3. A False Triumph or a False Failure: There is a False Triumph or False Failure in a Midpoint’s plot event.

This means that if a protagonist has found success up to a Midpoint, they will experience a False Triumph or a major accomplishment. It’s false because the story isn’t over yet and this triumph isn’t what the protagonist needs in order to achieve their Big Picture wants.

If the protagonist has failed up to this point, they will experience a False Failure at their Midpoint—it’s also false because they’ve yet to experience their lowest moment, even if this might feel like it in the moment.

4. Escalates the Main Crisis the Big Picture hangs on: In every story, there is one dominant Crisis that a protagonist faces. While every scene needs to challenge this Crisis, there are major moments in a plot that escalates this Crisis with more intensity than others—the Midpoint being one of them.

The Main Crisis in a story also hinges on the story’s Big Picture stakes, which are defined by a Whiff of Death. James Scott Bell spotlights three Whiffs of Death that can categorize any story’s Big Picture stakes: physical, psychological, and/or physical.

So, at a Midpoint, you’ll see a Whiff of Death for a story’s Big Picture stakes (physical, psychological, or professional) in correlation with a protagonist’s Mirror Moment. The combination of the two will readdress and escalate the Main Crisis of a story.

5. A and B Story Merge: Every story has an A story (driven by a character’s want and plot’s external movement and obstacles) and a B story (a main character’s internal arc). At this moment, the A and B story come together.

Because of this fusion, the scenes that follow a Midpoint will show how a character starts to significantly transform as the plot nears a Climax.

6. Protagonist changes from Reactive to Active following: Don’t mistake “reaction” for a protagonist’s lack of action. A protagonist needs to make decisions on the scene level up to this moment, but their decisions are forced by external events, i.e. They react to them.

Starting or following a Midpoint, a protagonist will change from someone who reacts to their plot to someone who initiates action in order to face their plot—and that will make all the difference in how they attain or fail to attain their wants and needs by the end.

A Midpoint scene that contains these six ingredients will bring far more intention and purpose to the evolving plot and character transformation—two of the most important elements in every great story!

Midpoint Scene Structure: Anything Different? If the Midpoint scene must include specific details in order to uphold its purpose and impact on the plot and characters, does the structure need anything special too?

The short answer: No!

The long answer: No! A well-structured scene will advance the plot and develop characters in the smallest scenes to the most significant Big Picture moments, like the Midpoint. I like to use the five commandments of storytelling (from Story Grid and Robert McKee) to assess if a scene is well-structured. (You can learn more about what this structure actually is in this article.)

And you can see my example of how I break down and assess a Midpoint with this example from Disney’s animated classic, Beauty and the Beast.

Midpoint Example: Beauty and the BeastWhat Happens (Plot Event)Event: Belle explores the forbidden West Wing and discovers many of Beast’s enchanted secrets before Beast finds Belle and banishes her from the castle.

Beast: He bursts into a rage and banishes Belle.

Belle: She sneaks into the West Wing and discovers Beast’s secrets.

Key Observation: Belle and Beast both experience a Mirror Moment that fuses their A and B story together: (1) Belle realizes that she may have misjudged the Beast…there’s more than meets the eye, and (2) Beast loses his temper when Belle discovers his greatest vulnerabilities and fears and immediately regrets it.

This Midpoint reinforces the time clock in the story (the rose), which raises the (love/physical and psychological) stakes with a False Defeat—the Beast loses all that he thought he wanted (Whiff of Death).

Scene Structure Notice that Beast and Belle work as a dual protagonist-antagonist in this scene. However, since I see Beast as the character who wants the most and stands to lose the most in this scene, I will spotlight his Crisis.

As an alternative, I do think you could phrase Belle’s Crisis as: Does she touch the rose, which holds unknown magic, or not?

How does this scene structure work in this Midpoint?

1. Inciting Incident: Causal. Belle finds the West Wing.
2. Turning Point: Belle discovers the enchanted rose and reaches out to touch it.
3. Crisis: Does Beast banish Belle in a rage or calmly address her (and stop her from touching the rose)?
4. Climax: Beast aggressively questions Belle and banishes her in a rage.
5. Resolution: Belle flees from the castle in fear. Beast immediately regrets his actions and slumps over the enchanted rose, ashamed.

How to Write Your Midpoint Scene The scene structure of a Midpoint scene is no different than any other scene in a novel. However, the purpose of a Midpoint scene is one of the most significant moments in a story.

Now that you understand six key ingredients in a captivating Midpoint, plan or write your Midpoint scene!

If you’ve already written your Midpoint scene, do you see the key ingredients taught in this article in your scene? If not, how can you include them…and will those changes significantly improve and escalate your Big Picture’s character arc, plot, structure, and stakes?

Share your reflection with an accountability partner or in the comments below! And if you’d like to learn more about scene analysis with examples, check out my other articles on DIY MFA and the First Chapter Deep Dive Analysis episodes available on my podcast, Lit Match.

Abigail K. Perry is a book coach and certified developmental editor who specializes in Upmarket (Book Club) Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Curio Fiction, and YA Fantasy. She is also the host and creator of the podcast LIT MATCH, a podcast made to help writers find the best literary agent and business partner for their writing career by blending passion with business.

Abigail holds a B.S. in TV, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University (Newhouse) and a Masters in Secondary Education, English from Endicott College. Abigail taught creative writing and film for a handful of years, and worked at a literary agency as an editorial intern and the Agency Relations Assistant.

Abigail lives in Massachusetts with her husband, toddler, and rescue pup. She is fluent in book and movie quotes, a monthly columnist for DIY MFA, and writing her own book. She loves animals, nature, and a long walk with good company—especially her two- and four-legged babies (and latest audiobook).

You can reach her on her podcast, or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

The post Essentials Scenes in Classic Stories: The Midpoint of Beauty and the Beast appeared first on DIY MFA.

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As a writer, you have your own unique gifts and only you can do the work you’re meant to do, but you’re also part of a larger art form with a long history and an amazing community. Just as we study the work of the writers we admire, we can study the path they’ve taken and find a pattern emerges. Writers move from students to masters through a series of predictable steps throughout their writer’s career. That means we can take those same steps too.

Of course, your journey won’t look exactly like anyone else’s—and that’s just how it’s meant to be! But understanding the journey that successful writers often go on can help us take the next steps, and by knowing what lies ahead, we may gain a bit of confidence to keep going.

I’ve worked with hundreds of writers at all different stages, and these are the five stages of a writer’s career I’ve noticed. Where are you on this journey?

1. Aspiring WriterIf you’re an aspiring writer, you’re probably making the shift from reader to writer, falling in love with the creative process, and discovering who you are as an artist.

You may spend long hours in the library. Hopefully you’re reading every day, maybe taking notes along the way. You might be experimenting with different techniques, habits, and rhythms.

You might be in a critique group or have a critique partner, someone to share their work with and get feedback from.

You’re at the beginning of the writer’s journey, hopeful, excited, full of questions. This is the time to notice what energizes you. Practice your craft. Write freely. Bring a playful, curious spirit to your creative process. Soon you will be creating good work that feels original and true to your vision.

But it’s not enough to write.

You must begin to live as a writer. Read with intention. Befriend other creatives. Observe the world. Make time to listen to your inner wisdom, so you can develop your own unique perspective. Start to share your work with trusted friends and teachers. Work on smaller projects that will help you gain confidence, clarity, and courage. Think about what you can work on that will be so important and life giving that you will keep going even when you’re discouraged or burnt out.

It’s common to want to rush to the next phase, but there’s so much to be learned in this stage of the writer’s career. Once you’re farther along the path, you won’t be able to return to this safe cocoon, so enjoy this moment.

1. Debut WriterYou’ve published a book. You’re sharing your voice with the world and learning what it means to have a larger audience for your work. This is an exciting time in your journey. You’ve put in the work and built something you can be proud of.

You’re building a community of people who support your work. You’re connecting with readers and learning how to navigate the publishing industry.

You have overcome challenges and committed to your craft. And there’s so much more to learn.

This is the time to be bold and focus your energy on marketing, while being mindful of the kind of work you want to be known for. Soon you’ll return to the writing life and explore your creativity more deeply.

You may worry about how to replicate your success, but if you’re writing, growing, and building relationships, it will be easier than you fear.

1. Established WriterYou have developed a reputation as a writer and have several more amazing projects planned. Your readers are excited for your next book. Reviewers, editors, and librarians are enthusiastic about your work.

You have so much to be proud of!

You are building a multidimensional career. Now is the time to write more books, teach classes, host events, and offer critiques and consults.

You’re expanding your network, services, and audience. While growth is good, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with deadlines and obligations at this stage.

Even as you build your writer’s career, you still deserve to feel creative. You didn’t work this long to just make widgets that sell. You may long to do something more experimental. Follow that instinct!

Enjoying the process, protecting your vision, and honoring your creative process will help you grow in ways you can’t yet imagine.

1. Creative LeaderYour career is vibrant and your impact is potent. You are stepping into a powerful role, leading conversations and movements across genres and mediums. Writers, editors, agents, reviewers, and readers look to you for inspiration and wisdom. People respect your vision and ideas.

You bring your whole self to your work, and people respond passionately. You set the tone and spark conversations.

You’re working across mediums and genres to make this world a better place. You’re doing work only you can do and learning how to live a creative life that’s sustainable and energizing.

You are a leader. Treat your time, energy, and vision accordingly.

1. Legacy BuilderYou are building a legacy that your grandchildren will be proud of. You are doing the work you are meant to do and finding satisfaction in the creative process. You’re sharing your wisdom generously through publishing and beyond. You are a supernova.

You have accomplished so much. I know the intense work and focus it has taken to get to this place. But the best is still yet to come!

Now it’s time to enjoy the beauty you have created and use your influence to make an impact that will last for generations.

Give yourself space to grow. Build a retreat. Protect your energy. Pace yourself. Experiment. Wander. Daydream. Pour your heart into your work.

You’re in a special place. Don’t waste a second worrying about what to do with this time.

You know. Your whole life has been building to this moment.

Make magic. That’s what you’re here to do.

Looking for more guidance on how you can take your writing career to the next level? Download The Writer’s Way. This free ebook is filled with prompts, exercises, solutions, encouragement, practical steps, and resources designed for each stage of the writer’s career.

Writer and editor Heidi Fiedler has worked on hundreds of books for clients ranging from Chronicle to Bravery Magazine. She does the deep thinking that’s needed to turn an idea into a book that delights and inspires. Whether it’s a poetic picture book, a zippy chapter book, or a kid-friendly take on the physics of time travel, the books she works on are quirky, playful, highly visual, and often philosophical. She also teaches masterclasses and workshops, coaches writers, and offers manuscript critiques that help writers grow and move forward with confidence and ease.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

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Plot grids are by far my favorite method of outlining and I can’t write a book without using them. I’m a hardcore plotter. It’s impossible for me to finish a book without knowing where I’m going. I also write mysteries and thrillers, and books in this genre can become overwhelming if a writer doesn’t have a way to keep track of all the clues and red herrings thrown into the plot.

I used to get bogged down in the nitty-gritty details of a story. I’d lose motivation halfway through because I forgot all the clues I already put in and I didn’t know where I was going. I ached for a way to see my books from a bird’s-eye perspective. Plot grids allowed me to do just that.

What is a plot grid?A plot grid is an outline that exists in a grid form. I first learned about them after stumbling upon an article about the way JK Rowling outlined the Harry Potter books. Rowling drew the grids on paper and filled them in by hand. Here is the one she made for The Order of the Phoenix:

(Photo credit: https://blog.paperblanks.com/2013/05/j-k-rowling-book-outline/)

I make my plot grids in Excel or Google Sheets because I make changes to mine all the time and constantly rewriting them by hand would drive me insane. Each column in a plot grid corresponds to a plot or subplot in your novel, and each row corresponds to a chapter.

I like using plot grids for a myriad of reasons, but there are three in particular that really set them apart.

How Plot Grids Help My Writing1. Allow me to see the big pictureAround the middle point in a draft, it’s easy for me to lose sight of where my story is going. I will go down rabbit holes. Explore tangents. Often, I’ll forget where I’m supposed to be going and lose track of all the clues in my mystery I have dropped before.

Plot grids help me stay focused on where I’m going. If I feel like I’m getting lost, I can always see what I need to include in every chapter to keep each plot and subplot moving forward. I can still explore in my drafts, but when I need to get back on track, I can do so easily.

1. Speed up draftingI’m a plotter and love knowing where I’m going in a draft. Because I always know what I need to accomplish in a scene, I can get chapters written more quickly and my drafts are cleaner because I have already done a lot of the brainstorming and problem solving up front.

2. Help me not forget any subplotsEver since I started using plot grids, I have not gotten as overwhelmed around the middle of a draft. I can keep track of where I am and where I’m going and things don’t get dropped, so my drafts don’t feel as out of control.

Plot grid outlines are still linear. The top of the grid corresponds to the beginning of your book and the bottom of the grid corresponds to the end. Each individual column lets you keep track of things like individual character growth, relationships, and clues pointing toward red herrings, so you can make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Even though plot grids work well for me, they do not work for everyone. Some writers find that outlining takes a lot of fun out of the process, and if this is you, then you won’t like plot grids, but they make my plotter brain happy.

I have made many videos on my YouTube channel explaining what plot grids are and how to create them for your story. If you are interested in learning more about them, visit my channel Write with Claire Fraise.

Claire Fraise is an award-winning author of ghostly young adult thrillers. Her books include the They Stay Series and her debut novel Imperfect which she published when she was 16. When Claire is not writing, you can find her crocheting amigurumi animals, baking gluten-free desserts, or hanging out with her dog. Even though it goes against every introverted bone in her body, she is on social media.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

The post Why I Use Plot Grids to Outline My Mystery Books appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Leslie Karst. They’ll be talking about weaving past experiences into your writing and her new book Justice is Served.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Leslie Karst and Lori discuss:* Letting go of ego in order to follow your dreams. * The importance of perseverance * How the writing mindset for memoir is different from that of mystery.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Leslie KarstThe daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst waited tables and sang in a new wave rock band before deciding she was ready for a “real” job and ending up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as a research and appellate attorney in Santa Cruz, California, that she rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking, at which point she once again returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, Leslie spends her days penning the Sally Solari culinary mystery series, as well as cooking, gardening, cycling, and singing alto in her local community chorus. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai’i.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Justice is ServedLeslie was a small-town lawyer who was good at a job she hated and had taken up cooking as a way to spice up the daily grind. Spice is exactly what she got when her offer to cook for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her husband was accepted. Leslie was terrified – she had never thrown a high-stakes dinner before!

What follows is a lighthearted account of Leslie’s journey following this challenge – including a new unexpected connection with her partner and her parents, an inspiring trip to Paris, mouthwatering recipes, Ginsburg’s transformation from Jewish girl from Flatbush to one of the most celebrated justices in our nation’s history, and the dinner itself.

A heartfelt story of simultaneously searching for delicious recipes and purpose in life, Justice is Served is an inspiring reminder that it’s never too late to discover—and follow—your deepest passion.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 457(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 457: Take the Leap: Chase Your Passion, Quit Your Job, and Write a Memoir — Interview with Leslie Karst appeared first on DIY MFA.

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First, a statement that is not a confession: I love romance. I always have. But I didn’t embrace it until relatively recently. There are several reasons for this, but suffice it to say that I’m an elder millennial and after a childhood in which the media told me that the best thing to be was traditionally girly, demure, and attractive to men, my post-college feminist self swung too hard in the other direction. I was a serious, independent, non-pink-wearing woman who didn’t read romance. How could I read romance? Romance is for silly women who care too much about what men think.

Now, in my mid-30s, I’ve finally accepted my love for romance as part of who I am. I love plenty of other genres, but I’m going to like a hard sci-fi trilogy even more if it has a slow-burn romance threading through it. And I LOVE a steamy rom-com. Romance takes the most fun part of life—falling in love, butterflies in your stomach, first sexual encounters and lying in bed the whole next day, giggling and kissing—and distills it into a book that lasts almost exactly as long as a cross country flight. And so, after tearing through a number of popular romance books, I began to write it myself. And I love it!

But as I started to write, my childhood programming began to kick in. And so I had to ask myself: how do you write a good, steamy, sexy, feminist romance? Is it possible?

Of course, it’s possible! But I had to really think about my most formative childhood media, break it down, and re-teach myself what sexy meant.

To give you some examples of what I was working with: my favorite Disney movie was Beauty and the Beast because Belle was brunette and loved to read and I was brunette and loved to read. She was feisty and didn’t hesitate to speak her mind, but at the end of the day, she fell in love with a guy who kidnapped her because…she entered his property? And he never really apologized, he just gave her a library? Sure, when juxtaposed against Gaston, he’s a right gentleman, but Belle, raise your standards.

And then there’s The Phantom of the Opera. I thought it was so romantic, how much he loved Christine, how he couldn’t live without her, how he wrote her an opera, and stole her to his lair. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to be with him! Raoul was so boring, how could she choose him? Obviously now, I recognize that a man who will kidnap you and threaten to kill everyone you love if you won’t be with him is not an ideal partner (I still think Raoul is boring).

You see where I’m going with this. I had been inundated with so many messages that if a man tries to hurt you, it’s because he loves you so much, that when I sat down to start writing sex and romance, this is what came out. It has been a long road of making sure that my male love interests aren’t being abusive or controlling or emotionally manipulative, especially during sex scenes.

Sex is hard to write. You want it to feel spontaneous—but does that mean there’s no discussion of consent? Does that mean your characters aren’t using condoms? Some argue that having to put consent and condoms (Hey! That’s the name of the column!) on the page ruins the flow of the scene and ruins the spontaneity. I disagree. You just have to know how to do it right.

When I started writing romance, I knew I had to read extensively in the genre if I wanted to be part of the genre. I’ve read tons of currently popular novelists and some of the older godmothers of the genre. I’ve read sci-fi romance, I’ve read paranormal detective romance, I’ve read fantasy erotica. And through it all, what tips me into loving a book is how an author can create a sexy, exciting feeling while still keeping her heroine safe and respected.

Over the next series of articles, I’m going to be exploring how some of my favorite authors do this. Of course, this applies primarily to heterosexual romance. I don’t exclusively read (or write) hetero romance, but the power dynamics that I’ve been speaking to exist between, for the most part, cis men and cis women. The harmful media I consumed as a child was exclusively hetero romance, so that’s what I’ll be critiquing.

I can’t wait to dive into this—the world of romance is so much bigger than many people think, and I’m proud to call myself a fan and a citizen.

Marina is a West Coast native living in Washington, DC. She loves writing anything, from sci-fi to creative non-fiction to romance, often drawing inspiration from the frequent travel required by her day job. Her work has appeared in such literary magazines as DistrictLit and Corner Bar Magazine. When she’s not writing, you can find her hosting bar trivia, baking something involving peaches, or bothering her extremely patient dog, Daisy. You can read more of her work at marinabarakatt.com and find pictures of Daisy at @marinabarakatt.

The post Consent & Condoms: Writing Feminist Romance appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Spring is the season of growth, of buds turning into leaves, of new plants emerging from the frozen ground. The same is true of creativity, according to the Five Element Theory of Chinese Traditional Medicine.

After quiet reflection during the water energy of winter, spring is the time to transform the ideas that were nourished in the water element of winter into the wood element of spring. It is the season to expand on the vision you experienced during the slow pace of winter.

I enjoyed sitting quietly during the winter months. There were moments when gazing into the fire or reading a book while everyone was rushing to start on goals for the new year felt counterproductive. I had to trust in water’s superpower of creative flow. But that time of listening instead of doing helped me see clearly what I want to accomplish with my writing in the right season.

Water energy feeds wood. With the transition from winter to spring, my vision is solid and I am ready now to take action. With this clear view, I am not distracted by the next shiny object. My energy is humming and ready to fuel my next writing project.

This is the time to take the seed of your ideas and let it grow into a tree.The element of spring is wood. Wood is the power of thinking, plans, and growth. The professions of writers and poets are aligned with wood energy. Spring is the season for writers to grow personally and professionally. In this season, we have a clear mind and sharp focus.

The energy system of spring is the nervous system. Like wood, the nervous system grows endlessly. This growth is similar to the process of mastering a skill. It is said in Tai Chi that there is no perfection because the process is endless, much like writing a book. But be mindful to take breaks. The nervous system doesn’t like repetitive and constant activity. The Pomodoro technique of 5-minute breaks every 25 minutes can help break up long sessions of writing.

When working to the point of fatigue on a project, it is important to rest not by lying down and doing nothing but instead by moving your energy to a different type of creativity. When you abruptly stop work, your mind will continue to think about the project. With the creative fuel supply cut off, your mind will not be able to generate new ideas. Keep your brain engaged with things like listening to music, knitting, or playing a game.

Take care of your nervous system and eyes in the spring season.Spring is the season associated with wood energy. It is also the season of allergies. Tired eyes, sinus pressure, and jangled nerves can all make it difficult to focus on writing. Imbalances in wood energy during the spring season also affect the eyes and nervous system. This is an important time of year to be kind to your eyes. Adjusting lighting settings, taking breaks to look away from the computer, and sending energy back to your eyes all helps.

Here is a quick way to nourish your eyes. Rub the palms of your hands briskly together until they warm up. Face your palms about an inch in front of your eyes. Close your eyes and let the heat energy from your hands radiate to your eyes, softening them. When you feel rested, open your eyes.

To calm the nervous system, try tapping. Lightly tap with the fingertips of your right hand from the top of your left wrist up to your shoulder and back down. Repeat with the fingertips of your left hand on the right side. Tapping is also helpful in opening up sinuses. Tap lightly on the top of your head, across your forehead, along the bridge of your nose, and across your upper jaw. Use tapping anywhere you feel tension.

My favorite technique for getting tension out of the top of my head is called Tigers in the Forest. I use this at night before going to sleep. The ten tigers are your fingers and the forest is your hair. Face your palms toward you and make claws with both hands. Place your fingers on your crown and with light pressure run them through your hair from your forehead, across the top of your head, and down the back of your head. When you get to the spot where your head meets your neck, separate your hands and lightly rub your hands on either side of your neck back around to the front toward your chin. Repeat as often as needed.

When your wood energy is healthy and balanced, you will have a clear mind and powerful focus in the spring season. Let your creativity grow unhindered, like a majestic oak tree.

Ambre Dawn Leffler is a Tai Chi instructor, gardener, and weather geek who writes about vegetables, seasons, communing with nature, and the interconnections of mind/body. She loves trees and cherishes time in their presence. Learn more about her tree time, garden residents, and wellness practices at her website ambredawnleffler.com and seasonal inspiration from her newsletter Sky Earth Water. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Grow Your Writing with the Wood Energy of Spring appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Hey y’all. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jane V Blunschi, author of the novella, Mon Dieu, Love.

I was really excited about this book because I feel like you don’t come across standalone novellas super often and I was definitely curious about the form. Plus, it has an interesting path to publication. And then as I started reading, oh, my goodness! The characters! They felt so real.

In this interview, I got the chance to ask Jane about her writing process, how she creates such strong and vivid characters, submitting your work to contests, and so much more.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you learn as much as I did.

About Jane V BlunschiJane V Blunschi holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Arkansas. She was a 2014 Lambda Literary Emerging Voices fellow, and her collection of stories, Understand Me, Sugar, was published in 2017 by Yellow Flag Press. Jane’s stories and essays have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appeared in Bayou Magazine, Cream City Review, Paper Darts, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Foglifter, among others. Originally from Louisiana, Jane lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

You can follow her on Instagram.

About Mon Dieu, Love: A NovellaSet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mon Dieu, Love is the story of Elise and Carrie Briggs, a pair of sisters stuck in a non-stop loop of relationship mistakes, attempts at sobriety from drugs, alcohol, and general lesbian drama, and accidental, unwelcome emotional growth. As Carrie works to make sense of her life post-divorce, Elise begins an affair with an older ex-nun amid a surge of confusing religious fervor and supernatural experience. Relief from the predictability of her already established long-term relationship is short-lived for Elise, who learns more than she’d like to know about fidelity, romance, love, and family.

Interview with Jane V BlunschiLori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that moment you knew?

Jane V Blunschi: My mother had a lot to do with this discovery. I remember being about 8 years old and already a bookworm with a huge imagination and I told my mom I wanted to be a writer. Her response was something like, “You should do it.”

She has always encouraged me to move closer to my creative aspirations, which is surprising, because she also let me know, all the time, that she really wanted me to have a financially stable life with good health insurance. I know she’s worked to balance her concern for me with her unwavering support of my creative life.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

JB: I don’t write every day—I am more of a binge-writer, I suppose. When I’m at work on a project, I usually work in the afternoon into the evening, from about 3 or 4 pm until I am done for the day (until I feel done, at least!), maybe 9 or 10 pm. I am a morning person, but I’ve never been one to get up early to write or even make a daily commitment to writing. I focus on one project at a time, and abandon myself to the process.

LW: At what point did you know that Mon Dieu, Love was a novella as opposed to a short story or a novel? What were some of the clues that helped you figure it out?

JB: When I first began taking myself seriously as a writer, another writer encouraged me to focus on writing interconnected short stories and organize the stories into a longer work, rather than try to climb the mountain of a novel. This worked well for me because I have been writing about the lives of a handful of characters for quite a while now, and I have so enjoyed getting to know them by writing about them at different stages of their lives.

This was the approach I took in writing Mon Dieu, Love. I wrote the first chapter, “Anger Prayer” in 2019, thinking it was a stand-alone story I wanted to tell. Pretty soon, I realized there was more to explore, so I wrote the other chapters in April and August of 2021 and January of 2022. Revising meant connecting the more subtle threads holding it all together.

LW: Sticking with this topic, what are some of the key differences between writing a novella and short stories? Does it affect your pacing or plot arc in any way?

JB: I don’t think about pacing or plot until I am in revision. When I’m drafting the stories, I surrender to the story and know that I’ll have a chance to make it all make sense later. I do like figuring out a way to make a stand-alone story out of a longer piece, though—that’s really fun.

LW: I looked at some blurbs and reviews of your other writing and you are known for writing strong vivid characters. What are some of your techniques for creating such well-rounded, deep characters?

JB: Mostly just living with them! Characters are people made of words, and getting curious about their lives is one of my favorite parts of writing.

Most of the characters in Non Dieu, Love have been part of my life for a long, long time—Carrie, Elise, and Jody are among the first characters I ever created and I love them. Their choices are so dumb, but they make me laugh and they are my people. Of course, I run some of my own interests and preoccupations through the prism of their personalities, and I let them do things I would not do.

Mostly, I let myself be open to their nudges—signals in my imagination that it is time to pay attention, because they have a new story to co-create with me. Does that sound too woo? I don’t know, it’s just the way my imagination works.

LW: One of the things that really struck me is the scope of Mon Dieu, Love. You explore a pretty deep range of relationships in a short amount of space, so I’m curious about how you pulled it off.

JB: Me, too! Even when I was writing it, I was like, NO MORE PEOPLE! No more new people at all! There was even another sister who had to step out of the story (I am hoping to write her into my next manuscript).

The biggest surprise was Oliver. I’m not sure where he came from, but I wanted him to be in the story after I wrote the scene with Jody and him in the bar when he’s picking on her about her uptight therapy worksheets. He’s unlike any character I have ever written and he is definitely invited back for future stories. I’m not done writing about him, I believe.

LW: Mon Dieu, Love is the winner of the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize (congratulations!), which included a cash prize plus publication. Can you talk a bit about submitting your work for prizes like this? Like tips for finding ones to submit to, things to look for when submitting, how to know you’re ready, and any other advice for people who might be looking into this path.

JB: Hey, thank you! Finding places to submit work has taken a long time and there have been lots of little missteps along the way.

I have submitted manuscripts two or three years in a row to presses or contests that like my work well enough—maybe the manuscript or story is a finalist or the editors send a kind and encouraging note—and I realize now that it’s probably best for me to step back after every season of submission and do a little work around acceptance and expectations. I can LOVE the work a press is putting out and envision myself on their author page, but sometimes, I have to accept that my work isn’t that great of a fit and I need to keep it moving.

When I first started submitting, I felt like I would never figure it out and crack the code of placing my work. Gradually, I began to get the hang of it. Following journals on social media and paying attention to where other writers whose work I admire is showing up has been a huge help.

As for the Reynolds prize, I read one of the winning novellas a few years ago, Blindsided by Chelsea Catherine, and started learning more about Texas Review Press. When I saw that the incredible Renee Gladman was judging last year’s contest, I decided to double down on polishing Mon Dieu, Love, because even thinking there was a chance that she would read my manuscript was totally thrilling to me. I admire her work so much, and it has been a great honor to have her choose my work for the prize.

Texas Review Press has treated my work and me very, very well and my association with them is dear to me. I had a feeling this would be the case, because I could see the way they approached the work of authors they’d already published. They are really dedicated, sharp, caring people. They’re awesome.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What books would you recommend to people after reading Mon Dieu, Love?

JB: This is a fantastic question! These, for sure:

Women by Chloe Caldwell (probably my favorite novella)

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco by K. Iver

Boyish by Brody Parrish Craig

Valencia by Michelle Tea

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Jane V Blunschi appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Sending your story or poem out into the world, whether for critique, publication, or writing contests, is crazy-scary. Will the world accept it with open arms, love and cherish it as much as we do? Or will it be mashed and crumpled, tossed into a corner to whither, forgotten and abandoned? This is a Brobdingnagian concern for all writers, novice and seasoned.

I am a storyteller, building worlds, creating characters who cry and laugh. I cut words, agonize over punctuation, and labor for hours to find just the right (optimum, perfect) word. Until finally, I triumphantly type “The End,” only to file my story away, afraid to share it with anyone.

I needed to get my stories out into the world and decided to send them to writing contests. Sometimes I would stumble upon a contest announcement in a newsletter or a writing-friend would mention a contest that they have seen or entered.

Some had a theme or specific subject and I would say to myself, “Self, that story you wrote about ‘the person with the thing in the place,’ could work for this contest.” If it was a contest that provided a specific prompt I created new characters and places, a whole new story.

I needed to “get used to” nonacceptance letters, also known as NALs. (I refuse to use the word rejection ) I needed to “get used to” my writing being not quite ready, not quite right for that publication, or not quite [insert your own word here….but be positive].

I have sent stories to many, many contests and magazines over the past couple of years and I have received many, many NALs. To my dismay, I have not become “used to” receiving the NALs. They still sting; they will always sting. But I have learned a few things.

1. Writing contests come with deadlinesBe prepared to concentrate all your efforts on that story. You may have to set aside your other writing, especially 1-2 weeks/days/hours before the deadline.

For one of my first contest submissions, I rushed to finish a story, submitting just minutes before the deadline. But alas, I clicked on the wrong file. I didn’t just send them the wrong version of the correct story, I sent the first draft of a different, unfinished manuscript.

When I realized what I had done a few weeks later, it was too late to make any changes. (I am sure they appreciated my $$ donation to their association.)

I learned I needed a personal deadline, 1 or 2 days before the actual submission date. If there is time, I set the completed story aside for a few days and then come back and read it with fresh eyes. Some contests are not conducive to this, such as the NYC Midnight Challenges. They give you a prompt and a brisk turnaround time.

(FYI: Deadlines also apply to articles. For instance, I did not have enough time to submit this article to my support group. I know it would have been a much better article if they could have reviewed it with me. Which leads me to item #2…)

1. Support/Critique GroupsUse them! Let them know you have a deadline coming up. Ask them to read your story. Be sure that you give them ample time to provide proper feedback that you can implement.

During the last NYC Challenge I entered, I met with three other participants two days after we had received our prompts. We spent 15 minutes brainstorming each other’s ideas. Then, I submitted a draft of the “finished” story to my critique group, revised it from their feedback, then resubmitted, twice, to ONE person (from the same critique group), revised from the feedback, and FINALLY submitted to the contest.

I did this over an eight-day time frame. It was extremely stressful and very rewarding. (I am still awaiting the results.) I cannot say enough about creating a great support system.

1. Read the formatting requirements carefullyContest judges read many, many stories. No matter how good your story may be if they must squint or reformat your story, you are already at a disadvantage. Make sure that they can relax and enjoy your story. If you send it incorrectly spaced, with spelling errors or incorrect fonts, it could quickly be tossed into the digital trash can.

Make sure your tenses are correct and you don’t slip out of the correct POV. One of the members of my support system is excellent at noticing this.

Watch the word count, maximum and minimum. I keep the number at the top of my manuscript. It is okay to be over the word count in the first couple of drafts. In fact, I recommend it. I find it way easier to reduce words than add them in. But for the final version, stick to the word count.

1. Enter writing contests that give feedbackIt is very important to have a good critique group, but they know you and love you. They have read a lot of your stories and sometimes it is hard for them to be unbiased.

Some writing contests will give small critiques as an included perk. Other contests offer the service for a small reading fee. I have found feedback from someone who does not know my writing to be very insightful and eye-opening.

A word to the wise: With all critiques, keep an open mind and use what works for you and your story.

1. Do not give up when you don’t winI wrote a short story during a DIY MFA program and had it critiqued through the program, eventually filing it away and working on other projects. Then I stumbled upon a contest. “Self,” I said, “that story you wrote about Clara and the Savoy and a cat would work for this contest.”

I opened the file, blew the virtual dust motes off, and rewrote it. I sent it to my critique group. We spent uncountable hours cutting and adding words, deleting characters, and changing locations.

I submitted the story to twelve writing contests and magazines. Some said, “no thank-you,” others told me they liked the story, but it was not a fit “at this time.” (What does that even mean?!)

I got wonderful feedback from the contests. I paid for some; some were unsolicited. I received 11 NALs and they all stung. (Obviously something you never “get used to”)

Never, ever give up.One contest that I entered was the Writer’s Digest Short Story contest. It received an honorable mention. They did not wad my story into a tiny little ball and toss it in the trash. Someone liked it, maybe they didn’t love it, but they liked it.

Now what?!? I’m glad you asked. Carol Van Den Hende wrote a wonderful article that helps answer this very question.

Brenda loves writing short fiction and is working on her first novel. 2023 is the third year of her monthly newsletter – Thru the Window.

All her life she wanted to be a veterinarian and took all the right science classes in high school. But, her favorite class was English 300. The teacher was a poet, who loved Shakespeare, and gave funky, fun assignments for creative writing. She struggled through first-year university, her grades in organic chemistry were less than stellar, but her marks in Canadian Lit were awesome. It was suggested that she pursue an English degree and be a teacher. She quit university.

Fast forward. She signed up for a snail-mail writing course and wrote on and off, mostly stories about pets that had crossed the rainbow bridge. She got married, had two children and ran a successful consulting business with her husband.

Fast forward again. During a monster house move she wrote a blog with photos to send to people who wanted to know how the relocation was going. She found a Canadian self-directed writing course and then signed up for their mentored course.

Fast forward some more. She found DIY MFA 101 run by the awesome Gabriela Pereria and her team. She finished the self-directed course DIY MFA 101, signed up for P2P, and completed two sessions of the Small Group Coaching. She is a loyal “Word Nerd.”

Find more info on her website, or check out her newsletter.

The post #5onFri: Five Things I Learned by Entering Writing Contests appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Have you ever felt like your creative ambition failed you? Writing used to light you up, but not anymore. The want is still there–you want to write your books, you want to do all the things that you think are required to make that happen–but you just can’t.

The idea of producing one more thing, one more word, one more social media post, or one more query attempt makes you want to cry.

You wonder how this thing you loved morphed into something so draining?

You are not alone, writer.

You are likely experiencing creative burnout or are damn close to it.

Being a Writer Is TaxingBurnout is a buzzword these days and for good reason. We live in a fast and stressful world.

Creative burnout means there is no gas in the tank and no energy to push the car to the next service station.

It’s a state of mental, physical, and emotional fatigue brought on by chronic levels of excessive stress, and recovery can take months or even years.

We often take for granted the incredible amount of mental energy writing requires, not to mention all the things one must learn to put those words into the hands of readers. That something so thrilling and adventurous could one day exhaust us doesn’t seem possible.

So you commit to doing all the things you believe a successful writer does: Grow your platform, learn marketing, be consistent with social media, make meaningful connections, learn the skills, enhance the skills, read the books, focus on the craft, listen to the podcasts, sign up for newsletters, take the workshops, take the ads course, join the community, write the story, rewrite the story, rewrite the story again, find an editor, plan the next story, write blog posts, build a website, schedule newsletter swaps, make the time to write, sacrifice sleep all while juggling the rest of life–the day job, the family, the partners, the pets, the finances.

Suddenly you realize you’ve gained 15lbs, you’re isolated and unhappy, or worse–you’re resentful. You resent both the writing and anything that gets in its way.

You put all your eggs in one basket and every one of them feels broken.

Creative Burnout Can Happen to AnyoneThis is exactly what happened to me at the end of 2022.

On January 1st of 2023, a day that is supposed to be filled with the excitement of embracing new possibilities (or nursing a hangover), I woke up tired. Bone tired and I couldn’t blame it on a good time. The idea of dragging myself to the computer for any reason hurt. It physically hurt. I wasn’t creatively blocked—I was broken. My creative energy (which I define as my ability to make something new) was tapped out. I still wanted to write my stories, still wanted my work—I just didn’t want it to kill me anymore. Something had to change.

When you become pain aware, you naturally seek the cause. For me, that was easy. I was the problem. Well, not exactly. More like my thinking, which led to my actions, was the problem.

My creative ambition, drive, and need to succeed had backfired.

This may not be true for everyone experiencing creative burnout. Sometimes things happen we cannot control and have no hand in creating. Life can throw cruel curveballs.

Personally, I had to figure out how to stop taking on too much, working too hard, and denying myself any semblance of balance. For this, I got help. I turned to resources like Becca Syme’s Dear Writer, Are You Are In Burnout?, James Clear’s Atomic Habits, and Steven Kotler’s The Art of Impossible.

From those blessed books and the help of folks who loved me, I began to find my way out of the abyss. Slowly. As I write this, I’m still emerging from the muck, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time.

Here’s the process I used to begin my recovery, which involves phases to first protect and then gradually enhance creative energy.

If you are in a space where it hurts to create and yet you feel you can’t stop because the cost is too high, I sincerely hope this helps.

Three Phases of Recovery from Creative BurnoutThe Admission Phase: Identify the contributing factors and their root causes to prepare for surrender.What are you doing that hurts and why are you doing it? In short—get honest.

My inventory included over-committing and not asking for help, which led to sacrificing sleep, working every extra second, and ignoring my mental and physical health.

The cause: Lack of trust and need for control driven by fear of failure and a misguided belief that I “should be there instead of here.”

Now, I don’t like not having control and the idea of surrendering is hard to swallow. This is where humility comes in. I had to ask myself, “Is what you’re doing now working?” Uh… no.

Okay, Pride, next question: “If the process you’ve got isn’t working and is causing you pain, don’t you think it’s time to try something else?”

Begrudging head-nod from me.

Okay, there’s the willingness needed to move to the next phase.

The Surrender Phase: Otherwise known as pause, rest, reset, and lower expectations.Sometimes you just need to stop all the things or at least all the things you can. Sometimes your body forces you to—control or not, it hits the brakes.

Personally, I let go of creative commitments. I quit marketing my book. I dropped work back to the bare bones. It sucked. At first, I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to let go of those goals, didn’t want to admit defeat, but doing so gave me room to breathe and think about how I wanted my life to go, and because of that, I moved into the next phase.

The Slow Rebuild Phase: (For which I give credit to Steven Kotler and The Art of Impossible)Here’s where you slowly begin to get it together again, correcting and healing from what derailed so you can adopt a better process. This phase is ongoing for me and I’ve found it has three parts that work in tandem.

1. Protect your feel-good mechanisms and take care of yourself.

Find ways that naturally elevate your mood and take care of your body.

Get adequate sleep, make the damn doctor’s appointment for the check-up, drink a cup of water for crying out loud, do an exercise you enjoy, fuel your body adequately (no, cookies are not adequate, Stacy), be in nature, lean into gratitude, and practice mindfulness, journal.

I know this sounds like another laundry list of to-do’s, but these matter. A healthy body, mind, and spirit are the keys to your creative juice. And if you need to seek medical and or therapeutic advice, please do so. Don’t hesitate.

Have I done all this perfectly? Hell no. Changing all things at once is a recipe for changing nothing. Pick a couple or only one to start.

2. Make non-negotiable silence and alone time a priority. Steven Kotler terms this “non-time.”

You’re off the grid now. You have time to think, process, and feel. Finding these precious moments is difficult, especially with littles at home, but it’s doable. Twenty minutes is enough to begin, an hour is optimal for me. To make room for this, I wake up earlier but I go to bed earlier now, so I don’t sacrifice my sleep to do it.

Non-negotiable alone time also means not checking my phone first thing in the morning. Instead, I dedicate the minutes to journaling, meditating, and reflecting.

This alone time refuels me and opens my eyes to different perspectives.

3. Set up creative boundaries and slowly reboot your productivity system.

Say no. Unsubscribe. Unfollow. Delete the podcasts. Delete the apps. Pause the notifications. Unclutter your proverbial plate. Let go of all the items on the mental back burner that you have no time for now and won’t in the next six months.

When you’re ready, re-start a gentle writing routine and do your best to incorporate a spirit of play and discovery.

For me, this has been 30 minutes four mornings a week (included in my 60 minutes of non-negotiable alone time.)

I try (and succeed more than I fail) to get 7 hours of sleep. I don’t check my phone and all 600 notifications first thing, and I don’t start work at 3AM anymore.

One of the most eye-opening things I did was create a system to track my feel-good activities, moods, energy levels, and the days I wrote. It’s not fancy. Think bullet journal only messier, but I made a slick one for you. You can get your copy here. The goal was to see what activities boosted my energy and creativity the most. Hands-down exercise, sleep, and reading give me the most bang for my buck. When I do those things consistently, I’m refreshed and more ready to write.

Recovery from Creative Burnout Is PossibleAbove all, see it as a lesson and not a failure. Easier said than done, especially when you are in the middle of the muck or the trigger was no fault of your own. Still, we must stand back up, however slowly, however shakily, and find a way to go again if writing is what we want to do.

We must honor the creative energy writing requires as well as all the other items on our plate, otherwise, we risk resenting what we love about our lives. So if you are where I was last year, I want to give you some hope. It can be okay again. Admit, pause, then take small steps to build healthy boundaries, fill the creative well, learn from mistakes (if you made them), and set yourself up for a brighter writing future.

Download The Write Habit: Creative Energy Tracker For Writers from Write It Scared to help you protect and enhance your creative energy. Live well and write better.

Stacy Frazer is a formerly repressed creative soul turned speculative fiction writer, YA fantasy author, Author Accelerator certified book coach, and the founder of Write It Scared. Her mission is to help fiction writers let go of the self-doubt spiral and find clarity and confidence in their stories so they can finish their books.

Stacy firmly believes that the only creative license required to write a novel is one’s lived experience and that you can learn all the tools to craft a book that makes you proud! When not writing, reading, or working with writers, you can find Stacy hanging with her daughter or on the trail with her big goofy labrador, Gus Gus.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram.

The post Creative Burnout: How to Recover and Enhance Your Creative Energy appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Danielle Mitchell. They’ll be talking about the methodology of writing and reading poetry.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Danielle Mitchell and Lori discuss:* Adding emotional stakes to poems to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. * The magic of tapping into things you don’t understand. * Her process for annotating poems and poetry collections.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Danielle MitchellDanielle Mitchell (she/her) is an intersectional feminist, poet, and teaching artist. She is the Founding Director of The Poetry Lab, an online learning platform that rallies in service of working-class writers around the globe. Danielle is the author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry, winner of the Clockwise Chapbook Prize (Tebot Bach, 2017). Her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, Four Way Review, Transom, New Orleans Review, Nailed Magazine and others. Danielle has received scholarships to travel to Patmos Island, Greece to study poetry, as well as grants from Poets & Writers and the Ashaki M. Jackson No Barriers Grant from the Women Who Submit. She is the inaugural winner of the Editor’s Prize from Mary Magazine and the Editor’s Choice Award from The Mas Tequila Review. She has performed on stages all over Southern California including the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Danielle holds bachelor’s degrees in Women’s and Gender Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Redlands and is an alumna of the Community of Writers. She is currently working on a manuscript of poems about misogyny and the Internet.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram, Tiktok, and LinkedIn.

You can also check out The Poetry Lab website or follow The Poetry Lab on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads.

The Poetry LabThe Poetry Lab is a community learning space for creative writers. We are dedicated to mentoring and encouraging poets and writers to craft their learning journeys through non-traditional means. We are based in the Greater Los Angeles area, but most of our workshops and classes are now held online via Zoom. A creative journey itself, The Poetry Lab was co-founded by friends Markus D. Manley and Danielle Mitchell.

Originally housed inside Markus’ co-work space, Work Evolution Laboratories, in Downtown Long Beach, California, The Poetry Lab started as a bi-monthly generative workshop. We offered folx a chance to learn new skills, elements of craft, and techniques for submitting their work for publication. This collaborative community space offered writers something rare: a chance to learn in a relaxed setting, away from the stern trappings of Academia, and a space to gather in community outside of the open mic limelight. As our classes grew, we began inviting visiting teaching artists to lead workshops on topics like ekphrasis, image and metaphor, silence, new and invented forms. Eventually, our members also became Poetry Lab instructors. From the beginning, we have followed a collaborative model, celebrating diversity and the unique gifts that every writer brings to the table.

For Markus, it was always about nurturing the creative spirit. He dedicated his life’s work to arts and tech collaborations all over Long Beach. He was known in the community as the guy who would do whatever he could to help others thrive. It was this spirit that drove Danielle, a budding community organizer herself, to take the leap to bring this vision of The Poetry Lab to life.

Be sure to get The Poetry Lab’s newest guide on 5 Forms We’re Curious About this Year and other fun goodies.

Link to Episode 456(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 456: Therapy for Poets: On Reading and Writing Poetry — Interview with Danielle Mitchell appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome back, poets! Today I thought I’d do something different and talk about one of my favorite things—book cover design!

If you’re planning on traditionally publishing a full-length poetry collection or chapbook, you will typically work with a designer and the publisher to come up with a book cover design you’re all happy with. While this means you don’t have to search for a designer yourself, it’s helpful to keep in mind the elements of good cover design—in other words, what will make your cover look polished and professional.

Good cover design is especially important for poets who are planning to self-publish their collections. If you’re going the DIY route with your book cover design, you’ll need to make sure you’re following best practices to create something eye-catching. If you’re hiring a designer, you’ll need to be able to find designers who specialize in your preferred style.

Read on to learn about some popular cover trends in the poetry genre and what makes these covers good starting points for your own publishing journey.

1. The Typography-Based Cover These covers typically center around typography—bold and colorful like Couplets and Why Fathers Cry at Night or classic and clean like the above alternate cover for Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem.

Typography-based poetry covers usually don’t have a lot of extra ornamentation on them, such as illustrations or photographs. Instead, the focus is completely on the typography: its layout, color, and font type (serif, sans serif, brush, handwriting, etc.).

Typography-based covers have been around for a while and I don’t see this trend going away any time soon—and for good reason! They can be simple or elaborate, depending on the tone of your collection and they also don’t require purchasing or doing a lengthy search for good stock photos, illustrations, or other art, as—again—the typography is the sole focus.

This style is especially beneficial for poets who will be self-publishing or presses with a tight budget, as the designer or DIY-er won’t have to worry about any heavy photo manipulation. It’s all about the font!

1. The Photo-Based Cover These covers revolve around a central photograph, sometimes a self-portrait as Natalie Diaz did with the cover for Postcolonial Love Poem.

While photo-based covers can be a bit more challenging to DIY—for example, you need to make sure all photos you use are properly licensed for use on book covers—if you find a striking image that fits the theme of your collection, it can do wonders to add interest to your cover.

1. The Object-Based Cover Like the description suggests, these covers revolve around a central object or objects without much extra ornamentation.

Oftentimes object-based covers are paired with interesting typography to add extra “oomph,” such as the cover for Odes to Lithium. The handwritten brush font and the illustrated objects on the cover work to compliment the confessional-style poetry within the collection. In other words, the tone of the collection is clearly conveyed by the stylistic choices of the book cover design.

Milk and Honey is another classic object-based cover (technically, bees aren’t an object, but you get my point) and I’m sure many of you have seen this one out and about online! Again, the cover is simple, featuring two hand-drawn bees and a simple, non-ornamental font. The cover reflects Kaur’s writing style perfectly: short, simple, sweet.

I would argue that object-based covers don’t pose the same challenges as photo-based ones, however, when searching for potential illustrations to use (if you’re DIYing the cover), make sure you have permission to use the images. If you’re working with an illustrator or designer, it’s always helpful to provide samples of illustrations that you like and want to see emulated on your cover.

1. The Art Cover Last (but certainly not least!) is the art cover, which holds a special place in my cover-obsessed heart.

Art-based covers focus just on that—art. They can include custom-painted covers or artwork from the public domain.

These covers often have a more painterly and literary look to them, so if you write poetry in a more traditional style or form, you might consider an art-based cover. Poetry that tends to be lush and lyrical are also good candidates for an art-focused cover. I’ve seen many nature poets also use art-based covers, though that’s not a hard and fast design rule (for example, poet Mary Oliver has stunning photo-based covers!).

Back to you poets! What are some of your favorite poetry covers? Is there a book cover design trend you’ve seen that I haven’t discussed here? Let me know in the comments!

Manuela Williams is a Las Vegas-based writer and editor. She is the author of Ghost In Girl Costume, which won the 2017 Hard To Swallow Chapbook Contest. Her second poetry chapbook, Witch, is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press. When she’s not writing, Manuela is busy drinking coffee and spending time with her blind Pomeranian, Redford.

You can follow her on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

The post The Poet’s Toolbox: Four Book Cover Design Trends appeared first on DIY MFA.

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So you have some concept and general guidance on what the seven main chakras are, what they represent, and how they can manifest as behaviors and motivations for you (and your characters). Chakras can help you add movement to a static character, or help you identify what within your character you can change to help them develop over the course of your novel.

Now let’s align the chakra concept to some other common creative writing needs.

A quick recap As a reminder, chakras are an ancient, Hindu concept of energy centers in the body. Each of these energy centers holds a different purpose: the root chakra is all about survival, the sacral chakra about sensuality and emotions; the solar plexus chakra is your center of power; the heart chakra is a place of love; the throat chakra represents our ability to express ourselves; the sixth chakra is the seat of our intuition; and the crown chakra pertains to spiritual enlightenment. All the chakras are interconnected, and each can be excessive, blocked, or balanced.

Fine-Tuning a Character’s MotivationAre you a plot-driven writer who sometimes struggles to clarify a protagonist’s motivations for doing what they’ll do over the course of your story? Or maybe you’ve gotten some feedback from a critique partner that your character’s behaviors don’t match their motivation in a believable way. What now?!

Spending some time with the chakra system might help ground your character’s behaviors in a deeper and more specific backstory. One of the great things about chakras is how seamlessly they tie to Western psychology and our understanding of human development.

Let’s say your character is really motivated by being rich and famous and they go to outrageous (maybe even hilarious) lengths to make this happen. Why might this be? Where does this need come from, and what from the character’s past is this need filling?

Let’s turn to the chakra system for some clues. Wealth is tied to survival, which is rooted in the first chakra. What kind of scarcity in their past (likely childhood) would cause them to believe that only a huge swing in the opposite direction might allow them to finally feel safe and secure? Maybe their mom was absent and their dad had to work three jobs to make ends meet, meaning the character rarely spent any quality time with either parent. And when they did, they felt the need to be good and perfect and helpful so that they were worthy of their dad’s time and love.

This might explain the intertwined desire for wealth (security) and fame (attention) that fills the vacuum of both in their childhood. Dropping some hints as to this backstory, or characters that mirror her parents’s past behaviors in her present life, will help the reader believe the wild lengths your protagonist will go to achieve their dreams. By the end of the story, what would need to happen to find your protagonist in greater balance, and with less need for money or attention?

Developing Compelling DuosAnother element of a story that can create tension and texture is having well-matched duos. This might be a romantic pairing, best friends, sisters, or something else all together. You want these duos to play off of each other, perhaps be the Yin to the others Yang, act like two peas in a pod, or even be so opposite that they can’t escape the magnetism between them.

Chakras are a great way to add some nuance to these different dynamics. Here’s a few pairings you might think through as inspiration for developing your own.

One sister is the gentle, compassionate one who gives too much of herself (blocked 4th chakra). The other is the bold, beautiful loud-mouth who talks over everybody all the time (excessive 5th chakra). How might their reliance on each other for love and validation create tension as the story progresses? Could reliance turn to resentment, and simmer over into something juicy?

Or there’s the female protagonist who has lost faith in the meaning of life (blocked 7th chakra) paired with a love interest who is able to freely express their emotions in a healthy way (balanced 2nd chakra). How will our heroine push through her own past baggage and lack of trust in the universe to claim the love she deserves?

One best friend is successful but self-deprecating, struggling with their self-image in secret (blocked 3rd chakra), while the other has a less abundant bank account but a healthy amount of self-love (balanced 4th chakra). How might one’s confidence trigger a change in the other? Will they grow closer or drift apart?

Creating a Complex Villain Another duo we didn’t mention before, but that may be critical to the tension and emotion of your story? The Hero-Villain dynamic. Personally, I really struggle with a villain who is pure evil just because. Maybe when I was a kid I loved that, but as an adult I find it an unfulfilling read. Let’s turn to the chakras for help!

Let’s say you’ve got the classic evil sorceress as your villain. Why is she evil and what leads her to sorcery? Perhaps when our villain was young, she learned that power was a scarce resource: her parents were simple farmers and their land was taken by an aristocrat.

Homeless and destitute (blocked 1st chakra), our villainess had to go to extreme measures to keep herself and her broken parents alive. She vowed to punish the man who had stolen her safety and innocence. But even after she did, she couldn’t let go of the quest for power (excessive third chakra). She knew it could be taken from her at any moment, and she’d be damned if she let that happen.

How might a hero that comes from an equally unstable background, but who sees power as a resource best shared with others, be able to uniquely challenge this power-hoarding sorceress?

Or maybe your villain is a more mundane one: a bully. Let’s say our bully grew up in a loving home. His mom told him every day how amazing and smart and perfect he was. And then she died. With his dad absent in his grief, suddenly this little boy had to learn to take care of himself while also losing any love and validation he once had in one fell swoop.

He channels his own anxiety and fear into a need to control others (excessive first chakra), and that to get love and attention you have to stomp over others in the process (excessive 4th and 5th chakras). How might an insecure protagonist learn to love and believe in themselves enough to challenge the bully without becoming one in the process?

In ConclusionIf you’re someone who loves a good character worksheet and digging into the psychology of your characters, chakras are an excellent modality for helping you think a bit deeper. They’re practically a character worksheet that encompasses backstory, behavior, and desire all in one!

Where do you think your characters are balanced, blocked, or excessive? What explains it and what can you do with this newfound knowledge? Let us know in the comments below!

Ashley Christiano is a fantasy writer, experienced tarot reader, and professional astrologer based in Los Angeles. As The Novel Mystic, she combines the power of astrology, tarot, and creative writing to empower women, educate the astro-curious, and inspire her own storytelling. You can find her on Twitter or her website to keep up with the stars, learn more about various esoteric modalities, or get your own tarot reading.

The post Chakras For Storytellers, Part 2: Putting Concept into Practice appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Writing a memoir that covers difficult subjects should be cathartic, and reading it should be soul-stirring. I believe the work an author puts into their inner world will determine the mark their work leaves on the world. If you want to free your soul and inspire hope for healing, then here are five things to keep in mind when writing a memoir that covers difficult subjects:

1. Write from the right state of mind Chances are the difficult subjects you’re writing about helped shape you into the resilient and inspirational person you are today. So, while the book is still just a thought in your mind, before you write your first word, sit for twenty minutes in meditative silence, thanking the antagonist for the role they played in your awakening. (I never thought I’d be able to do this exercise, but I did!)

Sharing your story with awareness will guide your hand in writing a soul-stirring work of art as opposed to an angry, vindictive account of what happened to you.

1. Go deep, not wide Choose one or two specific people as your target audience and write with only them in mind. It’s paralyzing to be preoccupied with what to say or how to say it so that it lands with everyone.

I wrote my memoir hoping to reach a good friend and her twenty-year-old daughter. For years I witnessed them struggling with distressing circumstances and dysfunctional relationships, and I knew from experience they were stuck in this pattern because they weren’t taking an honest look within. Because I was determined to connect with them on the deepest level, eager for them to see themselves in me, and hopeful they’d be inspired to heal, the words flowed through me with ease.

1. Lay it all out Don’t let fear or shame hold you back from writing difficult scenes in your early drafts. Putting it all down on the page will help illuminate important components of your story that are too significant to keep hidden in the dark.

Vulnerability and universal human experience are at the intersection where we connect. There are readers out there who need your honesty to heal their pain. I avoided writing a particular scene in my memoir and it still haunts me. I should have written it out, even if I decided to cut it from the final draft. At the very least, it would have been therapeutic to process it. Stay tuned, it might turn up in future material.

1. Shake it off Trauma is stored in the body and writing a memoir can trigger old wounds. There were days I emerged from my office rattled by the experience. Worse, there were days I acted out from my pain. I needed a way to decompress, otherwise I risked creating a future just like my past.

Long walks calmed my overactive nervous system and with each quickened step, I shed a layer of anguish. Brisk walks brought me peace and helped me write with a clear mind and healed heart. Dancing can be fun too! Or running (but not for me).

1. Submit selflessly Send your completed manuscript out in the world with the intention of helping others heal. Yes, it’s fun to imagine the best-seller list, the movie rights, or the interview with Oprah, but deep down you know that’s not the point. I submitted my memoir that covered difficult subjects with the hope that if only one reader could find peace from my story, then my purpose would be fulfilled. I believe it’s our inner light that gets the green light.

There’s power in your story. Use it to heal the world.

Francesca Miracola is the author of I Got It from Here: A Memoir of Awakening to the Power Within, She Writes Press, April 2023. Francesca is a Life Coach, and her practice is based on the principles of A Course in Miracles. She founded Protagonist Within, LLC because she believes in order to be the protagonist of your own story you must look within to heal. She is a wife, a best friend, and above all, a mother.

You can find Francesca on her website.

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When I was a kid, after a weekly shopping trip to my hometown, the place our family arranged to meet before driving home was the bookstore. There we’d pick up the weekly magazines (Woman, Girl, Eagle… ) and browse books while waiting for stragglers to arrive. My parents — primary school teachers — would be on the lookout for books to stock, or to give at prize giving. Every child in our rural New Zealand school had an annual book gifted, so seeing and feeling books helped identify which was right for a particular child.

Times have changed.

A few months ago, on DIY MFA, I wrote an article about research and world building for The Find. This time, I’m sharing the agony and ecstasy of deciding on those all-important decisions to be made about the front cover design and back cover blurb.

With every rewrite and polish, your story shines. You’ve received beta reader feedback (that’s a must-do). An editor and proof-reader may have tidied up things (I’d recommend both). You are confident the words inside your book are ready for publication. Now for the outside.

As a reader, I still like handling and browsing books in actual shops, but like most others, I browse online, frequently purchasing digital novels.

As an author, I rely on online retail platforms to market my work. Few of us get to see our books displayed in actual shops relying on potential purchasers to click through rather than flick-through.

Front Cover ImageWhat kind of cover design image captures the mood of your story-world and genre? For The Find, the Book Guild designer provided advice and a briefing form with all sorts of questions, such as:

• What is the title inspired by?
• Who do you feel is your target audience?
• What do you wish your cover to convey?

After researching and selecting images on iStock, where I had been directed to, I tested concepts with beta readers who knew the story and between us we narrowed my ideas down to a combination of a non-specific male head and boggy landscape.

The digital image of a male head came in two colors: bronze and silver. The two boggy landscape photos I selected were browny-gold tones and bluey-gray. I mocked up two versions and sought feedback from beta readers. The brown/gold color palette won out, and I forwarded a roughed-up idea to the publishers to work with.

What came back surprised and delighted me. The designers tossed out the head image as it didn’t work, they said, instead focusing on one boggy landscape image. They played with it, altering and enhancing it in magical ways designers have. I loved it immediately.

On a 1-10 scale, agony to ecstasy, I give working on cover design a high 9.

Take away:

• Take your time to look at books that are a similar genre to yours.
• Share ideas with beta readers who know your story.
• Take advice from professionals who know the current book market.

Back Cover BlurbLet’s imagine people browsing online. You’ve hooked them with a strong, yet relevant, cover design and they decide to stay a while longer and read the blurb. You’ve not got much time before restless fingers are going to click through. Grab them!

• How can your back cover blurb capture your story succinctly?
• In under 200 words, how can you convey the essence of your story without including plot spoilers?
• How can you grab peoples’s attention to make them think, yeah, that’s worth spending money on?
• How can you ensure the blurb reflects your values and themes in your story?

I went through many versions. It’s hard to get the blurb to the point where you don’t want to tinker a second longer.

I tested paragraphs with beta readers and my writers’s group, changing, tweaking, chucking away, starting again… In other words, I stewed over the whole darned thing for weeks. Many suggestions from valued supporters were included in the blurb. Here is what I settled on.

“When human remains are found deep in an Irish peat bog, the National Museum of Ireland takes charge and their bog body specialist, Carrie O’Neill, begins to investigate. She notices unexpected features on this well-preserved body and later tests suggest an intriguing history.

As Carrie tries to make sense of all she learns, speculation sends people reeling. Repercussions ripple throughout the world, pulling Carrie into the ensuing controversy. She finds herself caught up in events that she has not foreseen and cannot control.

The more she delves into the mystery that is the talk of every TV show, the more she is warned off. Fear and outrage mount as she prepares a much-anticipated exhibition of their precious discovery.

The Find raises one almighty question that will shake up everything we think we know.”

On a 1-10 scale, agony to ecstasy, I give working on the blurb a 5. It was difficult, and I really did agonize over it.

Take Away:Don’t rush. Take your time and listen to advice. Live with your cover design. Play with it by moving sections around. (I moved the final sentence in my blurb from opening to ending.) Read it aloud.

Enjoy creating your book!

Stories with big themes written as page-turners are Anna M Holmes’s speciality. She loves research — exploring and building worlds and complex characters. The Find is her latest novel following Wayward Voyage and Blind Eye. Initially, she worked as a radio journalist before a career in arts management working with UK Arts Councils and as a creative producer. Writing, reading, dance, and yoga shape her life. Originally from New Zealand, Anna lives in South-West London.

To discover more about Anna M Holmes visit her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The post Book Cover Design and Blurb: Agony or Ecstasy? appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Patricia Leavy. They’ll be talking about her book, Hollyland, and the science behind the art of writing.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for March is Voice and Narration, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Patricia Leavy and Lori discuss:* The neuroscience behind reader engagement. * How her sociology background influences the way she develops characters. * Exploring the beauty of writing by muscle memory as opposed to convention.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Patricia LeavyPatricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than forty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than forty book honors. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.”

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

HollylandWhat happens when a seemingly ordinary woman with a passion for the arts falls in love with a Hollywood star known for his bachelor status and quick temper with the paparazzi? Something extraordinary.

Dee Schwartz is a writer and arts researcher. Ryder Field is a famous actor descended from Hollywood royalty. On the night they meet outside a bar, their connection is palpable. Ryder’s mother—legendary actress Rebecca Field, half of Hollywood’s golden couple when she died—was kidnapped and murdered by a crazed fan in a shocking event that forever tarnished Tinseltown. Dee’s mother, too, died when she was young. Bonded by this loss, the two embark on a love story that explores their search for magic—or “gold dust”—in their lives. Everything changes, however, when Dee mysteriously disappears after an awards ceremony. Is history repeating itself? Can there truly be a happily ever after in Hollywood?

Set against the backdrop of contemporary Los Angeles, Hollyland is a poignant novel that moves fluidly between romance, humor, suspense, and joy.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 455(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 455: The Magic and Science of Writing — Interview with Patricia Leavy appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Critique groups have a bad rap in some writing circles. Ours works well, so we’ll be sharing our experience in a series of articles. This one focuses on our origin story: how we came together to create a long-lasting, successful writers’s support group.

We’re four women who’ve never met and possibly never will. (Secretly we hope this will change.) Two live in Canada, one in the USA, and one in Morocco. We share three husbands, four ex-husbands, seven children, two grandchildren, and five dogs.

Yet we have nothing in common.

Brenda writes Canadiana literary fiction and speculative short stories. Liz writes speculative fiction and fantasy rooted in hope and community. Soleah writes contemporary fantasy full of legends and folklore. Janet writes short stories and social justice romance novels.

Discovering our Writing IdentitiesBrenda’s origin story:I wanted to be a veterinarian. First year calculus changed that dream in short order. A counselor suggested I switch to Canadian Literature. I asked what career this would get me and was told I could be a teacher (HARD PASS). I was not informed about other options: advertising, journalism, or writing.

I quit the university.

I became a licensed optician, got married, had children, and adopted many, many pets. My husband and I are partners in a successful consulting business. While my children were little, I took a snail-mail writing course. It was cumbersome and slow; I never finished. I started writing pet obituaries and sent them to friends and family.

Unknowingly, I had created my first blog. I wrote my second blog to keep folks informed when we moved our house. This was so well received, I signed up and completed a self-directed writing course, then did a mentored course with the same group. I learned a lot but found this writing community too “Zen.” I wanted a more vibrant and fun writing community.

Liz’s origin story:I’ve always loved stories, whether words on a page or pictures on a screen. My grandparents hugely impacted my tastes, from folktales and mythologies to watching hours of Perry Mason and Murder She Wrote.

I blame my love of science fiction and androids on my dad, a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars. My interest in writing began when I saw Where the Red Fern Grows in first grade. It was so sad that I rewrote it and added a girl like me. Next, Edgar Allan Poe caught my young heart. Poetry became my next adventure well into college.

Then all my words dried up. I dove into painting, theater, black-and-white photography, and even stained glass. My double degree in International Communication and Spanish led me to Spain, then back to California. In a twist of fate, I used both degrees as an intern at E! Entertainment Television. I worked in the industry for five years, writing and producing for television.

This reignited my love of writing. In my spare time while having a family, I’d find myself writing bits and pieces of stories. After years of starts and stops, I finally finished my first novel.

Soleah’s origin story: When I was eight, I started dabbling in poetry. I thought in rhymes and wrote in French. My father, my number one fan, was so proud that he got one of my poems, “Coquillage,” published in a Moroccan national newspaper. At eleven, I wrote fairy tales, long gone now, except for two. At thirteen, I started a romance novel. I loved Kathleen E. Woodiwiss; I read all her books. The only way to get more was to write one. A family friend was even ready to publish it.

Unfortunately, my manuscript didn’t go further than two chapters. It still lies in a drawer—the only regret of my life. I replaced fiction with academic articles…until a low point in life forced me to pour my broken heart onto paper.

My first (therapeutic) four-hundred-page novel was born. I found it brilliant. It was a mess. An editor loved the premise but hated the writing. Although the publishing company passed on my manuscript, it did have potential. This time, I didn’t give up.

Janet’s origin story:In 2nd grade I had to write a poem and was blown away that the stuff in books could come from me. My 5th grade teacher mimeographed my mysteries for the class. I was torn between being a writer or a lawyer like Nancy Drew’s father. In 6th grade, I wrote the first of three mystery “novels.” In 9th grade, my mother gave me a Smith Corona typewriter with instructions to practice for an office job.

I used it to start a gothic novel.

Then I quit writing to chase boys. In early college, I wrote poetry when I was sad, but I’d long lost any self-identification as writer. I dropped out of school and worked as a receptionist. I met the most magical invention, a Selectric typewriter, on which I had to type 50 copies of the same letter every week (truthfully, 150, my typing sucked). Otherwise, I could do what I wanted. I’d just discovered Plath and Sexton and used the Selectric to write reams of terrible poetry. I still have it. It stinks, but it gifted me a writer identity again.

Becoming A Discovery of WritersFour independent writers surfed the internet and discovered Gabriella Pereira’s fabulous community, DIY MFA. We variously participated in 101, P2P, The HUB, and WordNerdsUnite.

Small Group Coaching came next.

The first iteration of SGC put Liz, Safiya, and Janet in one cohort and Brenda in another, all coached by the talented Jeanette Smith. When our three months were up, Janet, Safiya, and Liz remained tight, meeting weekly. Janet, Safiya, and Brenda reenlisted for another session, becoming a second trio that kept meeting weekly when the program ended.

3+3=4Two weekly critique meetings for Janet and Safiya were cumbersome. Remembering who read what when, was next to impossible. We decided to amalgamate and never looked back. We meet almost weekly, or suffer withdrawal issues. The meetings vary, some short-ish, some hours long. Sometimes we critique; sometimes we brainstorm. Sometimes we scrap everything and just talk.

Finding Trust and ConfidenceWe each brought our own insecurities and imposter syndrome to the critique sessions. Were we really writers if we’d only published one story? Or a poem? What if we’d never published anything? How could we stop comparing ourselves to others?

We found trust in each other, then in ourselves. As our ideas and writing were validated, we began to have faith in letting our voices live on the page. We became confident in our ability to tell a story. We finished first drafts, entered short story competitions, began our next novels.

With confidence came the courage to push past our comfort zones and self-imposed barriers, to take up the banner of writer and pronounce it to the world—even on days we still weren’t sure we deserved the title.

We write different genres. Our backgrounds vary widely. We’re even based in different countries. But our love of writing and perhaps our differences make us stronger as a team.

That’s what we are. A team.

Becoming good friends makes it that much better. We’re cheerleaders for each other and our critique group. The input we share makes us all better writers, better storytellers. The path of a writer is never-ending, but it’s a lot more pleasant when you have good company on that journey.

What’s your origin story? When did you identify as a writer? Who helps strengthen that identity?

A Discovery of Writers is made up of four DIY MFA Small-Group Book Coaching graduates who were partnered in the program in 2020, stayed together after our terms ended, and have turned into a tight, very effective writing support group. We love how we work together and would like to explore/share our experience with the Word Nerd community. For more about us individually you can find us here.

The post The Gathering: Our Origin Story appeared first on DIY MFA.

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I inherited a love of afternoon tea from my Victorian grandmother. She would brew a pot of stout tea and serve it, steaming hot, with ginger cookies. Or, if North Carolina humidity cooperated, mint meringues with chocolate chips. I’d bite into their crisp skin and then wait, as the soft, minty inside melted in my mouth. Nourished and refreshed, I’d head back to my homework.

Tea with my grandmother wasn’t fancy. A practical woman, shaped by the Depression, she wrapped Christmas packages in colored tissue paper, then carefully ironed and stored each piece for the next year.

Yet, the tea and packages never seemed simple. My grandmother’s curiosity and sense of wonder made even the smallest things magical. A bowl of applesauce with a few candy sprinkles became an explosion of color, if you waited just a moment, and then stirred.

I thought about tea with my grandmother, when I pitched “Tea with Scones.” I read essays, I write essays, and I still struggle with images from my past.

So what is essay?Essay is the uninspired piece we were subjected to in school, or (if we are honest) the magazines we consumed, sitting on the toilet, at a sister-in-law’s.

Essay is the long The Atlantic or The New Yorker article we pretend to have read (“yes, her point was eloquent, but I do think she rambled on”), but never get around to.

In the spirit of my grandmother, here’s a reframe: essay is a small meal to recharge readers’s souls, and a confined—but not confining—space for writers.

Call it a literary nonfiction essay. Slice it into the personal essay, the science essay, the persuasive essay, the natural essay. Dice it into blogs or flashes. Essay is candy to fill an idle moment, indulge, refocus, instruct—sometimes all simultaneously.

It’s poetry’s bigger cousin, the blastocyst before the book proposal, masterful craftsmanship or utter drivel.

Where can you find it?You can find essays about almost anything, and fit them into small pockets during your day. In graduate school, they were my salvation. I’d leave the anatomy lab, with all its enthralling descriptions (“the orbicularis oculi originates from the nasal portion of the frontal bone…”), sip a cup of tea, and indulge in an essay. Later, with a job and a house and a family, reading essays allowed me to think, just a little, about bodies in Lake Powell, Boca Raton, or crows in Karachi.

As a writer, I’ve discovered another reason to read essays: the best essayists are master writers. Their writing feels intimate. The scintillating conversations leave me breathless, wondering at their ability to weave together such a rich tapestry with mere words. To mix metaphors, they are master carvers who, while I read, shape a block of wood into lifelike sculpture. I want to write like that, and to write like that, I study their craft.

But how, as writers, do we do that? I suggest four steps:1. Read through once, with tea and scones. If you have access to cream scones, warm from the oven, golden and crunchy on the outside, slice one open. Slather a bit of butter and some fresh raspberry jam, then bite down. Feel the delicate crunch of the golden crust, taste the tartness of raspberry, feel the cream and butter. Savor how it mixes in your mouth, the exquisite balance of salt and fat, sugar and tart.

2. Sit for a moment and note the array of feelings. Did the golden crust resonate more, or was it the fresh raspberries, or perhaps the point-counter point of the two tastes in your mouth? And yes, you will feel awkward and others in the café will stare, but allow yourself several minutes to catalog all of the sensations.

3. Look back at the essay. Highlight images, sentences, or even an entire paragraph that elicited those feelings. Was it the description of hot tea in a purple ceramic mug, or the bright smell of the raspberries that brought such rapture? Did the description of butter running down the author’s beard add or detract?

4. What can you reverse engineer into your own writing? The scones and the raspberries and the tea belong to this author, but now that you see how she put them together, are there experiments you’d like to try in your own writing?

It’s easy to walk away from the table at this point, but take a moment to bus your dishes. Then write down what you’ve learned. I’ve found it helpful to note in my writing specific sentences or images I want to reflect on. I look back at these from time to time. Sometimes, I turn these notes into a template of instructions and questions for my next writing piece.

I’ll close with one caution: there is danger, even in a cup of tea. A splash, a spill, and you wear the stuff the rest of the afternoon. Like any good writer, you wonder where the tea came from, follow the casual encounter out the door and around the bend. And then, just like Bilbo Baggins, “You step onto the road and, if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you’ll be swept off to.”

I’d love to hear from you about a favorite essay, tricks you use to read and learn from essays, and how you approach writing essays. Email me at kammprongay@gmail.com. Forthcoming columns will explore essay, essay collections, and writing tips for essays. Until then, happy reading.

Kamm Prongay is a writer and veterinarian whose essays intertwine science, nature, people, and place. A child of the South, raised in the Pacific Northwest, Kamm spent time at sea as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer before coming ashore to pursue veterinary school, clinical practice, teaching and research. Kamm lives with her wife, Liz, and two curious cats in Portland, Oregon.

You can find her on her website.

The post Tea with Scones: One Writer’s Introduction to Reading and Writing Essay appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Greetings, fellow word nerds! As we head into April (aka National Poetry Month), it only makes sense that this month’s Leisure Learning column should focus on the short form of the written word.

In a world where words can easily become blather, poetry offers a magnificent opportunity to return to the essence of our human experience. With poetry we are to feel the feels, to vividly bring forth what the mind has been whispering to us, to tend to the inner sanctuary.

Poetry also makes for great cross training when working on prose. If poetry has taken a backseat now that you’re working on longer forms, here are some simple ideas for getting in touch with your inner poet (other than, ahem, sitting down and actually penning a poem yourself): check out your state’s current poet laureate, elevate your dog’s life with a reading of Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs, or return to a classic and see if it speaks to you in a new way.

However you choose to experience National Poetry Month, come and word nerd out with us as we celebrate the awesomeness that occurs in April.

Americans’s Favorite Poems In 1997, Robert Pinsky was recognized as the 39th U.S. Poet Laureate. That year, he made a contribution to the field of American poetry by creating The Favorite Poem Project, which was an open call asking anyone to write in, telling about their favorite poem and its importance.

The project received over 18,000 responses from people aged 5-97. As such, this treasure chest of Americans reading their favorite poems emerged from the endeavor. With so much astounding work held in the bosoms of so many, the best poems that didn’t get a camera crew were carried over into the anthology Americans’ Favorite Poems.

I do feel the need to mention one aspect of this project, and that is how the poems are presented. The videos were made in the late ‘90s, and feel dated in a PBS-VHS-“I’m on the cutting edge of technology, reading here from my Palm Pilot” sort of way. Still, it is the words of Shakespeare, Emerson, Dickinson, Omar Khayyam, and many others that make this collection not only timeless, but a grouping so relevant to life, it shouldn’t be missed.

*Has a poem really affected your life? If so, let everyone know on April 27, 2023 by posting with the *Poem in Your Pocket Project, according to their guidelines. Should you miss my personal entry, I urge you to take a moment now and “rest in the grace of the world” with Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things*.

Art Inspired by Rumi

“You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do, and that
sight becomes this art.”

― Rumi

Garip Ay is a cutting edge Ebru artist. Ebru art is a Turkish form of water marbling, where oily paints and pigments are mixed on the surface of the water and then transferred onto paper. Ay pushes the boundary of the art form (and creates nothing less than visual magic) by conjuring fluid masterpieces, which may never actually make it onto a piece of paper.

Here he depicts several stories by the Sufi poet Rumi, which are as elegant and lyrical as many of us know Rumi to be. The stories referenced include: The Man Who Was Able to Talk to Birds, The Man Who Found His Way by Following a Dream, and The Man Who Was Saved by a Moonbeam. This seven and a half minute mesmerizing mental swim ends with a depiction of Rumi that would make Rumi’s own spirit dance.

Calligrams and Their CreatorIf you need a review or just want to learn a little more about one of poetry’s coolest forms, check out this video on the origin of calligrams, visual poems where the words are arranged into an image that is just as important as the text, as that image usually serves to complement the text.

War veteran and Parisian bohemian Guillaume Apollinaire is credited as the creator of this analog mixed media literary form and, while he is a lesser celebrated poet, he is one worth looking into. Once you have a feel for the artistic scene calligrams grew out of, take the concept into the digital era by entering your own text into Caligram.art.

Poets in the WildGiven its short form, poetry is a great candidate to take out into the world and do on the fly. It allows for a literary approximation of busking combined with a little improv. There are at least two poets who are honing their linguistic skills (while also overcoming their fear of people), as they take their typewriters on the road and set up shop wherever they can, writing poems for donations and taking requests. See what this unique form of literary life is like, the awkward situations you may encounter and just how much cheese can mean for a person via poets Paul Wiegel and Afrose Fatima Ahmed.

The PDR Poetry CollectionIf you have yet to acquaint yourself with The Public Domain Review, please take a minute to do so this month through their poetry collection. The PDR itself is a journal that aggregates public domain holdings for anyone to use. However, their greater use is to provide materials that spark important conversations by giving us perspectives with which to question contemporary society.

The materials featured on the PDR stand out because of the high quality standards they maintain. They host the “best of” materials relevant to our collective past. Moreover, this site, including the poetry section, is a feast for the eyes. They even have an uploaded version of the aforementioned Monsieur Apollinaire’s original Calligrammes.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Leisure Learning, March 2023: Poetry Galore appeared first on DIY MFA.

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A few weeks ago, I shared how numbers could improve your writing life. Today, I’m going to discuss how numerical data can improve your story. The suggestions I present here are in the context of novels, but you can apply these principles to other forms as well.

As with the previous article, I don’t want to scare away any writers who fear the very mention of numbers. I promise there are no complex equations or proofs here – just practical ways you can use numerical data to help you revise your novel.

1. Pace YourselfPacing is all about rhythm, and rhythm is very mathematical, so it should not be surprising that numerical data can identify pacing issues. For starters, determine your word count for each of your chapters. Are they within a close range of each other or do they wildly fluctuate throughout the book? You might have a good reason for a lot of variation in your chapter lengths, but make sure this variation is serving a purpose.

Note where your novel’s critical scenes occur as a percentage of the entire manuscript. Does your inciting incident happen at the 30% mark? Your opening is too long. You can also look at the length of each critical scene. Maybe your climax is occurring at an appropriate point, but you fly through it in two pages.

Consider your genre and age category when evaluating your pacing. For instance, middle grade and YA novels typically start and end quickly, with early inciting incidents and late climaxes, so your pacing will feel off if you have a long introduction or resolution. If you’re writing romance, you have a problem if you haven’t introduced the love interest in the first 50% of the book. In a murder mystery novel, readers expect to encounter the crime early, not 25% of the way into the book.

Numerical data can help you identify potential trouble spots, but it should not be prescriptive. If your figures slightly differ from the recommended standards for your market, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. If you can justify the choices you’ve made and your beta readers don’t notice a problem with your pacing, then you’re probably fine.

1. Break It DownOnce you have a solid draft, figure out the composition breakdown of your manuscript. With a set of highlighters (use a different color for each category), identify dialogue, world building and description, action, character interiority, and backstory. Approximate the percentage of your total word count that you have written in each of these categories. (The computer can give you more precise information. Highlight in different colors on your screen and calculate your percentages easily. The printed version, however, may have an advantage in making a visual impact, and approximations will work for this, so pick your preference.)

Is one category dominating your story? If so, can you justify this? There may be an excellent reason your novel is 80% dialogue, so long as it is an intentional one.

Conversely, is one category lacking? Adding passages to enhance that category may give your novel more balance.

1. Remember the “Comp” in Comp Titles“Comp” is short for comparison. A comp title is a book like yours, often sharing genre, market, and style. Comp titles demonstrate your novel has an audience.

Choose a comp title you admire. Break down its composition, as described above. If you’re daunted by tackling a full novel, then try a few choice chapters, including the opening and closing chapters, the inciting incident, and the climax. Determine the percentages spent on dialogue, setting and description, action, character interiority, and backstory.

Then take a literal approach to the word “comparison” by comparing your novel’s composition to that of your comp title. They probably won’t be exactly the same, but you should pay attention to big discrepancies. This is how you learn from published authors.

1. Keep Your Cast in LineIn your completed manuscript, figure out how much real estate you’ve given to each of your characters. One of your side characters might appear more often than they should. Or, maybe you thought you were writing a dual POV story, but when you look at the word count devoted to each character, one of your leads is dominating.

You can also note character presence at the scene level, particularly in crucial scenes. Is one of your dual POV characters missing during a crucial scene? Justify that decision. Is a side character dominating your climax? That’s a big no-no.

As we write our first draft, it’s not uncommon for our characters to develop a mind of their own and lead us down story paths we weren’t anticipating. You may find you have a different story than what you had originally intended to write. Sometimes it’s better. Sometimes it’s not. Looking at character prominence can help you determine whose story you are actually telling.

1. Meet Reader ExpectationsWhen you are ready to query and sell your novel, numbers matter.

Start with word count. Does your word count fit the conventions for your genre and age category? Do not expect an agent to request a full manuscript if your query states your contemporary middle grade novel is 80,000 words. And word count isn’t just a concern for those seeking a traditional book deal. If you choose to self-publish your novel, readers still expect the length of your novel to be like others in its genre. You will confuse them with a 200,000-word mystery novel, and confusion is never good.

Next, consider readability. What’s the reading grade level for your novel, and does it align with your market age category? You may have a problem if your YA fantasy measures at a fourth-grade reading level, unless there is an intentional reason for simpler language.

Finally, make sure your style choices are reflecting your market. Check your sentence length and variety. A reader does not expect to find long, lyrical sentences in a tightly-paced thriller novel. Use sentence length and variety to your advantage to create your desired mood, and make sure this is what you have promised the reader.

Don’t Rely on Numbers to Tell Your StoryNumerical data can be a tremendous asset during revision, but you don’t want to let the data completely control your story. Rather, think of the data as checkpoint measurements. Sometimes a number may highlight an aspect of your work that you need to fix, but sometimes your work is better when it deviates from the standard convention. Writing is a craft, not an algorithm.

If you decide to use any of these strategies while revising your novel, I would love to hear about your experience!

Sara Gentry is a writer and Author Accelerator certified book coach with a Ph.D. in applied and interdisciplinary mathematics. She uses her problem-solving skills to help writers find the solutions they need to write books they love. Connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and her website.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways Numerical Data Can Improve Your Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Have you noticed how some book posts can really grab your attention on Instagram or other social media platforms? Let’s dive into three ideas to spark an Instagram-worthy book post! We’ll analyze how bookstagrammers, bookstores, and authors leverage covers to create great visuals.

Remember, these ideas don’t negate the need for solid cover design tenets (or for writing a stellar book to begin with!) Some foundational cover design tips include the importance of consistency and a single-minded brief. To read more on cover design, check out my DIYMFA article on this topic.

Back to Instagram. First, it’s worth remembering that Instagram is a visual platform, with the central highlight being video or still images accompanied by text story (you may have noticed Meta’s increasing push for reels to help it compete with Tiktok videos).

So what are some ideas to create an Instagram-worthy book post?1. Echo a theme or element from the book cover. This works in a real life or in a digital post. Pick an element from your cover to echo in your book post. For example, notice how The Orchid Hour visual mirrors the leaf images on the side of the post, and how the magenta bubbles pick up color and tonal cues from Fiona Davis’ cover for The Spectacular in these digital posts:

In the below flower examples, study how one element can help provide inspiration for decorating an Instagram post. See how photographer Liwayway @jabberwowie decorated my Goodbye, Orchid post using flowers with a similar color family as my cover, how Sandra @palo.santo.and.pages surrounds The Chemistry of Love with heart images and flowers, and how @nurse_bookie mimicked the single flower image on This is How It Started:

Digital tools are increasingly allowing video animations that complement covers. Visit this link to see how @sharada both mirrors the lemon background of Rachel Hawkins’ The Villa and enhances the book post with fluttering butterflies (she achieves this effect with an app called Motion Leap)

1. Repeat an image to help it “pop”The above examples show how repeating an element from a book cover can catch your eye. That’s because human brains are wired to seek patterns. Likewise, you can use that idea of repetition by repeating your book covers themselves.

The below example from @palo.santo.and.pages repeats two covers from author Sarah Ready. Because they both feature figures at the outer edges of the design, they appear to connect when placed side-by-side. In another example, I repeat my Orchid Blooming and Goodbye, Orchid covers to capture attention for a holiday promotion:

As a side note, the Sarah Ready covers point out a trend towards animated covers. In my article on 2023 book cover trends, I share how the rise of digital marketplaces has increased the use of illustrated, cartoon-like characters and bold pops of color. This trend helps books visually stand out in a crowded sea of thumbnail-sized covers. These can do a good job being recognizable at a glance, and catching the viewer’s attention through simple colorful images.

1. If it suits your book, consider a cover whose image can be continued in real life. Some of the most clever posts juxtapose real-life with the book cover. See how book influencer, James Trevino, has created book posts like this one where he and his partner use their own faces to continue the partially hidden images on the book cover.

In my December 2021 book cover roundup article, I share how covers often don’t show the model’s full face, to allow the reader to use their imagination to picture the characters. See how @compulsivereadersblog leveraged this to create a playful and memorable post for Really Good, Actually.

@bnkahului brought Spare to life by visually connecting Prince Harry’s photo with a person standing behind the book. @secretreadinglife continued the horizon line in Yesterday’s Tides with a background of real-life grass, water, and sky to create an eye-catching image.

As a bonus, here’s one more note on trends. You may have noticed that trending themes can arise in bookstagram posts. Over the years, “foot stacks” have displayed books balanced on a shoe, or color-themed book stacks have raised awareness for a particular social cause.

If you’re timely, you can opportunistically jump on these trends. Some are short-lived, so try not to appear dated by following too slowly. One fairly recent example is the inclusion of arrows to point out different facets of a book. This works well to draw the viewer’s eye to key selling points. @old.enough.for.fairytales uses arrows to point out aspects of the below stack of novels. @kikimojo’s eye-catching post for Merritt and Her Childhood Crush uses arrows to highlight the book’s benefits.

This has been a fun topic! Let me know if you explore any of these ideas to create Instagram-worthy book posts:

1. Echo a theme or element from the book cover
2. Repeat an image to help it “pop”
3. Consider a cover whose image can be continued in real life

One final reminder. Don’t chase postable covers over ones that are true to your book and are consistent with your brand. The basic cover design principles still hold — be clear on your target audience and the single-minded message that your cover needs to deliver, and do so in ways that are consistent with your series and brand.

Now it’s your turn: keep the conversation going by sharing your thoughts and examples in the comments section, and let me know if you’d like more articles like this one!

Carol Van Den Hende is the award-winning author of the Goodbye, Orchid series, a public speaker, and MBA with 20+ years’ experience in marketing, strategy and insights. Plus, she works in chocolate (there’s no ‘sweeter’ job!)

Her novels Orchid Blooming and Goodbye, Orchid are inspired by wounded veterans and have won 30+ literary and design awards, including the American Fiction Award, IAN Outstanding Fiction First Novel Award, and Royal Dragonfly Awards for Cultural Diversity and Disability Awareness.

Buzzfeed, Parade, and Travel+Leisure named Carol’s books a most anticipated read. Glamour Magazine recommended her “modern, important take on the power of love.” The International Pulpwood Queens selected Goodbye, Orchid as a 2022 Bonus Book-of-the-Month and Orchid Blooming as a 2023 International Book-of-the-Month.

Carol’s mission is unlocking optimism as a writer, speaker, strategist, Board member and Climate Reality Leader. One secret to her good fortune? Her humorous hubby and twins, who prove that love really does conquer all.
You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, and Facebook. Please sign up for Carol’s newsletter at https://carolvandenhende.com/contact or linktr.ee/cvdh.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Jinwoo Chong. They’ll be talking about themes of loss and disconnection and how they relate to his book Flux.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for March is Voice and Narration, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

Correction: During the interview, the author mistakenly identifies butter chicken or murgh makhni as a British dish invented in the UK by Indian immigrants. He later clarified that butter chicken was in fact invented in New Delhi. Chicken tikka masala is actually the British dish.

In this episode Jinwoo Chong and Lori discuss:* Immigration as synthesis. * What it means to blend speculative fiction and neo-noir genres * How the immigrant experience helped to shape his book.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.About Jinwoo ChongJinwoo Chong is the author of the novel Flux, coming March 21, 2023 from Melville House. His work has appeared in The Southern Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Florida Review, CRAFT, and Salamander.

He received the Oran Robert Perry Burke Award for Fiction from The Southern Review and a special mention in the 2022 Pushcart Prize anthology, as well as recognition from The Sewanee Review, Tin House and Zoetrope: All-Story.

He received an MFA from Columbia University and is an editorial assistant at One Story.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

FluxA blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his employers have inadvertently discovered time travel and are covering up a string of violent crimes.

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending and surreal literary debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic 80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 454(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 454: Exploring Themes of Grief and Loneliness in a Neo-Noir Speculative Novel — Interview with Jinwoo Chong appeared first on DIY MFA.

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My writing life began late in life. I had to catch up, make up for lost time writing, but I also had to catch up finding my writing tribe. Perseverance won the day, as it does, but it’s hard to recognize that while no obvious goals are met. It’s a matter of hope and faith, really: faith in the evolution of your writing, faith in yourself, and hope for the future.

Hope and faith are a large part of writing, but can they sustain the lonely writer? At this point in my journey—I’ve published two novels and am making good progress on two—I’d say, no. I believe that finding a writing tribe, one that is supportive and knowledgeable, is key.

I’d been writing steadily for 18 years before traveling to the Historical Novel Society UK conference last fall. Meeting inclusive and serious historical fiction writers helped me find my writing tribe. As is the experience of many writers, the road to finding my writing tribe had been a lonely one. Alone, I toiled away in ignorance of my craft and the world of writing, publishing, and perhaps most importantly, readers. There was no obvious reason to keep going as the rejections piled up—no obvious reasons except hope and faith.

My early years of writing were littered with too-early submissions and subsequent rejections. But at some point, something made me pick my head up and join groups of writers. I began with Writer’s Digest, an organization thousands strong. WD holds annual meetings in the settled furnace blast that is New York in August. Packing zero talent for networking, I got on the train to New York. Sitting on that train, I still hadn’t a clue, but it was the first step to finding my writing tribe.

The First Step on the Road to Finding My Writing TribeWhile spending days inside the vast refrigerated Hilton Hotel, I failed to connect with anyone. I attended panels, keynote addresses, speed-dating style agent pitch sessions, and talks, many of which were stand-outs.

One led me down the road to finding my writing tribe and my writing life. Given by Gabriela Pereira, founding instigator of DIY MFA, it was kismet. I knew nothing about DIY MFA or Gabriela. But there on the stage was a young woman who spoke directly to this member of her audience. She urged us to call ourselves writers, aloud and loud—to shelve our imposter syndromes—if we wrote, we were writers. Period. How liberating was that? It was life-changing.

I Am A Writer!I joined DIY MFA and enrolled in the P2P course. Among other things, the course taught me how to navigate marketing for authors and to create my website/blog. My website went live within months of the course ending. After P2P and starting the blog, I contributed short pieces about experiences as a writer to the DIY MFA website.

Heroine of Her Own Life, published by Next Chapter 2019, Book 1 of the series Finding Their Way Home

At the same time, I continued work on my debut historical fiction (family saga) novel, Heroine of Her Own Life. I also joined the Historical Novelist Society, which includes branches in Ireland, the UK, and North America, and began attending the annual conferences online before joining in person in 2022.

Finding a Writing TribeAs I moved down the road to finding my writing tribe, I found a publisher, Next Chapter. My novels, inspired by my Northern Irish family, led me to the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin. As Covid overwhelmed the world, organizations adjusted by presenting everything online, from courses to conferences, which opened a new world.

My first course at the IWC was called the Northern Soul Roadshow with Fiona O’Rourke, author, facilitator, and mentor. Each week, we met Northern Irish poets and writers such as Michelle Gallen, Olivia Fitzsimons, Maria McManus, and Sue Divin, and listened to them read and describe their journeys. As a class, we shared our writing, exchanged feedback, quickly gelling into a tribe, one that has held. A tribe—I found my writing tribe!

My Writing Tribe for LifeEvery step toward finding my writing tribe has been one of growth for me, as a writer and as a person. The supportive writers and poets in the tribe have become my friends, advisers, editors, and comrades—a tribe for life. I characterize myself as a dedicated lifelong DIY MFA HUB member and active participant, and many are to be found here.

My writing course work through the Irish Writers Centre continues. I belong to an online weekend writer’s group and they have become like family. Writing with a group of people in silence is a wonderful feeling and very productive. I hope to attend as many of the future Historical Novel Society conferences as possible, made easier by continued offering of virtual versions.

Nothing replaces getting on the road and meeting the members of your writing tribe in person—those met, those yet to meet. However, even virtual contact and participation are key to the evolution of a writing tribe, key to the evolution of a writer. My best advice: get out there and find your writing tribe! If you stumble into one that is not supportive, not in your corner, and the members don’t seem to be dedicated writers, move on, and find one that will nurture you as a writer. Finding your writing tribe will change your writing life, your writing, and your life.

Everything Will Be All Right, published by Next Chapter 2022, Book 2 of the series Finding Their Way Home.

Constance Emmett was born in Brooklyn, New York where her mother’s family landed after leaving Belfast, Northern Ireland. Constance’s debut novel, Heroine of Her Own Life(2019) and sequel, Everything Will Be All Right (2022), books 1 and 2 in the Finding Their Way Home series, were published by Next Chapter. A Massachusetts Hilltown dweller, she is writing book 3 in the series and a novel set in 18th c. New York.
You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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One of the best ways to keep your readers turning pages—in the horror, suspense, mystery, and thriller genres—is to infuse your fiction with a healthy dose of dread. But what is dread exactly? And how do you make sure that you’ve got it in spades?

In simplest terms, dread is a constant, certain feeling that something bad is going to happen. It can be an abstract, ill-defined sort of bad, or it can be something concrete and very real, but in both cases, the exact timetable for when this bad thing will show up is yet to be determined.

It’s intangible, this sort of fear. It lives inside the psyche and taps into our feelings of unease, our sense of foreboding. Readers stay in a constant state of unsettling expectancy that won’t go away until the bad thing is finally revealed and confronted.

A great example of dread in fiction can be found in one of my favorite Stephen King novels, Misery. Bestselling romance novelist, Paul, has been in a serious car accident and is bed-bound, trapped by his superfan, Annie, who pulled him from the wreckage.

From the start, it’s apparent that there is something… not quite right about Annie. She’s erratic and totally obsessed with the main character of Paul’s novels, Misery Chastain—who Paul has unfortunately killed off in his latest manuscript. What lengths will Annie go to to force Paul to rewrite his latest novel to her liking?

As Annie grows more and more unstable, the readers’s dread builds. It’s obvious from the start of the book that Annie is never going to let Paul go, that much is guaranteed by the story set up itself, but exactly what Annie is going to do to Paul while he’s trapped with her is unclear, though we know that whatever it is will be horrific. How can he possibly survive this situation. given his weakened physical state? Readers will keep reading chapter after chapter to find out.

Most successful horror writers are masters at infusing dread within the pages of their stories, but how exactly do they do it? I believe there are four key tools to building dread that they implement that if you do too, will elevate your fiction from merely interesting to unputdownable.

Choose First or Close Third Point of ViewDread is all about interiority because it is a danger your character is perceiving even before they have substantial evidence to prove it’s real. The more readers are inside your character’s head being privy to their in-the-moment thoughts, the easier it will be to convey their anxiety.

Edgar Allan Poe uses this tool throughout his story, The Tell-Tale Heart. The main character is telling the story in first person, trying to convince the reader and himself that he is not mad when there is plenty of evidence from the start to the contrary. His accounting of his victim’s filmy vulture eye in the darkness as he visits him in his bedchamber night after night before he kills him is unsettling and repulsive—so much so that on some level the reader comes to dread it too.

In your own fiction, make sure to have your character’s thoughts feel oppressive, weighing them down so they are loath to face whatever it is that’s coming for them, but also forced to because there is no way to survive—either physically or mentally—unless they do.

Select a Remote or Closed SettingThe more hemmed in your character is, the more heightened the dread will be because there is no escape except through confronting the thing they fear: a monster, death itself, another person. Whatever their foe, there is no way out but through.

I used this tool in my latest young adult horror novel, Flight 171. The entire story takes place on a plane being held captive by a supernatural creature in need of a new body to possess. One of the passengers must be that new body, but which one? The teens on the plane have the duration of the flight to figure this out. They can’t avoid making a decision no matter how much they want to because they are literally trapped.

Use Unsettling, Repetitive DetailsThe subtle and not-so-subtle things you have your character notice or that are present in a scene can add up to a large amount of dread. Having someone’s smile reveal a rotting tooth for example, immediately conjures a feeling of revulsion when your reader pictures it.

In The Tell-Tale Heart, the two most prominent examples of this are the old man’s vulture-like eye and the sound of his beating heart, which the main character continues to hear even after he is dead, so that it drives him to confess his crime because the dread he feels over it is just too great.

Delay the Big RevealWhatever the big bad is that’s coming for your character, seed in hints of it from the beginning that don’t have a payoff right away. Have you ever noticed that when it comes to horror, the longer we go before we see the monster, the more scared we are? This is because the anticipation of that monster, what our imagination conjures it could be, is scariest. Once we see it fully, our terror dissipates quickly.

In the movie, Alien, it takes a long time before Ripley and her crew get a clear look at the actual alien and even then, it’s most often shown in quick glimpses. Imagine seeing your closet door swing open on its own so that the gaping darkness inside is visible. Suddenly, something inside that darkness claws at the door frame before skittering into your bedroom and under the bed. This scenario is horrifying because it taps into a communal fear we all have of unknown danger lurking in the dark, and it allows us to imagine our own unique version of what that danger might actually be.

When it comes to darker fiction, the use of dread isn’t just necessary, it’s key. Horror, mystery, and thriller readers want to be unsettled. They come to our stories expecting we will deliver this. In order to do that, you have to become a master at lighting a fire of anxiety and foreboding inside readers’s psyches that doesn’t let up, but instead builds and builds until whatever darkness threatening your characters is found and confronted.

Five Novels to StudyNow that you know what dread is and how authors create it, it’s time to study! Here’s a list of five of my favorite dread-filled novels to start with.

1. It by Stephen King
2. Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
3. Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
4. Come Closer by Sara Gran
5. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Amy Christine Parker is the critically acclaimed author of the thrillers Gated, Astray, Smash & Grab, and Flight 171.

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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Writers love to talk about their books, their friends’s books, trends in the publishing industry, and our endless anxieties about writing. But our poor families can only take so much of this at the dinner table. My advice to every writer is to assemble a team of key friends who can handle your obsession, help you, brainstorm with you, boost you, and just listen when the going gets rough.

The key to building a team is to draw on real relationships. If you try luring people in to help you for entirely self-serving reasons, they will know. Be a real friend and a good literary citizen. Give as much as you get, and, hopefully, your team will emerge organically. Here’s a peek at my dream team:

1. The CheerleaderThe Cheerleader is that friend who believes in you. The one who had faith in you before anyone else did, maybe before you believed in yourself. She tells everyone she knows about your books. She not only introduces you to her book club, but shares all your good news on social media and slaps your book into every hand she can.

2. The EditorThis craft-focused friend reads your manuscripts carefully and writes detailed notes. She starts her edit letter like this: “I know you were hoping this manuscript was closer to being ready, but …” She is laser-focused on helping you find your flaws and guiding you to possible solutions.

I’m not referring to your editor at your publishing house. I’m talking about a friend who is invested in your writing from the first draft to the final product. This is the wordsmith friend who will notice your writing tics and challenge you with questions about theme, motivation, and desire.

1. The TherapistThe Therapist is one who always takes your calls and listens to you whine even when (especially when) you are being a brat or overly sensitive. Because let’s face it, bad reviews and rejections hurt. Writer’s block can feel like a dark hole with no ladder out. Sometimes you just need someone who is willing to listen and commiserate but not necessarily try to fix things.

2. The CriticThe Critic is the friend who doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He gives it to you straight and tells you if he hates a character, if the ending is too contrived, or if the writing is too flowery. I’d rather hear the tough stuff while I’m editing, than when it’s already on shelves. As opposed to the Editor friend, the Critic critiques like a reader would, not an editor. If he was rating you on Goodreads, he would leave you a two-star review if he thought your work wasn’t up to snuff.

Don’t take it personally. This friend cares about your work or he wouldn’t bother reading it. (And If the tough love is too much, you can always call your Therapist friend afterward.)

1. The Petty FriendI’m not above admitting I can be petty, and it helps to have a friend who sees my pettiness and matches it with her own. The key to this relationship is recognizing boundaries. What you discuss with your Petty Friend stays in the vault.

But why do you need to be petty, you ask? Being an author can be stressful. Having a safe place to dump your insecurities, hurt feelings, disappointments, jealousies, and regrets without fear of judgment is priceless. This is the friend who always sides with you and unquestioningly hates your nemesis on your behalf. The one who detests the book that beat yours for a big award and will shred reviews critical of your novel. (Just to be clear, my Petty Friend is one of the most kind-hearted people I know. She would never act on the pettiness we discuss, but her willingness to get angry on my behalf makes me feel less alone.)

Who is on your team? Are you a Cheerleader, Editor, Therapist, Critic, or Petty Friend? Do you play different roles for different writer friends?

As a journalist, Julie Carrick Dalton has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Orion Magazine, Electric Literature, and other publications. A Tin House and Bread Loaf alum, and graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, Dalton holds a master’s degree in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis. A mom to four kids and two dogs, Dalton is an avid skier, hiker, and kayaker. A former beekeeper, she also farms a gorgeous tract of land in rural New Hampshire.

For more information, visit her website, or you can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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In the Summer of 2022, after working in Communications & PR for 22 years, I left my writing job to become a writer. My Comms work was all in technology, 16 years of which I worked at Microsoft in a wide range of roles spanning corporate, product, issues, and executive communications. Over those years, I traveled the world, writing innumerable corporate narratives, press releases, blog posts, social media copy, and executive speeches.

The goal in technology comms is ultimately to sell product — often by synthesizing the complex into something that anyone can understand in two minutes, two soundbites, or less. That intentionally honed professional skillset put me on a path to disaster with my first novel.

Meanwhile in my personal life… more disasterI moved to Paris with Microsoft in 2009, and while I wasn’t writing, I was trying very unsuccessfully to date in this, the allegedly most romantic city on Earth. Suffice it to say, my early experiences in dating were so bad that upon sharing my stories casually over glasses (OK… bottles) of wine with friends, I repeatedly heard, “This is insane. You must write a book!”

So, one day about five years ago, on a plane home from yet another business trip, I decided to listen to them. The first words of what would become my romcom novel, Will There Be Wine?, were committed to (digital) paper at 40,000 feet.

I continued to tinker away at the manuscript, mostly on weekends and vacations, often not touching it for months when work (or more horrifying dates) took priority. It took me three years to finish the first draft, at which time I proudly shared it with a small group of friends. Their mildly encouraging feedback led me to pluckily research “steps to publish a novel.” I didn’t need to worry about becoming a writer, after all, I’d been writing my whole career, so I was sure I had a good product.

Professional helpThe first step that the Interwebs suggested, of course, was to get feedback from a professional book editor for a variety of editing possibilities — developmental, structural, copy, etc. After researching all the options, none of which I initially understood, I hired a structural editor.

When I sent the manuscript to her, the story was organized basically as one chapter per guy. For the “more significant” characters, there was some flashback and/or flashforward in the chapter, and her (now obvious) feedback was that those flashes made the timeline of the book impossible to follow. She strongly advised me to develop those stories into a more linear narrative, allowing the reader to “get excited” when a certain guy would return.

So, I pulled apart the novel, added about 30,000 words, adjusted timelines, and put it all back together again. That process took me another year, but when draft two was complete, I was sure I was ready to go!

I was also sure it was time to leave Microsoft. The pandemic, quickly followed by the loss of my dad, had completely emptied my tanks. I’d lost the joy I once felt in the work I was doing, and I knew I had to go find it again. I had a sneaking suspicion it was hidden somewhere in the pages of my unfinished novel. I took the leap.

Extreme generosityPitching agents was my next step. Initial interest from five led to no offers, however, so I decided to go indie and hired another freelance editor for a copy edit. I thought draft 2 just needed just a bit of polish, but when she missed the deadline, annoyed-me emailed her to ask where my book was.

Her response was infinitely more generous than I could have dreamed. She told me that she needed a few more days because she loved my story so much, she’d decided to do a partial line edit. She didn’t want to miss an opportunity to make it great, she said. There would be no extra charge.

The manuscript came back a few days later with about a third of the book line edited. It was in reading her comments that I learned how to write a novel. They included:

• You can’t have more than 6 lines of dialogue in Word. People’s attention spans aren’t that long. Break this paragraph up by adding in gestures, facial expressions, descriptions of the room, etc.
• You can’t just say “she learned XYZ.” Write the conversation where she learns it, so the reader learns it with her and experiences the emotions at the same time. (Classic “show, don’t tell.)
• Sometimes your narrator seems to know the future. Sometimes she doesn’t. Pick one.
• Use contractions in dialogue. It’s more realistic to how real people speak.
• Add inner monologue. What is she thinking in this moment?
• Add details about this restaurant. What made it charming?

Those were just a few of her many suggestions. To anyone who’s ever taken a creative writing class, I’m sure these all seem obvious, but for me, reading them made the scales fall from my eyes. There was more to becoming a writer than I’d thought, and I finally understood what needed to be done. Brevity, formality and summarization, which had been my writing strengths in Corporate Communications, were the enemies of the emotional connection I wanted to make with my readers.

I spent the next two months working between 6-12 hours a day, seven days a week, rewriting the majority of the book. Looking back on it now, I see that I initially wrote my chapters as efficient transactions, getting the reader from point A to B as quickly as possible in the tradition of a tech communicator.

My editor helped me write not for a transaction but for a feeling — taking the reader on an emotional journey alongside the main character. It was a joyful process. I utterly loved watching the characters roar to life on the page as I delved deeper into their world. It was in those two months that I became a writer and rediscovered the joy I’d lost. In the acknowledgements of the book, I thank my two editors for “taking what I vomited out onto the page and teaching me how to turn it into a novel.”

Writing comes in many formsI spent many years writing for one of the biggest technology companies in the world. By any reasonable measure, my career in Corporate Communications was very successful. I often said, “I write for a living.” What I learned in leaving and in finishing my novel was that just because you know how to write, doesn’t mean that you know how to write. Writing takes many forms, each with its own critical skillset. That lesson took me years to learn, but gosh if the learning isn’t the fun part of life.

To all you aspiring writers, cheers! Keep writing. And I hope you will be as lucky as I was to work with brilliant and generous editors who illuminate your path to publication.

Whitney Cubbison is a dual American & French citizen living in Paris since 2009. She grew up in Houston, Texas and graduated from UCLA with a degree in French. She started her career in Communications working for high-tech PR agencies in San Francisco and eventually joined Microsoft where she worked for 16 years, 13 of which from the Paris office. During that time, she held various international roles that encompassed public relations, employee communications, executive speechwriting, and social media.

She earned her French citizenship in early 2022 and left Microsoft in the summer of that year to focus on completing her first novel, Will There Be Wine? The story, while fiction, is deeply inspired by Whitney’s own experiences as an ex-pat divorcée living in Paris and trying to navigate the cultural minefield of dating in a foreign country. It was released on January 16, 2023.
​When she’s not writing, Whitney can be found sitting in Parisian cafés and restaurants with her friends, drinking wine or taking pictures. For more on her book, including a curated visual storytelling journey through the book’s key locations, follow her on Instagram. She can also be found on LinkedIn.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Laurie Buchanan. They’ll be talking about Impervious and the mechanics of writing a series.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for March is Voice and Narration, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Laurie Buchanan and Lori discuss:* The nuances of writing respectfully outside of your own experience. * Pantsing through an eight book series. * Maintaining a character’s story arc across multiple manuscripts.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Laurie BuchananLaurie writes the Sean McPherson novels—fast-paced thrillers set in the Pacific Northwest featuring a trifecta of malice and the pursuit and cost of justice. As a photographer and avid reader, she carries a laptop, book, and camera with her wherever she goes. Growing up, she wanted to be a magician, international spy, and mad scientist. There’s still time! She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her pilot-husband, Len, where she enjoys yoga, bicycling, and camping. She loves to travel and take walks—long walks! She walked across Scotland, a 211-mile journey from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. At the mid-point, she climbed Ben Nevis, the highest point in the British Isles.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Indelible: A Sean McPherson NovelWhen a sniper killed his partner, Sean McPherson was injured in the ambush. Now an ex-cop, he takes a job at a writing retreat in the Pacific Northwest. At Pines & Quill, he hopes to heal and put his life back together in the Zen-like capacity of groundskeeper and all-around handyman.

Sniper, Jason Hughes, blames McPherson for the loss of more than ten million dollars’ worth of heroin—and he wants revenge.

In the guise of a New York City limo driver working on a sizzling tell-all memoir, Hughes arrives at Pines & Quill along with three other writers in residence: a bohemian psychic taking a break from grueling work as a forensic intuitive, a bitter divorcée who wants to open herself to a new life, and a vibrant and resilient potter navigating life from a wheelchair.

With conflicting agendas, uncertain loyalties, and romantic entanglements at play, Hughes finds it difficult to get McPherson in his sights. Gradually, he forms a different plan, one that threatens the lives of everyone at the retreat.

IconoclastBurdened by the pressing weight of survivor’s guilt, Sean McPherson, an ex-cop, is desperate for redemption. At Pines & Quill, a writer’s retreat in the Pacific Northwest, he and his fiancée, Emma Benton, are planning their lives together. He wants to go back into law enforcement. She plans to walk again.

Georgio “The Bull” Gambino, head of a Seattle-based crime family, has a long reach. Like cockroaches, his minions infiltrate even the most inaccessible of places to do his bidding. With Seattle to the south, the Canadian border a stone’s throw to the north, and Bellingham Bay—a gateway to the Pacific Ocean—immediately to the west, Bellingham is the ideal location for the Gambino crime family to traffic drugs, weapons, and humans. But McPherson’s in Gambino’s way, which means he must be eliminated.

The writers in residence at Pines & Quill include an Afghanistan War veteran, a professional photographer, a civil rights attorney, and a gourmet chef. But McPherson suspects that there’s more going on than the joy of creating plot twists. Is one of them conspiring murder outside the pages of their manuscript?

ImperviousIn the village of Fairhaven—nestled between Washington state’s Bellingham Bay and the Cascade Mountains, home to writers’ retreat Pines & Quill—friends and family have gathered for the union of Sean McPherson and Emma Benton. Sean has been working with the FBI and local police to help solve crimes, particularly murders bearing the mark of crime boss Georgio “The Bull” Gambino. Emma, who has just learned to walk again, has begun to feel at home and hopes to one day raise a family.

But just as the festivities begin and corks fly, an explosion shatters everything, killing one and injuring others. From Bellingham to San Francisco and New Orleans, the chase is on to discover who’s dead set on ensuring the newlyweds don’t live happily ever after.

The writers currently in residence at Pines & Quill include a vineyard owner, a Bryn Mawr College professor, a special education teacher accompanied by her seeing-eye dog, and an intuitive who can’t—or won’t—identify the killer. Gambino has a knack for finding people in even the most inaccessible places to do his bidding. Could one of the writers be on his payroll?

If you decide to check out one of the books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links: Indelible, Iconoclast, and Impervious, where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 453(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 453: Turning One Book into Eight: Planning and Writing a Thriller Series — Interview with Laurie Buchanan appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Eureka? Not exactly your average run-of-the-mill title for an article about romance writing. Unless you visit websites with jump-up-and-slap-your-pappy treasure chests of information on how to get noticed on social media. I had waved a white flag and lo and behold, the internet came through with tips ‘n tricks like a gold nugget in a settler’s pan.

Why was I on a mission? Because my romantic comedy, Lacey’s Lessons of Love, recently placed as Amazon’s #1 best-seller both nationally and internationally. Talk about slapping your pappy, I even jumped up and decked my Uncle Chester. Then, I asked myself how would anyone find my book among the bazillion books out there for sale. Aha! Social media, that’s how. Eureka! Let’s talk about romance writers and how to get noticed on social media.

A Plan to Get Noticed on Social MediaDecide what social media platform would be most beneficial for your romance novel.

The most important factor is asking yourself how much time you can devote to any given platform. Perhaps choose one or two of the following listed platforms and only add additional media when you can post consistently on the same day of the week and at the same time of the day.

Choose a third or fourth media platform when you are ready, but only if you honestly have the time necessary to devote to this time-consuming challenge. Once you choose your medium, set realistic, measurable, and attainable goals for your posting.

Example: I will post on Instagram every Friday at 10:00 a.m. Your fans will anticipate reading your new posts, so don’t let them down.

Social Media Platforms1. Blog — Create text about any topic you desire. Blogging gives you the ability to include pictures and digital images with potential links to further information. 2. Email List – Build a website and offer something of value for those who sign up to receive your emails. Make it juicy and irresistible. Begin building your email list even if you haven’t started writing your book. It’s never too soon. 3. Facebook — Head over to a website like PhotoFunia and spend the evening putting together background pictures for your social media pages like Facebook and Twitter. These make for excellent advertising when you place your book cover in the background. 4. Instagram — Get an account on Instagram if you do not have one. Instagram has risen near the top in popularity and Twitter appears to be circling the drain. 5. Pinterest — I LOVE Pinterest. Set up pages reflecting your book with pins like pictures resembling your characters, wardrobe of the time, flora and fauna of the landscape, etc. 6. TikTok — Very popular and Book Tok is racing upward in popularity. 7. Video — Place video on your author website. Create a video about your book. 8. YouTube — Video yourself talking about your book. The uniqueness of “you” will draw in followers/fans who will become book buyers.

Who is Your Competition?You know the old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Be on top of what your competition is doing to get noticed on social media. Go to Amazon and enter your book genre of choice. Read the author’s name and check out her author page on Amazon and on her personal internet site. What is she up to?

The Passion behind Your BrandOn your author webpage, tell your visitors how you got started writing. The passion behind your words. The message you want to relay for your writing. The story of “you”.

Brand Specifics for Webpage1. What colors will represent your brand? I love the colors Gabriella uses; crisp and clean. 2. What fonts will represent your brand? Choose a font and use it consistently. 3. What is the target audience behind your brand? Who reads your books? Cater to them. 4. How will you find the audience for your brand? Will they be in specific social media groups?

Post as frequently as you can but remember, start out by posting once a month, then biweekly, and only weekly if you can fulfill this on a consistent basis. It is better to post once a month than to have your reader expect to find a post and feel jilted when she doesn’t.

Writers write … and post on a consistent basis!

Tammy Lough creates women’s cozy fiction sprinkled with humor, romance, and moxie aplenty. Her romantic comedy, Lacey’s Lessons of Love, is a 2022 national and international

1 best-seller & the first book of the For the Love of Lacey series. Available Spring 2023: Lacey’s Circle of Love & Fall 2023: Lacey’s Legacy of Love.

She is an active member of the Missouri Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Southwest Writers, Saturday Writers, and Women Writing the West. You can connect with Tammy on her website, or on Twitter and Facebook.

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When it comes to professional editing, editors and their services range far and wide. Each editor will have different experiences, specialties, preferences, styles, rates, and timelines. Finding the book editor that’s right for you requires thought and active searching. Here is how I recommend finding an editor for your specific needs.

How NOT to Find an EditorBut first, let’s discuss how NOT to find an editor. There is one way in particular that I do not recommend—nonspecific, passive searching. What do I mean? I mean finding an editors’s group on Facebook and posting a generic “I need an editor” post. Undoubtedly, you’ll be inundated with replies, most of which will be a race to the bottom in terms of rates and quality.

If you want to find a book editor, active searching will serve you better.

What You Need to Know Before SearchingBefore you actively start searching for an editor, there are a few details you should figure out. These include:

• Your Genre — Knowing where your book would fit on the shelf is critical, as most editors specialize in just a few genres.
• Your Length — The length of the manuscript (in words, not pages) is what determines the price and sometimes the timeline.
• Your Budget — It’s a good idea to have a pre-set number in mind that you can’t or don’t want to exceed.
• Your Timeline — Editing can take months, so be sure you know when you need your edits back to move to the next stage.

Knowing these aspects can help you narrow down the pool of editors you might work with.

Active Searching Methods to Find EditorsInstead of waving your unedited manuscript in the air and waiting for editors to rush you with offers, try active and targeted searching. It’s likely you’ll end up doing less work, be less stressed, and find the right book editor when you follow these methods.

• Ask for Referrals: Find a trusted individual within the publishing world (often another author) and ask them for recommendations. If that editor declines your project, it’s still okay to respond and see if they have any other people they can recommend. Editors may edit solo, but we have vast networks of colleagues who specialize in what you might need.
• Search Databases: Find trusted websites such as the Editorial Freelancer’s Association (EFA) or ACES: The Society for Editing, both of which have member directories you can search to find the right editor for your project. This is preferable to putting out a general call on their job boards because you will inevitably have to weed through dozens of non-qualified responses to find the right person.
• Network, Virtually or In-Person: Meeting writers and editors through virtual writing groups and in-person events such as conferences gives you the chance to ask questions and engage with people face to face who could end up being your editor or helping you find one.
• Follow Editors on Social Media: Many editors have social media profiles and pages across platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more. Search your favorite social media channel and follow editors you jive with. When you’re ready, you can reach out for editing or a referral.

These methods involve active searching, which is bound to turn up better leads and help find you the perfect editor. Why and how does it do this? Trusted professional editors put their efforts into marketing, whether it’s writing blogs, posting on social media, or presenting at conferences. Finding people to follow and reach out to is sure to take less time than sifting through fifty comments on your social media post.

Just as we avoid passive voice in writing, so too must we avoid passive searching methods in finding an editor. Active searching will help you keep to your criteria so you can find the right person to work with.

Jeanette the Writer is a freelance editor and writer based in Dallas, TX. When not at her computer, you can find her crafting, scuba diving, or posting videos of her cats on TikTok. Visit JeanettetheWriter.com for more info and follow @Jeanettediting on TikTok or find her on LinkedIn.

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I was so fortunate to be able to interview Eden Boudreau about her amazing memoir, Crying Wolf, her story of surviving sexual assault. Writing a memoir can be difficult enough to sift through the memories and when you write about trauma, it’s an even more difficult process, so I was very grateful that Eden was so open and honest about her process.

I truly hope that it will help other memoir writers out there and that you’ll check out her memoir because it is amazing.

About Eden BoudreauEden Boudreau was born and raised in a small rural area just outside Halifax. In 2016, she relocated to Ontario with her husband and three sons. As a bisexual, polyamorous woman who has survived her fair share of adversity, Eden’s work draws on her life experiences to inspire vulnerable and relatable stories. Her essays have been featured in Flare, Today’s Parent, and Runner’s World, amongst others. She is the host and creator of the podcast, Dear Lonely Writer, aimed at destigmatizing mental health struggles during the writing process. Boudreau lives in Georgina, Ontario. Crying Wolf is her first book.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow her publisher, Book*hug Press on Twitter and Instagram.

About Crying WolfIt’s a tale as old as time. Girl meets boy. Boy wants girl. Girl says no. Boy takes what he wants anyway.

After a violent sexual assault, Eden Boudreau was faced with a choice: call the police and explain that a man who wasn’t her husband, who she had agreed to go on a date with, had just raped her. Or go home and pray that, in the morning, it would be only a nightmare.

In the years that followed, Eden was met with disbelief by strangers, friends, and the authorities, often as a result of stigma towards her non-monogamy, sex positivity, and bisexuality. Societal conditioning of acceptable female sexuality silenced her to a point of despair, leading to addiction and even attempted suicide. It was through the act of writing that she began to heal.

Crying Wolf is a gripping memoir that shares the raw path to recovery after violence and spotlights the ways survivors are too often demonized or ignored when they belong to marginalized communities. Boudreau heralds a new era for others who were dismissed for “crying wolf.”

After all, women prevailing to change society for others is a tale as old as time, too.

Interview with Eden BoudreauLori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that moment you knew? In chapter three of Crying Wolf, you talk about how you had wanted to be a writer since you were a kid, but you took a longer route to get there. Walk us through that a bit.

Eden Boudreau: I used to think that I had a sort of unconventional journey to publication, but the more I talk to other writers, the more I’ve realized that we all found our way here when and how it was meant to happen.

As you mentioned, I’ve said before that I have wanted to be a writer since I was just a kid but money was not something we had in surplus when I grew up and university was out of the question after I graduated high school, so I took the route that made the most sense financially and went into the beauty industry. But after over a decade of working in that career, relocating from Halifax, Nova Scotia to just outside Toronto, Ontario and the life-changing aftermath of my assault, it felt like the right time to start finally pursuing my real passions.

In Crying Wolf, I dedicate a good portion of the latter half of the book detailing how I went from journaling to blog posts to a whirlwind writers retreat with Margaret Atwood, so I won’t spoil it for any readers but the thing that really got me started on my road to publication was writing personal essays about some of my life experiences. It was not only cathartic, but it allowed me to hone and refine my practical skill as a self-taught writer and my individual voice.

And after a few years of freelance work, and working with a terrific writing mentor, Chelene Knight, I felt ready to start sharing my story on a larger scale. Which is when I approached the publishers at Bookhug Press with my proposal for Crying Wolf*.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

EB: Well, I’m a mom before a writer so, my day generally starts with a full cup of coffee and the happy chaos of getting my three sons up and out the door. After they are off to school, I will generally split up the day between my freelance marketing clients and writing. Like many of us, I’m not at the stage yet where I can write full time yet, which means I have to be very dedicated and precious about the time I set aside for it or it could easily get pushed to the back burner.

When it comes to writing time, usually early afternoon or late evening, I sit down at my desk with my laptop, a notepad, and headphones. Being diagnosed late in life with ADHD, I have always struggled with focusing on tasks and not feeling incredibly overwhelmed by big projects. So, two things are very important when I write: Having my pink noise playlist in my headphones and breaking my writing up into small, manageable chunks for each day.

Instead of giving myself a lofty word count or even planning to tackle a chapter a day, I break everything down into really bite-size pieces. I might make a goal of finishing only two scenes that I’ve been working on or going over just two pages of line edits. When I’ve accomplished them, I cross them off a list in my notebook and add two more goals.

It may seem like a slow progress, but since my brain can so easily get overwhelmed and delights in the serotonin boost of accomplishing something, these small tasks actually make my writing process significantly quicker than if I attempted to just attack the project as a whole.

LW: You open Crying Wolf with an author’s note about the reliability of memory and truth, and how some people will remember events differently, but it doesn’t invalidate your own truth. Why did you think that was important to include and how does it tie into your overall goal for writing this memoir?

EB: For me, it was important to make this note for two reasons. In Crying Wolf, I get really honest about my childhood and family dynamics, and how they contributed to some of my internalized trauma as an adult. And I don’t think I’m alone in having experienced conversations with family members who remember certain life events entirely differently than you do, but that doesn’t mean that those moments didn’t impact you negatively and being allowed to own that truth is one of the first steps toward healing.

It was also, in a way, a direct message to any survivors reading my book. I was telling them, “I believe you.” Because so often survivors of sexual violence will have every single detail of their story, no matter how benign pulled apart and twisted in a way that fits the narrative of the perpetrator and it was important to recognize how backwards that is from the very beginning.

LW: Sticking with the topic of memory, what was your process for collecting and organizing your memories around this very traumatic experience? And how did you keep it from becoming overwhelming to relive these experiences?

EB: In the beginning, it was a daunting process. Thankfully, I had a very wonderful therapist who had kept quite detailed records of our conversations, which proved to be incredibly helpful when I was looking back at that time. Using those records along with journals and letters I had written to myself, during some of the darkest times, I was able to create a sort of patchwork timeline that I could work off of when I was initially drafting the memoir.

Being that I wrote Crying Wolf so closely after it happened in 2017, I think that contributed to being able to access those memories with such clarity. However, that didn’t make the process any less difficult emotionally.

Throughout writing it, I had to make a concerted effort to reach out or lean on my support system when it felt overwhelming, as well as giving myself the permission to walk away from the page when I needed to.

LW: I think something a lot of memoir writers, myself included, struggle with is dialogue because we don’t have a transcription of past conversations. How did you approach recreating scenes and conversations in Crying Wolf?

EB: Dialogue is probably the most difficult part of memoir because it’s not a place that you can take liberties with, not only for legal reasons but for ethical ones too.

What I found to be the best approach when it came to dialogue was, less is more. If I came to a conversation that I knew was really important to the scene or chapter, I would first reach out to the person involved (if possible) and try to piece together what we both remembered of what was said. If that option wasn’t available or too many chunks were missing from my memory, I would turn inward and instead show what I was feeling in that moment. How what was said made me feel and how that would affect the trajectory of my story.

LW: One of the things that really struck me is the voice. It is so open, relatable, and approachable. I felt like I was having drinks with a friend and hearing her story. A lot of people don’t necessarily think about this when it comes to writing a memoir—that you have to craft the narrative voice the same way you do for writing fiction. How did you create that for the page?

EB: When I first started writing, there was a lot of imitation, especially when I was working on the multiple fiction projects that will never see the light of day. I would write in similar styles to what I was reading because I didn’t know what my own voice was yet. But when I was writing the personal essays and having to be really vulnerable about difficult topics, I realized quickly how imperative it was that I write in a voice that made my reader comfortable, otherwise the material might just be too hard to digest.

I want my writing to be a conversation in a way. Something that probes the reader to think deeper about what they are reading and allows them to grow their perceptions along with the story.

LW: Crying Wolf is your first book. You also have had a number of essays published in various publications, and you host a podcast about writing and mental health. Can you talk a bit about how all of these things work together in your writing career and where you want to go from here?

EB: Advocating for better mental healthcare has always been an important issue for me. As someone who grew up in a province with very high addiction and self-harm rates, as well as having seen the generational trauma that can be caused by lack of access to support, medical care and open conversations surrounding mental health, sharing my personal experiences in my essays and book felt like a necessary use of my skill as a writer.

And starting the podcast was my way of giving other creatives a safe platform to have an even broader conversation about sort of taboo topics like imposter syndrome, financial struggles in the early stages of publication, family/work/life balance, etc.

It’s a theme that I hope to continue exploring with my writing in the future, whether it be memoir, podcasting or fiction.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What three or so other memoirs would you recommend to people after reading Crying Wolf?

EB: Ooooh, great question! I would have to say, Still, I Cannot Save You by Kelly S. Thompson. It is an honest, funny and heartbreaking memoir that explores Kelly’s relationship with her older sister, Meghan. Tested by addiction, abuse, and illness, the sisters’ relationship crumbles, only to be rebuilt into an everlasting bond.

Also, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee, which is a beautifully intimate memoir-in-pieces using one woman’s life-long love affair with pop culture as a revelatory lens to explore family, identity, belonging, grief, and the power of female rage.

And last but not least, Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy by Rachel Krantz. It is an unprecedented exploration of polyamory and gaslighting, from an award-winning journalist chronicling her first open relationship with unflinching candor as she explores this fast-growing movement.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

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Anxiety. I might be kneeling over a chopping block with this, but I know I’m not the only writer who has prepared that perfect email — author bio, fully researched the agent/publisher/editor so you know exactly the time they leave their house for work, attached your fully blossomed baby, and re-read the correspondence another three times — to have your finger suddenly become immobile over the ‘send’ button.

Amygdala-itis is what I call it. No such word, I know, but how do you describe that awful rush of everything you tried to allude to when your character faces their darkest moment — just let me write this all down…

If you want to know how come we get all this brain block, dry mouth, palpitations, God! – pain in the chest, you can blame the Amygdala. The lizard brain. It’s a tiny lump-thing in the base of the brain that, to be honest, should have been canceled way before J.K. Rowlings, or the 7:52 am from Bristol. Yes, our lovely Fear Center, whose duties include detecting danger and making sure we know about it.

What’s so dangerous about writing? Everything it seems, from picking or not picking up the pen, writing too much or too little, not writing in the right genre, not knowing which genre it is, knowing that what you’ve written could be done so much better, and all that other anxiety crap.

But maybe it’s not the writing that’s the problem. Maybe it’s the crap that crowds out the writerly words. The crap that originates from how what’s left of our primitive brain works.

Well, these tips might help cancel out the lizard stuff and the use of the word “crap” for anything other than the bodily function.

1. Be a TreeThe thing with anxiety is it can tip us, unbalance our senses, send us off into a dark vortex where we lose reality. Like being uprooted in a storm. The tree thing is a grounding exercise. It’s about switching awareness to your physical-self and where that self is at that very moment.

2. Sitting: Feeling what parts of the body have contact with the chair.

3. Standing: Being aware of the pressure under your foot, with the floor.
4. About to take a hammer to your computer: Feel the smooth wood in your hand, slightly warm, and slipping with the perspiration on your skin…

In just a few seconds, it will break that bond with your tattered awareness of the situation.

1. Breathe through Your AnxietyYou can follow through with this exercise, which is really good to control physical anxiety symptoms, like dizziness and feeling like you can’t breathe. It can also bring you out of the messy thoughts. You can do it in any position, save crouched over your laptop with the hammer.

2. Become aware of your breathing: Put one hand on your chest, the other on your stomach. Which moves the most? I’ll bet it’s the one on your chest.

The idea is to make the one on your stomach move more than your chest, because that’s where the bottom of your lungs are, and that’s what we want to fill up. Deep breath in, push the belly out. Deep breath out, and really push the air out. Don’t worry about not having oxygen in your lungs, there’s plenty in them. When we panic, we gulp in little breaths and don’t breathe out properly. You will be OK.

Keep on breathing like this for a minute. The dizziness will subside. You might feel tired (another term for “more relaxed”), and that whatever part of the writing process you were steamed about doesn’t feel that important. Because:

1. It’s All about Perception, and PerspectiveHow our mind thinks about or understands a situation is based on what’s happened in the past. We have all developed our unique viewpoint of the world, and it’s different to anyone else’s. That’s why the perfect book recommended by a best friend might not hit the mark. Reading is a very personal experience because of our perception, so please don’t break up over a lousy story. But it’s worth asking what it is that your friend loved about it. They might highlight something you didn’t see.

Back to Writing and Perception. This has the potential to get very deep, with everyone’s reality being different, but the manuscripts we are working on, have poured our whole heart into, will be assimilated into a reader’s mind differently than how it formed in ours.

That way of thinking also works for the deadline we have set ourselves, with good intention, is only as important as we believe it to be. Actually, us writers should be experts on perception. We write from different points of view, and can see the whole story. The question is, can we sit back, away from the piece we are writing? Look at it from a different perspective? Will we die if it isn’t finished / perfect / loved? Will the world end? I always find that the “No” should be followed by “and,” not “but.”

Yes, but what if it’s a deadline set by someone else?

1. Sort the Nuts and Bolts My own lizard brain doesn’t allow for practical organization, but there are other parts in the surrounding tissue that do. I’m very much a pantser, but am realizing that I get more things finished with a plan.

No more being overwhelmed! There’s like pages and pages of organizers, brightly colored ‘to do’ pads/downloads on popular online sites, Ready to Click buy. And we can deface them with our pens (you probably also have lots of fancy notebooks in drawers that are too ‘special’ to write on). Or we can use actual online devices as brain extensions — gosh, even plot and structure stories.

If, like me, you have signed up for too many courses, competitions, freelance work, etc, consider what’s the most important task to complete when all that stuff to do is spewing out of our heads like larva!

Here’s an exercise that might help.

• Write everything down that needs to be done, then get a clean piece of paper, divide into four quarters.
  • Top left: Absolute Priorities. Stuff that needs immediate attention (and that might be picking up your blood pressure tablets from the pharmacy).
  • Top right: Important. The jobs that need doing but not straight away schedule them (in the newly bought planner)
  • Bottom Left: Delegate. Things that can be done by others / family – like shopping (I hate shopping), editing a few drafts in, proofreading (I gave a final draft of a novel to my neighbor, an ex-English teacher, and she sat out in the sun with a red pen and a glass of wine).
  • Bottom right: The Delete list. I struggled with this as I thought every item I’d written down was important, but back to perception, seeing the words made me realize, some things are never meant to be done, so chuck ‘em! OK, maybe some are important, but not today. This list is not ad infinitum. It will change as we need it to.

That’s right, there is order, and we have control of it.

1. Buddy up to Beat Anxiety“A problem shared is a problem halved,”’ goes the old saying. Social media is a good place to find your tribe. There are very supportive writerly communities on Facebook and Twitter that totally get where we are coming from.

I have almost once nearly joined a physical writers group, but found virtual ones really helpful. It’s just amazing to find that other writers have similar hang ups, and suffer from the same types of anxiety. In a writer’s group, we easily get into supporting each other. It makes me feel really good if I can give a suggestion someone’s not tried before. Just being part of a community where I can talk about “arcs” and “tropes” without having to explain is just the bestest thing. And the good thing about zoom and the like is I can turn the camera off if I’m feeling shy.

Brilliant. Now that we’ve looked at potential ways of reducing anxiety, we can kick back and enjoy the writing process, because that’s what it’s about.

Julie writes speculative fiction and loves interesting characters. She’s developing an interest in fiction that brings on a little bit of self-compassion and empowerment. Her house balances on the eroding coast of Yorkshire UK. She was a psychiatric nurse for 18 years, and has lived with anxiety three times as long. They are separated now, but meet sometimes in dark places.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

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Young adult fiction is becoming a more popular category than ever—stemming back to the 1960s with the publication of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, marketed specifically for young adults. In more recent years, the genre has blossomed with bestselling books like Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. While young adult fiction is targeted at 12-18-year-olds, otherwise known as the teen demographic, the genre is gaining momentum with an older audience, too.

More than half of YA readers stem from adults, denoting a distinct period of “young adulthood.” YA books incorporate themes such as love, friendship, discovering your identity, and finding your path. They represent the trials and tribulations related to youth and depict the transition from childhood to adulthood.

With such a fast-growing category, more authors than ever before are writing YA. Whether you’re dipping your toes into the water, or you’re a seasoned young adult writer, here are some tips to evoke your inner teen, making sure your fiction writing will stand out to teens, tweens, and readers of all ages.

Develop the teenage protagonist When writing young adult fiction, you’ll want to make sure your character is the proper age for your audience. Protagonists in YA novels are typically between the ages of 14 to 18-years-old, right around high school age. While your readers may be younger, they want a character that they can look up to for navigating the transition that comes with adolescence.

Additionally, you’ll want to tune into your target audience to write an authentic teen point-of-view. Consider the trends, interests, and mannerisms of teens these days by:

• Consulting modern technology that appeals to teens, like Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat, to get a feel for trends and fads.
• Watch movies and read other books with teenage protagonists.
• Ask friends and family who have kids in that age range, or see if you can talk to high school teachers.

Whatever you do, make sure to research, so you can really get into the mindset of how a teenager thinks and acts. That way, rather than creating a stereotype, you’ll be able to create a character who feels relatable and goes through the struggles that a normal teenager would.

Incorporate a coming-of-age themeYoung adult fiction is all about the shift from childhood to adulthood. This subject requires your character to discover their identity, learn to rely on themselves, and step away from their authority figures.

The coming-of-age theme usually consists of a catalyst where your character will break away from the comfort they’ve once known. They’ll be forced to evolve and make difficult decisions as they confront the realities of the real world. After a series of setbacks, there’s ultimately a moment of truth where they learn to stand on their own. With this in mind, you want to create a character that grows significantly throughout the story and learns a series of lessons along the way.

Young adulthood is a time of transition and self-discovery. Whether it’s a first kiss, the death of a loved one, a new friendship, or starting a job, your main character should face obstacles that cause them to confront their identity and ask themselves what they stand for.

Take your reader seriouslyOne mistake writers make in this genre is talking down to teens. While you may use some straightforward or casual language, you don’t want to belittle your readers. Teens want to be taken seriously, and they can easily tell if slang or subjects feel inauthentic.

Additionally, young adults often read these types of novels to feel mature and prepare for that stage of adolescence. Just because this type of book is shorter or geared at a teen audience, does not mean the genre deserves less skill or attention than any other category.

Teens reading your book are intelligent and savvy, so treat your characters similarly, and don’t be afraid to talk about real issues or mature subjects. Plus, while directed at teens, parents, grandparents, or older friends may be the ones buying the book, so consider the audience that you’re marketing to.

Include tension and conflict Because you’ll have a younger audience, you’ll want to focus on a fast-paced plot and attention-grabbing details. You don’t want to bore your readers by spending too much time on lengthy descriptions or scenes that drag on. Instead, create interesting characters and compelling dialogue that push the story forward. Before you write a chapter, think:

• Is this moving the story along?
• How is this adding to the development of the character?
• What is my reader gaining from reading this?

To go further, teenagers are often driven by all-consuming emotions. Because teens haven’t gone through the same experiences as adults, an incident may seem more heightened or consequential than that of an adult who has experienced it multiple times. Tap into those powerful emotions and allow your character to feel the intensity and newness, so you can tell your story in a thrilling way.

End on a hopeful noteWhile there are exceptions to the rule, it’s important for readers to feel a renewed sense of hope by the end of the book. After all, young adults want to be able to put themselves in the shoes of the main character and feel inspired by the hero’s journey.

Regardless of what setbacks are faced, the author should equip teenagers with the tools necessary to conquer their own obstacles and find resilience, just like the characters in their book. Even if the ending doesn’t turn out on a completely happy note, you can still create a sense of possibility and allow room for the reader to fill in the blanks, leaving space to imagine a better future.

Alison Schaffir is a social media strategist and young adult author living in New York City. A lover of contemporary fiction, Alison developed her debut novel, Your Dream for Me, fusing two of her favorite interests, fashion and theater, together. She graduated from the University of Richmond with a major in business marketing and a minor in psychology. When she’s not making up stories in her head, she loves indulging in Trader Joe’s lava cakes, belting early 2000s pop hits, and spending time with her friends and family.
You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Steven James. We’ll be talking about his multifaceted storytelling framework, and his book The Art of the Tale.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Steven James and I discuss:* The importance of what is, not what appears to be. * Giving readers what they don’t know they want. * How plot isn’t about events, but about the collision of desires.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.About Steven JamesSteven James is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of eighteen novels that have won or been shortlisted for more than a dozen national and international awards. His thrillers have been praised by Suspense Magazine, Booklist, and the New York Journal of Books and received starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, who called his work “thought-provoking” and “riveting.” He has also written two award-winning books on the craft of writing, Story Trumps Structure and Troubleshooting Your Novel. When he’s not writing, he teaches storytelling at events around the globe and hosts the weekly podcast, The Story Blender.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Art of the TaleWhether your audience is a boardroom of executives, a classroom of students, or an auditorium full of eager listeners, the right story, well told, can transform and impact your presentation like nothing else. The Art of the Tale shows you how.

Everyone, regardless of their background and training, can improve their storytelling abilities. But what is a story? How can you tell it in a way that delights and informs your listeners? Take a journey into the keys to great storytelling with two of the country’s top experts on story presentation and speech writing.

In The Art of the Tale, seasoned storytellers Steven James and Tom Morrisey team up and tap into their decades of experience to show you how to prepare stellar presentations, tell stories in your own unique way, adapt your material to different groups of listeners, and gain confidence in your ability as a speaker. In this book, you’ll learn why:

• practice doesn’t make perfect.
• you should never tell the same story twice.
• it’s best to avoid memorizing your stories.

You’ll also find helpful hints on:

• gaining confidence in your storytelling ability.
• connecting with your audience.
• matching your expectations with those of your listeners.
• shaping your memories into inspiring messages.
• understanding what makes a story work.
• drawing truth out of the stories you wish to tell.
• crafting and remembering stories.

Learn how to tell stories more effectively, lead and teach more creatively, and prepare your message in less time by using this unique resource provided by two of the nation’s premier communicators.

Broker of LiesWhen Travis Brock, a high-level Pentagon redactor with an eidetic memory, finds a clue to solving the tragic arson that took his wife from him, he risks everything to find the truth―and chances losing himself in the process.

With a terror attack looming on the horizon and a pair of assassins on his tail, Brock drops off the grid and joins forces with a disavowed Homeland Security operative. Together they race to stop the attack before Brock is neutralized by the people he trusts the most.

From critically acclaimed, bestselling novelist Steven James comes a smart, wire-tight, and emotionally resonant thriller that asks just how far across the line we might go to see justice carried out.

If you decide to check out the books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links: The Art of the Tale and Broker of Lies, where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 452(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 452: Pivot, Payoff, and the Geometry of Story — Interview with Steven James appeared first on DIY MFA.

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While my new column is about short fiction; short stories, novellas, novelettes, and flash, I want to start with some thoughts designed to help focus on writing, no matter what form it takes. Setting up time to write can be more challenging than choosing what form to write in, so I designed a DIY writing retreat to help me develop my writing practice. What I learned was that it takes more than just putting words on the page to keep my writing practice going. I need to nourish my body, my mind, and my soul.

DIY Writing Retreat Set-UpI designed my week-long writing retreat to focus on three areas that are important to my personal development: writing, (revising my current WIP or “work in progress,” a horror novel in its sixth draft); learning, (reading and writing exercises from a workbook on writing horror); and reading comparative horror novels. I also included down time, exercise, and breaks for meals in my daily schedule.

My hubby found an AirBnB we could retreat to and vowed to prepare my meals over the week-long retreat that coincided with my birthday, joining me and supporting what I was trying to do.

Nourishing the BodyNo matter what writing space or position is most comfortable for your body, it’s important to remember to move around. Get up, stretch in place, change positions. The older I get, the harder it is to recover physically after being in a particular position for long stretches of time. I need to remind myself to sit comfortably and to move!

When I get into a groove while writing, I don’t want to get up and out of my chair to go to the bathroom, let alone prepare a meal. But I know that if I don’t feed and water my body, I won’t be able to work at my peak level of performance no matter what I’m doing.

I scheduled three meals a day during my retreat, and when I took those breaks, I moved to the dining table. I didn’t panic thinking I was infringing on my writing practice, because those breaks were accounted for in my schedule.

If you’re lucky to have a significant other who is willing to prepare your meals, I can now say from experience that it’s wonderful. Especially if they’re a good cook. But even if you’re on your own, don’t skip feeding the body! Do some preparation ahead of time. Order in. Bring prepared meals you can microwave. Utilize restaurants or grocery stores nearby. Whatever you decide, just schedule enough time in your day to limit anxiety and maximize the time for your writing practice.

One other note about setting up your space. It’s nice to get away, but staying at home you know what you’re in for. Our AirBnB was a place we’d never been to before, more rustic than expected, and with some surprises we were well-prepared for. The anxiety that arose from being in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place was not helpful. Which leads me to the next point. The importance of sleep to nourish the body.

One of my birthday wishes was to have my cat with me during my retreat. I miss him when I travel. Unfortunately, during this retreat, I learned that he is NOT well suited for travel. He spent nights crying, pacing, and running over the top of me while I was trying to sleep. One of the unwelcome surprises at the retreat location was the serious rodent action that drove our cat crazy. By day two, I was suffering from sleep deprivation. That led to napping during the day, screwing up my schedule.

Nourishing the Mind I’d designed my retreat to get the maximum amount of work done on my writing practice. I operate well within a schedule. I like routine. It was a good lesson that even the best laid plans can go sideways. Some deviations are outside our ability to control. Just as in life, in our writing practice, we must be aware and ready to accept these changes, and not let it mess with our heads, or move us away from our goals.

The week of my DIY retreat, some of the worst storms in Californian history took place. There was torrential rain. There was flash-flooding. Gale force winds whipped trees out the ground. And there I was, hunkered down in a cabin in the woods, in the mountains, with an anxious cat, but we were fine.

Until the roof started leaking.

Then the power went out.

After a day without power, the caretakers provided us with a generator and a camp stove to cook on. I could recharge my laptop, cell phones, and power one lamp. I continued working. But by then, I was sleep deprived from cat and rodent shenanigans at night, dealing with a tarp-covered roof to keep the rain out, and the bricks that held the tarp down kept flying up and landing hard on the already compromised roof . . .

Then the scratching began.

High up on a wall with a weird little door, too high for even a ladder to reach.

As a horror writer, it was inspirational. As for the retreat, it was not as motivating as I had planned.

I forged on, pivoted and shimmied my way along. I read about writing during the day and did my writing by hand when the laptop ran out of juice. I kept reading horror novels to regain some inspiration and wrote about my cabin experience. I tried to be kind and understanding to myself and took a nap when I needed one. Sure, my schedule went kerflooey, but I adapted and pressed on with my original goals, reminding myself that adversity builds strength for living life to the fullest.

Nourishing the SoulThe real lesson? This DIY writing retreat was my doing. I planned it, and my experience and take-aways were ultimately up to me and me alone. When things didn’t work out according to the all-mighty schedule, there was no need for blaming or shaming myself, because I’d done the best I could to plan for what I wanted to accomplish. NOT everything that might happen. When one’s DIY retreat schedule goes topsy-turvy (some aspect almost always will), just go with it. Ride it out. Or change it. Or end it altogether if you’re not getting what you want out of the experience.

On the next to the last day of our rodent-infested, cabin-in-the-woods, in-the-soggy-mountains experience, the sun returned, and the rain and the wind stopped raging. I was looking forward to having a “normal” day, with power for my laptop, and the afternoon walks I’d scheduled and missed because of the inclement weather. My husband looked at me and said, “we could leave today, if you want to.” I blurted out, “yes! Please!” feeling a rush of relief like never before or since.

It hadn’t even occurred to me until that moment that I could leave. I was planning to tough it out until the bitter end, by golly. It was a wonderful feeling knowing it was okay to head home, to end my DIY retreat a day early, get our cat back to his comfort zone and finish my retreat with maybe a day of horror movies on TV and a good night’s sleep. We immediately started packing up the car and the cat and got the heck out of there.

It’s okay to give yourself what you need to nourish your soul. Leave the retreat or take a day off from your writing practice if you need to. Do some yoga, meditate, listen to music to give yourself a break and to wind down from daily living, or just your writing time. It’s all good. Yoga is soul-nurturing for me, but it was hard for me to focus on my yoga practice while I was at the cabin. I was freaked out and on my guard most of the time. I listened to music, meditated, and ultimately departed the cabin completely. I lived well and wrote later.

Putting the Writing Retreat Experience all TogetherWhat did I learn from my retreat experience? I learned a lot about what I want in my regular writing practice. I love putting words on the page. Making time for writing isn’t hard for me. What I discovered was that learning about writing motivates me. I was also inspired by reading books written by authors in my genre. Most of all, I learned to give myself some space. To feel free to fail. To remember to fill my body, my mind, and my soul so that I can keep doing what I love, what I need (I can’t not write, it’s in my blood).

My writing cup is now spilling over, and a full cup has plenty to go around. So, stay tuned!

A.H. Plotts writes and watches horror and dark sci-fi stories. She also likes playing in her garden, catching the waves, and eating delicious food on the California coast. Find her rantings all about it at www.ahplottsthecoast.com.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post My DIY Writing Retreat: What it Taught Me about My Writing Practice appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Content warning: This article mentions and discusses offensive words related to people with disabilities, while offering alternatives to prevent using ableist language in the future in your writing.

Wow! That’s “crazy,” I can’t believe that happened. This event was so “lame.” She was “blind” to his ways, and he ended up taking advantage of her. I told him not to do it, but my warning fell on “deaf ears.”

Sounds like something you might overhear in a casual conversation, surely nothing derogatory intended by the speaker, right? But take a closer look. You might be surprised to learn there are words within this speech that are actually harmful to a whole population of people in our society.

What I’m talking about here is something called “ableist language.” There are words people use every day without the intention of harming anyone, but nonetheless end up being derogatory and perpetuating negative stereotypes about an entire population in our society.

And when you are writing in the young adult space, it’s important to learn about this topic in order to remove any ableist language you may unwittingly use.

So What is Ableist Language?Ableist language is defined by dictionary.com as “words and phrases that devalue disabled people by using disability language or historical descriptions of disabilities as an insult.” In addition to this, the definition continues to include the way you speak about people with disabilities, treating it as something “to be pitied or disabled people as inspirational when they overcome a disability.”

But you might ask, what if I didn’t mean it as an insult? The thing is, just because you might not be aware of how the word is an insult to the disabled population, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still potentially harmful and perpetuating these negative stereotypes. That is why it’s so important to learn about this, and to grow and correct moving forward.

If you’re like me, when I first learned of ableism, I was shocked to learn I had unknowingly used words that could be hurtful to others. And the next thing I wanted to know was how do I fix this, because I didn’t want to make this mistake again. Like Arundhati Roy, the author of A God of Small Things, said, “The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocent. Either way, you’re accountable.”

I wanted to be accountable and be a positive force for change. As a writer of young adult novels—or really a writer for any population of readers—it’s critical we get this right and be the example steering language in a more inclusive direction.

Four Tips on How to Avoid Ableist LanguageAvoiding ableist language is important to make your novels inclusive and respectful of people with disabilities. Here are some tips to help you avoid ableist language:

1. Avoid using disability-related words as insults or negative descriptors.Words like “crazy,” “insane,” “lame,” “blind to the facts,” and “deaf to my needs” are examples of using disability-related words as negative descriptors or insults. These words can be hurtful and reinforce negative stereotypes about people with disabilities. Instead, use specific language that accurately describes what you mean.

1. Use person-first language.Person-first language emphasizes the person first, not the disability. For example, instead of saying “disabled person,” say “person with a disability.” This puts the focus on the person, not their disability.

2. Avoid assuming people with disabilities are helpless or pitiable. People with disabilities are capable and strong, and it’s important to avoid reinforcing the stereotype that they are helpless or pitiable. Avoid writing about characters with disabilities solely in terms of their disability or portraying them as objects of pity or charity.

3. Research and consult. If you’re writing about a character with a disability that you’re not familiar with, it’s important to research and consult with people with disabilities to get an accurate portrayal. Avoid relying solely on stereotypes or media representations of people with disabilities.

Alternative Words or Phrases to Replace Some Common Ableist Language and PhrasesIt helps to have alternative phrases to pull from. Here are some examples of ableist language and alternative words or phrases you can use instead:

1. “Crazy” — Instead of using this word, “wild,” “outrageous,” or “unbelievable.”
2. “Insane” — Use words like “unreasonable” or “absurd” instead.
3. “Tone deaf” — Try another a word like “insensitive” or “out of context.”
4. “Lame” — Instead of using this word to describe something as bad or uncool, use words like “unimpressive” or “unappealing.”
5. “Blind to” — Instead of using this phrase to describe someone who is not aware of something, use words like “unaware” or “ignorant.”
6. “Deaf to” — Instead of using this phrase to describe someone who is not listening to something, use words like “unresponsive” or “unyielding.”
7. “Mute” — Instead of using this word to describe someone who can’t speak, use the phrase “nonverbal.”
8. “Wheelchair-bound” — Instead of using this phrase to describe someone who uses a wheelchair, use the phrase “uses a wheelchair.”
9. “Suffering from” — Instead of using this phrase to describe someone with a disability or illness, use the phrase “living with” or “has.”

For a comprehensive list of ableist language and alternative words, check out this blog created by disability justice advocate Lydia Brown, titled Ableism/Language.

The great news is, there are so many alternatives for language that are potentially harmful. By becoming aware and putting in a reasonable effort, we can make our writing a safer place for all people to feel seen, heard, and valued.

Dominique Richardson is the coauthor of The Everbeach Series—a young adult, romantic suspense series full of forbidden romance, deadly twists, and scandalous secrets that will keep you turning pages into the night. The first book in the series, Red as Blood, comes out February 28, 2023. Passionate about all things books and giving back to the community, she is also the Executive Director and cofounder of YA by the Bay, a nonprofit young adult reading and leadership festival, dedicated to inspiring teens to “be the author of your own life.” Raised between Jamaica and the United States, her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. She now lives in Tampa, Florida with her family.She would love to connect with you! Find her online on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. If you’d like to stay in the know about her upcoming book releases, sign-up for her email list. To learn more about the YA by the Bay Young Adult Book Festival, check out the website.

The post Mind Your Words: Finding Alternatives to Replace Ableist Language appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Writing a draft isn’t easy, but it is easily measurable. Every day, your word count increases. You probably know how many total words your manuscript needs to have in order to meet your genre conventions. By analyzing your typical daily pace, you can even plan how much time you need to get to the finish line of your draft. Revision, on the other hand, is a bit more nebulous.

There are words going in and words coming out, and word count is no longer a reliable way to measure a day’s work. Fixing “character motivation” isn’t easily quantifiable when that might mean a rewritten chapter or two, an added sentence here and there, and a whole new climax scene. The revision process isn’t predictable and doesn’t lend itself to a clear-cut daily checklist. This can be frustrating for those of us who need validation that we accomplished something for the day.

But there are some ways to measure your progress to keep your work moving forward. Here are five tricks that work for me:

Set Time Aside for RevisionThis might be the easiesttactic to implement. Simply schedule a set amount of time to work on your revision every day. Tracking word count can be easy—you stay in the chair until you hit your mark. Revision isn’t as concrete, but time is.

Whether it’s an hour, thirty minutes, or even just ten minutes of your lunch break, set your timer and go. Using time as a measurement is an especially helpful way to track your revision if you are skipping around your manuscript to fix big picture issues (like pacing, character arc, timeline) that can be difficult to quantify.

Setting a timer and staying focused for whatever that amount of time is will keep your hands in your manuscript, your revision fresh, and your progress consistent.

Use Your OutlineWhen tackling a big edit, I like to create an outline of my manuscript as it stands. After analyzing the outline for a full character arc, strong story trajectory, and high stakes, I fix what needs fixing in the outline first.

Creating an outline for the ideal finished story allows me to make macro changes in a smaller, more manageable container. I then import this revised outline into a spreadsheet, allowing me to plan for and track fixes in the larger manuscript.

This strategy allows me to more effectively assign time for my edits and measure my progress as I revise the larger manuscript. For me, there is nothing like crossing out a line of a spreadsheet when a big task is done!

Accountability PartnerIllnesses, kids, emergencies, appointments, aging parents, pandemics, or any number of things can sidetrack even the best laid revision plans and we all deserve to give ourselves grace in those life moments. Sometimes, however, we drag our feet on revision work, finding any excuse (time to fold the laundry!) to not focus on it because it is hard and unwieldy.

In those moments, a deadline can be helpful. I like to add a little accountability to my self-made deadlines so there is a consequence if I don’t meet it. Pick a critique partner, spouse, or friend, and promise you’ll send them a specific number of pages by a specific date (specifics are important). Tell them that they will need to follow-up with you if you haven’t sent it by the agreed upon time. These people may be your beta readers who will also offer feedback, but they don’t have to be to be effective. Just having someone else waiting for your work can be a powerful motivator.

Set Aside a Set Number of Pages for RevisionI don’t recommend tracking page count for big picture revisions, but when you get to the polishing stage of revising—line level focused, filter word fix type edits—this can be a very effective way to track progress.

Some writers commit to a certain number of pages a day. To make this more fun (and when you are truly at the polish stage and NOT the big structural fix stage), randomize your page numbers in a chart, then edit page-by-page in that random order.

This strategy is great for the line edit phase because you are no longer reading for continuity or arc or character. Hopping around the story, however, will make the pages fresher to you because your mind isn’t filling in those story blanks like it does when you read in order. It’s a great way to spot filter words or other crutches you may use in your writing. Plus, you can cross off each page number in your chart when completed.

Gold StarsCreate a reward system. Did you make progress on your revision today? Add a sticker to your calendar and watch it fill up, maybe treat yourself with a specialty coffee if you complete a full week’s worth of edits.

Rewards don’t have to be big to motivate. In fact, sometimes the smallest rewards work the best. Those cheap face masks at Target and a bath after I’ve completed a certain number of chapters is often enough to get me working. Need an extra boost? Loop in an accountability and time element here, too. Schedule lunch with a friend, but you can only go if you get in your hour of morning edits first.

While the measuring stick for revision isn’t as obvious as drafting, there are still plenty of ways to monitor your progress so you can stay on track for finishing your book. The magic happens in revision, so don’t avoid it simply because it’s harder to quantify. Try a few systems and see what works best for you and finish that revision.

Monica Cox is a writer and book coach living in North Carolina with her husband, two teenage boys, and a cranky but adorable cat. A former public and media relations executive, she now guides writers through their writing and revision process. Her goal is to give writers the encouragement, feedback, and tools they need to keep writing, finish their manuscripts, and strengthen their craft along the way.
Connect with Monica at monicacox.net and on Instagram and Twitter.

The post #5onFri: 5 Tips for Staying Accountable During Revision appeared first on DIY MFA.

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You’ve just finished writing your first draft! Woo-hoo! Now it’s time to jump in to the revision phase, polish, and make the story shine.

NO!

Full-stop writer. Cool those jets. Revision is not simply about making sentences tighter or words prettier. That is part of it, but it’s a tiny slice of the whole. So please repeat after me: on my list of editing concerns, pretty writing is dead last.

Writing a novel is like putting together a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It’s not a fast process. Drafting is the equivalent of shaking the pieces out of the box and onto the kitchen table. It’s messy. Some pieces are right side up; most are face down. If you’re lucky, a few components are already connected.

Revision is Turning all the Pieces Right-Side up and Evaluating How They Could Work Together. First, you organize by shape and color. Then you start with the edge pieces and work toward the middle. Sometimes you get it wrong. Sometimes, there are big chunks of connected segments, and you have no clue where they fit. But, after many passes, it all connects and creates a beautiful picture.

To make putting those pieces together a more efficient and enjoyable process, here are three common revision mistakes to avoid and a systematic approach to use instead.

Mistake #1. Not Resting after Finishing a First Draft.Completing a first draft is a major accomplishment. Many people want to write a book. Very few do. The importance of celebrating our creative milestones cannot be overstated.

Writing a novel is a marathon, not a sprint.

If you want to create a story others will read and enjoy, you must put down your pen and walk away for a bit to celebrate and fill your creative cup. Failing to slow down and acknowledge your wins is a recipe for burnout. So don’t blaze past the goalposts because it’s hard to build on the success that you don’t acknowledge.

Resting and celebrating will also provide you with two essential revision tools: Objectivity and a renewed perspective.

Revision is a left-brain analytical process, whereas drafting is a right-brain creative process. Resting allows writers to downshift into an analytical mindset so they can approach the work with a fresh set of eyes better able to spot the big-picture problems.

Mistake #2. Not Reading the Draft as it is without Making Changes.The revision process begins with an assessment of what you have, not what you think you have. It is crucial to take inventory before you make changes. Writers often skip this initial auditing step because it can be painful. They know the writing is messy and are in a hurry to improve it. Unfortunately, they are only successful in making superficial adjustments at the sentence level.

Instead of rushing to fix it, first read the manuscript all the way through and don’t take notes. This will allow you to feel the story’s shape and refresh yourself with what is on the pages. Do your best to experience the book as a reader, not the writer. Make mental notes of what you like and why, as well as what’s missing.

Mistake #3: Beginning on Page One, Revising Line by Line, Scene by Scene, to the End.Revision is not a linear process. Instead, it is an iterative and circular process. If you begin on page one and work your way forward line by line to the end, you will only make line-level changes.

The result is pretty prose inside a story that is still structurally broken. The manuscript will still have fatal flaws—missing or lopsided character arcs, absent story logic, plot holes, structure and pacing issues—because you couldn’t see them at the sentence level. Polishing only increases a writer’s attachment to the work. Don’t polish until you are certain the scene has earned its place in the story.

After your first read through, it’s time to begin a structural assessment. Here we look at the big story elements: Character arcs, plot, conflict, world building, story structure, pacing, and narrative drive (cause and effect) to see what needs to change.

A structural edit requires the writer to elevate themselves above the prose and see the story as a working whole. A scene outline is the best way to start. So read your story again. This time, take notes on what needs to be fixed. Then make a scene-by-scene outline. Use one or two sentences to describe what happens in each scene, why it matters, and how it moves the story forward. Now you can see your story at a glance and track character development, pinpoint where the major conflict occurs, spot plot holes, and grasp the flow of the story.

Revising Takes Patience and Perseverance.For most, revising a manuscript will take longer than drafting. Instead of rushing into a revision and racing line by line toward the finish, a writer is better off taking a metered approach.

After you’ve completed the first draft, taking a creative rest will help form a fresh perspective and enhance objectivity. Creating a scene outline will allow you to make the structural assessment necessary to uncover where the manuscript breaks down.

Remember, revising a book is like piecing together a gigantic puzzle. Slowing down and using the systematic approach of read, re-read, and outline will help you see the story as a whole and identify the fatal flaws that keep good books broken. If you want more help to revise your novel, check out Revision Clarity: a free workbook and resource guide for revising fiction writers.

Stacy Frazer is a formerly repressed creative soul turned speculative fiction writer, YA fantasy author, Author Accelerator certified book coach, and the founder of Write It Scared. Her mission is to help fiction writers let go of the self-doubt spiral and find clarity and confidence in their stories so they can finish their books. Stacy firmly believes that the only creative license required to write a novel is one’s lived experience and that you can learn all the tools to craft a book that makes you proud!

When not writing, reading, or working with writers, you can find Stacy hanging with her daughter or on the trail with her big goofy labrador, Gus Gus. To connect with Stacy, please visit her website.
You can also email her at www.stacy@writeitscared.co or follow her on Instagram.

The post Three Common Revision Mistakes and What to do Instead appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Sorboni Banerjee and Dominique Richardson. They’ll be talking about collaborating on their book, Red as Blood, and the sisterhood they found.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for March is Voice and Narration, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Sorboni Banerjee, Dominique Richardson, and Lori discuss:* The draw of fairy tales, even in contemporary times. * How important it is to build community and support fellow writers. * Diversifying traditional tales with contemporary values and angst.

Plus, their #1 tip for writers.About Sorboni Banerjee and Dominique RichardsonDominique Richardson and Sorboni Banerjee are the coauthors of THE EVERBEACH SERIES—a young adult, romantic suspense series pitched as “Riverdale” meets fairy tale. Full of forbidden romance, deadly twists, and scandalous secrets, this series is sure to keep you turning pages into the night. It’s perfect for fans of INHERITANCE GAMES, CINDER, GOSSIP GIRL, and PRETTY LITTLE LIARS. The first book in the series, RED AS BLOOD, comes out February 28, 2023.

You can follow both Dominique and Sorboni on Tiktok.

Dominique Richardson was raised between Jamaica and the United States, and her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. Dominique is the Young Adult columnist for DIY MFA. She now lives in Tampa, Florida with her family.

You can find Dominique on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Tiktok.

Sorboni Banerjee is a Bengali-American author and Emmy Award winning television news anchor. With a dad from a small Indian village and mom from Maine, Sorboni’s experiences growing up “mixed” shape her stories. Fueled by coffee and conversation, Sorboni loves the beach, boating and traveling the world with her husband and son. Other books by Sorboni include Hide With Me.

Passionate about all things books and giving back to the community, Sorboni and Dominique co-founded YA by the Bay, a nonprofit young adult reading and leadership festival, dedicated to inspiring teens to “be the author of your own life.” The first annual conference will be held in Tampa, FL on October 13th and 14th in 2023.

You can learn more at www.yabythebay.org, and you can follow Sorboni on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok.

Red as BloodRiverdale meets fairytale in this edgy, seductive twist on the age-old stories you think you know.

When Penny Zale vanishes from the psychiatric hospital where she’s being held against her will, only her chopped-off braid and cryptic letters remain. If her friends Raven, Aarya, Dawn, and Elle have any chance of finding Penny, they must enter a world where money and power mean everything, and life is expendable.

The lies that built their town of Everbeach run deep, and someone is willing to do anything to keep them hidden. The girls believe Penny’s letters point to her ex, big sugar heir Logan Steele. When Raven tries to get close to Logan to gather information, she finds herself fighting a dangerous attraction to the magnetic billionaire.

Everything begins to unravel when Aarya discovers Raven has been keeping secrets. Raven’s painful past of anxiety and addiction causes her to spiral, and everyone, including Raven herself, starts to question her version of reality. As threats and attacks ramp up against the friends, they must decipher what happened to Penny before they’re the next to disappear.

Scandalous secrets, deadly twists, and forbidden love make this series perfect for fans of Inheritance Games, Thousandth Floor, and Pretty Little Liars.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 451(Right-click to download.)If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 451: Collaborating on a Fairy Tale-Inspired YA Series — Interview with Sorboni Banerjee and Dominique Richardson appeared first on DIY MFA.

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While taking an evening walk, I asked my husband if he could guess which mystery shows I put on my list last time. He did guess several, but he also mentioned a couple I actually felt ashamed I left off, like Only Murders in the Building and Castle. Genuine favorites of mine! Especially OMITB! I watched the second season 3 times trying to catch all the clues.

Several others were fun favorites I just didn’t even consider. I think hour-long cozies and dramas spring to mind first when I think of mystery shows. Thankfully, my hubs reminded me of the more fun and funny sides to mystery. Now I can correct the unjust omission of OMITB, Castle, and also Dead to Me. (I did remember that one before, but didn’t have time and space to squeeze it in.) Read on for a more nostalgic and comedic list of my favorites.

Only Murders in the BuildingLocation: Manhattan, New York City

Original or Adaptation: Original

Premise of Show: Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin star as Mabel Mora, Oliver Putnam, and Charles Haden Savage. The unlikely trio bond over their favorite true crime podcast All Is Not Ok In Oklahoma. When neighbor Tim Kono is found shot to death in their own building, the Arconia, their curiosity proves irresistible. They decide to solve the murder and record a podcast called Only Murders in the Building as they go along. As they bond and find clues, they also realize they are all keeping secrets. And some relate to the case.

Verdict: I can’t believe this was one of the mystery shows I left off the first list. Seriously, I can’t. Only Murders is a delight on every level. The design, the actors, the dialogue, and the plots all merge into a smart, hilarious, addictive show. It can be confusing and plays a bit fast and loose with the “rules” of detective fiction. (I’m not sure it’s actually possible for audience members to figure out the solution before our intrepid trio do.) But it’s so well done you just don’t care. You are desperate to know the answers, you discuss it endlessly, and you keep watching.

Castle Location: Manhattan, New York City

Original or Adaptation: Original (Although books written by “Richard Castle” and inspired by the show now exist.)

Premise of show: Best-selling mystery writer Richard Castle is interviewed by the NYPD about a series of murders that copy ones in his books. While there, Detective Kate Beckett catches his eye and inspires a new series character, Nikki Heat. Through his friend the mayor, Castle gets permission to observe police officers as research. He shadows Det. Beckett and they discover they work well together.

Most of the episodes feel like a romantic caper with the inevitable sexual tension between Castle and Beckett and the lighthearted tone. However, there are several story arcs, including the mystery of Beckett’s mother’s murder, that add drama and depth. There is also a fun recurring Easter egg concerning Castle’s poker buddies, who are all real-life mystery writers – Stephen J. Cannell, Dennis Lehane, James Patterson, and Michael Connelly.

Verdict: The plots, writing, and acting are great. The supporting cast gives strong performances and all capably handle both comedy and drama. My husband and I actually stayed up until 1 am catching up on it sometimes, even though we had a baby waking us up early the next morning. Once we caught up, Monday nights became all about red wine and Castle after the kiddo went to bed. I miss that.

Mystery WomanLocation: California, United States

Original or Adaptation: Original

Premise: This is a series of TV movies rather than a TV series, but I watched them every single time they came on Hallmark back when we had cable, so they must go on my favorites list. Kellie Martin plays Samantha Kinsey, proprietor of the Mystery Woman bookstore. She inherited it from her uncle, who called it Mystery Man during his time running it.

Samantha, her old friend Philby (who definitely was never a spy and is played by the late Clarence Williams III of The Mod Squad), and her lawyer best friend Cassie, encounter many mysteries beyond the shelves and ably solve all. But not without some danger along the way.

Verdict: Do I know these are implausible and cheesy? Yes. Do I care? No. Implausible and cheesy is a legitimate subtype of an amateur detective story. These mystery shows are delightful, re-watchable, and comforting. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’d probably go with either Game Time or Mystery Weekend.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Location: All over the US

Original or Adaptation: Original

Premise of Show: Scooby-Doo is a Great Dane who travels the country in a van called The Mystery Machine with his owner Shaggy and friends Fred, Daphne, and Velma. While there have been many iterations of Scooby since the show premiered in 1969, the basic formula stayed much the same.

Scooby and the gang travel to a new place, someone tells them about something spooky nearby and the practical ones (Fred, Daphne, and Velma) vow to find a logical explanation and unmask the villain while Scooby and Shaggy shake with fear and eat huge sandwiches. They always solve the case and the criminal always grouses that he/she/they could have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those pesky kids!

Verdict: This is one of the first mystery shows I ever loved. I still enjoy it. I remember watching it with my brother on my grandparents’ old TV, that was built into a console with sliding doors. From the goofy theme song to the triumph of the “pesky kids” we were always riveted. We weren’t alone.

New Scooby movies continue to be made and several new incarnations of the show appeared after the original ended. (Including the Saturday morning prequel A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, which my brother and I also enjoyed.) There have been two live-action movies and pop culture references galore, one of the most famous being the dubbing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her friends as the Scooby gang or Scoobies. Scooby just makes you smile. I wish I could rub his belly and give him a Scooby snack. (By the way, they make a version of those for people and they are so good.)

Dead to MeLocation: Laguna Beach, California, USA

Original or Adaptation: Original

Premise of Show: Jen Harding just lost her husband and is struggling to process her loss and raise her two sons as they grieve. She befriends Judy Hale at a group for people who have lost their partners. They become best friends very quickly. Jen even invites Judy to live in her guest house. But they both have secrets, which put their friendship and their lives in danger.

Verdict: This is one of the mystery shows that hooked me and my husband immediately. We struggled to watch just one episode and our resolve crumbled most of the time. We even tried orange wine because of this show. (It’s pretty good.) Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini are a dynamite acting duo and the supporting cast is superb, including James Marsden, Diana Maria-Riva, Suzy Nakamura, Natalie Morales, and the late Ed Asner.

Search Party Location: New York City, parts of New England, a few episodes in Quebec

Premise of Show: This is one of those mystery shows that resists encapsulation, but I’ll give it my best shot. It starts as an amateur detective dark comedy/thriller. Dory Sief sees a notice that college friend Chantal is missing. She tells her group of friends: boyfriend Drew and friends Portia and Elliott. They feign concern and then go back to their brunch discussion. Dory can’t stop thinking about it. She begins to investigate, running into and teaming up with a PI. Her friends try to tell her she’s out of control, but they get sucked in, too, leading to a big mess rather than resolution at the end of the first season.

Verdict: Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) mesmerizes as Dory. Her character arc is huge, but she handles it masterfully, inhabiting every emotion and mental state completely. The rest of the cast were unknown to me before, but proved excellent. Meredith Hagner as Portia stands out. She is funny and clueless, at times even heartbreaking.

The subsequent seasons, particularly three, four, and the fifth and final one, seem like completely different show genres. This mystery show starts as a thrilling mystery comedy and eventually morphs into a thrilling apocalyptic comedy. That may sound like an impossible leap, but the show makes it a completely natural progression for these characters in this world.

Brooklyn 9-9Location: Brooklyn, New York City

Original or Adaptation: Original

Premise of Show: Now for something a little different. Brooklyn 9-9 was a half hour comedy on Fox and later on NBC. Many might not first think of it as a mystery show, but as an excellent sitcom starring Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, Chelsea Peretti, Joe Lo Truglio, Melissa Fumero, and Stephanie Beatriz. However, it’s set in the (fictional) 99th precinct of the NYPD in Brooklyn.

Each episode shows them solving crimes while negotiating friendships and romantic relationships both in and out of the precinct. Being detectives, the job becomes time-consuming and absorbing at times, overshadowing and even jeopardizing their romantic relationships.

Verdict: It is hilarious. The officers and criminals often act like goofballs, but there are moments of danger. These funny cops take their cases seriously and are good at the job they love. There are some recurring criminals like the Pontiac Bandit (I can’t tell you who plays him, because spoilers, but he is one of my favorites and so funny.), but most mysteries are wrapped up in one episode. The characters and the job itself are what you take with you from this show.

I don’t usually do this, but I have two honorable mentions — After Party and Queens of Mystery. I didn’t have space to include them, and they aren’t enough for another column, but they are great.

After Party involves a murder of a famous alumnus at a party he throws after his high school reunion. Queens of Mystery is about a detective who returns to the small town she was raised in by her three aunts after her mother died. Her aunts all write mystery novels and can’t help poking their noses into her cases. Of course, there is a mysterious backstory concerning her mother’s death.

If you love mystery shows like I do, it’s pure paradise on TV these days, so go forth and enjoy! Let me know what you watch!

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

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Welcome to the first installment of my Book Coach Corner series. Today’s column discusses book coaches and how they can help you at any stage in the writing process.

Why Might You Need a Book Coach?Historically, publishing houses employed editors who worked closely with their contracted authors on revising and finalizing their manuscripts prior to publishing. Over time, many publishers have either cut their marketing budgets and/or shifted them to the big-name, revenue-generating authors in their book of business, leaving little to no dollars or editor focus for first-time or early-in-their-career writers.

Instead, publishers are in search of manuscripts that are ready (or close-to-ready) for prime-time before they are pitched to them. Agents have become pickier when deciding whether to take on manuscripts for representation since they will now have to do much of the heavy lifting that the editors once did if the manuscript isn’t already polished.

As the snowball rolls downhill, many writers have selected alternate publishing approaches, such as self-publishing or hybrid publishing, for their books. While others who want to continue with traditional publishing have chosen to address their skills and story gaps by hiring a book coach to help them navigate the story writing process, so they can put forth the best manuscript and pitching package they can when they begin pitching to agents.

What Does a Book Coach Do?A book coach is the partner that rounds out your writing journey regardless of whether you’re just starting out, stuck in the middle, or ready to start (or have already started) pitching. A book coach will assess where you are at and determine what you need to move forward. Book coaches focus on multi-disciplines, including the story drafting process, pitching, and cheerleading, as explained below.

Story Drafting ProcessBrainstorming and Concept DevelopmentBook coaches help you get your creative juices flowing and think outside your bubble. They can hold up a mirror for you, push you to dig deeper, tease out your ideas and creativity, and help you gain more insight into you and your story that you’re too close to see alone. Book coaches also help you focus on the key elements of story structure, so you can more effectively plan before you begin writing. They can help you develop your story idea into a story roadmap, so you will spend less time writing with no clear destination.

Writing MethodsBook coaches study what agents are looking for, so they can help writers focus their time on the things that will move the needle for their story. There are many effective writing and story methods available. You may have discovered one you think works, but no method is one-size fits all for writers or for writing stages. For example, what works for you in concept development and your initial draft may not work for you during revisions. Book coaches can introduce writing methods that can add to your writing toolkit and keep you moving forward productively.

Drafting and Revision FeedbackBook coaches evaluate initial draft pages and complete manuscripts to assess whether your story works on both the structural and story level. They can identify opportunities to improve your skill gaps earlier in the drafting process than if you work solo. They can also determine if you have writing patterns that will turn agents off if not corrected before pitching.

Many writers take advantage of the common feedback options (e.g., alpha and beta readers and critique partners) prior to pitching to get a second set of eyes and different perspective on their story; but since most of the time their selected readers are not being compensated, the writer is fighting for attention and quality input.

Plus, the feedback provided is often not structured, so the comments lead to chaos and angst for the writer. Whereas a book coach is a dedicated partner who knows the writer and their story almost as well (if not as well), is focused on the needle-moving items that will make the manuscript stronger and provides constructive feedback in a controlled framework that can be digested and implemented.

Project ManagementBook coaches design project roadmaps to move you through the writing and publishing paces as efficiently and effectively as possible, so you can focus on the work and not where you’re headed or what’s coming next. They keep writers accountable to following their story roadmap, which allows you to focus your time and energy on writing and minimizes time spent on planning and administration.

PitchingSome writers can’t pull the trigger to pitch, while others rush too soon to contact agents. If you’re a cautious writer, a book coach can help you determine when your manuscript is ready to pitch, as well as help you prepare your pitch package and identify agents to query. If you think you’ve jumped the gun because you’re batting .000 with your agent pitches, a book coach can help you reassess your pitch package and your manuscript to identify what might be preventing agents from being interested and then design a roadmap to get you back on track. Book coaches can also help you manage the pitching process once you begin querying, including how to deal with interested agents.

CheerleadingAccountability and Leveling UpBook coaches are your (not so) secret weapon if you need or want to be pushed to prioritize your writing time—or yourself—move forward when you’re stuck, move faster when you have some traction, discover a new perspective, and/or improve your writing.

Emotional SupportYou share your heart and soul when you share your manuscript with someone else, so it’s preferable to have in your corner someone committed to helping you write the best story you can. Book coaches are there for all the possible ups and downs of a writing journey, from wanting to quit instead of facing one more agent rejection to screaming from the rooftops when an agent offers you representation, and everything in between.

Selecting a Book CoachIf you’re interested in working with a book coach, here are some things to keep in mind:

Be OpenYou must be open to trying new things, receiving constructive feedback, and digging in and doing the hard work if you want to maximize the coaching relationship.

Good FitBook coaches are often solopreneurs who bring different skills, expertise, and genre focuses to their businesses; so, it’s important to do some “good fit” research upfront. If you already know your writing gaps, seek out a book coach whose strengths will help you fill in those gaps. Many coaches will ask you to complete a questionnaire and provide a writing sample to assess you for fit as well. Some book coaches also provide free consultations to determine what you need and whether you and the book coach would be a good fit.

Coaching ServicesBook coaching services are as varied as the coaches themselves, so it’s important to ensure the book coach’s workflows and scheduling sync up with your own. Although some book coaches enjoy coaching across the story writing spectrum (i.e., idea generation to agent representation), others prefer to focus on specific phases of the writing process based on their own skills and interests (e.g., story concept to completed manuscript, but not pitching – or vice versa).

Matching ServiceIf you are short on time to research or feeling intimidated by too many options, Author Accelerator provides a book coach matching service that pairs writers with one of their certified book coaches for a minimal fee.

I hope you found this introduction to book coaching helpful. Future columns will focus on specific aspects of book coaching, the book coach/writer relationship, and the story drafting and pitching processes. If you have additional questions about book coaching, please leave them in the comments below.

Until next time, happy writing!

Tell us in the comments: Have you worked with a book coach before?

Richelle Lyn is a book coach and writer. Her favorite fiction reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer their fears while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She’s also a fan of non-fiction reads focused on personal growth and transformation. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Instagram, Twitter, or www.MindYourGapTrip.com.

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Hello, word nerds! Welcome to the Almost Spring edition of Leisure Learning. This month’s melange of experiences brings you the nostalgia of Beatrix Potter, the convoluted craziness of Ian Fleming’s role in British naval service, The Oscars (for books!) and a wealth of Irish tales, recorded by school children in their 1930s-era copybooks.

Whatever your pleasure, I hope that you will find inspiration, renewal and sheer delight among the following:

Beatrix Potter: The Secret Life Of A Victorian GeniusDocumentary, 45 mins. (free)

May I have a moment of your time? I respectfully request that you stop your jam-packed day to take a minute and consider this question: have you ever met anyone – anyone in your life – who doesn’t like Peter Rabbit? I have yet to meet such a person. I wonder if such a person even exists. However, from the completely unscientific research I’ve gathered from friends and (mainly) Whole Foods customers, it seems conclusive to me that such a soul does not exist. For, it’s as if Beatrix Potter’s work represents a universal constant of charm.

But just because Ms. Potter is remembered for Jemima Puddleduck and Peter Rabbit doesn’t mean that Ms. Potter’s days consisted solely of drawing and writing. As fellow authors, you understand the many layers of actual life and research that go into creating a well-formed work.

In the documentary Beatrix Potter: The Secret Life of a Victorian Genius, famed thespian Dame Patricia Routledge leads viewers into the other facets of Beatrix’s life. Learn how this unintended author/illustrator was dismissed by scientists (“treated scurvily” by the Linnean Society), and therefore somewhat relegated to becoming a Victorian breakout star, whose work continues to sell at the worldwide rate of one book every 15 seconds.

LitHub’s (Better) Version of the OscarsList of Lists

On March 12, Hollywood’s most notable will convene for the 95th presentation of golden statuettes. Yes, The Oscars (aka my personal “How To Know What’s Worth Watching” guide). Now, I am all for the glitz and glamor of couture styled artistes, but I also know that I’ll be spending a good portion of my evening with my Kindle.

1 There is always one.
2 Accompanied by a suspiciously large rabbit, which simply must be a hare IRL.

If you are of the same mindset, I invite you to bookmark LitHub’s 2022 “If Books Were Given Oscars”article. From Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) to Best Cinematography (Setting), their take on The Oscars (But For Books!) will not only provide you with a smile, you will also be spending the night with some of literature’s most up-and-coming stars with all of their splendid, sparkling brains.

Mountain Talk Documentary, 1 hour (free)

Everyone reading this knows how very important words are. When words become specialized into a specific dialect, they can expose layers of culture, values and history.

The documentary Mountain Talk chronicles some of the most frequently occurring yet unheard words and phrases spoken today. This film follows linguists and locals through the mountains of southern Appalachia to get at the heart of how words and stories can bind a people both within a region and throughout time. Moreover, you’ll be introduced to unforgettable, real-life characters like pro moonshiner Popcorn Sutton. This production is part of North Carolina State’s Language and Life Project, which seeks to document American dialects (including sign language). The Project invites you to view the entire film on YouTube for free.

Operation MincemeatFilm

I’m sure you are familiar with those stories that are so outlandish, they could only be true. Like, if the British government used a real corpse to transport fake documents in the hopes of deceiving Hitler. What if that corpse needed a backstory? What if you could order the future creator of James Bond to write it as part of his service to Royal Naval Intelligence? While pitching such a story would probably get you turned down by agents and publishers, the true to life factors in Operation Mincemeat have made it intriguing enough to be turned into a full-length feature film, starring Firth. Colin Firth.

Operation Mincemeat was an actual, implausible, yet successful military operation carried out in 1943, with the purpose of redirecting Hitler to invade Greece rather than Sicily. This movie is filled with the wry humor its actual story implies. Still, on a more serious note, it highlights just how very important not only writing but also implementation of the human imagination can be when used in times of crisis.

Tales from the Emerald IsleSpectacular website

Old wives’ tales are serious business in Ireland; so much so that in 1935, the National Folklore Commission of Ireland was formed by the government. The project aimed to formally collect the legends of leprechauns and fairies from the Emerald Isle. As oral histories, songs, and regional languages were added to the initial materials, these resources were turned over to academics at the University of Dublin and aggregated into the National Folklore Collection.

In 2012, these materials began to be uploaded via The Dúchas project and has become a localized Heritage.com for the realm of Irish folk knowledge. The Dúchas project contains oral histories, fables, jokes, remedies and more passed down by the Irish, generation to generation, with just the right amount of magic.

Moreover, one of the primary methods of collection couldn’t be more endearing: stories, as told by elders in the community, were recorded by children which visitors can actually see handwritten in the striving penmanship of grade school.

Finally, check out their extensive Folktale Index, as it is an excellent way for writers to compare what regional variations (ahem, dialect) may reveal about the rich life Ireland is known for.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages, getting some sparkle in your inbox every other Wednesday or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

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What are Villains in Literature?A villain is, by definition, an evil or immoral character intent on harming others. In literature, these characters portray evil and immoral behavior while also providing readers with an antagonistic force or bad guy – a figure against whom to root.

They are often presented as self-serving or selfish, especially when it matters the most. Their own survival ultimately trumps everything else and can typically be a reason why they fail in the pursuit of their goal, while the hero succeeds in being willing to sacrifice everything for the same goal.

Villains can be motivated by greed or lust or pride, or self-preservation, or they could simply enjoy the act of hurting others. This is the simplest type of adversary because, technically speaking, they don’t need a motive to do what they do.

But giving them a reason for being who and what they are will add complexity to storylines, as they provide tension and difficulty for the heroes of stories, making them work harder for their goals.

Villains often have deep-seated motivations and reveal something about human nature, which makes them attractive for readers to analyze. Moreover, many villains have secrets and pasts that draw readers’s sympathy, adding complexity to the story.

In literature, villains create compelling stories through conflict and challenge traditional notions of morality, and this brings out strong emotions in readers.

What Are the Top 5 Types of Villains in Literature?Though there are many villain archetypes, these are my top 5 picks:

The TricksterThe trickster villain, who relies on cleverness and manipulation, is one of literature’s top five types of villains.

Think of characters like the Joker, Loki, or the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland – they rely on deception and wicked cunning to get their way.

The Trickster often makes a deal with the protagonist, appealing to their needs and desires, but the price for the agreement is always higher than the main character realizes. They’re an incredibly entertaining addition to books and movies, always finding ways to throw a monkey wrench into plans and add more excitement and drama.

They may seem infuriating initially, but eventually, their motives become clear – they are simply out to prove their brilliance and superiority over the hero. Most often driven by greed or jealousy, they typically want something from the main character that they would otherwise be unable to get on their own.

The Trickster is brilliant and fun but lacks a moral compass, and is thereby perfect for adding nuance and richness to the world of literature!

The Evil OverlordFor anyone familiar with the great works of literature throughout history, the iconic Evil Overlord has become a symbol in its own right for an antagonistic force that brings about destruction and chaos.

From J.R.R Tolkien’s Sauron to Count Dracula to Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars and the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, this type of ultimate enemy stands out for their power and sagacity in crushing all who oppose them!

The Evil Overlord is among the most despicable of villains – one might even say they are evil incarnate. Typically offered with little backstory, their motives are nothing short of total domination, and they perform acts of evil because they can. They have no redeeming qualities, they fully embrace their nature, and they are driven only by their own selfish and impure desires.

As such, it’s often their unchecked hubris that proves to be their undoing through an act of extreme courage by the hero.

Having said that, the allure of evil overlords in literature remains as captivating as ever. This intelligent and ruthless character type presents a formidable challenge with their immense power and wicked cunning, making them a challenging foe for the hero to defeat.

Indeed, when these powerful villains are finally vanquished, it’s always cause for joy and celebration by the characters within the story.

The BullyFrom power-hungry tyrants to heartless manipulators, villains in literature come in all shapes and sizes.

One of the most common types is the Bully – whose physical or emotional abuse threatens and intimidates their victims.

This villain allows readers to explore themes such as justice and to experience courage and sympathy by seeing how very human characters endure incredible hardship and prevail.

This is a universal archetype, as most people have had real-life experience with a bully figure. Audiences can relate, with fairly little explanation needed for them to understand why this character poses a threat.

Rather than using complex high-tech devices or mastermind plots – these villains’s strength lies in the power of their imposing words and actions. They have an inherent need to display their dominance over the main character through strength and cruelty to prove their superiority and mask their shortcomings and fragile egos.

Some famous examples include Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Miss Trunchbull from Matilda.

The Corrupt Politician or Authority FigureThe Corrupt Politician or Authority Figure is a villainous character trope explored in many genres throughout literature.

From the wicked orphanage owner Miss Hannigan in Annie to the tyrannical Captain Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty and Alonzo Harris in Training Day, these villains are often seen as morally bankrupt figures who may have started as decent people, but whose unchecked authority has corrupted them. They command an organization or institution with an iron fist and little remorse – seeking their own agenda while taking advantage of those they rule over.

As characters, they help build tension and drama, giving the protagonists clear-cut obstacles to overcome to achieve their desired goal while inspiring readers to explore tales of agency and justice.

The EqualNot all villains are created equal, unless they are compared with the hero.

One of the top categories of villains is the Equal – often presented as the mirror image of the main character. They share the same skills, knowledge and/or savvy, but their ethics and morals are polar opposites.

Whereas the hero is ultimately presented as moral, brave and just, the Equal is often shown as immoral, cowardly, and deceptive. On paper, they have everything it takes to win the conflict, but their lack of compassion and unwillingness to sacrifice tends to be their undoing when it matters the most.

Unforgettable examples include General Zod in the Superman comics, Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, and Renee Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

ConclusionThere are dozens of different types of villains out there, each with their own quirks and motivations. As a writer, you get to find the most compelling villain type for your story. And as the saying goes, the hero is only as good as the villain.

After all, without a good villain or antagonistic force to drive the conflict, you can’t have a good story. So make yours memorable!

Do you have a favorite type of villain? Let us know in the comments below!

Neil Chase is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, actor, and storytelling consultant with extensive experience in a variety of genres, including action, sci-fi, drama, horror, and comedy. Neil has won over 90 international writing awards and is most proud of winning the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards Grand Prize.

Neil’s screenplays have been produced for film and TV, and he is the author of the award-winning horror-western novel Iron Dogs.

When not working, he’s drawing inspiration from his amazing family, thinking up new worlds and adventures, and helping aspiring authors find the best tools for writing and follow their dream of writing something truly amazing.

You can find him on his website: http://www.neilchasefilm.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Linkedin.

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During my final year at Pomona College, whenever I had a serious deadline, I would put on my glasses and head to the philosophy library. My glasses were tortoise shell with round lenses and did nothing to help my vision. Seriously, they were filled with fake glass. And the philosophy library might as well have been filled with fake books, since I never took one off the shelf. I was an English major who constantly schemed to write more short stories and fewer research papers.

But still, I packed my bag, put on my glasses, and went to that wood-paneled library to write. The ritual got me out of the garage I was living in and imbued my endeavors with an academic weight. Even if it was borderline performative, I needed those glasses and tomes to get my work done. Looking back, the philosophy library was one of my first writing locations — those essential places where the brain learns to focus and create.

Finding Your LocationFor those of us who work from home, live in a bite-sized apartment, or both, leaving these confines can be crucial to our writing practice. There are the obvious locations — cafés and bars, co-working spaces, libraries — each with their certain advantages. Outlets, elbow room, restrooms, and low noise are my minimal requirements. I’ll also look for somewhere close to home, so I don’t waste my precious writing time commuting.

If none of these options are appealing or available, get creative — maybe your friend has a home-office or studio space you could use while they’re away. If the library is filled with tearful toddlers, maybe there’s an unused community room. And if you are writing at home, do your best to carve out a specific writing place. Ideally with a door that shuts or some form of partition.

I’ve found that I do best with at least two locations — one at home and a handful out in the world. That way, I can decide where to go based on time, weather, and my creative whims. Whatever location you find, ask the people around you to respect that space. I’ll always admire a writer-friend who had nothing more than a pink hat and her dining room table. But when she put the hat on, she’d officially entered the writing zone and her family knew not to disturb her.

This is a wonderful example of accepting the limits of your schedule and tenaciously writing around them. At the same time, be honest with yourself about what’s working. Do you feel inspired and happy when you sit down to write? Does it fit into your writing budget? And can you truly focus? Don’t be afraid to scrap one location and try another until you find your place.

Committing to Your CornerOnce you find your special corner, commit to it. This could mean planning a few writing days and announcing them to your partner, family, or friends. As lofty as it may sound, I do love throwing a “I’ll be writing at the library” into scheduling conversations. Saying any plan aloud helps hold you accountable for doing it.

Better yet — build the stop at your location into the rest of your day. Back in college, I would leave class and go straight to the philosophy library, since I knew that going home would suck me into the roommate-garage vortex. That meant making sure I had the necessary notebooks, pens, laptops, chargers, etc. And once my bag was packed, it was even harder not to go to work.

What’s more, knowing you’re going to Your Writing Place alleviates self-doubt and distractions. You’re going to the place where you’re creative, and you can trust that when you sit down, you’ll make some form of progress on your writing. So often, the hardest part is getting there, and once you are, the rest falls into place.

Training Your BrainThe more consistent your location and pre-writing routine, the more productive you’ll be. My senior year, as I left my bohemian lair, all the distractions of living in a dusty So-Cal garage fell away. Instead of forcing my hovel to be multi-functional, I went to the library, where my mind knew it had to work.

In her book on self-revision, Intuitive Editing: A Creative & Practical Guide for Revising Your Writing, Tiffany Yates Martin takes this a step further and advocates having two separate spaces — one where you write and one where you edit. This allows your brain to switch between creative mode into the more analytical editorial one. This tactic is more than artistic voodoo — sleep doctors also advise only to sleep (and make love) in your bed. That way, your brain knows it’s where you go to rest, and likewise, you should always write at a table, desk, or some place where you’re meant to work. In other words, definitely not in bed.

The more dedicated you are to your place, the easier it will be to get into writing mode. This also means keeping your workspace distraction free. You might go so far as to leave your phone off, or at least put it in airplane mode when you enter this space. Bring only what you need to write — the more you leave physical distractions at home, the easier it is to leave your scattered thoughts with them.

The Muse Appreciates ConsistencyBear with me, as we leap forward a decade — from the philosophy library at Pomona College to the Bibliothèque de l’Hôtel de Ville in Paris. In my late-twenties, I lived in this city of writerly dreams, and fielded endless versions of the same question: “Are you inspired by Paris?”

Quite frankly, no. Being inspired by Paris sounded like I wandered the streets with a notebook in one hand and a croissant in the other. That I would jot down my musings when beauty struck, then meander on to the next café. Yes, Paris was magnifique. But I was finishing a novel set in LA, and each day, I went to the library.

Yes, the library was also magnifique, but mostly it was quiet. It had water, restrooms, and free Wi-Fi. It was the place where I went to write and my muse knew to meet me there. Though, to be honest, sometimes my best ideas come on the bike ride home, so there is an added beauty in leaving the location and letting your mind unwind.

To Sum it UpFind a place or, better yet, a couple places. Don’t be afraid to test them too, but once you’re set, start showing up. Train yourself to get into work mode, minimize distractions, and soon your brain will know exactly when it’s time to write.

I’d love to hear from you — How did you find your favorite writing location? And how has it helped you become more productive?

Guest columnist Grace Bialecki will be writing posts throughout the year on ways to establish your writing practice. As an author, editor, and mindfulness meditation teacher-in-training, her approach blends practical advice with techniques to be present when you write.

Grace Bialecki is a writer, editor, and literary coach who teaches for The Bridge and Hugo House. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Catapult and Epiphany Magazine, where she was a monthly columnist. Bialecki is the co-founder of the storytelling series Thirst, and the author of the novel Purple Gold (ANTIBOOKCLUB).

Alongside her writing, she’s completing her Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification through the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. When she’s working with clients, Bialecki emphasizes finding clarity and authentic voice, alongside techniques to be present while writing. To learn more, visit her website or follow her on TikTok or Twitter.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Thien-Kim Lam. They’ll be talking about writing romance with depth and spice.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Thien-Kim Lam and Lori discuss:* Balancing a love story with conflict. * Sex education and sexuality as empowerment. * Creating banter that isn’t forced.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Thien-Kim LamThien-Kim Lam writes stories about Vietnamese characters who smash stereotypes and find their happy endings. A recovering Type-Asian, she guzzles cà phê sữa đá, makes art, and bakes her feelings to stay sane. Her books Happy Endings and Full Exposure are steamy romances that will make you hungry.Thien-Kim is also the founder of Bawdy Bookworms, a subscription box that pairs sexy romances with erotic toys. She’s been featured on Jezebel, NPR, BBC America, and Glamour.

You can find her on her personal website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and here is the link to her book coaching site. She can also be found on Bawdy Bookworms’s Instagram.

Full ExposureBoudoir photographer Josie Parks never ever takes a vacation. But when a client cancels a New Orleans shoot at the last minute, she decides to fly out from her Washington, D.C., studio anyway. Maybe the trip will reawaken her recently stagnant muse. After all, it’s Mardi Gras season…

Spencer Pham has come home after twelve soul-sucking years in corporate hell to pursue his passion: making a docu-film on his family’s history as the first Vietnamese Mardi Gras krewe. The last thing he expects is getting whacked in the head by a beautiful woman trying to snag some parade beads.

During a long night at urgent care, Spencer and Josie connect over their artistic pursuits. He offers to show her the real New Orleans, if she’ll help him with the camerawork for his film. Despite Josie’s type-A personality clashing with Spencer’s laissez-faire attitude, they seem to make a great team, and soon, the good times are rolling both on and off camera. But Josie has a life in D.C., and they both have big dreams they’re chasing. When this Big Easy fling starts feeling awfully serious, can they find a way to choose between personal and professional passion?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 450(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 450: Double Entendres, Meet Cutes, and Smart Sex: Writing Contemporary Romance — Interview with Thien-Kim Lam appeared first on DIY MFA.

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In 2020, I finally penned the novel I’d always dreamed of writing. While furiously typing on my laptop, I had kept the home office door locked because I had been too terrified to share what I’d written with anyone, even my husband. My manuscript was too intimate, too personal. Too raw. The thought of others reading it? Not a chance.

Then I had my manuscript printed and bound at a local office supply store. I was thrilled that a book I wrote sat in my hands. But when I read through it, I felt something important was missing. So, I googled “What to do after writing the first draft of a book” and came up with a to-do list that scared the heck out of me:

• Find a community of writers.
• Make plenty of writer friends.
• Join a critique group.
• Get your pages critiqued and critique others’ work.

Talk about overwhelming! I got discouraged and shelved that awesome manuscript. Where would I even begin finding a community of writers, much less ask others to read my work?

If you’re nodding your head (and maybe muttering something like, “This guy gets me…”), keep reading. If this doesn’t sound like you, keep reading anyway. Chances are you have a writer friend who’s an introvert and needs to hear this.

Now for the Painful TruthVery few manuscripts get published or find agent representation today that didn’t go through some sort of beta read and critique process. It’s a necessary part of writing. I get it: it’s terrifying as an introvert to put yourself (and your work) out there. But finding a writing community and writer friends are way easier than you might think. I’m going to give you a step-by-step guide for finding a community tailor-made for introverts like us.

But first, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: in the 1991 movie, What About Bob?, Richard Dreyfus plays an egotistical psychiatrist named Leo Marvin who treats a neurotic patient, Bob. Bob is plagued by a comedic number of phobias which have kept him in New York City after his divorce. But by the end of the movie, Bob changes his life. His secret is Leo’s book, Baby Steps. By taking tiny, incremental baby steps on a bus to New Hampshire, then baby steps off the bus several hours later, then to Leo’s vacation house, Bob finally manages to incorporate himself into Leo’s family with hilarious results. He’s a changed man by the end, all because he made tiny steps forward.

The key to doing all the things on that scary-as-heck list is this concept of baby steps. Don’t look too far ahead and freak out. Just baby step to the next item on the list. By the time you get to the end, you may find yourself excited to revisit your writing now that you’ve got constructive feedback on it.

Are you with me? Are you ready to get excited about making new writer friends? Seriously, who gets excited about that? Spoiler: You will!

Here is the List. Remember Fellow Introvert, Baby Steps:1. Join a Facebook Group. I know, I know, it’s Facebook. DIY MFA has a super supportive, private group called “Word Nerds Unite”. Or, search Facebook for groups of writers in your genre. Another fun suggestion is NaNoWriMo’s (National Novel Writing Month) their website helps you find regional writers’s groups. I’m part of my region’s Discord server (an easy-to-use text app). The key here is: heavily moderated group = safe from online trolls.

1. Decide to Stay or Go. After lurking in the group for a maximum of two weeks and getting your bearings, decide if you want to participate. If it’s not your jam, leave it to find another one and repeat the first step.

2. Begin Interacting on Your Terms.Once you’re comfortable in a group, comment on some posts. Create a post of your own. You decide when and how to interact.

3. Find Allies.Now that you’re steadily posting and commenting, make friends! Find others who write in your genre. Get to talking with them about the best parts and the most challenging parts of writing. Pro-tip: asking others about themselves is a surefire way to keep a conversation going.

4. Write-ins. To get used to real-time discussions with other writers, the next step is virtual write-ins. Your group may already do these. Write-ins are hosted, online sessions where you write for a set amount of time (say, thirty minutes), then turn your camera and sound on to tell everyone what you accomplished. You don’t read out loud what you wrote, but don’t be surprised if more outgoing writers ask for advice if they’re stuck on something.

5. Find Where Your New Friends Hang Out.Now that you have some writer friends and you’re at least a little comfortable talking about your writing, find out where else your writer friends hang out online and where they get their work critiqued.

6. Critique Others’s Work and Get Your Work Critiqued.Yeah, this sounds way too people-y, but I promise it’s worth it once you’ve found a good critique partner or two in that online space or among your new friends. Ask someone if they have anything they’d like critiqued and ask if they would read twenty pages of something you’ve written in exchange. Another fantastic, paid option is DIY MFA’s Small Group Coaching.

My Experience: I Did Not Die of Stage FrightWhen I got to step seven, I found a fiction writer’s group at my local library. They meet once a month where one member’s pages are critiqued in a very safe environment.

I spent the first three months in the group participating in critiquing others’ pages. Great baby step into the group, and super valuable. Reading others’ work gave me a deeper perspective on what I should start doing in my writing and what I should look out for.

Once I got comfortable critiquing, I knew it was time for the next baby step. I submitted twenty pages of my dusty manuscript to the group facilitator. Not gonna lie, I almost bailed on going to the next meeting. I might have googled if it was possible to die of stage fright.

And you know what? It was fine. Those ten people told me they loved what I wrote. They also told me my pages needed heavy revision (and what to revise) in the nicest way possible. They told me exactly what worked and didn’t work in the plot.

That opened my eyes, and I saw my writing in a new light. I walked away with a list of revisions and a longer list of “aha” moments.

Suddenly, I was inspired to write again. I jumped back into my manuscript with a red pen and a new determination. But more importantly, I made several writer friends in that group I trusted, now that I’d gotten their feedback on my writing. In the two years following that meeting, I’ve beta read their pages on the side, beta read a screenplay, and critiqued a novel not in my genre. In return, I’ve gotten several scenes and a whole novel critiqued. How cool is that? And all because I baby stepped my way through what had been a scary list.

What has your experience been as an introverted writer? What fears do you have about sharing your writing with others? Sound off in the comments below.

JJ Graham writes spooky romance. Strong character representation of everyone, including queer and neurodivergent characters are important to him because everybody deserves to see themselves in romance stories.
You can find him on his website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

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So, is Twitter dead? Just try Googling it—the headlines aren’t pretty.

For writers, the agonizing decline of our digital public square hits hard. The #PitMad pitch competitions were excellent for getting agent attention. You could have real conversations with publishers and famous authors. It was a place to create genuine #writingcommunity, breaking down the high walls of the literary community.

I won’t bemoan the loss of Twitter further, though Erin Somers writes a fitting eulogy in the Atlantic article, What Will Writers Do Without Twitter? True, Twitter is still up… But it’s lost credibility and functionality, with most users jumping ship. As my social media managing husband says, “Twitter is slowly taking away all the things that made it not a hellscape dumpster fire of trolls.”

Such is the way of the internet. And while Twitter hasn’t gone the way of Myspace quite yet, don’t put all your eggs in that Musk-y basket. Just last week, I was still crossposting to Twitter… until the platform made it impossible to use third-party schedulers. I’d say while Twitter isn’t quite dead yet, it’s over.

What can you do to continue building your platform in the social media post-apocalypse? Read on for ideas:

Instagram I recommend Instagram to writers over Facebook or TikTok for multiple reasons:

• Powerful hashtags can boost your reach on Insta, whereas hashtags are much less effective on Facebook.
• A personal Insta account can garner good results. Unlike Facebook, which is limited to 5,000 friends, Instagram does not restrict your follower amount, though you are capped at 7,500 for following others. (For business accounts on either platform, you need to pay to play to get favored by the algorithms. Otherwise, stick with a personal account.)
• Instagram has less malfunctioning software than Facebook and fewer safety concerns than TikTok.

Instagram Pros: * A thriving #bookstagram community * Tons of very interactive authors * Many opportunities to join #followtrains

Instagram Cons: * It’s much slower to grow your audience on Instagram than it was on Twitter. However, slow but steady can win the race! * Instagram is notorious for spoofed and hacked accounts. Set up two-step verification to keep your account safe—a good idea across all social media platforms!

I plan to do a full column on growing your writing platform on Instagram. Until then, here are more options:

YouTubeYouTube is the second-most popular social media platform behind Facebook, and according to some reports, it is starting to outpace Facebook with younger audiences.

Why not create a YouTube channel? You could host a video blog or podcast, post clips from events like readings and conferences, or even record helpful how-to videos for writers. You can make your content do double duty by embedding videos in your blog (more on that below!).

Facebook If your audience skews older, or if you host events, it might make sense to make a personal Facebook account for your author platform. A business page is probably only worth the investment if you have the money to run paid ads. Remember, you can always switch to a business page later once you get your momentum going.

TikTok?As for TikTok, I’m torn. The U.S. government is investigating the company over security threat possibilities. On the other hand, publishing expert Jane Friedman recently posted on Instagram that romance is the leading growing genre of 2022, thanks largely to TikTok.

My advice: If your audience skews younger or has a big presence on TikTok, do more research on this platform to see if it is right for you.

Start a Blog or a NewsletterIdeally, your social media channels should feed into your central marketing platform, which for writers is usually a blog, often with a website attached to it. What better way to contribute to the writing community, build your portfolio, and showcase your wordsmithing than blogging? Here are some great options:

WordPressI prefer WordPress, where you can start a free blog at wordpress.com. What’s lovely about the WordPress community is that your posts automatically get shared with a wide audience.

With minimum effort, blogging about two to four times a year for the past ten years, I’ve gained 6,400+ followers and counting. Most importantly, you own your content and have a lot of control. WordPress does offer paid ad-ons, but I’ve used the 100% free version for years and loved it. For more, check out HubSpot’s article, “How to Use WordPress: Ultimate Guide to Building a WordPress Website.”

MediumJoining and publishing articles on Medium is free, easy to set up, and gives you access to a great reader network. You can even get paid for writing on Medium, though my friends say it takes hard work to really make money.

The biggest con with this platform is that you don’t own your content; they do. Even if it seems unlikely, they could delete your content without warning.

My take: Medium could be a good place to crosspost your blog to from another platform to reach an even wider audience. There is even a Medium plugin for WordPress to do just that! For more, check out Hubspot’s article, “How to Use Medium: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing, Publishing & Promoting on the Platform.”

SubstackImagine if WordPress and MailChimp had a baby, and you would get Substack. It’s an email newsletter platform with a blog-style format easily accessed on the web and their app. Substack is super user-friendly, easy to use and sign up for, and a great option if you’re new to email marketing.

On Substack, you own your content. It even has a leg up on WordPress because you also have control of your email subscriber list. Additionally, your content reaches the wider Substack community, helping you grow your audience. The platform is free, and you can even create a paid subscriber level for your content (then you’d pay Substack 10%).

The only problem? Elon Musk tweeted recently that he’s thinking about buying the platform .

For more, check out the great Hootsuite guide, What Is Substack and How Does It Work?

If you’re interested in a newsletter service and want a full comparison of email marketing tools, check out the comprehensive article from Inbox Collective, AWeber, Beehiiv, ConvertKit, Ghost, Mailchimp, or Substack: Which Is The Right ESP For Your Indie Newsletter?

The Bottom Line: Diversity and Own Your Marketing ContentThe internet is an ever-changing tool. That’s why it’s important to diversify your writing platform so that you still have other options if one goes down. Pick at least two or three platforms you can build, choosing the ones that resonate with you the most and where you can be consistent.

Starting slow is better than not starting at all. Even a few blog posts a year will snowball into a solid following years down the line if you diversify your platforms and keep putting out good content at a pace that’s right for you!

Rachel Teferet (lettersandfeathers.wordpress.com) is a marketing copywriter and content manager, novelist, and poet. Their work has been published by Subprimal Poetry Art, Zoetic Press’ NonBinary Review, and more.

You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter (if it isn’t completely dead yet), and Instagram.

The post Is Twitter Dead? Don’t Panic! Social Media Survival Guide for Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

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For last year’s NaNoWriMo, I chose to write about my WIP, a modern fantasy YA setting in the Caribbean. I had already finished the novel’s first draft in mid-2022, but something felt off about the writing.

I didn’t even want to look at some chapters. It wasn’t disgust: it was detachment.

That’s because when you connect with your novel, your writing, you feel the emotions you describe on the page. Our prose arouses joy, fear, or awe. We feel the drive to tell our story to the world.

And when we’re disconnected, it’s like trying to pour water from a rock. How could I bring myself to edit the whole thing if I didn’t care about what I wrote?

After some months with my draft sitting around, I decided I’d try writing a second one for NaNoWriMo 2022. I had participated in the yearly writing marathon since high school, but it wasn’t until that year that I finally finished it for the first time.

While doing so, I learned what was keeping me from connecting with the story I wanted to tell, and you can use them to connect with your novel, too.

Five techniques to connect with your novel:1. Write a second draft (or third, fourth, etc..)Once I finished my first draft, I thought I was practically done with my novel. I knew I had to do some self-editing and send it over to an editor, but the hardest part was finished. If you had told me back then to write a second draft, I would’ve lost it.

I’d spent months outlining, brainstorming, and writing my novel; why would I have to write another one? I was itching to write query letters!

November loomed closed, and I had not touched my writing since August. I made up my mind two days before NaNoWriMo, without even a new outline for the second draft.

Well, I’d just have to pants all the way through it, and oh did I find some positive surprises while doing so, and posting my daily writing updates on Twitter.

Truth be told, writing a second draft was the best thing I could do. By the end of November, I wondered why I didn’t start doing that sooner.

Rewriting scenes with a deeper understanding of my story’s theme, and more satisfying story arcs for my characters, helped me feel more connected with my story.

What once felt like a lifeless manuscript now felt like something I’d love to read myself. Pantsing also helped me feel liberated from my own writing.

I was proud of what I had accomplished and grateful for the opportunity to give my novel a new life.

1. Integrate your cultural heritage into the writingI proudly admit that I wanted every fantasy trope, creature, and archetype to appear in my WIP. Dragons, elves, fairies, magical graybeards, magic schools… you name, and I probably had a Google Doc describing their place in my world.

But while I loved reading about all of these creatures, I didn’t know how to fit them properly into my setting. Plus, I didn’t like that it felt like I was doing more of the same.

I then realized that I hadn’t given my story a theme that resonated with me, and was practically throwing spaghetti at the wall to see which fantasy trope stuck best.

After discussing these issues with my mentor, I decided I’d learn more about my home country, the Dominican Republic. My setting was in the Caribbean, but it didn’t feel Caribbean, because I didn’t add cultural quirks to the world building.

I spent a month visiting the national library and reading books about Dominican history and cultural roots, especially about the Taíno, the indigenous people of the Greater Antilles and Northern Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean.

Due to its population decline during the colonization, there’s not much information about Taíno mythology and culture compared to, say, Ancient Greece or Egypt. It’s a fairly underrepresented indigenous civilization in fiction, despite their group, the Arawaks, having roots in the entire Caribbean and the Northern coast of South America.

So, why not write a story about their cultural nuances?

I looked into Dominican folklore, monsters, superstitions, and history. Using this knowledge, I recreated my story’s world building and used it as a foundation for my second draft.

Dominican folklore brought many eclectic elements from its three underlying cultures: the indigenous Taíno, the Africans, and the Spanish.

And by the way, my story still has dragons and elves.

I twisted them to better fit within my Caribbean world building, and by linking my story to a larger cultural narrative, I felt a stronger connection to my role and purpose as a writer.

1. Discuss your novel with a mentor or community.We writers have an unbreakable bond with our stories. They are our precious babies that we can’t wait to share with the world. But, sometimes, our stories need a little extra help to reach their full potential. That’s where writing mentors come in.

Having a writing mentor is like having a fairy godmother for your story. They provide guidance, support, and insights that can take your story to new heights.

Many writers opt for writing coaches as their mentors, but not everyone has the budget for one.

Sometimes, a mentor can be a college professor, a published writer friend, or someone from a real-life or online writing community.

In my case, it was a Discord writing community which I found through Reddit.

I have the philosophy that you can find practically anything on Reddit if you can find the subcommunity that discusses that niche.

Some of my favorite subreddits include r/worldbuilding and r/goodworldbuilding. As fantasy authors, they can be impromptu muses. They’re also great for finding accountability partners.

Through these communities, I also connected with other fantasy authors from other Caribbean countries. They advised me to delve deeper into my country’s history and find ways to integrate these into my world building, without talking me out of using stock fantasy creatures.

I enjoyed reading other people’s posts, creating my own discussions, and seeing what other writers and world builders share about their stories. While they might not connect you with your novel directly, they can be the catalyst for you to do so.

1. Do some self-editing to trim your WIPAs soon as I finished writing, I was set to find a good editor that could polish my manuscript into a masterpiece.

However, I felt I needed to work on it myself before submitting it. I picked up a great book for self-editing, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print, by Renni Browne & Dave King, and it opened my eyes to many things I could improve on my own.

I cut out many scenes that practically provided nothing:

1. They didn’t move the story forward.
2. They didn’t provide any background on world building.
3. They didn’t create attachments from the audience to the characters.

I set those sections free to allow my novel to receive new ones.

Writing a novel isn’t linear, even if all the writing courses and Instagram accounts want you to believe that. Sometimes, your word count will drop while editing, and you’ll have to rewrite. That’s also progress. It’ll help you polish your manuscript to its best version, which is the end goal.

And as I self-edited my novel, I cut away many obstacles that blocked me from connecting with my story.

1. Use visual inspirationsWhile I was writing my novel, I hired some illustrators to draw and color some of the main characters and fantasy creatures of my novel.

I had some of these characters outlined and living in my head since I was in high school. Seeing them being brought to life by a professional was mesmerizing.

It’s one thing to imaginewhat your main character looks like, and another to see them the same way the rest of the world will see them.

So, why not romanticize your setting through visual inspirations?

The goal of this is not to hit a word count or meet a deadline, it’s to help you fall in love with your writing, your characters, and your setting. It’s another path to connect to your novel.

Find images and patterns that help set the tone of your novel. You can use aesthetics wiki for this, or search TikTok or Instagram with your intended aesthetic + core. For example, if you search “cottage core”, you’ll find gorgeous images of English countryside scenes, agricultural harmony, and floral print dresses.

Even if you’re not a visual artist, there’s always Pinterest, Tumblr, and even Instagram accounts in your genre. Yes, writing is important, but so is doing things that help you connect with your novel through the atmosphere you’re creating.

It might take time, but don’t be discouragedI had book two planned before I connected with my novel. I had chapters that didn’t resonate with my soul, and scenes that felt like filler to fulfill a word count.

Good thing that I took a step back, and followed these steps to understand what my story was really about. It also helped me finish my first NaNoWriMo!

It might take a while before you connect with your story, but when it happens, even the shortest scene or the least important character will feel like it belonged there all along.

Happy writing!

Sebastian Calderon is a freelance writer, scriptwriter, and inclusive fantasy author. When he’s not reading about dragons, he delves into the rich history of his beloved Dominican Republic, embracing his cultural heritage with joy and wonder through his stories.

To learn more, visit his website or follow him on Medium, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

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Once you make a habit of writing, there are things you come to expect, like characters ignoring the plot, one revision after another, and long hours spent in front of a computer talking to yourself, often out loud. What you don’t expect, is to discover a secret ingredient that brings your writing to a new level.

I set out to write my second novel, No Such Thing as Goodbye, armed with a lot of tea, excitement, and an intriguing main character; a mobster’s sister who fakes her death in order to get a fresh start.

After a few drafts and helpful feedback from my beta-readers, I wrapped things up, ready to pitch the whole thing to agents. I was confident the manuscript was ready. I’d tied up all the loose ends, fixed the story and polished the prose till it sparked more than a smile in a toothpaste commercial.

Fast forward to a few months later. I checked the file before sending out the second round of queries, in case I caught any obvious mistakes or typos.

My eyes widened in horror. Had I sent out the wrong file? Was this definitely the final version? I didn’t remember my prose sounding so mediocre or the plot still having hiccups? What the heck was going on? I was certain I’d sent out a gemstone, while the thing I was reading was more like a rock dug out of mud.

I turned to my cats, who ignored me, then took some time to investigate what was going on. Soon, I realized I’d stumbled upon something important. Namely, the secret ingredient, so simple it was easy to overlook.

Yes, I’m talking about time.It wasn’t the text that had changed; it was my skills. Leaving the manuscript to rest for a few months enabled me to read it with a critical eye, as a reader and editor, instead of as its creator. Suddenly, I could take a step back and spot the flaws I couldn’t before, and then remove them with a deft tap of the delete key.

I sent a revised version of the novel out and, though it didn’t get me an agent, it was shortlisted and received an honorable mention on the 2020 Black Spring Crime Fiction Prize.

How to make time work for youSo, you’ve written a text, a story or a novel, and you’re tempted to plunge right into your first revision. Hold that thought. As counter-intuitive as this might sound, waiting with your revision might actually be more efficient. Here’s why:

You’ll hone your skills as a writer. While your work is standing still, you’re moving on, picking up new skills and honing your craft. Once you get to that draft, be that a week or a month later, your skills will have improved and you’ll be more experienced and better equipped. So, all in all, you’re likely saving yourself an additional revision.

You’ll gain critical distance.If you start revising immediately after writing something, you’ll likely be close to the text. You might be more keen on protecting your darlings, or worse, not spotting them while they parade past you in their shiny costumes.

Letting your writing rest, on the other hand, will allow you to approach the text with a sense of detachment. You’ll remember the gist of your story or article, but forget the details, making it easier to separate the crucial parts from the clutter.

Flaws and inconsistencies will jump out, darlings held in high regard will get slaughtered without a second thought, pointless characters and phrases will be easier to spot and take out. Critical distance is a priceless tool for taking a scalpel to your prose and dissecting it, as if it was someone else’s.

How long is enough, though?The time needed depends on the length and type of your text. For short stories and articles, I’d recommend letting them stew for at least two to four weeks. When it comes to long-form writing like novels, leave them be for at least two months. If you can, three or four is even better.

I usually start working on something new right away, to help get my mind off the story I’ve finished. I’m continuously surprised how different that finished story feels once I get to it a few months later.

Your stories and narratives will developWhile you might give up on a specific story or challenge, your brains keep working with it in the background. That’s why sometimes, the answer or an idea pops up at a completely random time, possibly when you’re supposed to be doing something else and have nothing to write at hand.

Allowing for some extra time gives your work a chance and space to mature. You might think of a better opening, ending, or a fresh angle to approach things from. In short, there was not one single time where leaving a story to rest didn’t improve it.

Okay, so you’re ready to try this, to tweak your schedule and give the secret ingredient a chance. How to know when it’s enough, though?

When to stop revising?The number of revisions depends on someone’s skills and confidence, and the latter doesn’t always reflect the former. If you’re not sure where to start, four revisions is a good rule of thumb, after which it’s good to get some external feedback. After that, one or two final swipes are likely enough.

Very skilled writers tend to need fewer drafts, though I’m immediately suspicious of anyone who stops at the second draft and isn’t Stephen King.

I’d strongly advise against sharing your first draft with anyone. As hard as it sometimes is to curb the enthusiasm after finishing something, of riding on that endorphin rush and sharing it with the world, you’d do well to put it in a drawer for a while. This way, you’ll be confident your work won’t be caught out wandering around people’s living rooms barefoot, wearing nothing but underpants.

Karmen Špiljak is a Slovenian-Belgian writer and author of the award-winning short story collection, Add Cyanide to Taste. She currently lives in Belgrade with her husband and two cats. You can follow her on Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads, or learn about her secret lives on www.karmens.net.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Courtney Maum. They’ll be talking about honesty in memoir and her book The Year of the Horses.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Courtney Maum and Lori discuss:* The challenges of getting to the absolute truth in nonfiction. * How her copy editing career affects her creative endeavors. * Using frustration as her muse.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Courtney MaumAuthor of five books, including the game changing publishing guide Before and After the Book Deal and the memoir, The Year of the Horses, (chosen by The Today Show as the best read for mental health awareness), Courtney is a writer and book coach hellbent on preserving the joy of art-making in a culture obsessed with turning artists into brands.

A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates prize and the host of the monthly “Beyond Fiction” conversation series at Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Courtney’s essays and articles on creativity have been widely published in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, and her short story This is Not Your Fault was recently turned into an Audible Original.

A frequent interviewer of high-profile writers such as Anne Perry, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Edouard Louis, Courtney is also the founder of the learning collaborative, The Cabins. You can sign up for her publishing newsletter and enroll in her online writing classes at CourtneyMaum.com, or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Substack. She’s happy to be here.

The Year of the HorsesSharp, heartfelt, and cathartic, The Year of the Horses captures a woman’s journey out of depression and the horses that guide her, physically and emotionally, on a new path forward.

At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle. For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the past she walked away from. She hasn’t been on or near a horse in over thirty years.

Although Maum does know what depression looks like, she finds herself refusing to admit, at this point in her life, that it could look like her: a woman with a privileged past, a mortgage, a husband, a healthy child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable, but she feels no right to claim it. And when both therapy and medication fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding as a way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a young girl. As she finds her way, once again, through the world of contemporary horseback riding―Courtney becomes reacquainted with herself not only as a rider but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and woman. Alternating timelines and braided with historical portraits of women and horses alongside history’s attempts to tame both parties, The Year of the Horses is an inspiring love letter to the power of animals―and humans―to heal the mind and the heart.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 449(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 449: Genre Hopping, Process, and Time Management: The Life of a Working Writer — Interview with Courtney Maum appeared first on DIY MFA.

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When I told a writing instructor I wrote historical fiction, she replied, “Don’t put too much history in it.”

I blinked. Say what?

How can we have a clue about where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been? Historical fiction can take us to the foreign country that is the past, can make us see it, experience it, care about it because we see it through the eyes of characters who live in their present, our past. It humanizes and makes understandable what looks mysterious and inhuman and avoids the distance of academic history.

Historical fiction is any piece of fiction that takes place in the past. This definition leaves out so much and leads to hanging a contemporary story on a historical backdrop. That’s Hollywood.

When is the past? For both history and historical fiction, the past begins fifty years ago and marches back to the age of the Rig Veda, farther back if you want to get into archaeology and paleoanthropology like Jean M. Auel did.

You must have sources. You must do research. Both are key to making the setting, the time and place wherein the characters live, breathe, act, procreate, and die. Setting is the most important choice a writer makes because setting drives every other choice. The story, like the Devil, is in the historical details—meaning my writing instructor missed the trireme, the cog, the galleon, the tea clipper, and the steamboat.

Writers of historical fiction engage in world building. We recreate, as much as possible, the ethos and culture of a past era. Eighteenth century England is not late eleventh century Song Dynasty China, but both are real, plausible settings for historical fiction. We can set our stories in London or Birmingham, which are actual places, or in a fictional small village in the northern part of Song, China, about to be overrun by the Jurchen people. Either way, the story has to make sense in the context of the setting.

The plot can be completely fictitious or it can hang on actual events. Usually, it’s a mixture of fact and fiction. All of the people, events (political, cultural, religious), and even disasters have to arise from the context of the period. My murder mystery takes place during the Gordon Riots, which happened over the course of a week in London, in June 1780. The murders, which the Riots don’t hide, are fictitious. The subsequent solving of the case keeps within the medical and legal knowledge of the time.

Whether they are fully fictional, based upon real persons, or actual historical people, the characters have to think, feel, and act as people really would in the period. They can have a range of behavior and beliefs—staid, proud, people-pleasing, Catholic, atheist, feminist—but it all has to be period-specific. It should also consider class (better-termed rank before Karl Marx) and gender within the context of the chosen time period.

No matter the era, everybody operates within a constructed social framework. If the characters step outside what’s acceptable, there will be consequences, some of which can be quite severe. Conflicts between and among characters, or with society itself, drive the plot; therefore, they should be the kind that people of the time would’ve faced.

Theme, universal concepts such as revenge, love, death, piety, will be revealed through the characters and the conflicts, but will be true to the setting.

Language is the toughest question in historical fiction because it goes to voice, both of the narrator and of individual characters, and to tone and diction. How “period” do you go? For an eighteenth century story, do I use “natural philosophy” throughout or can I intersperse “science”, which didn’t enter English until the early nineteenth century?

Yes, the characters should all speak in language appropriate to the period, to their rank/class, and to their gender, but their language has to be natural. With actual period language, which includes the grammar, a little goes a long way. With foreign languages, a sentence or two leaves the impression of fluency. Generally, stories set in ancient times are understood to be translated. Even if you can write it, nobody wants to read a story in Latin or Sanskrit.

This caveat is even more true for slang and dialect. Both can be distracting or hard to read. If you can’t get the slang or dialect right, you’ll take readers right out of the story or, worse, offend them. “Hammered” isn’t slang for drunk in seventeenth-century England, and the Harfoots’s Irish accents in The Rings of Power offended many. The latter goes to too many (one would be too many) patronizing and/or demeaning depictions of the Irish by English-using writers.

And watch for my next blog featuring examples of the many different types of historical fiction.

A former college professor, Karen Whitehurst holds a Ph.D. in British history from the University of Virginia. She currently resides in Maryland with one long-suffering husband, three naughty cats, and over one hundred houseplants. A writer of both historical mystery and SF & F, she is currently at work on a mystery set in 18th century England during the Gordon Riots.
For more information, visit her website.

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Let’s be honest, defining genres can be a real bear, and one of the blurriest lines is the one between Science Fiction and Fantasy. If you’re like me, your manuscript has elements of both. So how do you market it? Cue the glazed eyes and the descent of that nebulous SFF cloud. But what does that really mean? I’ve seen the term used interchangeably with Speculative Fiction, which, according to the Cambridge Dictionary is:

A type of story or literature that is set in a world that is different from the one we live in, or that deals with magical or imagined future events.

Well, gee, that clears it up. Insert eye-roll here. More like encompass two massive genres and a smattering of others. So, how do you differentiate between them, and why is it important to? On the surface, it sounds like a dumb question. I mean, Fantasy is fairies and junk, and Science Fiction is all about the aliens, right? Mmm… not so much.

Think of Speculative Fiction as North America, then Science Fiction and Fantasy as Canada and the USA, respectively. The problem being that in this alternative universe, the USA’s Northern border is in dispute, and in some places, non-existent. The same can be said down south, and Mexico’s got a direct portal to Canada. But SFFH is a whole ‘nother article—we’ll come back to Horror another time. Suffice to say, there’s crossover, which makes for one heck of a tangle.

The term SFF is used to paint a broad stroke across the top two-thirds of our map. When talking about generalities, like topics at a conference, ok fine. When pitching your manuscript? Not so much. That’s like trying to get your European parents to foot the bill for a flight to North America without telling them exactly where you’re going. There’s a big difference between New York City, New York, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan—not to mention a whole lot in between.

Which is why knowing what makes Science Fiction, Science Fiction, and Fantasy, Fantasy, is important. Granted, there are sub-genres that do fall on that nebulous border, but they have names, and you should use them. In my opinion, saying your work is SFF is a cop-out. Yeah, I said it, but I can understand the temptation. I mean, trying to distinguish between Science Fiction and Fantasy can be more work than sorting Aunt Bev’s button collection.

And trust me, that’s a freaking job… but it doesn’t have to be.

When differentiating between Science Fiction and Fantasy, it all comes down to one thing.

Technology vs. TranscendentalSounds clear-cut enough, right? Yeah, you’d think so, and you’d be wrong again.

Prime example? Star Wars is technically a Fantasy and a Space Opera, with Science Fiction elements. Say what? Seriously. Check out the ins and outs of that can of worms here.

Yeah, went over my head too, so let’s go super basic by consulting two of my buddies, Cambridge and Webster:

What’s considered Fantasy?A type of story or literature that is set in a magical world, often involving traditional myths and magical creatures, and sometimes ideas or events from the real world, especially from the medieval period of history.

And that Space Opera thingamabob?A futuristic melodramatic fantasy involving space travelers and extraterrestrial beings.

Right, I get that. But it still doesn’t really answer my question, or does it? When you think about Star Wars, what’s the overwhelming theme, regardless of which book or movie you’re binging on, like, even before the starships in a galaxy far, far away?

It’s all about the Force.Yep. That nebulous universal power that’s manipulated by good and evil throughout the series’s extensive volumes. It’s the core theme that the world is built around, driving the story, from plot to character, and everything in between. It’s what defines the work.

See, Science Fiction, at its root, is:A form of fiction dealing mainly with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals. It must have a scientific factor as an essential orienting component.

Ahh… now you see where I’m going with this? Basically, if the Force resulted from a genetic mutation or a nuclear event, Star Wars would be classified as Science Fiction. Since it’s not, it’s a work of Fantasy, and nuts to the Death Star. Pretty tricky, huh?

Yep. The Devil’s in the details… and often the sub-genres.So if Fantasy boils down to the transcendental, and Science Fiction’s all about the tech, what happens when a fallen angel and a guy infected with a lab-borne virus that causes vampirism hook up at a bar?

Whelp, like any good literary, alcohol-fueled one-night stand, a sub-genre is born. In this case, Urban and/or Paranormal SFF, with a heavy dash of Romance thrown into the mix.

Yes, Romance. Look, despite what your personal feelings on the genre may be, let me just mention that it’s been the highest-grossing genre by a landslide for decades. Now think about it; with SFF holding its own in the top five, is it any wonder successful authors combine them?

Exactly.

Unfortunately, no-brainer or not, that just further muddies the genre issue. I mean, as a reader, I don’t care how Amazon classifies books as long as my vamp/angel rendezvous comes up when I plug the title into the search bar. But as an author, it’s in your best interest to seek clarity.

Now we come back to the why of it. If readers don’t particularly care what you call it, why should you?

Because if you want to effectively market your book, you need to know where it will sit on the shelf. Sure, you can toss it under the generic category of Speculative Fiction or SFF, but that really doesn’t give an agent or a publisher any idea of where your book might fit into their catalog at a glance.

And that’s a problem—because remember my Aunt Bev’s button collection? Reviewing a slush pile is basically like sorting buttons for a living.

Guess what happens to the generic ones from my Uncle Harvey’s dress shirts.

Buh-bye.

Yeah, ouch. Taking your time to understand the nuances of genres hidden beneath the SFF cloud, and where your two acres are on that continent, will help you land the agent that’s right for your book. How? Well, by tailoring your query letter to highlight the aspects of your manuscript that will most appeal to them. It will help you find those dreaded comp titles too.

I’ll dive more into that next time. In the interim, instead of throwing up your hands and succumbing to the SFF cop-out, check out the lay of the land. There’s nothing better than finding out where you belong, kicking up your feet, and getting to know the neighbors.

Still confused about SFF and sub-genres? There’s a great round-up of the more popular SFF sub-genres with their definitions here. Keep in mind, it’s not an exhaustive list (Notably, Paranormal Fantasy is missing) But it’s a great place to start, and for a quick rundown of the top 35 genres, Reedsy does an awesome job with this blog post.

AK Nevermore is an emerging author of science fiction and urban fantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes about dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining.
You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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I am so excited to share this interview with Rochelle Bilow just ahead of Valentine’s Day. I’m relatively new to the romance genre, but I love it. By definition, we know it’s going to end with a happily ever after…but the fun part is seeing how the characters get there. It’s the journey, not the destination.

In this interview, I got the chance to talk with Rochelle about why we love characters who are seeking a fresh start, how to incorporate our past lives into our writing, the all-important meet cute, and so much more.

I hope you enjoy this interview!

About Rochelle BilowRochelle Bilow is a food and romance writer who previously worked as the social media manager at Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. A graduate of The French Culinary Institute, she has also worked as a line cook, a baker, and a wine spokesperson. Her first book, The Call of the Farm, a swoony farming memoir, was published in 2014. Raised in Syracuse, New York, Rochelle now lives in northern Vermont.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

About Ruby Spencer’s Whisky YearWhen a thirty-something American food writer moves to a Scottish village for one year to fulfill her dream of writing a cookbook, she finds more than inspiration—she meets a handsome Scotsman she can’t resist.

Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulsive decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure.

The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. Between designing pop-up suppers and conversing with the colorful locals, Ruby starts to see a future that stretches beyond her year of adventure. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the ruggedly handsome local handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage. Though Ruby swore off men, she can’t help fantasizing what a roll in the barley might be like with the bearded Scot.

As Ruby grows closer to Brochan and the tightly held traditions of the charming village, she discovers secret plans to turn her beloved pub into an American chain restaurant. Faced with an impossible choice, Ruby must decide between love, loyalty, and the Highlands way of life.

Interview with Rochelle BilowLori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that magical moment you knew?

Rochelle Bilow: I wanted to be a writer—or perhaps I knew I was one—in college. But for a long time, my focus was on food writing. I spent years working as an editor and writer at Bon Appétit and other food magazines.

It wasn’t until I went freelance and felt a bit adrift that I began dreaming about novels. I never thought I was “good enough” to write fiction, but my agent encouraged me to look into the romance genre. She instinctively knew it would be a good fit for me, and she was so right.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

RB: When I’m drafting or revising, I prefer to do so in intense, immersive bursts. That’s not to say I don’t write at home or in shorter spurts, but typically I block off week long periods and book myself into a hotel or Airbnb. That way, I can entirely live in my characters’s worlds and work without distraction.

Those days are wild; I roll out of bed and find some way to get coffee into my belly, then begin writing. I like to start each writing day at a proper desk or table, but by noon I’m sprawled on a couch or bed, where I stay until nightfall.

Every once in a while, I may come up for air and take a short walk or do some stretches, but for the most part, it’s all writing, all the time. Then I come home, bonk, and don’t touch the manuscript for another week.

LW: How do you know when a nugget of an idea has the legs to become a full-fledged book or story? What is your process for getting it there?

RB: My agent, Sharon Pelletier, is crucial in this process. She’s so smart, and so good at developing ideas. I’ll share a concept or pitch with her, and she’ll tell me whether it has potential or not, and what it’s lacking to get there. Getting that kind of feedback is like a deep tissue massage; it hurts in the moment, but feels great afterwards.

LW: One of the things I love about Ruby is that she’s sold all of her possessions and moved to Scotland for a fresh start (and to “become the sort of person she wished she was”), which by normal standards is pretty drastic. Yet readers love books like this. Why do you think that is?

RB: It’s a living vicariously thing, I think. Because there’s so much about Ruby that readers can relate to, it’s not hard to imagine themselves taking those big, drastic steps. Reading, especially in the romance genre, can feel like a delicious escape.

LW: You have a past life as a food writer, which you incorporate into your fiction. What’s your advice for writers to bring their past experiences to their writing without writing autobiographical fiction?

RB: I love this question! Use your knowledge to add detail and set the scene, but consider your characters to be outside that sphere of influence.

Because we shared careers, I could write about the logistics of Ruby’s life well, but we’re very different in terms of personality. It was important to me to write a character that had different motivations, fears, and goals than I did.

LW: In every romance, one of the most important scenes is the meet cute because it sets up the whole rest of the story. What are some of the qualities of a good meet cute and how did you use them in your own meet cute between Ruby and Brochan?

RB: I think a great meet cute has to feature physical attraction—even in an enemies-to-lovers story! In Ruby and Brochan’s case, we get to witness her “shaken-to-the-core” attraction to his physical appearance in a way that reveals more about her personality (she can be impulsive and “all in,” to a sometimes-detrimental degree).

I also love a meet cute that has a tinge of awkwardness. In this one, Ruby’s trying and failing to use an electric drill for the first time ever, unaware that Brochan—a handyman—is watching her with amusement.

LW: How did you weave together the emotional and dating history of Ruby so that it was complex, rich, and relatable?

RB: If you’re in your thirties and you’re single, your romantic experiences have run the gamut. I wanted Ruby’s past to reflect the good, the bad, and the indifferent that comes along with dating. So she’s experienced big-time love, shattering heartbreak, and a whole lot of the “meh” stuff that happens in between.

LW: If you could go back to the beginning of your career and give yourself one bit of advice, what would that be?

RB: Stick it out when things get hard. I struggled with living in New York City, and left my full time food writing job before I really felt ready to. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had kept at it, through the challenges. That said, I’ve finally learned the lesson. Now that I’m a novelist, I’m not going anywhere—even if the going gets rough.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What three books would you recommend to people who are interested in Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year?

RB: Much Ado About You by Samantha Young This book has aaaall the cozy UK-centric vibes you could want and more!

The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan Nobody does charming Scottish small-town like Jenny Colgan.

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella Another UK-based romcom, this one featuring a fun city vs. country push-pull.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

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In many ways, freelance work is a dream gig. You get to make your own hours. You get to choose the projects you want. And, best of all, you get to earn your living doing what you love.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s all hearts and flowers always. Every silver lining has a cloud, after all, and when it comes to freelancing, sometimes that gray cloud can be the struggle to maintain your productivity when distractions arise and work stressors feel overwhelming.

The good news, though, is that it is possible to keep your creative mojo flowing and your freelance productivity humming across weeks, months, and years. This article describes five ways you can juice your productivity for a long, happy, and successful freelance career.

1. Create a RoutineWhen you’re looking to boost your freelance productivity, one of the first and most important things you can do is set yourself up for optimal performance. This means creating a work schedule that both accommodates your lifestyle and promotes productivity.

Establish specified hours of the day that will be dedicated to work and ensure that friends and family are aware of, and respect, your work routine. That means ensuring that, unless blood is being spilled, you accept no personal phone calls, no surprise guests, and no intrusion into your workspace by kids, spouses, pets, little green men, or the Publisher’s Clearing House folks during your business hours.

1. Set Yourself up for SuccessTrue, you’ve got mad skills and natural talent, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need a helping hand to meet your productivity goals. It’s just not possible to do your best work unless you have the best tools and the ideal work environment.

In other words, you need a dedicated writing space — one where the distractions are minimal and the inspiration is maximal. A home office with lots of natural light and a great view can be the ideal way to keep your creative juices flowing on even the most difficult of days.

But your workspace needs to be more than a place to which you can retreat and focus. It also needs to be outfitted with the essential freelance productivity tools that enable you to do your best work. At a minimum, this should include a suite of project management and task-tracking tools, such as Asana or Monday.

This will ensure not only that you’re steadily progressing toward your project goals, but also that you’re maintaining healthy and robust contact with clients and colleagues.

1. Enlist Outside SupportYou may be a master of your craft, but that doesn’t mean you can do all and be all at all times. There are simply some tasks best left to the expert. And, if you want to be productive, then it’s critical to learn when to delegate.

Your freelancing career, though it is certainly a labor of love, is also still a business, after all. And to ensure your business grows and thrives over the years, you need the help of experts. Outsourcing essential duties will help protect you and your business while freeing you up to focus on your work. So go ahead and recruit your team of professionals to support you in your full-time freelancing career. This should include, at a minimum, hiring an accountant and an attorney to ensure your business operations and your finances are on point.

1. Take Your Social Media Skills to the Next LevelNow more than ever, the future of business lies in social media marketing — a reality that is just as relevant for creative professionals as it is for more traditional entrepreneurs. Building a robust social media presence is increasingly critical for connecting with prospective clients, raising brand awareness, and cultivating lucrative and long-standing business relationships.

Thus, if you want to be truly productive in your freelance writing career, then you need to engage deeply with social media. Concentrate on marketing and community-building across social media platforms, as well as linking your social media accounts to your writing websites, blogs, online portfolios, and other publications. This will ensure you’re building market interest and cultivating a steady flow of projects.

1. Guard Against BurnoutOf all the challenges associated with freelance life, burnout may be the most significant. When you’re working on your own and all the burdens of making the career a go are resting on your shoulders, it can easily become too much to bear.

Learning to recognize and guard against burnout may well be the most important thing you can do to preserve your freelancing productivity in particular and your writing career in general. When you find yourself feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically drained, you may be on the cusp of burnout.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a cornerstone of preventing burnout. The temptation to be always working and, in the process, isolating yourself from friends and family so that you can focus on work can be immense. However, by building healthy relationships and enjoying time for self-care and recreation outside of work, you can maintain your zest, your passion, and, yes, your productivity.

The TakeawayMaintaining your productivity as a freelancer isn’t easy. However, with a bit of effort, you can create the working conditions that will keep the inspiration and freelance productivity flowing.

Indiana Lee is a writer and journalist from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for covering workplace issues, social justice, environmental protection, and more. In her off time, she enjoys hiking with her two dogs. You can follow her on Twitter @indianalee3, or reach her at indianaleewrites@gmail.com.

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Ok guys, so full disclosure here, I totally borrowed the term “palate cleanser” from a very gifted writer friend of mine.

She’d just finished the final round of edits on her epic Sci-Fi love story, (though she’ll seriously kill me for calling it that). Her female protagonist is a kick-butt, yet deeply complex character, who can stand on her own two feet, thank you very much. Anyway, said writer friend found herself mentally spent afterwards – done, fried, fritzed & fileted. Completely empty.

And after a couple of weeks in a darkened room, where do you go from there? What do you do with yourself when you mentally can’t find the focus to start the next book just yet? What do you do while you wait, either for agents, publishers, or the good old public to get back to you on your blood, sweat & tears opus?

You write a palate cleanser, that’s what, and I’ll tell you why…You need to keep your hand in the gameI think we can all agree that finishing a book earns us a well-deserved rest, maybe a bottle of the fizzy stuff and a night out on the town. But, and I pause here for your hangover to dissipate, we don’t want to leave it too long to get back in the game; we don’t want to risk losing that precious writing habit (which took so much effort to perfect); or to lose that “je ne sais quoi”, which happens when we’re in the flow.

A palate cleanser is the perfect antidote to that hangover, metaphorical or physical! It’s the ideal project when you haven’t quite got your focus laser locked onto your next book yet.

Palate cleanser flavorsAs you approached the finish line of your book, you would have prioritized your writing, above many other things in your busy life, in order to write those immortal words, “The End” after somewhere between seventy thousand to one hundred and seventy thousand words, (that’s my friend I’m talking about again!). That’s a big commitment, and most of us are spent. A palate cleanser gives you the option to take the pressure off.

Try out some different writing styles or forms and have some fun with your writing whilst you re-enter the earth’s atmosphere.

For example, if you’re a Sci-Fi writer, try diving into a Fantasy world of frosty fae. A Thriller writer, try twisting the perverse plot of a Police Procedural, or are you a Literary artist, whose talents could cause palpitations with some powerful poetry. Whatever you think will help you flex your fatigued writing muscles, blow off the cobwebs, and most of all make it fun to write again–Then, Go For It.

Write it quick and dirtyGet in, get out. Don’t worry too much about the how, what, why, where, and when.

Pull an idea from the ether, play with it a while, and get it written without thinking about it too much.

The key here is to keep it short and sweet. If the words flow, follow them, but if you find your plot tied up in a very short, short story, then be satisfied with that.

Maybe enter it into a competition or send it off to a magazine–you never know where the universe might take that oddball little gem of yours.

Doors can open that you didn’t even think to knock onAnd that takes us neatly back to my friend again.

Her palate cleanser was a funny, fantasy take on My Fair Lady, with such a fresh, edgy feel to it, I couldn’t put it down. And you know what, she knocked that out of the park in weeks, not months (or years).

Before she knew it, she was publishing it online in installments, growing her subscribers thick and fast, and having a lot of fun in the process.

Books two and three in her epic Sci-Fi trilogy suddenly appeared in her focus again, and she lasered in on them with a fresh perspective and enthusiasm.

Have faithTake heart, my friends. Take my advice and take the plunge into a palate cleanser. Jump into any crazy, zany, wacky, way-out-there idea that comes to mind. Have some fun and let the cards fall where they may.

If it’s a soggy heap on the floor, so be it, get back to the main event. But I’m betting you will learn something, a door may open, and above all you will get your mojo back. You will be ready to take on the world again. Whatever that world might be for you.

Put this blog post in a draw or folderBecause even if you’re not in the market for a palate cleanser right now, I guarantee the time will come and you might just thank me for it.

JD is a British YA and short story writer. When she’s not sat at her desk, you’ll find her tramping the English countryside with her four loyal companions.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Jenna Miller. They’ll be talking about her publishing experience as a debut writer with her book Out of Character.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Jenna Miller and Lori discuss:* The complexities of writing a parent / teen dynamic that resonates with today’s YA audience. * How NanoWriMo positively influenced her authorial career. * Transcending the traditional love triangle trope with nuance.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Jenna MillerJenna Miller writes Young Adult books about fat, queer, nerdy girls who deserve to be seen and have their voices heard. When she’s not obsessing over words, she can be found making charcuterie boards, befriending people online, cross stitching, or adventuring in the Minneapolis area.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Out of CharacterIf you asked seventeen-year-old Cass Williams to describe herself, she’d happily tell you she’s a fat lesbian obsessed with the Tide Wars books. What she won’t tell you—or anyone in her life—is that she’s part of an online Tide Wars roleplay community. Sure, it’s nerdy as hell, but when she’s behind the screen writing scenes as Captain Aresha, she doesn’t have to think about her mother who walked out or how unexpectedly stressful it is dating resident cool girl Taylor Cooper.

But secretly retreating to her online life is starting to catch up with Cass. For one, no one in her real life knows her secret roleplay addiction is the reason her grades have taken a big hit. Also? Cass has started catching feelings for Rowan Davies, her internet bestie…and Taylor might be catching on.

As Cass’s lies continue to build, so does her anxiety. Roleplaying used to be the one place she could escape to, but this double life and offline-online love triangle have only made things worse. Cass must decide what to do—be honest and risk losing her safe space or keep it a secret and put everything else on the line.

What would Captain Aresha do?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 448(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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When you look at the cover for Two Boys Kissing, you get a pretty good idea of what this book will be about. Then you read the synopsis on the inside cover and your idea becomes a bit more defined, a bit clearer. Finally, you sit down to read the book, only to discover that your first impressions were of the vaguest kind.

In Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan brings back the literary chorus of old. The narrative guides of Shakespeare and Ovid at long last reappear, this time through the collective voice of our “ancient” gay predecessors. These are the people who bravely pioneered the social frontier, the rainbow-clad Lewis & Clark who pressed love onward – quietly or with booming voice – and who were lost to one of the greatest tragedies of our day, the AIDS epidemic.

The Premise As our guide, this chorus reveals to us a day in the life of multiple contemporary gay youths, in many iterations of the “type.” The main couple, Craig and Harry, are the two boys kissing, but they are not a couple at all (although they used to be). Their goal is to stand up for equality by breaking the world’s record for longest kiss – hoping that the process and the result of two boys’ names together in a permanent book of world records will get people thinking, if not change the world entirely. They are also standing up for their friend, who was violently and viciously beaten for being gay.

In addition to their primary story, the chorus gives us a peek into the worlds of Peter and Neil, a young couple who are learning what that word, “couple,” means; learning how to navigate life for themselves and for each other, including, most importantly, how to understand and respond to one another, sometimes without words. We also meet Avery and Ryan, both of whom have their demons, past and present, and who must confront the idea of what it means to be different, even within the same “gay world.”

Finally, we see Cooper, the boy who no one sees and who refuses to be seen. Cooper’s story is where the chorus truly rallies and where these spirit guides are needed most, lest we forget that where we came from and where we are going are inextricably linked. Technology advances, and these advancements change our perspectives and our possibilities, but for boys like Cooper, the loneliness and isolation only grow deeper, more vacuous.

Thoughts on the BookBefore there was Heartstopper, there was Two Boys Kissing: the gay anthem for our day. It is the very book created from the very inspirations that many of us have been waiting to read for a long, long time. Levithan pulls stories from the real world and links them to our present and our past. He does this through the eyes of a compassionate yet devastatingly helpless and sometimes forgotten chorus of our forbearers.

Levithan, since the publication of his wonderful short novel Boy Meets Boy twenty years ago, has veered from the idyllic and romantic, to the daring and experimental (Every You, Every Me), and the exploratory (Every Day), right into the real, the raw, and the historical. He keeps getting better, and Two Boys Kissing is a triumph indeed.

Quotes to Consider“It is hard to stop seeing your son as a son and to start seeing him as a human being. It is hard to stop seeing your parents as parents and to start seeing them as human beings. It’s a two-sided transition, and very few people manage it gracefully.”

“What strange creatures we are, to find silence peaceful, when permanent silence is the thing we most dread. Nighttime is not that. Nighttime still rustles, still creaks and whispers and trembles in its throat. It is not darkness we fear, but our own helplessness within it.”

“You grow. Your life widens. And you can’t expect your partner’s love alone to fill you. There will always be space for other things.”

“Here we are, thousands of us, shouting no, shouting at him to stop, crying out and making a net of our bodies, trying to come between him and the water.”

“There is the sudden. There is the eventual. And in between, there is the living.”

Adam W. Burgess is an English Professor at College of Southern Nevada. He has a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing a post-doc writing certificate at the University of California, Berkeley. He loves engaging in all topics related to LGBTQ literature and craft. You can find Adam on his website or follow him on Twitter, and Instagram.

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What exactly is a speculative matter? What exactly does speculative mean? Why does speculative matter? First, let us look at Merriam-Webster:

Speculative, Adjective, spec·​u·​la·​tive,1. involving, based on, or constituting intellectual speculation, also: theoretical rather than demonstrable, 2. speculative knowledge, marked by questioning curiosity

There is a third definition but, as it refers to financial matters, we can ignore that one. I think the first two are what we are looking for. Speculative fiction has been considered from many viewpoints over the years. Often mocked as frivolous and overlooked as any kind of serious writing, speculative writings often have been considered the ugly, red-haired stepchild in many literary circles. Yet in retrospect, we can see that many changes that have come to pass were predicted in the “wild stories” by certain authors.

Some things we accept as normal and commonplace were once highly speculative.Between 1863 and 1905, Jules Verne wrote his Voyages Extraordinaires.These included, among many others; From the Earth to the Moon and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Both novels were considered wildly speculative at the time they were written and yet both are proven as prophetic rather than fancy.

In 1931, Chester Gould introduced to the world a comic book cop named Dick Tracy. Not long after, on January 13, 1946,the two-way wrist radio was introduced, and would become one of the strip’s most immediately recognizable icons, and in 2015, Apple made this a reality.

On September 8th, 1966, NBC released a new TV show called Star Trek. I watched all three seasons with religious fervor and although most of the inventions used by the crew of the Enterprise have yet to become reality, there is one device that was used from the first show ever-after that has become a mainstay of life in our world—the communicator. It only took thirty years for Motorola to introduce the StarTac, the world’s first flip phone. A very similar device to the communicators used by the crew of the Enterprise.

In July 1969, I watched as Neil Armstrong set foot upon the moon. It may not exactly have been as Mr. Verne envisioned over one hundred years before, but it happened. His Nautilus was not the first submarine by any means, but Verne wrote that electric batteries powered this submarine, something which we are just beginning to master as a form of power for our vehicles.

There is a myth that he used an unknown power source that seems to imply he foresaw the power of the atom. However, radioactivity was not discovered until thirty years after Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written. Interestingly, the first nuclear submarine built was named “The Nautilus” in honor of Captain Nemo’s vessel, but it was the speculative movie script writers at Walt Disney who planted the idea of nuclear power being involved, not Jules Verne.

So What is Speculative Fiction?The term ‘speculative fiction’ is often attributed to Robert Heinlein, though he insisted it was referencing science fiction only and not fantasy, and that the term had been used by others before him. It has come to include much more than just hard science fiction including; fantasy, utopian and dystopian fiction, horror, alternate history and superhero fiction as well as science-fantasy.

There are arguments as to who wrote the first speculative fiction. Some offer H.G. Wells or Jules Verne, others speak of Mary Shelley and her novel Frankenstein. I will offer a different suggestion; Homer, who in The Iliad mentions the god Hephaestus who had helpers he had crafted. Helpers who were made of metal and who had thoughts within their heads. In other words, robots.

How many life-changing innovations only exist as the written word at this time? Many, I am sure. This is why speculative things matter. Someone has to dream about the inventions before they can come into existence. Someone has to think… “Wouldn’t that be handy?” Then speculation can become reality.

Casey Cooper is the son of two teachers, the grandson of a university professor on one side, and a jazz drummer on the other. Somehow, he escaped teaching, but not music. After retiring from his day job, just in time for COVID, he devoted his first year of ‘freedom’ to self-recording a musical concept album. In his second year, he turned to writing.

An avid reader, he averages a book a week. The usual fare is Fantasy or Sci-Fi. Sometimes Action/Adventure. He has been seen reading all kinds of things, from fairytales to super-string theory.

He holds guest citizenship in The Forgotten Realms, Oz, Pellucidar, and on the Discworld. He lives alone with his two trusty cats. Liv, a lavender tortoiseshell, and Riley, an orange tiger. You can follow him on Facebook.

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Many writers claim to have number phobia. They are happy to wrangle with words, but as soon as mentions of math slip into conversation, they bolt, desperate to return to safer terrain.

I’m one of the math-loving few in the writing community.

I’ve always been a numbers nerd, and I love looking at data in new ways. Here, I am going to suggest five ways numbers can improve your writing life. I promise there are no complicated equations here (I will not make you relive your algebra days!), and these ideas can help even the most math-averse among us.

1. Monitoring TimeTime is the currency we all pay to improve our writing skills and share our work, yet many of us do not keep track of it.

Monitoring your time makes you face the reality of how you are spending it. In her book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, Laura Vanderkam suggests keeping a time diary for one week to assess how you are using your time.

After keeping a week-long time diary myself, I learned two things.

1. I discovered I was more conscientious about my time when I knew I was keeping a record of my activities. If I had a half hour of unclaimed time, I had to ask myself if I really wanted to include “scrolling through social media” on my time log. I usually made a better choice.

2. I found my days were fuller than I thought. When I first did the time diary exercise, I was caring for my young children. I spent the majority of my time taking care of their needs, playing with them, and making sure they stayed alive. I didn’t have extra time to give without making lifestyle changes.

Try monitoring your time. A week-long time diary provides an “average” overview. Are you writing as often as you thought? How much time do you spend reading? Do you have extra time to devote to your writing endeavors or are you maxed out?

1. Tracking WordsMost writers keep track of their word count at some point. If you’ve submitted a short piece to a blog, journal, or newspaper, you’ve adhered to a word count restriction. If you’ve worked on a novel, you’ve learned your market’s word count expectations. Even if you’re new to writing, your high school English teacher likely asked you to write a 500-word essay.

It’s common to think of word count in the context of a finished product, but you can also use word count to help you with your writing habits.

1. Do you write more words in the evenings than you do in the mornings? Maybe you write more words when you work in short sprints as opposed to two-hour chunks.

2. Do you have a maximum output level, after which your brain shuts down? Keeping track of your word count (and how you achieved it) can help you identify what works best for you.

3. Knowing Writing SpeedWriting quickly isn’t inherently better than writing slowly, though as writers, we may be tempted to believe faster is better. Instead, you can use your writing speed as a metric to understand how you work.

You may be a writer who spends an hour writing 200 thoughtful words, but then you don’t spend as much time in revision afterwards. Or maybe you’re a writer who needs to spit out the first draft as quickly as possible so you crank out 2,000 words per hour. Perhaps fluctuations in your writing speed indicate when you need a break.

If your current writing practices aren’t working or if you find yourself in a rut, experiment with your writing speed and see what changes.

1. Setting Realistic GoalsOnce you monitor your writing time, word count, and writing speed, you can use these metrics to set reasonable goals.

For instance, suppose you set a goal to write 5,000 words a week. This seems like a reasonable goal to you since your friend writes 2,000 words a day. However, you average 200 words per hour and write five hours a week. You are setting yourself up to fail before you’ve even started working towards your goal.

Maybe you want to write two hours every morning before your day job begins. You are currently writing for fifteen minutes during your lunch break. Are you prepared to increase your writing time eight times over? Do you write well in the morning? You’d do better to first change either the time of day you write or the amount you write in one session, instead of changing both simultaneously.

Writers fall prey to romantic notions about the writing life. When they cannot live up to their unrealistic expectations, they give up. Don’t let this happen to you simply because you didn’t consider a few important pieces of data.

1. Motivating with NumbersUse numbers in your motivation. Knowing you spent 500 hours (nearly 21 days!) writing last year may be the bragging right that helps you do it again this year. Watching your word count climb into the thousands, and then tens of thousands can inspire you to finish your novel. Recording a writing streak becomes more fun when you plan a special celebration for the 100th day.

Don’t overlook whimsy. You can set quirky goals by playing with numbers. For example, if seven is your favorite number, you could set a goal to write 777 words a day. For the year 2023, you could set the goal to write for 20 minutes a day, 23 days a month. Write one essay in January, two in February, three in March, and so forth until you write twelve in December. The possibilities are endless, but these kinds of goals become more meaningful to you because they are uniquely yours.

Numbers Don’t Lie…… but they also don’t tell the full story. An objective measurement forces you to confront it. If you didn’t write any days in February, the ‘0’ written in your monthly log makes you face the truth. However, it’s important to not let the numbers do all the talking. You may not have written in February because your mother was in the hospital and you were caring for her. Acknowledge you didn’t write, but recognize you were dealing with extenuating circumstances, and move forward without guilt. Don’t make excuses or fudge your metrics, but honor the fact that you’re human and not a machine.

Math is for everyone – writers included. Use numbers to your advantage and see where it takes you. If you do, I would love to hear the results!

Sara Gentry is a writer and Author Accelerator certified book coach with a Ph.D. in applied and interdisciplinary mathematics. She uses her problem-solving skills to help writers find the solutions they need to write books they love. Connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and her website.

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My novel, The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach, was published by Apprentice House Press in April 2022. I didn’t necessarily think I’d land with a small press, but I’m not sorry I did.

I signed with an agent just before I finished my MFA program. She spent the next couple of years trying to sell my book to publishers, but had no success and no interest in selling the book to a small press.

Fair enough, because agents only make money if the writer makes money and small presses don’t pay much. She and I parted ways amicably, and I attempted to find a new agent, only to realize that agents are reluctant to take on a project that has already been shopped around unless the project has had a significant revision, which mine hadn’t.

But I believed in my novel, and while I could have put it away while I worked on new projects, I wanted to see it in the world. And so, I started looking at small presses.

Here’s what I learned about publishing with a small press along the way:Research small presses the same way you’d research an agentThere are a lot of small presses out there and they won’t all be a good fit for your project. I was drawn to Apprentice House because it’s an entirely student-run press, and I figured that no one cares less about money than students.

I was feeling a bit jaded by the focus on money my agent had—I wanted to write for the art, not just the money, and so a student-run press was a great fit for me. A student-run press might not be the right fit for you if you want consistency, though, because at Apprentice House, there’s someone new working on your book every semester. I liked having lots of input and ideas and feedback, and the students were as warm and as engaged as I imagined they would be, so, for me, the pre-publication experience was lovely.

Read your contractI was really happy to have a contract for my book, and I did skim it, but I didn’t spend any time thinking about the implications of what I’d signed until well after my book came out.

Namely, when I started to work on my second book and realized my contract stated that Apprentice House had the right of first refusal for it. Which means they get first dibs, and while I can turn down their offer, I still have to give them a chance.

This is pretty standard, and I’d pretty much made peace with the fact that AH would look at my novel and they would either:

• Like it and offer the same terms as the first novel, which I was prepared to turn down in the hopes of a more lucrative book deal, or
• Not like it and then I would cry for a month.

But then I had lunch with a writer friend who told me she asked to have the right of first refusal taken off her contract (with a different small press). She reasoned that her next project was nothing her current publisher would ever put out, so why waste their time and hers? I was impressed with her forward-thinking and I wish I’d taken the time to think about my own contract a little more.

Have someone else copyedit/proofread your workApprentice House, and most small publishers, will not copyedit or proofread for you. And even if you think you have a good handle on grammar, have someone else—preferably more than one person—read your uncorrected proof.

Trust me, you’ve read your own work too many times to really know what’s on the page. By the time I got my uncorrected proofs, I’d say I’d read my manuscript, whole or in parts, at least fifty times. And yet, I still had a reference to the “Eater” Bunny in there. (Easter was what I was going for)

The good news about a small press is that if you happen to miss typos, the print runs are generally small, and you’ll be able to fix the mistake in the next run. The bad news is that too many typos just make the book seem unprofessional and after all your hard work, you don’t want that.

Develop a marketing planEven if your publisher works with you to create a marketing plan (which mine did not), you’ll want to come up with as many ideas as you can. Brainstorm like crazy, but make sure they’re things you’re willing and able to do.

For me, people-ing is exhausting, and I needed rest days in between events. I know some writers who thrive on talking about their work, and that’s great and amazing. Play to your strengths, especially if you’re thinking about the long game—for me, I knew my current work-in-progress would suffer if I didn’t occasionally hit pause.

When thinking about events, tap into your resources. My day job is as a library director, so I felt comfortable sending out promotional postcards to every library in my state and neighboring states, and I did not fail to mention that I am a library director. I booked most of my events this way.

I also contacted people I’d gone to graduate school with and, even though that was a little harder for me, I asked them to do events with me. I don’t like being the center of attention, and so, for me, events with other writers make me much more comfortable (but it’s so hard to risk someone saying “no!”). Events with multiple authors draw a bigger crowd, so it’s a win-win in my eyes.

I also attended book fairs, taught workshops, wrote essays about writing my book, and even got the chance to be interviewed on stage in front of a live 100-person audience as part of a music/performing arts variety show.

Not all of these things were part of my original marketing plan, but a lot of them came about because I had a marketing plan. The variety show, for example, was the direct result of me contacting a bookseller in a neighboring state. I didn’t hear from her for months and assumed she wasn’t interested in the book event I’d pitched, but then she contacted me and said she thought of me when this event came on her radar, so she suggested me to the variety-show producer.

Be flexible with your expectationsNot everything is going to go according to plan, but in the end, small presses are doing a lot of good work for not a lot of money. It’s important to ask for what you need, whether it’s clarification, or a report on sales, or support with an event, but it’s also important to remember to stay polite, professional, and as accommodating as you can be. It’s a team effort, after all.

Jennifer Dupree is an assistant editor for The Masters Review, a librarian, and a former bookstore owner. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from USM’s Stonecoast program. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in December, Solstice, The Masters Review, On the Rusk and other notable places. She is the winner of the Writer’s Digest Fiction Contest for 2017, and a two-time winner of a Maine Literary Award (2022, 2006). Her novel, “The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach” was published in April of 2022.
You can learn more about Jen on her website or catch her on facebook.

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Monte Schultz. We’ll be talking about his book Metropolis, and the intricacies of writing alternative history.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for February is Crafting a Series, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Monte Schultz and I discuss:* How real world events seeded his fictional world. * The effects of history’s weight: heavy topics creating ennui in a society and applying that to backstory. * That reading widely, from both commercial and literary works, are key, along with a list of suggested authors.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.About Monte Schultz:Monte Schulz received his M.A. in American Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara. He published his first novel, Down by the River, in 1990, and spent the next twelve years writing a novel about the Jazz Age. Monte is also a composer, songwriter, and producer whose most recent album is titled “Seraphonium.” In 2010, he became the owner of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Monte is endlessly curious and well versed in world history and theology. He is fascinated by the style and use of innovative language, and can be caught engaging in provocative, philosophical conversations about big, far-reaching, imaginative ideas and worldly perspectives. His father is the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He lives in Santa Barbara, CA.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

MetropolisRegency College senior Julian Brehm’s uneventful student life is derailed when he falls for Nina Rinaldi, a beautiful young revolutionary engaged in political activism against the authoritarian regime that rules the country and wages a deceitful, distracting war. Julian’s love for ― and moral alliance to ― Nina eventually leads him into a vast undercity beneath the metropolis. Then, east by train and into the war zone itself, where mortal danger in that expanding cemetery of millions threatens Julian’s life; what he witnesses will alter how he perceives the Republic and ultimately his fate within it.

Julian’s adventure can be seen as our own, a world of vacillating morality and unceasing violence. Apathy and passion. Fear and courage of purpose. Julian’s is a hero’s journey into the dark unknown. A love story, which extends in many directions. A war novel of incredible scope and horror. A suspenseful mystery novel with a moral puzzle at its core. And a coming-of-age tale of a young man seeing the world he was born into, more dangerous and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. Metropolis is a meditation on the meaning of virtue and goodness in the face of the most monstrous crimes. It could just as easily be the story of us.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 447(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 447: Flying by the Seat of Your Pants: Writing without an Outline — Interview with Monte Schultz appeared first on DIY MFA.

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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 I hit Act II and got overwhelmed by how to take the story forward. Somehow, nothing felt like the perfect fit.

In case you feel me, I am not going to let you go through that weird slump. Together we are going to look at ways that can make writing the middle of the novel more interesting. After all, if you tear through the pages writing your story, chances are, readers are going to tear through them too.

But first things first, what is Act II or the Second Act? Well, if you follow the Three Act Story Structure, this is the middle of your story. The part where your character is going to get into all sorts of shenanigans. They will be put to the test, the action will rise, and readers will get to see their character arc going. Feeling excited yet?

What I love about the second act is the plot twist or the radical change in the direction of the expected plot. Always keep in mind this should not come off as making no sense to your readers. In fact, somehow your readers should be able to anticipate it. No one likes to be played for a fool. If you are looking for some plot twist ideas, that’s exactly what we are exploring today:

The Makings of a Plot Twist:Old AcquaintancesThis is going to be perhaps the easiest and the most difficult plot twist to pull off. Make an old acquaintance from your character’s life re-emerge. Depending on how you want to take the story ahead, this person is either going to be of help to your character or cause some drama in their life. Make sure they are not just a wallflower or the readers are going to be put off by it. Which also makes the hard part.

This plot twist must be delivered in a way that does not make your readers feel cheated. To have a speculative take on this plot twist, have this old acquaintance be the key to some major event. Or they could be holding back a supernatural secret. Feel free to weave it your own way.

The LieHave something or someone your character desperately needs turn out to be a lie. Not only is this going to throw off their entire course of action, but it can help uncover a side to your character that has never been seen before. After all, humans behave uncharacteristically when under too much stress. Readers will want to tear through the pages as they try to figure out what is your character doing next. This plot twist blends perfectly well with speculative fiction tales which are related to quests of some sort, but give your unique touch to it, as always.

Divine InterventionLife does not always go the way we want it to go. Something or the other is bound to happen that is out of our control or totally unexpected. Then why should it not happen to your character? In speculative fiction, this can be a literal divine intervention. A lighter take would be to have the character’s path blocked somehow. Anyhow, make sure that it does not hit the readers out of the blue. The entire idea is to have the readers scream at the end of the plot “I knew this was going to happen!” and yet leave them with a sense of satisfaction and anticipation.

Vanish Without A TraceSomeone disappears. Did they leave of their own accord? Was this character kidnapped? What are the clues pointing at? Bear in mind, this plot twist should not take away from the original plot of the story. Plot twists must always aid or cause trouble in your character’s journey, not throw them off course. That is to say, your royal romance novel should not suddenly turn into a murder mystery. Especially if there was nothing hinting at it since the beginning. This plot twist is likely to build up the tension. Readers would love to find out what your character is going to do in the wake of this new event. If they have been too focused on their goal, is this going to make them pause?

What plot twist is going to be your pick? Or did these spark a new idea in your head? Comment down below and let me know. Until next time!

Disha Walia is a lifelong storyteller and an enthusiastic writer and editor in love with the idea of exploring the creative world of words. While making her space in the world of non-fiction and fiction alike, Disha loves to spend even her free time daydreaming about what next to write. Connect with her on www.quillinary.com. You can also follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

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Last year, we dedicated ourselves to exploring the messy middle of inclusive writing by reflecting on ways to craft complex characters and build dynamic worlds that connect with readers from marginalized identity groups. We decided that we will answer the call for diverse and inclusive writing by being specific, honest, and intentional with our representations of marginalized identities.

To achieve this goal, we recognized that we must move beyond surface-level representations of diversity and instead strive to make invisible systems of privilege and inequality visible to our readers. We will avoid the temptations of cultural appropriation by being prepared to be held accountable for our cultural depictions. However, what if, despite our commitment to doing all of these things, we still somehow get “it” wrong?

The fear of getting “it” wrong (being politically incorrect) or being “called out” (and canceled) is a common barrier to inclusive writing, but perhaps our reactions and beliefs about political correctness are what needs adjusting. This post will offer a framework for responding to concerns about cultural representations in our published work and social media posts.

Political ~~Correctness~~ ConsciousnessThe internet would feel like less of a cultural war zone if we viewed political correctness as less of an attempt to silence free speech or a trendy obsession with “labels”. “Why can’t we all just be humans, humaning?” is often asked when it comes to concerns about political correctness. The answer will always be that privilege and inequality exist; we do not all experience the world in the same way.

Political correctness is a sometimes imperfect attempt to be conscious of the fact that some marginalized identities have not had the access or political power to define their own experiences. Historically, the terms used to reference marginalized committees have been ascribed to them without their input and are often steeped in histories of inaccuracy, erasure, violence, and bias. What we often dismiss as identity politics is, in reality, an attempt at respecting and understanding the experiences of others.

Despite our best intentions and efforts, we cannot know the “correct” terms for every marginalized identity. Therefore, when we are approached about problematic, outdated, and offensive terms, we can apologize and then lean in to listen, without getting defensive.

Called Out or Called In?I believe in the power of dialogue to create systematic change. However, bullying, stalking, threats of harm, and demands to change your content are not acceptable ways to have these conversations and should not be tolerated.

It is sometimes difficult to determine if the critiques we receive are from internet trolls or people who have genuinely been negatively impacted by our writing. There is a very important difference between the two. Are we being called out for attention or are we being called in because someone finds value in our work? What if we shifted our focus from ourselves and placed it on the person raising the concern?

If we imagine our content as our vehicle, we may be able to better visualize how our writing can negatively impact our readers. Somehow, we accidentally ran a red light and crashed into someone else’s car. It seemed like a light fender bender, nothing dramatic but, as we stare out our windshield, the driver looks really hurt, and other people have gathered around them. Everyone seems very angry at us.

Content Fender BendersA content fender benderTM (just kidding) happens when readers or critics take us to task for cultural appropriation, reductive stereotypes, tone deafness, or otherwise harmful misrepresentations. Thinking of our content as a vehicle can be a useful metaphor because it encourages us to spend less time deciphering who was at fault and, instead, focus on the people who were harmed and determine our next steps.

Who’s at the Center?Ring Theory, developed by clinical psychologist Susan Silk and Barry Goldman, is a simple guide for navigating everyday conversations about difficult or traumatic events. The theory is often utilized in diversity and inclusion, allyship, and crisis management spaces. Silk came up with the idea while battling breast cancer and feeling drained by having to manage her loved one’s feelings over her health crisis.

Ring Theory asks us to first identify who is at the center of the crisis and to place them in a circle. Everyone outside of the immediate circle should work together to offer support for the people in the circle. Those outside of the circle should resist processing, grieving, or complaining to people inside the circle and, instead, find other spaces to work through their feelings. The goal is to have support flowing into the inner circle and complaints flowing outwards. I find this theory particularly applicable because it emphasizes self-care and accountability.

Put on Your Mask FirstIf you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you are familiar with the reminder to put your mask on first during a crisis before attending to others. I recommend the same strategy for navigating cultural content fender benders. Log off and take a beat.

Unlike an actual car crash, we can take more time to check in with our feelings before we work through the situation. While it is typically not a good idea to completely ignore a complaint (unless you’re sure the person is trolling you), responding quickly without getting in touch with our emotions can be just as harmful. Consider thanking the commenter for bringing it to your attention or posting a statement that you are taking time to reflect on the concern.

Ideally, when we step out of our metaphorical “car”, our response should be focused on hearing and understanding how our content negatively affected the other person. But if we are hurt, embarrassed, uninformed, or angry, we can make the situation worse. Once we have made the time to check in with our feelings, we can better address the issue.

Turn into the SkidTrying to avoid or smooth over these types of concerns can make them worse so, for the love of all that is caffeinated and pumpkin spice in this land, avoid replying with these types of responses:

AVOIDANCE AND DENIAL“I didn’t intend to hit you”, “I barely hit you”, or “It’s not my fault that you are hurt.”

Don’t get distracted by fault and avoid centering yourself and focusing on your initial intent. Instead, try to ask open-ended questions to better understand how the content affected them. Also remember, we are listening to understand their experience, not for them to educate or fix us.

AWKWARD SELF DISCLOSURES“I would never intentionally hit you” or “I’m two teaspoons native on my neighbor’s dog’s second cousin’s side of the family”.

Impromptu self-disclosure of genetic ancestry or having friends from marginalized groups does little to address the collision the person experienced. It especially misses the point, because some identity groups do not have the privilege of selectively disclosing their cultural identity as a means of accountability.

BRING OUT THE HISTORIAN“Actually, hair extensions were first used in Europe in 16 b.c.”

The conjuring of an inner Wikipedia historian does little to account for the obstacles and lived experiences that some cultural markers have on marginalized people. Trying to use history is just another way to avoid the issue.

There are obviously a lot of nuances that come with this advice, when considering the context of the incident and how to best respond. In summary, my best advice for navigating these situations is to lead with our humanity, take responsibility for negatively impacting others, and most importantly, focus on the center of the circle.

Colice Sanders is a blogger and motivational speaker. Colice writes YA, poetry, and memoir. Her blog areasontorise.com chronicles her journey of radical self-acceptance through the lens of childhood trauma. You can reach her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

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Happy New Year, dearest word nerds! Now that we are heading into the second month of 2023, I hope you have found a footing in projects spun from your wildest dreams.

For some of us here, I know that means starting to write a romance novel or even a series (aka that thing everyone else hopes you’ll get out of your system so that you can move on). Here at DIY MFA, we say GO FOR IT!

Below you will find a hodge podge of easily digestible literary links to carry you through the month of February. Whether you are writing a romance, reading a romance or simply in love with life, I promise that everyone has something to learn from the selections below.

A Charm of Goldfinches and Other Wild Gatherings Illustrated Book by Matt Sewell

A Charm of Goldfinches is my family-friendly pick of the month. It’s a cheerful, illustrated assortment of collective nouns one can deftly employ when spotting an entire group of the 55 animals mentioned within. You might think you’ve gotten this down by now, with your parliaments of owls, pods of dolphins and murders of crows, but when was the last time you utilized sleuth of bears? A harem of otters?

Author and illustrator Matt Sewell has been hailed as the Banksy of the bird world and shows that he is equally capable when it comes to animals of land and sea. Give yourself permission to be a kid again and investigate this repository of words that are downright fun, sometimes silly and in danger of not being used.

Gatsby in ConnecticutDocumentary

The Great Gatsby stands as a testament chronicling one of America’s most elegant, swoon-worthy times. The classic wouldn’t be the same if set in any location other than Jazz Age New York and for years, tourists have visited Long Island peninsulas Great Neck and Sands Point, believing them to be the inspirations for West and East Egg. This idea became firmly rooted in readers’ minds by Fitzgerald ~~dictator~~ scholar Matthew Bruccoli. Now, the work of two literary detectives and independent filmmakers are overturning that idea, with unprecedented support from contemporary F. Scott academics.

Where is the location of this new West Egg? (Hint: it’s where the Fitzgeralds made moonlight skinny dipping a thing.) Yes, it’s that raucous locale known as Westport, Connecticut. This truly eye-opening documentary is given credence by support from the Fitzgeralds’ granddaughter, Bobbie Lanaham, and provides a captivating introduction to what might be the actual West Egg.

A Curious Invitation: The 40 Greatest Parties in Fiction Book by Suzette Field

Suzette Field is a sought-after event planner for some of the coolest events in London. Now, she is also an author of A Curious Invitation, which makes the reader a V.I.P. to some of the most unforgettable fêtes in literature. Put on your most comfortable pants and party with Jay Gatsby, Queen Alice or Poe’s Prince Prospero. You can even score a seat to Bilbo Baggins’s Eleventy-First Birthday, with time left over to make McMurphy’s Ward Party.

(And yes, things do get weird at that last one.)

A Curious Invitation is a solid reference to have when writing spirited ensemble scenes representing a group of people at a particular point in time. In addition to the book’s unique subject matter, Field’s experience creating Cirque de Soleil level gatherings gives her the authority to contextualize scene specifics such as food, drinks, dressing and venue.

While there are many chapters depicting the civilized society literature is famous for preserving, please note that not all get-togethers found within these pages are well-mannered affairs. You will find liberal doses of debauchery and ribaldry throughout. After all, literature does draw from real life.

A Curious Invitation is a glittering read for both pleasure and research. How else can one party in the company of immortals?

Love Between the CoversDocumentary

Love Between the Covers is a documentary about one of the most successful yet least respected genres: romance. This documentary gives credit to the very real, very engaging reading experiences that romance authors continually conjure.

In romance, the relationship between the reader and author is particularly important; this documentary gets at the heart of that intimate bond. Part of that bond exists because this is such a vulnerable part of a person’s psyche that an author can help nurture or even bring out.

Another part of that bond is forged by both authors and readers having their literary tastes dismissed by spouses. Hear how first contracts weren’t greeted with champagne, but treated more along the lines of, “So, can you get a real job now?”.

The funny thing is, in a billion-dollar industry, the joke is on the ones who dismiss the behemoth genre.

Aside from that, this documentary includes African American author Beverly Jenkins absolutely killing it, what Nora Roberts thinks contemporary writers should do with their time and profiles a queer surgeon who wrote three books a year while also working full time at a hospital, before giving that vocation up for full-time romance writing.

This partially crowdfunded documentary is delightful to put on for Valentine’s Day, as it isn’t only about romance. While you might learn some things about the romance genre, this documentary is really about being in the company of fellow writers.

(Note: If you are a romance author and would like to go for a considerably deeper dive, this presentation by the Library of Congress tackles Romantic Fiction in the Digital Age.

Medieval Romance, Trash Fiction and Rebel WomenLecture/Discussion

So, it turns out that literary snobbery towards romance isn’t a recent invention. In fact, this attitude goes all the way back to medieval times, when women were supposed to be reading virtuous religious texts, even if they preferred to be slaying dragons and corrupting their minds with the outlandish notions that they actually could slay dragons.

Dr. Lydia Zeldenrust presents the bulk of this BBC/University of York lecture and is followed by a discussion with “trashy romance author” Dr. Pamela Harshorne (aka Jessica Hart), who used her romance writing to fund her Ph.D.

If anyone dares dismiss your romance reads or writes, just sit them down and make them take notes from these well-educated women that few people are qualified to argue with.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

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There is nothing like the feeling of typing “The End” on your rough draft. Writing a novel is a huge accomplishment and you should celebrate! Have a treat, share a toast with friends, reward yourself with a new book from your favorite independent bookstore, or have an impromptu living room dance party. Whatever you do, be sure to honor and enjoy this moment.

Because after the celebration, the real work begins.Before you can start the hard work of revising that rough draft into a first, second, third, or final draft, there is a very important step you should not skip: the read through.

Rough drafts are often how writers tell ourselves the story. There is so much discovery as we write. Entire subplots may surface or be abandoned as you follow a new, more inspired thread. Characters may have suddenly appeared or disappeared. Timelines can be nebulous or nonexistent. The first read through is your opportunity to see what you actually wrote, not what you set out to write or what you think you wrote.

Reading your full manuscript in its entirety for the first time can be a challenging task. If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself pulled into the weeds of your words and scratching suggested line edits in the margin as you read. Resist this temptation! This first read through is the time for a big picture assessment of what actually exists on the page so that you can identify troublesome, deal-breaking, big, structural story problems first. Save the line edits for last.

As you prepare for your first read through, here are five tips to set your revision up for success: 1. Step AwayTake some time away from your manuscript to gain perspective on it. Wait several weeks, if you can, before reading. Don’t rush straight into editing the beginning the minute you reach “The End.”

You want to view your manuscript with fresh eyes. Also, if you can, read your pages in a different place and on a different device than where you wrote them. Put the document on your e-reader or print it out in a different font than you drafted. Cuddle up on a sofa or a hammock to read, anywhere but the desk, dining room table, or coffee shop where you wrote it.

The goal is to read your manuscript like a brand-new book. Because it is!

1. Take notesKeep a notepad next to you and jot down the big-picture questions that arise as you read.

It’s important to do this somewhere other than inside the document. Resist the urge to note things like “move paragraph 2 to page 14.” Instead, note when you have questions about the plot, are bored or started scanning, when a character does something that doesn’t make sense, or when subplots get dropped or inserted abruptly.

1. Character ChangeOn a separate page in your notepad, write down what your character is feeling at the start and end of each chapter.

Much like your overall story arc must demonstrate a change in your protagonist, each scene and chapter must also include a small change. Did your protagonist go from angry to guilty? Hopeful to rejected? Meek to confident? Each micro-change will create a staircase for your character’s ultimate transformation.

Go ahead and make a note of what, if anything, is changing in your character in each scene or chapter so you can find the spots that need shoring up later.

1. Story TrajectoryIn between each chapter, jot down which of the following phrases connects one chapter to the next:

2. Because of that

3. But
4. Therefore
5. And then

If you notice a lot of “and then” connections, you will need to look at whether your protagonist is making decisions or simply reacting to the world around them. You want your main character to have agency, to make choices that result in consequences (because of that/therefore) or new obstacles to overcome (but).

If your story is simply a series of events happening to a character (and then), it will lose its narrative drive and won’t hold the reader’s interest.

1. Review your notesOnce you’ve finished reading, review your notes and look for patterns.

Write a list of the big story problems. Issues to look out for include: character motivation, stakes, arc of change, consistent point-of-view, and whether you are fulfilling the promise of the premise (i.e., is the book telling the story you set-up on page one?).

Check your notes for places where you asked yourself, “why did she do that?” Add a character motivation category and list all the places you noted it was missing. What do those scenes have in common, if anything? Make a subplot category and list any problems you noticed, especially if it disappears for two hundred pages or no longer seems relevant to the main story thread. Make a trajectory category and note chapters with a weak connector phrase and use that information to revisit your outline.

Once you’ve read through and compiled your notes, you can make a revision plan. Start with the big issues first. Think of this revision plan like a renovation in your home—you don’t repaint a room when the foundation needs to be shorn up. Take a look at your foundation—the character’s motivation and their trajectory through the story—and make sure it is sturdy before you tackle the other items on the list like timeline, subplots, plot holes, etc….

Revisions can ultimately take several passes and require several additional read throughs. When that time comes, follow these steps again until you have a version that structurally stands up to your harshest revision eye. At that point, my writer friends, you can go in and line edit to your heart’s content!

Monica Cox is a writer and book coach living in North Carolina with her husband, two teenage boys, and a cranky but adorable cat. A former public and media relations executive, she now guides writers through their writing and revision process. Her goal is to give writers the encouragement, feedback, and tools they need to keep writing, finish their manuscripts, and strengthen their craft along the way. Connect with Monica at monicacox.net and on Instagram and Twitter.

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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 an arts manager, I loved producing big-scale theatrical events. When I made a documentary film, it was feature-length.

As a writer, I love pitching characters into big worlds or challenging situations. In my debut novel, Wayward Voyage, I pitched Anne Bonny into the gritty 18th Century world of piracy. With Blind Eye, I sent my main character into the murky world of illegal logging. Before becoming novels, both stories were conceived as screenplays i.e. visually.

In my novels, I want to put readers bang smack in the middle of my world. But how do you make scenes real?

Let’s begin with research.

Building the world for The FindMy third novel, The Find, was published in autumn 2022. The seed for this story began with my husband. He told me his idea when recovering from a fever, and I reckon his brain was still scrambled! I loved the off-field premise and urged him to write it down.

The Find is a high concept “What if…?” Here’s the story outline:

When human remains are found deep in an Ireland peat bog, the National Museum of Ireland takes charge, and their bog body specialist, Dr. Carrie O’Neill, begins to investigate. As more is revealed about the bog body, repercussions ripple throughout the world.

I love research, but bog body science? Where to start?

1. Desk Research The internet is my friend. I always work with two monitors open, my laptop to write on, and a screen to my left with the internet ready to explore.

Academic papers by scientists are readily available. I read some, gleaning information that might be useful, and I watched YouTube videos of well-known bog body finds being cleaned. That was visceral, and I could imagine myself in a laboratory picking flakes of peat off old leathery mummified skin.

When considering philosophical angles and differing beliefs, I dusted off old study texts, bought or borrowed new ones, and listened to YouTube and podcast lectures.

And Google Earth was a handy tool.

Over several months, I drafted and redrafted The Find manuscript. My husband was fully invested, loved researching with me, and thrilled to see his initial idea flower into a fully visualized world. He made valuable suggestions on edits and additions, and we argued about one of two things… as you do.

Take away: Anything and everything is available to research on the internet. Make use of it.

1. Specialist AdviceAmongst online content, one academic paper caught my eye. It was an undergraduate thesis from a few years earlier dealing with the practicalities and ethics of displaying bog bodies. Just what I needed! I contacted the British University that had published it, reaching out to the student who by then was completing her doctorate. Might she assist me?

Dr. Emma Tollefsen entered the spirit of my story knowing instinctively to keep the scientific touch “light”. She ensured bog body science procedures and timelines were correct and provided specific information I would not otherwise have known.

I emailed the National Museum Dublin’s Assistant Keeper. This real-life bog-body specialist provided me with readily available documentation.

Take away: Never be embarrassed to reach out to specialists. They’ll usually be happy to help and the worst they can say is “No”.

1. Boots on the GroundWith my husband, we booked five nights in Dublin combining holiday and research.

First to the National Museum’s Archaeological Museum. This institution is central to my story, with one particular (real) exhibition of major significance.

The Kingship and Sacrifice Gallery is where some of the museum’s own bog bodies are displayed. It was important to experience how human remains were sensitively contextualized.

I paid attention to the layouts of museums and worked out the travel time between sites, driving and public transport. I took photos and videos of interiors and exteriors and became familiar with locations that Carrie O’Neill and her colleagues inhabited.

I was disappointed to find the Irish Times building closed with journalists working from home (Covid restrictions) as I had wanted to see where my character, Finn, worked. However, I know the deli across the street is where he’d pick up a coffee, and I passed a newspaper kiosk where he would pick up morning paper. All helps.

I traveled by bus and tram so I could figure which suburbs I wanted Carrie and Finn to live in, taking photos of streets and houses, and figuring out routes to work.

At St. Stephen’s Green, a city park, I recreated one scene where my character, Carrie, is sitting on a bench soaking up the wintry sun. Did a shadow pass across her closed eyelids when someone walked past, as I had imagined? Did the slatted seat move as someone sat at the other end? My husband re-enacted. Yes!

Take away: Experiencing environments for yourself can be invaluable. There are distinctive smells, sights and sounds that can add color to your story, and details you can only pick up by being there.

1. Beta ReadersIt was time to test my story. From some, I wanted general reactions, from others I sought specific feedback. Had I got the nuances of Irish life correct and did the dialogue ring true?

For example, police are called garda in Ireland, but either name is used. Two readers who grew up in Ireland assured me my story felt authentic. Emma gave me the “all clear” on redrafted scientific sections. As The Find touches on faith-based belief, I sought feedback on whether my story might offend? All good.

Take away: Before offering a manuscript for editing/proofreading, prior to publication, you must be confident the world you have created hangs together. Get feedback from a variety of readers who can comment on different aspects of the story.

Does research work? The proof is in the pudding.Once published, nothing gives me greater pleasure than endorsements from people who live and breathe the worlds I sought to create. Here are two favorites.

Wayward Voyage: “Anna is a natural storyteller and a gifted writer using colourful language that makes the reader so absorbed they feel part of the adventure.” Jim Lawlor, The Bahamas Historical Society.

Blind Eye: “This book may be a fast-paced environmental thriller, but for me it is real. Thank you.” Dr. Leonie van der Maesen, life-long rainforest campaigner.

Stories with big themes written as page-turners are Anna M Holmes’s speciality. She loves research–exploring and building worlds and complex characters. The Find is her latest novel following Wayward Voyage and Blind Eye. Initially, she worked as a radio journalist before a career in arts management working with UK Arts Councils and as a creative producer. Writing, reading, dance, and yoga shape her life. Originally from New Zealand Anna lives in South-West London.
To discover more about Anna M Holmes you can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Jumata Emill. They’ll be talking about exploring social justice through multi-cultural experiences and his book The Black Queen.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Career Shifts, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Jumata Emill and Lori discuss:* The importance and long-term effects of character representation in YA novels. * Making social justice a relatable topic for young people through engaging and thought-provoking prose. * How the influence of real-life experiences and conversations have woven together to create inclusivity in his work.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.About Jumata EmillJumata is a journalist who has covered crime and local politics in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. He earned his B.A. in mass communications from Southern University and A&M College. He’s a Pitch Wars alum and member of the Crime Writers of Color. When he’s not writing about murderous teens, he’s watching and obsessively tweeting about every franchise of the Real Housewives. Jumata lives in Baton Rouge, La.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

The Black QueenNova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is dead. Murdered the night of her coronation, her body found the next morning in the old slave cemetery she spent her weekends revitalizing.

Tinsley McArthur was supposed to be queen. Not only is she beautiful, wealthy, and white, it’s her legacy— her grandmother, her mother, and even her sister wore the crown before her. Everyone in Lovett knows Tinsley would do anything to carry on the McArthur tradition. No one is more certain of that than Duchess Simmons, Nova’s best friend.

Duchess’s father is the first Black police captain in Lovett. For Duchess, Nova’s crown was more than just a win for her. It was a win for all the Black kids. Now her best friend is dead, and her father won’t admit that the main suspect is right in front of his face.

Duchess is convinced that Tinsley killed Nova. And that Tinsley is privileged enough to think she can get away with it. But it seems that Duchess’s father is doing what he always does: falling behind the blue line. Which could mean the white girl will go free.

Duchess is determined to prove Tinsley’s guilt. Only, to do that, she’ll have to get close to her. But Tinsley has an agenda too. Everyone loved Nova. And sometimes, love is exactly what gets you killed.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 446(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 446: Exploring Social Justice Topics in a YA Thriller – Interview with Jumata Emill appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Friends and readers, you have reached the final installment of Building Your Own Boat, a craft-centered column for fellow self-taught writers in progress. Thank you for sticking with me!

If there is such a thing as a golden rule in the writing of fiction, it is that you must keep the reader engaged. A “likable” main character or at the very least a relatable one? Story beats? Genre tropes and conventions or the clever subversion of them? Exposition to help the reader understand and navigate the rules of the world before launching into the central conflict or none at all? All that is window dressing if your reader becomes bored and puts down the book.

To be clear, I am not saying you should toss out all the guidelines, craft notes, and plotting advice you have collected up to this point. What I am saying is that it is okay if your draft doesn’t fit neatly into a three or five-act structure, Save the Cat beat sheet, or other recognized model. It is okay to break a rule or two to serve your story. But the last thing you want to do is waste your reader’s time. You need to keep them engaged.

A Caveat on Subjectivity and “Rules”With rule-breaking in mind, please take the advice that follows with a grain of salt. I am, after all, just one individual with a particular, sometimes arbitrary set of tastes that will likely change and evolve over time.

Consider and adopt whichever recommendations work for you, and try not to worry about the rest.

Keep Your Reader EngagedSo if the only rule is to engage the reader, how do you accomplish it? If I’m working on a story that, despite my best efforts, refuses to position itself neatly into a recognizable story shape, I use the following three goals to frame my writing and rewriting process.

1. Be Brief.
2. Be Specific.
3. Be Gorgeous.

BrevityIf you are reading this, you probably already recognize the value of brevity in writing. We are counseled by peers, mentors, and editors to ensure each word or sentence serves a purpose and justifies its inclusion in the final draft. There is no surer way to tire your reader than to clutter your manuscript with pages of unnecessary information or passages overburdened with unintentionally pedantic prose.

Do I always love the ruthless cutting and paring involved in the writing process? No, but in doing so, I almost always improve a piece. The pressure of a shorter word limit often forces me to tighten a story’s pacing, momentum, and escalation, clarify its through-line, and craft a stronger ending.

As you revise your next manuscript, I encourage you to ask these questions. Does each line/paragraph/scene move the action forward? Does it add new or key information? Does the piece function or have the same effect without it?

SpecificityFor me, specificity is the key to believable, memorable characters who readers care enough about to follow to the last word of a piece. Tell me your main character works in a restaurant, and I might be interested enough to keep reading. Give me the ache in her knees and lower back at hour five of her shift, the flutter of panic in her chest at the start of the lunch rush, the smell of drip coffee hissing on the burner, how her hands move as she anxiously checks and re-checks that her apron ties are smoothed flat against her waist, and I will begin to see her as real. I might even begin to understand her perspective of the world, and I will definitely be engaged enough to keep reading.

It can be tempting, especially when wrestling with a big question or timely message in your work, to widen the scope of a piece. Specificity can keep such work from verging on the strictly didactic and keep your reader engaged throughout. Ground your work in the precise, intimate, partial, flawed, and ultimately human experience of a character and you allow the reader to enter the story, to feel the consequences of larger events on a deeply personal level.

Gorgeous ProseThis final aim to be gorgeous, comes from the sublime Ursula K. Le Guin and an exercise in her influential work Steering the Craft.

There are times I become so preoccupied with addressing technical or plot-related aspects of a piece that I lose sight of the primary reason I write. And what am I here for, if not in part for the sheer joy of working with language? The truth is too that readers respond to beautifully crafted work that evokes emotion. There’s a reason most of us don’t read technical manuals cover to cover for entertainment.

So write with flair and for pleasure. Manipulate rhythm, repetition, and the musicality of language. Delight in the sound of your sentences. Be beautiful and irresistible, constructing sentences that make apathy impossible for your readers. Write the great, true, gorgeous sentences that speak to both your writer’s and reader’s heart.

A Final PromptWrite a short but complete story in which some sort of secret is revealed. This secret can be anything from the quotidian (an extra box of holiday chocolate hidden from the children in the back of a cupboard) to the surreal (an intergalactic conspiracy to conceal the formula of a serum that grants immortality).

Aim for between 500 and 1200 words. Be brief, but specific, and of course, gorgeous.

The elder daughter of Korean-Canadian and Austrian immigrants, F.E. Choe currently lives in Columbia, South Carolina. When she is not at her desk trying to craft true and beautiful sentences or piecing together her latest short story, you will find her feeding the dog scraps under the table, reading, or training her backyard flock of hens to walk backwards. Follow her on Instagram @f.e.choe.

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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 GoblinGoblins are little agents of chaos. These weird-looking creatures exude a scary/cute vibe, moving with a sketchy abandon. Favorite pastimes include breaking important objects, losing essential items, and screaming nonsense at random passers-by. This character embraces the ideal of being a danger to himself and others.

And that’s just what you need for your stalled storyline. Splashing pandemonium across your writing pushes your imagination in a novel way.

Make a copy of the scene to be goblin-ified. Never work with the original. This exercise breaks the scene as it opens your mind. While you might want to incorporate ideas from this exercise, you’ll probably not want to make these changes permanent. Making a copy allows you some peace of mind as you loose your goblin amongst the good(ish?) people of your tale.

Now, add your goblin to the mix. You might choose to incorporate a real goblin, a paranormal creature menacing the charming town you’ve created. Maybe your goblin is in the head of your main character, encouraging her to sleep with her sister’s husband or give an imperious speech about the values of temperance. An invisible goblin might scamper around the room, hiding keys and leaving shoes on the floor for the characters to trip over, turning the entire dramatic scene into a slapstick farce.

Let your goblin run free!

When your goblin has absolutely destroyed everything, wait a day and then read through what you’ve written. See what new values and traits your characters revealed when thrown into this chaos. Pluck interesting changes out of the wreckage. Salvage the ideas that work and send the rest to the junkyard.

Image PlayA provocative image can push you to new heights of imagination. Find an image that you like and begin asking questions about it. If there’s a person in the frame, what are they thinking? What are they doing? How do they feel about what they are doing?

Looking at a landscape? Take the scene that’s giving you trouble and plop it into the middle of this space. How does it change the characters? Do they react differently? What new events unfold?

Or maybe you just need to work on your descriptive skills. Pull up an image and describe it, using the most flowery or sparse language possible. Use similes, metaphors, adjectives and adverbs with abandon.

A couple of my favorite places to find images are Museo and the Rijksmuseum.

Your Story GardenSometimes we need help with the whole story. If this is the case, try reimagining the tale as a garden. When you imagine your novel as a garden, what does it look like? Draw out your garden plan without thinking too much about it.

What season are you experiencing?

Is the landscape full of meandering paths? Maybe it’s a strictly formal garden, flowers regimented in rows. Or do you see something more like a corn maze?

What buildings are in your garden? How about water? What plants are growing? Any garden furniture? Does wildlife make a home in your garden?

Whether the images seem to go together or not, allow them to nestle into your landscape plan. This garden is imaginary, so everything is invited!

When you are done sketching the bones, pull out your colored pencils, markers, crayons, and paints! Add some color to your sketch and bring the image to life.

After you have completed the piece, set it aside for a day. When you return to it, what do you notice? What do each of the choices you made say about your work? Is there meaning hiding under the lilies? Does clarity fill the central fountain?

The Curiosity Card CatalogWay back when rocks were soft and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we used a card catalog to keep track of all of the books in the library.

In your Curiosity Card Catalog, we delve into your local library’s stacks randomly and see what pops out!

Grab some dice (bonus if you have ten-sided ones) and head to your local library.

The nonfiction section of the library is organized according to the Dewey Decimal system. Within this section, a series of three numbers are used on the side of each book. These numbers range from 000 to 999.

We’re going to randomly select three numbers using the dice.

Since you need numbers between one and ten, use whatever combination of dice you need. A single ten-sided die will serve you well in this situation, as the 10 can serve as a zero.

At the library, throw your dice to select your three numbers.

Whatever number comes up, head into the nonfiction section and find the appropriate selection of books. Grab the first one that sparks any sort of interest.

Repeat the whole exercise at least two more times.

Take your three books and skim them, either at home or in the library. Dip in further when something catches your eye. Indulge your curiosity by doing further research.

Someone Else’s LifeWhile in a busy environment, say the gate at the airport or a crowded beach, select a person and watch them. Get curious, but don’t stalk them.

Maybe stalk them just a teeny tiny bit.

Ask questions as you observe. Why are they lingering on that particular park bench? Who are they rushing toward as they zip through the terminal? What prompted her to wear a thong bikini with a sparkly gold net cover up to Trader Joe’s?

Let their look, actions, and belongings build a persona in your head. Select an origin and a destination for their trip. Imagine their home. What’s their job?

Build a full life for them. Add all of the details you can. Tell the story of the woman in the bikini making a dinner of frozen fried rice and Barolo for her lover, of the fellow standing at the door of his childhood home and trying to decide if he should knock or just walk inside, of the person lying on the beach in Bora-Bora with an arm outstretched to brush the skin of their life partner.

Once the character is in your head, take a moment to write their story in your journal.

And Finally…If you need more inspiration, click over to my very first post for DIYMFA which included five completely different creativity exercises to pop your brain.

This is my last regular post for DIYMFA and I want to say what an honor it’s been to encourage you in your creative goals! Keep writing, my friends. I can’t wait to read your stories.

LA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois is a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach who empowers you to embrace JOY as you manifest your creative goals through her Creativity and Business Coaching. Battle resistance, procrastination, and overwhelm with her at your side, gently encouraging with humor and heart. Discover more at her website, labourgeois.biz.

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When you type the iconic words The End in your manuscript, what feelings do they evoke in you? Joy or fulfillment? Or possibly even dread or a sense of emptiness? To me, the moment was priceless.

I felt elated, relieved, and filled with enthusiasm. As a first-time author, however, I had no inkling of the mountain of labor and learning that lay ahead of me. Probably best that way, otherwise I might have thrown in the towel during those early days.

To give you an understanding about public relations (PR) and marketing, I first must summarize my publishing journey. At first, I submitted my work with renowned publishing houses and small presses.

My book is a memoir spanning a 15-month period in my mid-30s. Restless, I set off to fulfill a lifelong dream of sailing the high seas. As life took an abrupt turn, I traded my secure life in Australia for a turbulent existence in the Caribbean, dwelling in a rustic shack as the only white resident in the local village.

Although memoir is a high-selling genre, publishing houses often shy away from backing new authors. Without the promise of further books to follow, promoting a one-off work is risky and considered a less lucrative investment. In addition, I didn’t have any previous publications or awards, nor a significant social media following. All these factors made my chances for a book deal from the onset very slim.

I decided to independently publish my book.After sorting through all the various publishing options, I hired some seasoned industry professionals for the job. My promise to myself and my story was to produce a book to industry standard. My work was to be equal in quality and content to any traditionally published work!

Those last months of pushing to get everything done in time for the book release were thrilling, if not a little exhausting. Blurb and bio needed to be completed, book trim sorted, printers lined up, website attended to.

This was when I realized how much PR and Marketing work was ahead of me. Somehow, I assumed being tech-savvy and having a decent grip on social media would suffice to get me through the promo campaign. Soon I learned that this was not the case. I needed a PR and marketing plan to promote and share my book with the world, without breaking my bank account. Once again, I vouched to give my book the best possible start, so here are a few tips on what worked for me on this journey.

1. Pace yourself pre-launch!
This was likely my biggest lesson. I was charging through the publishing process like a racehorse galloping at full tilt in toward the finish line. I wish someone would have told me to hold back a little and conserve my energy.

Here’s some news: My book’s launch date was only a massive deal to myself. To the rest of the world, this was not a significant event. If that sounds demoralizing, don’t feel discouraged. Instead, look at it as an advantage: if you can delay your book launch and give yourself one or two months after finalizing the publishing process, you will gain an invaluable time window to prepare your launch and post-launch PR and marketing.

• Prior to the book release, you want to make sure your website is current and your online store is functioning.
• If your book is ready to go, have it available for pre-order, which can have a positive impact on your sales ranking come launch day.
• Set up your author profile on the main bookseller platforms.
• Organize card payment facilities for any in-person readings and talks.
• Make sure you have a professional-looking title sheet for libraries and bookshops and a smashing media release. (Find mine on my website as a template.)
• Get some book mock-up pictures, create a short book trailer and post on social media regularly to work up some excitement for the launch. Brainstorm media outlets that apply to your personal profile or your book type and genre, so you have some ideas for later.
• Last, it’s time to put together a fun launch event: This is YOUR celebration of your book, so set it up how you will enjoy it most, and notify local media to give them the opportunity to attend or cover the event. Add an online launch in addition, if you wish. I organized a 12-library book tour a few months after the book release and conducted author talks with a slide show. If this is something you wish to do, start contacting libraries well ahead of your intended visit.

2. Write articles and content
One thing to remember is that most news outlets are constantly seeking content. If you want to pitch your book successfully, it helps to deliver your message along with an engaging article.

My memoir features themes of sailing, romance, living abroad, and self-growth. Before I approached media outlets, I tailored five to six articles with variations of those themes and supplied them with my pitches for publication. If you make it easy for a magazine or online platform to use your content, more than likely you will be more successful.

Remember, once an outlet has accepted an article, it is standard for the story to be exclusive to said organization, and you should refrain from pitching or sharing it elsewhere.

3. Update your website regularly
Once you have secured some coverage, make sure you upload and update all online content on your website.

It is important for media outlets to see where and when you have been featured or published your articles. This will lend you credibility for future publications. You can also add a company’s logo on your website under a ‘featured media’ tab for quick identification.

During my PR and marketing campaign, I have constantly updated my website in this manner and was lucky enough to have been approached by TalkTV in the UK and a print magazine in Australia with interest in covering my story. Once you have a few features and articles under your belt, this will organically gain some momentum.

Also, remember, all online content remains on the internet, so the more you share, post, and publish, the larger your digital footprint. This means an ever-growing audience is exposed to your work and this will, over time, influence your sales. There are websites like HelpAReporter and SourceBottle that are looking for sources and you can sign yourself up to get notified. Make sure your pitches are short, snappy and on point with the requested topics.

4. Get talking!
Podcasts and radio interviews are priceless advertising. These conversations are longer, more in-depth, personal, and much more engaging than any written article. They are fun, too! Of course, it means you will have to put yourself out there and you may encounter one or two uncomfortable questions. I count myself lucky because I am a bit of an extrovert, love to meet new people and have a chat. I made peace with my story and am not afraid to be confronted (and, trust me, my story boasts a fair share controversy!).

Nevertheless, I took professional help in the lead-up to my PR and marketing campaign and engaged a public speaking mentor. This not only gave me more confidence in speaking at events or broadcasts, helped me to understand how to phrase (and what to avoid), and helped to crystallize my book’s core theme and convert it into an emotive message.

Interviews and podcast hosts are constantly looking for fresh stories and interesting people. Again, there are websites like PodcastGuest where you can sign up to be notified of upcoming opportunities.

5. Be authentic and persist
There is nothing worse than someone that doesn’t believe in their own message yet goes for the hard sell. It will come across awkward or pushy and more than likely will cause a less positive outcome.

I had times during my PR and marketing campaign when I felt deflated, when I felt lost and with little hope. This is normal. We are all human. Selling and advertising don’t come naturally to me, but I am passionate about sailing and love to share my story hoping to inspire other people to follow their dreams.

When I write an article and work on the promotion for my book, I don’t think about book sales. I think about the people I want to engage with, what I want them to feel and walk away with, and hope to stir their curiosity. This book is not my livelihood, it is my passion project and I enjoy learning and growing with it. Rather than looking at all the work as an enormous chore, I revel in all the new tools and tricks I am adding to my tool belt. When my energy is low and I don’t feel like promoting, I take a break and resume when I feel recharged.

My book, Change of Course, was published on June 22, 2022, and it has been a busy six months and likely will continue to be for another half a year or so. Then I will gradually ease off and focus on diving back into my second book.

So, once again, pace yourself and don’t give up! Look to other authors in your genre have done for PR and marketing and follow suit. Join author Facebook groups and ask for advice. Enter your book for some awards if you think you may have a chance. Pay for online ads to test the waters, but be careful with your spending.

Much like my days out on the open ocean as a novice sailor or while navigating new culture and customs in the Caribbean, publishing and promoting my book has been an enormous adventure. It was challenging and rewarding at the same time. I am proud of what I have learned and achieved so far and wish you much success in launching your own book and your PR and marketing campaign!

Regina Petra Meyer is the author of memoir Change of Course: Sailing into Love & Adversity on Caribbean Shores. Born and raised in Switzerland, while working as a travel agent, Regina’s curiosity was piqued by coordinating trips around the world. Eventually, she packed her own bags and adopted a globetrotting lifestyle. Regina has sailed across all continents, living and working in Antigua in the Caribbean, the USA, New Zealand. She currently calls tropical Cairns, Australia, her home.
You can learn more about her on her website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads. More about her book, Change of Course, can be found here.

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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 is intimidating, even though you have a great idea. But, here you are in January, so make this the year, and give yourself guidance each month. Feel free to apply the list in any order, and to re-visit it as a reminder of ways to keep your pen to the page for at least a year, and get that book written.

1. Commitment. Make a commitment to write every day. Find the time that works for you. Maybe you decide you will take weekends off. Maybe you prefer mornings before everyone wakes up. Maybe you like nights when the house is quiet. Maybe you use your lunch hour to grab an hour of writing because it’s the only time you have that’s truly yours.

Close your office door, or hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your cubicle wall, and focus for that time allotted as yours. But make a commitment to yourself. This commitment can even be just to write a page a day. Consider that if you wrote every day, just one page, you would have 365 pages at the end of one year. That’s the length of a novel.

1. Create a routine. A wonderful book by Ralph Keyes, titled The Courage to Write, gives a myriad of examples of how many famous and successful authors start their day. Some get dressed as though going to an office, others go straight to their desk in their pajamas before speaking to a soul, some make tea and a scone to have while they write, and Mark Twain smoked inside a plume of cigar smoke.

What is your routine or way to get yourself to the desk?

1. Writing Practice. Often we think writing is linear—that we should just be able to sit down and write from the opening scene to the closing scene and that’s it. But that would be like saying a pianist should sit down and play a piece of music straight from the beginning to the end, as though they were at Carnegie Hall.

Writers have to practice too. So many books, websites, and workshops offer writing prompts. DIY MFA has a fun spinning Vegas-style slot machine prompt delivery. Author Judy Reeves created A Writer’s Book of Days that is filled with prompts from lines of poetry to just a setting like “a corner booth” to get you started and keep you going. Use writing prompts to start every day.

1. Hitchhiking. This trick is helpful to cure writer’s block, but also can help you find your voice. Voice is that elusive craft trick that no one can tell you what it is, but you know it when you see it. In fiction, it’s important to have so that your narrative has its own tone and style. In memoir, you need it for the same reasons as fiction, but you need both a Voice of Experience and a Voice of Innocence.

Here is how it works: Pick out a book that you admire more than most by an author who you wish you could write like. Then, copy word-for-word with pen and paper starting at Chapter 1. Your writer’s ear will examine every word, every sound, every shape of your favorite author’s writing in this slow process. You may do it for a few paragraphs, or for a few days and pages. It’s how apprentices learn from their masters—imitation. You won’t get very far before you’ll find you want to return to your own words.

1. Re-commit. How is your commitment? Check in on how your habits are doing. Are you writing every day? Do you need to consider a different time? Did you find your boss took advantage of you sitting at your desk every day and interrupted your lunchtime writing, and maybe you need to go outside to a coffee shop instead? Is morning just not your bag, and you need to write before going to bed instead? Or, give yourself a pat on the back for keeping the commitment and carry on.

2. Join a writing group.You are a few months into your book now, and if you’ve kept up your commitment, you should have enough pages to start sharing them with a group of writers to give you feedback. And, you’ll be reading other’s pages and looking at how other approaches work. We often learn more from other people’s writing than our own. And, writing groups also provide deadlines and accountability.

3. Read. This isn’t a one-time task, this is a regular endeavor. Like joining a writing group and hitchhiking, reading is the best way to learn not just the craft of writing, but the art of writing. Reading is essential to being a writer. If you don’t read, you can’t call yourself a writer. Period.

4. Re-commit. How’s that writing habit? Are you still writing every day? Did you slack off a little when summer vacation came, then figured why bother when you couldn’t remember where you left off? No reason to beat yourself up about not following through, just re-commit and start again. Focus on writing practice and moving forward, not where you’ve been. Tangents and new directions are part of the process.

5. Research Writing Conferences. Writing community is essential to the writing process. If you’ve joined a writing group, that’s a start. But it’s also important to keep the writers you meet fresh and new. You’ll learn about the writing world, and not just writing on the page. “Make new friends!” my mom would always say.

6. Enroll in a Writing Class.I’ve always advised my students to have more than one teacher. It’s valuable to have different perspectives on your work. It’s also important to learn the basics, practice the basics, and learn new techniques to take your writing to the next level.

7. NaNoWriMo. Join the international community of writers who write 50,000 words in the month of November. It’s a fun challenge that can often get that first draft done in one month, or maybe you are now on Draft 2. https://nanowrimo.org/about-nano

8. Re-commit.When life gets busy, especially around holidays, or changes in our routines, it’s important to not let the dedication you have nurtured slip into a habit of not writing. Your book needs you. It’s good to take breaks, but don’t forget to find your way back inside the plume of creative fog before the muse wanders off.

Amy Wallen is most recently the author of How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet & Savory Secrets of Surviving the Writing Life.

Bestselling author of a novel, and a memoir, she teaches writing workshops in California, France, and anywhere she’s invited, usually with pie. As writer-in-residence at Ocean Discovery Institute, Amy teaches personal storytelling to young people traditionally excluded from science due to race, income status, and educational opportunity. She was associate director of the New York State Summer Writers Institute for 7 years and founded DimeStories—three-minute stories told by the author and featured on NPR.
You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Kendare Blake. They’ll be talking about her new book One Girl in All the World and writing a reboot series.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Career Shifts, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Kendare Blake and Lori discuss:* The pros and cons of writing fan fiction, and how it can up your authorial game. * Dealing with the drama that comes with writing a reboot for a beloved series. * Orienting new readers into an existing world without bogging things down.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Kendare BlakeKendare Blake is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Three Dark Crowns series, the Anna Dressed in Blood duet, All These Bodies, and others. She lives and writes in Gig Harbor, Washington, from under a pile of dogs and cats.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In Every GenerationFrankie Rosenberg wasn’t yet alive when her mom, Willow, her aunt Buffy, and the original Scooby Gang destroyed the Hellmouth and saved the world from the First Evil. These days, life in New Sunnydale is blissfully quiet. Frankie is just trying to survive her sophomore year at the rebuilt high school and use her budding magical powers to make the world a better place.

But that world is suddenly plunged into danger when the slayer community is the target of a deadly attack, leaving the future of the line uncertain. Then Frankie discovers she’s sort of freakishly strong. Oh, and there’s something Willow never told her about her true identity.

Cue the opening credits.

Quicker than she can carve a stake, Frankie discovers there’s more to saving the world than witty one-liners and stupid hot demons. now everyone looks to her for answers, but speaking up has never been her strong suit. And it’s hard to be taken seriously when your mom is such a powerful witch she almost ended the world once, while your greatest magic trick is recycling.

Despite the many challenges standing in her way, Frankie must assemble her own bumbling Scooby Gang, get dressed up in Buffy’s (vintage ’90s) clothes, and become a new slayer for a new generation―before whatever came for the rest of the slayers comes for her next.

One Girl in All the WorldFrankie Rosenberg is the world’s first slayer-witch, but she doesn’t have that slay-life balance figured out just yet. She’s still reeling from the deadly explosion at the annual slayer retreat―and new evidence that some slayers may have survived. And while she’s defeated her first Big Bad, Frankie soon realizes it was just a warm-up act―and bigger, badder forces of evil are only just getting started. The Hellmouth has been reawakened, inter-dimensional portals are opening, and an oracle warns of a new foe on its way: the Darkness.

Could this be what attacked the slayers? And is it coming for Frankie?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links for In Every Generation and One Girl in All the World where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 445(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 445: IP, Fandoms, and Nostalgia: Rebooting a Beloved Series – Interview with Kendare Blake appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Narrative poetry will always have a special place in my heart — it’s like two of my favorite things mushed together. Stories nourish our emotional lives, often mirroring our struggles and offering a safe place to feel sad or scared or, as in the poem I’ve picked, horrified. You’re welcome.

The Narrative PoemThe poem below is a narrative poem, and as you can guess from the name, it is poetry that tells a story. These types of poems don’t need to rhyme, although they’re punchier when they do. Greek poet Homer’s epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad are narrative. But I’m not talking about ancient Greek poems; this one I will share is more… Canadian Gothic. (Trademark pending.)

The Cremation poem is a grisly, Gothic story of two friends mushing their way along the Dawson Trail, looking for gold. Spoiler alert: one of them dies.

The MomentI’m sitting in a small Canadian classroom at the end of January 1992. The top songs on the radio are “Jump” by Kris Kross, “Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton, and “Song Instead of a Kiss” by Alannah Myles.

My English teacher is reading The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service. It was just after recess, and our hair was still sweaty from our wool hats, our cheeks stinging and red from the below-freezing temperatures of a typical East Coast Canadian winter. Technically speaking, we weren’t allowed to have snowball fights at school (the ghost of a boy who lost an eye floats to my memory), but we knew where the blind spots were.

The Cremation of Sam McGee was set during the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s, so we were whirling back through time as she spoke. Snowballs were reversing themselves, urban sprawl rewinding backward until all were forest, glen, and frozen ponds, and we stood, breathless, terrified at the wildness around us.

The StormOur teacher tapped into something in our collective psyche that day — as another snowstorm darkened our classroom windows and tossed small white flurries of snow that would add up fast. The blizzard that started that day closed schools for five days, dumped over five feet of snow, and caused 19 deaths, four directly related to the storm.

I hope reading this won’t trigger another epic storm, but if it does, I warned you. There’s magic in The Cremation of Sam McGee, and you can read it here.

If reading this poem triggers another massive storm, don’t blame me. Blame that whiny Sam McGee. Do you have a similar “first” experience with a poem that made you rethink how you felt about poetry? What type was it? Which one? Tell us all about it!

Angela Yeh is an East Coast Canadian native who grew up a stone’s throw from Stephen King’s Maine. She now lives in Texas and sees Chuck Norris on the always. Angela is a short tall-story-teller who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. If you’d like to check out her first published novel, A Phoenix Rises, she will send you cookies. She lives with her husband, two human children, and three fur babies. You can follow her antics on Twitter and Instagram or on her website.

The post Exposing Yourself to Narrative Poetry: Canadian Gothic-Style appeared first on DIY MFA.

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If you’re a writer (and if you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you are!), you probably spend a happy amount of time reading. But when you read, do you read like a writer?

Writers who learn how to read like writers inevitably improve their craft in immeasurable ways. The longer you read like a writer—and the more accurately you do this—the higher likelihood you notice what does and doesn’t work in a scene, while other scenes grip your attention with ferocious intensity.

In this article, I continue my series on analyzing first chapters with a deep dive analysis. To do this, I’ll breakdown the first scene in the bestselling novel, The Midnight Library, and then explain how it “works” using editing tools from The Story Grid and Robert McKee.

What is a Scene that Works?When I coach writers, especially when evaluating the strength of a scene, I assess if a scene works. What I mean by this is: Does the scene advance the plot, or move the story forward, and develop the character by forcing one or more main characters to face a dilemma, or make a crisis decision.

If a character makes a crisis decision, then they take action that results in negative or positive consequences for themself or someone or something else. Plus, readers learn who characters really are through action, or this act of decision making, which is why including a crisis moment—that isn’t necessarily spelled out on the page—is so important.

Most importantly, a well-structured scene confirms that important changes have happened from beginning to end.

And all scenes—and stories—are about change.

Case Study: The Midnight LibraryFor today’s case study of a well-structured scene, let’s look at the second chapter of Matt Haig’s bestselling novel, The Midnight Library, which starts on page five, and is called “The Man at the Door.” I chose to analyze this chapter instead of the first chapter, “A Conversation about Rain,” because:

1. The first chapter works as a prologue in disguise more than a first chapter established in the Nora Seed’s present time, and
2. I don’t think the first chapter is actually a complete scene—even though it hooks readers!

If you’re curious to learn more about the first and second chapter analysis of The Midnight Library, you’re welcome to listen to my conversation with book coach Sharon Skinner on my podcast, Lit Match, here.

However, for now, let’s turn to that second chapter, which does model a complete scene. To do this, first review the scene synopsis (read it yourself here) and answer two Socratic questions adapted from The Story Grid’s scene analysis template:

• Confirm if there is a value shift, or change in the scene, on various layers.
• Review how five commandments can subjectively confirm if the scene advances the plot and develops the main character(s) or not.

Scene Summary, The Midnight Library, “The Man at the Door”Nora Seed, depressed, scrolls through the happy lives of other people on social media. Then Ash, a man who once asked Nora out years ago, rings her doorbell. Nora is self-conscious about answering the door, since she’s not put together. She answers the door anyway and tries to have a light-hearted conversation with Ash, but Ash shares some bad news: He thinks a car hit and killed Nora’s cat, Voltaire (Volts). Nora confirms Volt’s body and cries for him, while secretly confessing to herself that she feels envious of him.

3 Socratic Questions to Evaluate A Value Change In order to determine if there is a change in a scene, you can ask yourself three Socratic questions about it. Each question identifies an important change that needs to happen in a scene.

1. What are the characters literally doing? How does that change from beginning to end? (An external value change) Nora Seed scrolls through social media and has a conversation with a man she somewhat knows, and later confirms that her cat, Volts, is dead.

Literal Change: In her house to on the road

1. What does the main character in the scene want, what is their goal? How does this change or evolve from beginning to end? (An internal value change) Nora Seed wants to scroll through social media alone—probably so that she can compare her unhappy lives to other happy lives on social media. She does this because she’s depressed, and later her envious feelings for her dead cat confirm her depressed feelings.

Character Change: Sad to Envious

1. How does the change in this scene impact the big picture, particularly the main value shift? This scene shows Nora Seed twenty-seven hours before she decides to die—it also presents her with the first of several losses (Volt’s death, which she realizes that she’s envious of) that push her to this decision.

Big Picture Value Change: Longing for Another’s Life to Longing for Death

5 Commandments in a Well-Structured Scene To read like a writer and determine if a scene is well-structured, you can use five commandments, or elements of a scene, to determine if the plot moves forward and if one or more main characters change in the scene. I pull these commandments from editing tools seen in The Story Grid and Robert McKee.

1. Inciting Incident This is a causal or coincidental unexpected disturbance that creates a character goal or forces the character to change their approach in achieving their goal.

This is when Ash rings the doorbell.

1. Turning PointThis is an action or revelation (a type of conflict) that forces a character to make a crisis decision.

This is when Ash tells Nora that her cat is dead.

1. CrisisThis is a best bad choice or irreconcilable goods decision, two equally weighted decisions, that results in negative or positive consequences for either the main character or a third party.

This is Nora’s decision: Should Nora risk emotional trauma to confirm her cat’s dead body, or reject Ash’s suspicion that it’s Volts who the car hit and killed?

1. ClimaxThis is the direct action that a character takes after they make their decision.

This is when Nora leaves her house to find Volts.

1. ResolutionThis is the aftermath of the scene, the denouement.

This is when Nora finds Volts, cries, and secretly feels envious of his death.

Why You Should Learn How to Read Like a Writer I firmly believe that there is no one way to learn how to write. However, using the tools shared in this article has helped me learn how to read like a writer well—and therefore, simultaneously has made it easier for me to pull out when I think a scene does or does not work.

Like anything, with practice and more time spent reading, we all can learn how to read like a writer. When we do this, we learn how to take an implicit understanding of story patterns and turn it into an explicit awareness of how a well-structured scene works. We then can communicate why we think a scene does or doesn’t work, whether this is for a critique partner’s work or our own scenes.

Writers who read like writers will elevate their craft! And I bet, the more that you understand how to read like a writer, the more fun you’ll have analyzing and editing your own stories, too.

So have fun with this! Pull up one of your favorite chapters from a comparable title and use these tools to identify what you think works in that scene.

And if you want to learn more about how to read like a writer, check out episodes like The Midnight Library deep dive analysis on my podcast, Lit Match, here.

How did you analyze this chapter in The Midnight Library? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Abigail K. Perry is the host of the podcast Lit Match and a certified developmental editor who specializes in Upmarket/Commercial fiction, Women’s Fiction, Historical Fiction, MG/YA fiction, and YA fantasy. Abigail holds a B.S. in TV, Radio, and Film from Syracuse University and a Masters in Secondary Education from Endicott College. Abigail worked as an editorial intern and the Agency Relations Assistant for P.S. Literary Agency, is fluent in book and movie quotes, and loves a long walk with good company, which includes audiobooks and two- and four-legged loved ones and buddies. You can reach her on her podcast or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

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No time to write? Psh. Ok, look, it’s a fact: we live in a world of distractions, and trying to write in the middle of it is no mean feat. Last month was case in point. Family will be there in twenty. Your email’s pinging over a podcast, kids are screaming, sauce is erupting all over the stove, dog’s in the garbage again, you should’ve showered an hour ago—and a text comes through reminding you about those cookies you haven’t baked, oh, and did you get the secret Santa gifts yet? Your eyes snap to the laptop, praying Amazon…

Crap. You promised yourself you were going to write today…or was it yesterday?

And cue the guilt.

OK, that might be a snapshot of my particular dumpster fire, but the point is, there’s about a million reasons your keyboard can have cobwebs. That might be an extreme example, but variations of the no time to write mantra repeat ad nauseam. Especially during the holidays. How the heck are you supposed to get words on the page when you’re torn in a billion directions?

Deep breath. That guilt? Think of it as a priority check alarm, and you, my friend, are number one. This ship ain’t gonna sail without its captain, and sometimes you need to reroute the journey to get through the storm.

First order of business: identifying the chaos. Note, I didn’t say control. I mean, it’s frickin’ chaos. Give yourself a break and start small. Focus on the noise that’s feeding it, then eliminate or reframe those things keeping you from writing.

Yep, distractions. They pretty much fall into two categories, red and green. Green distractions are things that might take you away from your keyboard, but enrich your life in other ways. They’re the necessary things in your life and, believe it or not, to your writing. Family, work, friends, all of that fuels our creativity. This is where reframing comes in. That pot of sauce on the stove and the horde of relatives about to descend? That’s the now. Be in it. Soak it up and channel those experiences into your prose. Yeah, even Aunt Bev trapping you in the kitchen and launching into her two-hour spiel about the nuances of clay vs. clumping cat litter—again. Seriously, you can’t make that stuff up. It’s literary gold.

Red distractions are a different story. They’re the Something Shiny, flickering at the edge of your vision, luring your focus away. You know, like scrolling through tweets while Aunt Bev rambles. That’s the no time to write noise, the chaos, stealing her malapropisms and the cadence of her speech in exchange for getting up-to-date on the Hollywood hot list. Not for nothing, but one of those is going to benefit your writing and it’s not the latest celebrity drama.

Trust me, I get it; the temptation is fierce. I’m a sucker for red carpet fashion. Maybe you’re all about the infinite scroll of social media, or are constantly checking the scoreboards—you know what I’m talking about. That thing that’s just going to take a sec… then three hours pass you totally can’t account for.

Nope, it wasn’t alien abduction. A red distraction just whammied you with the dreaded time suck. Chaos crept in, a siren beguiling you with something that does absolutely nothing to enrich your life, undermining your creativity, and feeding the lie that there’s no time to write.

But don’t despair over the noise! A wise man once said: “Knowing is half the battle.” OK, it was He-Man, but he wasn’t wrong. Technology is a huge Achilles heel for most of us and chaos’s master opus. Without further ado, here are the worst offenders and some tips on hitting the mute button.

1. Social MediaAKA: The black hole where creativity goes to die.

Right, so be honest. Even before you got this far, as soon as you read you read the words “time suck” you thought about your feeds. I kind of have to laugh, because social media is so akin to smoking. Everyone who’s on it knows it’s toxic, really wants to quit, but just can’t seem to stop… you get where I’m going with this.

If you can’t go cold turkey, taper, and yes, you can expect relapses.

1. Streaming On-DemandAs writers, there’s a definite symbiosis with the big screen. It can absolutely help to develop our prose and story telling skills—to a point.

Binging on seven seasons of How I Met Your Mother in one sitting isn’t doing anyone any favors. Not that I’ve ever done anything like that, I mean, it’s hysterical, but—OK. Busted.

Look, no one’s perfect, and the key is moderation. If every night you’re zoning out for two hours in front of the TV, that’s fourteen hours a week you could’ve been writing.

Take a night or two per week to find out if Ted is going to steal that French horn again. That’s the beauty of On-Demand. It will be waiting for you.

1. AppsI’ll be honest, I’m not guilty of this, though I did have my Candy Crush phase. A friend of mine is a different story. He’s got some game he’ll actually set timers for so he can fight bosses when they’re released and it’s like Pavlov’s bell. Whatever he’s doing he drops so he can attend to warfare.

There are absolutely things I will do the same for, you know, like taking my kid to the ER, but leveling up isn’t one of them. Priorities here, people.

1. EmailRight. This is my downfall. As in epic fail. I live for the ping.

As much as I hate social media, my friends and colleagues are a different story, and if they want to talk, I’m there, prioritizing whatever that is over my own work.

But you know what? I’m OK with it, and you have to figure out what works for you.

I’ve decided that my email interactions fall into the green distraction category, enriching my life. Social media might serve the same function for you, or cuddling up with someone in front of the TV for an hour each night.

That said, I’ve cut way back on my email activities. I check it in the morning, before dinner, and before bed. See the above moderation stuff.

1. Text MessagesYep, this kind of falls into the same category as emails, but there’s an important distinction, given the brevity of the responses. Just like that alarm my friend sets for his apps, it breaks the flow of creativity. I’ve silenced mine, and though I’ll pony up to checking them way more than I probably should, if it’s not urgent, it’s only a glance. I save the responses for when I’m answering emails.

Look, like any good trap, there’s no way to totally avoid technology. What it comes down to is investing in yourself and not what’s feeding the no time to write lie. Starving the chaos while nurturing your creativity. Setting priorities and deciding what serves you. Get rid of what doesn’t.

In my case, I stopped watching TV and cut out all social media—true story—and over the past three years, those two changes allowed me to take a bunch of classes, complete several novels, find an amazing editor, and have my platform up and running. That dumpster fire that is my life? Still there, but hey, if it’s gonna burn, now I’m roasting marshmallows.

So no more buying into the no time to write lie, and no more excuses. You can do this. Start small. Put down the phone and ask Aunt Bev what she thinks about that new-fangled crystal litter. I guarantee the gleam in her eye will be worth it, and it will keep sparkling when you capture it in your prose.

AK Nevermore is an emerging author of science fiction and urban fantasy. Her books explore dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year.

A Jane-of-all-trades, she’s a certified chef, restores antiques, and dabbles in beekeeping when she’s not reading voraciously or running down the dream in her beat-up camo Chucks.

Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes full-time. Her literary aspirations have led her to complete several writing courses, a smattering of mentorships, and has been long-listed by the Australian Writer’s Centre. She also belongs to the Author’s Guild, is a chapter treasurer for the RWA, teaches creative writing, and on the rare occasion, sleeps.
You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

The post #5onFri: Five Things Feeding the Lie that There’s No Time to Write appeared first on DIY MFA.

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In this article, we will discuss what makes a good sidekick character and give you seven tips for writing one effectively.

So when you pick up your laptop to write your novel, screenplay, or comic book, make sure to keep these tips in mind!

What is a Sidekick Character?In literature and movies, a sidekick is a subordinate or supporting character who assists the main character in their quest. The sidekick is often less important than the hero, but provides them with comic relief and emotional support or allows the author to develop the story further through their interactions. They are often underestimated by the story’s antagonist but prove themselves to be valuable allies to the protagonist.

Sidekicks typically have fewer powers than the main character, but they make up for this with loyalty, inspiration, unique skills or knowledge, and often a good sense of humor. In many cases, the sidekick is also the main character’s close friend, which gives them an extra layer of depth and complexity.

This secondary character can often provide a different perspective to the story and highlight and explore the journey through their truth rather than that of the protagonist exclusively.

How To Write a Unique Sidekick Character – 7 Tips for WritersTip 1: Decide the sidekick’s role in the story.Deciding on their role in the story is essential when creating a sidekick. Will they be the main character’s best friend, a pet, or a former rival? Offer wisdom or be a comedic foil?

This decision will help you determine the sidekick’s personality and how they will interact with the other characters in the story. It’s also important to consider what skills and abilities they have that can help the protagonist achieve their goals.

Tip 2: Decide on your sidekick’s backstory, motivation, and goals.The best sidekick characters are the ones with the most interesting backstories. Take, for example, Batman’s classic sidekick, Robin.

Orphaned by criminals at a young age, Dick Grayson would have ended up far differently had Batman not taken him under his wing and shown him how to positively channel his anger and grief. Robin’s backstory mirrors Batman’s closely, yet it allows him to correct many of the missteps he made without a proper guide. The relationship gives them each a clear motivation and goal, in addition to fighting crime and protecting the innocent.

Crafting sidekicks with rich backstories helps to make them more three-dimensional and more intriguing.

When you’re thinking about your sidekick’s backstory, think about what would make them tick. What drives them? What are their goals and fears? Answering these questions will help you create a well-rounded character that your readers will love.

Tip 3: Despite being very different from the hero, they share many of the same qualitiesA good sidekick is someone who is, in many ways, the total opposite of the hero, yet shares many of the same qualities. They help to create balance in the story and to provide a foil for the main character.

For example, if the hero is daring and impulsive, the sidekick might be cautious and level-headed. Or, if the hero is serious and brooding, the sidekick might be light-hearted and playful.

In either case, the sidekick provides a vital counterpoint to the hero’s personality. At the same time, however, they should also share many of the same qualities, such as being brave, loyal, and committed to fighting for what is right.

Take Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. Unlike Harry, who is unkempt, athletic, and brash, Hermione is studious, thoughtful, and wise. And yet, both are kind, compassionate, and brave.

This shared sense of purpose helps to bring them together, even as their different personalities keep things interesting.

Ultimately, a well-crafted sidekick complements the hero’s strengths while also providing a unique perspective of their own.

Tip 4: Think about balance – make sure your sidekick does not overshadow the protagonist!The best sidekick characters are the ones that help to round out the story and provide a counterbalance to the main character.

For example, in The Odd Couple, Felix Unger is the neat freak who is always in control, while Oscar Madison is the slob who’s always carefree. This dynamic between control and chaos helps to drive the story forward and gives both characters a chance to shine.

For a sidekick to be truly effective, they need to have their own distinct voice and relationships. Otherwise, they risk becoming little more than an extension of the protagonist.

The key is not to make them more interesting than the protagonist!

Tip 5: Create a subplot centered on the sidekick.In any good story, the sidekick plays an important role. They provide comedic relief, offer support, and often have unique abilities that come in handy at crucial moments.

But it can also be helpful to center a subplot around the sidekick. This gives them a chance to shine and helps to tie them more closely to the main plot.

For example, in Star Wars, Han Solo is a rogue pilot who owes a great deal of money to the gangster Jabba the Hut. This propels him to help the Rebels purely for money and leave when they could use him the most, but he ultimately returns at a key moment thanks to his friendship with Luke.

So when creating a sidekick for your story, think about their smaller story and how they can help move the main plot along.

Tip 6: They are loyal, have a strong moral compass, and always stand up for their beliefs.A true friend is someone who always has your back, no matter what. They are the ones you can rely on, no matter the situation. A sidekick should be loyal, always stand up for their beliefs, and have a strong moral compass.

One of the most notable sidekicks is Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. Sam is fiercely loyal to Frodo Baggins, risking his own life time and again to protect his friend. He also has a strong sense of morality, refusing to give in to temptation even when it would mean saving his own skin.

Samwise Gamgee is the epitome of a great sidekick and provides an excellent example of how to write one!

Tip 7: Make the sidekick undergo character development over the course of the storyThe best sidekick characters are the ones that undergo some growth over the course of the story. This can be a change in their personality, their relationship with the protagonist, or their arc in general.

For example, Bucky Barnes starts out as Captain America’s sidekick but undergoes a major character transformation after Hydra brainwashes him. This development makes him a more complex and interesting character, and it also gives the story more depth as the characters try to reconcile Bucky’s actions with their friendship.

This type of character development is what makes sidekicks so compelling, and it’s something that every writer should keep in mind when creating a sidekick character.

Conclusion: Sidekick CharactersSidekick characters are often underutilized in stories, but they can be a powerful tool for developing your main character and moving the plot forward.

You can create a more well-rounded story with deeper themes and richer characterization by giving your sidekick a chance to shine!

Neil Chase is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, actor, and storytelling consultant, with extensive experience in a variety of genres, including action, sci-fi, drama, horror, and comedy. Neil has won over 90 international writing awards and is most proud of winning the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards Grand Prize.

Neil’s screenplays have been produced for film and TV, and he is the author of the award-winning horror-western novel Iron Dogs.

When not working, he’s drawing inspiration from his amazing family, thinking up new worlds and adventures, and helping aspiring authors find the best tools for writing and follow their dream of writing something truly amazing.

You can find him on his website: http://www.neilchasefilm.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Linkedin.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Iris Yamashita. They’ll be talking about how her experience as a screenwriter helped her create tension in a closed setting.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Career Shifts, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Iris Yamashita and Lori discuss:* How culture has affected the trajectory of her career as a screenwriter and novelist. * The way her screenwriting background informed her process for maintaining tension and keeping readers on the edge of their seat. * Using a multiple voice format to make a shifting, close third POV work across characters with very distinct personalities.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Iris YamashitaIris Yamashita is an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter for the movie Letters from Iwo Jima.

She has been working in Hollywood for fifteen years developing material for both film and streaming, has taught screenwriting at UCLA, and is an advocate of women and diversity in the entertainment industry.

She has also been a judge and mentor for various film and writing programs, and lives in California.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

City Under One RoofA stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone winters in the same high-rise building, in this gripping debut by Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own reasons for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.

After an avalanche causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by a gang from a nearby reservation who are seeking shelter from the snowstorm.

Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town is keeping secrets. If there is anything as elusive as the residents themselves, it’s answers.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 444(Right-click to download.)

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 444: Lies, Secrets, and Tension in a Closed-Setting – Interview with Iris Yamashita appeared first on DIY MFA.

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I am flash fiction curious. Both because it seems like a wonderful skill to develop and because I am looking to submit to literary magazines in the new year. Also, the challenge of exploring deep truths and connecting to my reader emotionally in just a few brief paragraphs sounds like a lot of fun. To be brief takes time, as they say. Time and skill. Still, it is a great place to start.

Flash Fiction Is For BeginnersFlash fiction, also known as sudden fiction, short-short stories, microfiction, or microstories, is a genre of fiction defined as a very short story. Flash fiction stories can be as short as six words to about 1,000 words on the long end. Cool, right? Fun, even. And a great place to start if you’re just starting out as a writer.

Flash fiction must have a complete plot, beginning, middle, and end. Great examples holds some sort of surprise or a twist ending with the goal of making the reader think about the story’s real meaning. It isn’t a gimmick. It’s a way to make us think differently about ourselves or the world. The best-known flash fiction story is this one that is often misattributed to Ernest Hemingway:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”There isn’t enough build or history for me to cry, but I feel the commiserate ache in my chest as a parent. Those six words are heavy and sharp, and they cut quickly.

Flash Fiction Is PopularIt’s fun — we got that. It’s a challenge; check. For those of you who still need a push to try this type of fiction, let us assure you the market for it is extensive and is growing.

A Google search for flash fiction markets nets 9,030,000 hits in 0.47 seconds.When I check my own Duotrope account, it lists 882 publications looking for flash fiction. Your chances of finding a place for your short fiction work are measurably and reliably higher than a full-length novel. I know we’ve all heard enough about Elon Musk and Twitter, but try your hand at the 280-character “twittature” that includes many different genres, aphorisms, and poetry.

Flash Fiction Is Good For Your CreativityForget all the fun my-name-in-print butterflies we’re getting — writing flash fiction will make you a better writer. For the same reason writing poetry will up your writing game; you will need to focus. There isn’t time for subplots, five romantic interests, and an explanation of how our main character got that sexy scar above his (or her) eyebrow.

Flash fiction is a container to hold us, and in that way, it can free us to shake off the chains that hold our creativity down. It’s like a pottery kiln that fires the impurities and fluff away. Don’t you want to find out what beautiful clay vase you have inside you? Or maybe it’s a hammer or a sword that rights childhood wrongs and frees the child within.

Flash Fiction PracticeSo how do we start? Right here, right now. Refill your coffee and get some pen and paper. Start with a nice round 260 words and use these tips to focus your narrative:

• Stick to one moment. Focus on one specific moment in time, one scene. That’s all we have time for.
• Stay with one or two characters. Again, this isn’t a party, it’s a dinner date with your best friend(s).
• Use imagery that packs a punch. Every word and every image must sear their tongues and linger behind their eyelids after they close them for the night.
• POV: The first-person POV will create an instant connection, BUT flash fiction is for experimenting. Experiment.
• Don’t forget the surprise or twist at the end. That makes good flash fiction great (and it’s more fun). Experiment.
• Include your title. When you have so few words, the title can be the punchline too.

Lastly, if you’re looking for inspiration, the New Yorker has a series of very short stories they just posted last summer: Flash Fiction.

Really lastly, don’t explore too much — just get started and then tell us all about it.

Angela is the DIY MFA community welcome dragon (and protector of the realm). She also serves a supportive role as the HUB community curriculum advisor and social media fun time meme coordinator. In her spare time, Angela is a short, tall-story-teller who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. She will send you frosting if you’d like to check out her first published novel, A Phoenix Rises. You can follow her antics on her website.

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I am always conflicted at the beginning of a new year. There is a frenetic energy to get moving on goals, set plans in motion, and return to work. This is invigorating for some people. But I want to retreat inward, listen quietly, go where my energy is leading me.

At this time of year, we should be conserving energy. Instead, artificial lights give us a false sense of the day’s energy. We are burning the midnight oil as we jump into action. While we are busy like ants on the hunt for a sugar source, nature is the opposite. Trees and plants go dormant. Animals burrow to conserve energy. Water in many places is frozen, suspended in time.

In the Five Element Theory of Chinese Traditional Medicine, water is the element that pairs with the winter season. Yin water is the deepest manifestation of the thinking process. It is the force of creation, the power of originality and creativity. Water moves with effortless progress. Winter is our best season as creative beings.

When you are in harmony with the energy of the season, your path will be clear for success. Each small step with the right intent will open the door to the next. You will effortlessly flow along the river of your creative journey. But if you jump from one thing to the next without slowing down, your energy will swirl in circles like an eddy in a stream.

In winter, take time to listen.It is important to take this time and be crystal clear in your mind about what you want to say, who you want to reach with your writing, and what publishing options are best for you. Strengthening your will is a key component of Zhi, the spirit of the water element. When you clearly see your vision as a writer, every decision or project that crosses your path throughout the year will be the right one.

Give yourself creative space in the winter months for deep quiet. Winter is the season to nurture your vital essence. Take this time to nurture ideas for future projects. A dormant seed in winter stores everything it needs to become a strong tree in the growing season. Like trees, we need time to slow down, focus inward, and conserve resources for the right season to branch out and grow.

I love the quiet of a pre-dawn morning in winter. I use this precious slice of time to let ideas percolate. They appear effortlessly in these dark morning hours. As tempting as it is to rush to the keyboard, I quietly listen instead, storing these ideas for later.

Go with the creative flowWater’s superpower is flow. Water sinks naturally without being forced. It is gentle but all powerful. It flows around obstacles. Let your creativity be fluid during the winter.

Water is all-powerful, but be careful with this energy. Using too much energy when you feel constricted leads to problems, much like water bursting a pipe. When the pipes at my house backed up, the plumber used water at high pressure to blast out a root ball in the main line. Water now moves freely through the pipe, and I am free from worry that the plumbing will back up again.

Winter is not the season to blast through a root ball, metaphorically speaking. Be mindful of your energy flow. If you feel a strong resistance to a writing project, move on to something where the words appear easily. Work on aspects of your writing that go at a slower pace. This is the time to work on outlines and world building.

This season is tough for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Shifts in barometric pressure can be a trigger for migraines. When the pressure drops, so does my blood pressure and I have to go lie down. If you aren’t feeling up to a project, don’t worry about it. Tuck in, rest, then find what works best for your energy.

Slow down your creative energy during the winter. Take the time to listen. Be clear with your vision. Like a smoothly flowing river, your creative work will find its own way in harmony with the season.

Ambre Dawn Leffler is a Tai Chi instructor, gardener, and weather geek who writes about vegetables, seasons, communing with nature, and the interconnections of mind/body. She loves trees and cherishes time in their presence. Learn more about her tree time, garden residents, and wellness practices at her website ambredawnleffler.com and seasonal inspiration from her newsletter Sky Earth Water. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Use Water’s Superpower of Creative Flow in Winter appeared first on DIY MFA.

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You have an idea for a story. Maybe you’ve been kicking it around for years, or it hit you yesterday, but you’re unsure where to begin. Here are five steps to help you develop your story from idea to drafting your novel.

1. Craft your premise
2. Learn about your characters and uncover the story’s theme
3. Discover the world
4. Define the main conflict and plot
5. Choose your narrative structure

Before diving in, examine why you want to write this book. Why are you willing to invest your energy and possibly years of your life into this idea? Dig for those answers and keep them close, because going from an idea to drafting a novel is a long and often arduous process. Remembering why you began and what it means to you will help reignite your fire when the writing gets hard.

What is a story? A quick review:A story is an emotional experience. It follows a character who wants something badly, is willing to run the gauntlet to get it, and learns lessons that either change them internally, or the world around them.

A story contains five major elements: Character, Conflict, Plot, Theme, and Setting.Think of the story as a container. The walls of the container are your setting. Inside, you have a character with a problem (conflict), and they go through a series of events (plot) to solve it. The problem, how they solve it, and who they become in the process speaks to the story’s message (theme).

Step 1: Craft Your Premise: A premise is the nutshell statement of your story that defines the main character, their world, their wants and motivations, and the obstacles they will face in pursuing their goal. A good premise is the first layer of a strong story foundation, and you will expand on it as you progress through the remaining steps of taking your idea to drafting, so don’t worry if some components are missing when you begin.

Example: How to craft a premise using a modified version of Pixar’s Plot Sketch Formula. There once was a __________ (descriptive characteristic, + emotional state/worldview) ________________(main character,) who lived in ____________ (setting) and wanted _________ (character desire at beginning of story).

One day the character’s life unexpectedly changed because of ____________ (event = inciting incident).

This event created a problem for the character, and because of this, the character wanted to _________ (new desire).

But the _____________ (antagonistic force/ core conflict) stands in their way.

Let’s use the movie Shrek to fill in the blanks.

A rude, self-isolating ogre once lived in a peaceful swamp and wanted to be left alone. One day, a talking donkey and a host of unwanted fairytale creatures invaded his home. The ogre wanted to eliminate his unwelcome guests and confronted the King to regain his land. But the King refused unless the ogre agreed to rescue a princess from a dragon.

Step 2: Learn about your characters and extrapolate the theme:Identify your main character’s arc of change.Characters create the story through their actions. Therefore, understanding what motivates them to act is essential.

Story is about change, especially character change. Understanding how your character will change internally will help define what the story is about (theme) and guide you in taking that idea to drafting your ending.

How to shape your main character’s arc:Beginning of the Arc: At the beginning of the story, before the main character’s life is turned upside down by that unexpected event, ask these questions to determine your character’s personality, flaws, and false beliefs.

• What do they want for themselves? Why do they want it?
• What do they believe they can’t have?
• What beliefs do they have about themselves?
• What beliefs do they have about the people, places, and situations around them? What is the origin of those beliefs?
• What are they afraid of physically and emotionally? How do they protect themselves?

If you are uncertain of your character’s beginning emotional state but know where you want them to end up, you can work backward.

End of the Arc: Now ask what your character wants and believes because of the story events and lessons learned. How has this character changed from their baseline?

At the end of Shrek’s story, he wants to be with Fiona, embraces friendship, and believes love is worth the risk of rejection.

A note on side characters and antagonists: Ask these questions of your main side characters, love interests, and antagonists. Consider how the relationships between your main character and other characters will evolve as the story progresses from idea to drafting your novel.

Theme: The theme expresses what the story is about, the big takeaway for the reader. Many writers find the concept of theme obscure, but if we remember that the story is about change, we can simplify it. By defining the main characters’ arc of change, we can extrapolate the story’s central message, as with Shrek: love is worth the risk of rejection.

Step 3: Discover your character’s world.The genre (the category of the book) you’re writing plays a great deal in how much worldbuilding you will need to do. Consider the world’s magical, technical, political, and socioeconomic factors, particularly if you write historical fiction, speculative, sci-fi, or fantasy.

Read extensively in your genre. Focus on identifying how the world and setting add to the feel of the book.

Questions to consider initially and build on: * Where does your character live? How do they feel about it? * When does the story take place? * How does the setting add to the tone of the book? * How can elements of the setting cause problems for the main character or enhance the main conflict?

Step 4: Define the main conflict and plot.Conflict: Define the main conflictConflict creates change by forcing characters to act. After their life turns upside down, what big problem will the main character spend the rest of the book trying to fix? This represents the story’s core conflict, driven by the opposing or main antagonistic force.

There are two types of conflict in a story: external and internal. Compelling stories need both.

External is the character struggling against an outside force, which can be another character, society, nature, technology, fate, or something otherworldly.

Internal conflict is the character struggling against themselves. These are the character’s insecurities and moral dilemmas.

The key is to create meaningful conflict in your story: craft external conflicts that put pressure on the character’s internal struggle; to do that, you must have done your character work.

Plot: Map out the events in the story that manifest as a result of the main conflict.As your character embarks on their adventure, you want them to face increasingly complex problems, which force them to make hard decisions to reach their goal. These problematic events are your plot, and each major plot event should progressively challenge the character internally and externally.

For example, your character may need money to pay the ransom for their son, so they steal from their boss. But then the wolf shows up at the door to collect gambling debts, and they must choose their life or their child’s.

You don’t need to know every single story event to start drafting. Still, if you pin down a few key moments where things get really tough for your character, it will give you a solid writing framework and force your character to make hard choices that advance the plot naturally.

Key events to know before building on an idea to drafting: The first insult to the status quo of the character’s life (inciting incident): Creates the initial problem of the story that is linked to the plot.

The first turning point: an event that results in the main character deciding to fully engage in the story’s plot to solve the conflict.

The midpoint: the character suffers a false victory or defeat, and the stakes increase dramatically.

Climax: How the character solves the main story conflict.

Resolution: The parting shot of the character’s life now that the conflict is solved, and they have embraced a new way of living (good or bad).

Step 5: Choose your narrative structureDecide who will narrate the story and how the information will unfold to the reader. Consider your story’s timeline and which POV and tense you will use, how many narrators you need, and how much they know about the story’s events.

Don’t be afraid to test out different POVs and tenses. Find what fits your story, characters, and tone.

Don’t be in a rush to write the story. Idea to drafting takes time.Avoid false starts and frustrations by spending a little more time up front on the right things: premise, characters arc, world, conflict, plot, theme, and narrative structure. Following these steps will help you draft your novel with more context and confidence so you type those amazing final words: THE END.

For more information on developing a story idea for a novel, download Stacy’s free e-book: First Draft Confidence: Workbook and Resource Guide.

Stacy Frazer is a formerly repressed creative soul turned speculative fiction writer, YA fantasy author, Author Accelerator certified book coach, and the founder of Write It Scared. Her mission is to help fiction writers let go of the self-doubt spiral and find clarity and confidence in their stories so they can finish their books. Stacy firmly believes that the only creative license required to write a novel is one’s lived experience and that you can learn all the tools to craft a book that makes you proud!
When not writing, reading, or working with writers, you can find Stacy hanging with her daughter or on the trail with her big goofy labrador, Gus Gus. To connect with Stacy, please visit her website: www.writeitscared.co. You can also email her at www.stacy@writeitscared.co or follow her on Instagram @WriteitScared.

The post #5onFri: From Idea to Drafting in Five Steps appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Self-doubt. Psh. As a self-described Jane-of-all-trades, I can do a lot of things. Operate heavy machinery. Sew clothes and quilts. Name a home improvement project, and chances are I’ve got experience. You know, that whole Yankee ingenuity thing. If it needs to get done, I do it — admittedly with varying results. There’s been some whopping Pinterest fails on my resume, most notably my adventures with hair dye, and the broccoli rabe incident. Over a decade later, and my husband still brings that one up.

Whatever. It’s a given that when you’re figuring things out, you’re gonna screw up, and I do, often. Heck, I expect to. Self-doubt has never been on my resume, but out of everything I’ve turned my hand to, writing sits on a pedestal. It’s never been something I just wanted to do to get done. I’ve always wanted to do it well, which is what makes it hurt so bad when I take a header. Never mind the frequency in which that happens.

And cue the self-doubt. Yeah, this writing thing’s easier said than done.I was that kid that spent their summer vacation typing. I always had a story in my head. In my twenties, I took a bunch of classes, earned a mentorship, was referred to an editor at TOR — and froze. Never submitted.

Yep, I blew it, and I’m still kicking myself about it, but that wasn’t self-doubt. I was six months pregnant, my husband had just been laid off, and I had about a zillion other excuses. I didn’t feel ready, you know, that whole time-not-being-right fairytale.

Spoiler: just like having kids, there’s never a perfect time, and no matter how ready you think you are, the universe will have other plans. It sure did for me. A decade passed, and I didn’t write at all.

Then I had a dream.Not like a society revolutionizing dream. More like a crazy, beamed-in-from-another-reality, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head dream. Muses were screaming at me, and I had to get it down to make them shut up. So I wrote. Like a lot. Six hundred thousand words in change. Yeah, I kid you not, and as you can imagine, it was crap.

But that didn’t stop me from trying to find an agent for the next several months. Yep. Crickets. Envision Homer Simpson d’oh!-ing here. Still, I believed in my story. There was something there, I just needed to learn how to bring it out.

The education of AK Nevermore begins.My schooling up until this point can be considered minimal, at best. I almost didn’t graduate high school, took a semester and a half of community college, then got my culinary degree so I’d have something to fall back on if I couldn’t land a rich husband.

Hah. I kid about the husband thing. Mostly.

In all honesty, I had no plans at all, which was an issue, right? Authors had MFAs, with fancy acronyms after their names, and read crap by James Joyce. Obviously, my next step was to try and emulate them. How hard could it be?

Pig in a tutu hard, and no matter how well that swine can dance, it still looks ridiculous.

Let me tell you, I was super psyched to get into a prestigious writing program based on a sample of my work. To this day, I have no idea what they were thinking, but the amount of cash I was laying out probably had something to do with it. I landed smack dab in the middle of literary hell, my tutu in flames.

Talk about self-doubt. How the heck could I compete? They had themes, a three-act structure, and all this symbolism… I mean, they used words like whom and whilst. I had a hot guy with a bad attitude. Oh, and swearing. Lots of swearing.

To say that year was painful would be putting it lightly. All of my not-good-enoughs were splayed out on stage and plucked through by Shakespeare’s witches. My confidence tanked, and the final nail was an editorial critique, summed up by the comment: “You write very well, but should really focus on writing something worth reading.”

Did I mention something about self-doubt? Try devastation. Where did I go wrong? I’d always devoured books, and couldn’t understand how mine had missed the mark so badly. I couldn’t look at my computer for months. All those comments ate at me until nothing was left but a horrible burning rage. I had to do something with it.

So I wrote.I poured that angst into my next manuscript, taking all the comments about what I should be writing, and twisting them. Yeah, it was a big middle finger. Instead of following all of the rules I had been trying to impose on my work, I let loose, and blasted the page with what I do best—sarcasm.

Forget about the epic sci-fi I’d slit my wrists and bled onto the page. A tale was born about an acerbic, quasi-alcoholic’s mission to lose her virginity. It made me laugh, was ridiculous and stupid, and totally freeing.

It also gave me some perspective. On a whim, I sent my first novel to an editor specializing in sci-fi. He’d worked on some of my most beloved books, and I figured if he said it was crap, then ok, it was crap. I expected it to be sent back looking like it had been redacted in red. But a funny thing happened.

He loved it. Sent back a list of agents I should be querying, with his personal recommendation to go with it. I can’t tell you how long I looked at that developmental edit, the biggest criticism my use of commas, thinking there was some mistake.

And I was right, there was.But it wasn’t his, it was mine. It sounds stupid, but if you want to learn how to cook Sichuan, you’re not gonna go to bratwurst college. This was a difficult concept for me to accept. I mean, good food is good food, and a good book is a good book, right? Yeah, tell that to my son who once refused to eat bananas because they were spicy.

People have their opinions, like what they like, and taste is subjective, period. Lesson learned.

With that epiphany under my belt, I set out to find my tribe. Spoiler, they don’t sit around swirling cognac and discussing Ulysses. Which, by the way, blows, unless you’re into streams of consciousness based in an outhouse. But I digress. Having people around you who support your work, battling beside you in the trenches, makes all the difference. Their support fills the echo chamber all that self-doubt rattles around in. With that camaraderie comes confidence, and it shines through in your work. That middle finger piece I wrote? Mmm. Let’s just say crickets aren’t what I’m hearing.

So what’s the moral to this story?If I’ve learned anything on my journey so far, it’s that you have to surround yourself with the right people. Now, I’m not talking about a bunch of yes-men, but writing is hard. It’s lonely, and the self-doubt is real. Educating yourself definitely plays a part in it, but a support network of like-minded people is crucial.

I might not be at the starting line anymore, but I’m miles from the finish, and there’s no way I would have gotten as far as I have without the friends I’ve made along the way. They cheer me on, give me perspective, and, most importantly, remind me to be true to myself. To my vision, not to what someone thinks my vision should be.

In retrospect, that’s why my current manuscript has turned some heads. The jig is up, and I’ve no desire to be a Stepford writer anymore. As an author, your voice is what sets you apart, and your tribe amplifies it.

Seriously, don’t be afraid to shout, scream, hum, whatever feels right when you’re putting you onto the page. I might keep taking headers, but I’m gonna keep going, and write about the journey. I can always improve my craft, but doing me? Yeah, that I’ve zero doubts I can totally do well.

AK Nevermore is an emerging author of science fiction and urban fantasy. Her books explore dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year.

A Jane-of-all-trades, she’s a certified chef, restores antiques, and dabbles in beekeeping when she’s not reading voraciously or running down the dream in her beat-up camo Chucks. Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes full-time. Her literary aspirations have led her to complete several writing courses, a smattering of mentorships, and has been long-listed by the Australian Writer’s Centre. She also belongs to the Author’s Guild, is a chapter treasurer for the RWA, teaches creative writing, and on the rare occasion, sleeps.

You can find her on her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

The post How Finding My Tribe Helped Silence My Self-Doubt appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mary Robinette Kowal. We’ll be talking about challenging your default assumption about the world and her latest book The Spare Man.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Career Shifts, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Mary Robinette Kowal and I discuss:* How she wrote a mash-up of old Hollywood glamour and a futuristic space setting. * Why it was important to use fluid pronouns in this novel and what she learned writing it. * What she has learned over the course of writing ten books and how to reset.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Mary Robinette KowalMary Robinette Kowal is the four-time Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award-winning author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, the Lady Astronaut Universe, and The Spare Man. She is a cast member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette is a professional puppeteer, and she also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.

The Spare ManTesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 443(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 443: Writing Diverse Characters via Nuanced Shifts in Language – Interview with Mary Robinette Kowal appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Welcome back, poets! In my last article, I talked about revision strategies you can incorporate into your poetry writing routine. Today, I want to take a step back and focus more on the nuts and bolts of crafting a poem, particularly point of view (POV).

If you’re familiar with prose, then you’re familiar with POV–first, second, and third person (and everything in between!). For a full cheat sheet on utilizing POV in your prose, check out Gabriela’s The Last Point of View Cheat Sheet You’ll Ever Need.

The good news is that a lot of the considerations you make in choosing POV for your prose can also be utilized in the poetry world. That being said, I’d argue that poetry allows you to experiment with POV in some very interesting ways–ways that might not make sense if you’re working with more traditional prose.

Let’s take a look at the most common POVs used in poetry, and how POV can affect the meaning, tone, and much more in your poems.

First-Person Point of ViewFirst-person POV refers to the “I” speaker in poetry (most commonly referred to as the lyric “I”).

As one example, check out this excerpt from Shannon Burns’ delightfully named collection, Oosh Boosh:

“I like that clean cloth. I like that fog that came in. I think the fog must have come in sometime a long time before I did and never went out. I like that blue thing feeling. In life I’ve loved sun and field and pumpkin and have claimed in distress to hate blue things and have then been afraid it was a dark sin.” from “Blue Thing Feeling” When the first-person POV is used in a poem, it tends to create a more personal, intimate effect. The lyric “I” is often associated with the confessional movement, which I discussed in my article The Poet’s Toolbox: What is Confessional Poetry.

Though the lyric “I” is often read as autobiographical, or as if the poet themselves is the narrator (referred to as the ‘speaker’), this is not always the case. For example, some poets–most notably Patricia Smith–use the lyric “I” to embody others in persona poems.

Second-Person Point of ViewSecond-person refers to the use of the pronoun “you,” as in the below excerpt from Burns’ Oosh Boosh:

“It’s okay to just look aroundand think about yourselfYou don’t need a magazineon a planeLet the people you’re looking atbear the news away from you”from “Poem in Case I Die on Thanksgiving” Using the second person POV in a poem tends to create a more immediate effect for your readers. In other words, there is a sense that the poet is directly addressing the reader. The use of the “you” in the above example draws us in and gives us an emotional stake in the poem.

Third-Person Point of ViewThird-person point of view refers to the use of third-person pronouns such as he, she, or they. This can also refer to “characters” that appear in poems, as illustrated in the below excerpt from Lee Young-Ju’s collection, Cold Candies:

“They say a house too old becomes human, but the old woman goes down to the basement sometimes. The place is packed with rained-on barrels, slices of pork roll on the floor. Why, the legendary world of a bountiful basement sometimes feel real.” from “Brewery” The above example has a more narrative feel to it, as if the poet is telling a story. The “old woman” referred to in the poem is not named and–unlike in Burns’ poems above–the lack of first or second person creates a more distancing effect for readers. We are observing the scene from afar and aren’t necessarily in the speaker’s mind or experiencing the speaker’s thoughts.

Using Multiple POVs My next statement is written with the caveat that I have not read many novels or short stories with rapidly changing POVs–in other words, stories in which the POV changes multiple times throughout a paragraph or chapter. Readers, if you have any examples, I’d be more than happy to take a look!

When choosing which POV to write your poem in, it’s important to not limit yourself and understand the ways in which you can experiment. One way to do this is to explore using multiple POVs in a single poem, as shown in the below excerpt from Louise Glück’s Averno:

“Persephonewas used to death. Now over and overher mother hauls her out again--You must ask yourself:are the flowers real? IfPersephone ‘returns’ there will beone of two reasons: either she was not dead orshe is being used to support a fiction--I think I can rememberbeing dead. Many times, in winter,I approached Zeus. Tell me, I would ask him, how can I endure the earth?”from “Persephone the Wanderer” In the above example, Glück uses not one, but three POVs in the span of five short stanzas. The first stanza begins with the third person before switching to the second person “you” in the second stanza. The excerpt returns to the third person POV before ending on the first person.

So, what’s the effect of such rapidly changing POVs? I have a theory. The beginning stanzas have a more scholarly, distant feel to them. We are being taught about the Persephone myth. The addressing of the “you” in the second stanza reads like a professor giving instructions (“You must ask yourself…”). The final stanza, written in the first person, pulls us away from that more academic tone and brings us into a more personal, intimate space.

Back to you, poets! Which POV do you tend to write your poems in? Let us know in the comments!

By day, Manuela Williams is a copy writer, editor, and strategist. By night, she’s a poet. Her first poetry chapbook, Ghost in Girl Costume, was published by Birds Piled Loosely Press in 2017. Her poems have also appeared in Bone Bouquet, Wicked Alice Zine, and other literary magazines.

Manuela loves helping other people build their brands through written content. She’s obsessed with web design, logos, brand boards, color schemes, and fonts. When she’s not busy agonizing over font decisions, she can be found drinking tons of coffee and reading sappy romance novels. You can connect with her on her website.

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Hello word nerds! I want to thank you so much for reading my column this year. I have enjoyed writing for you all and I hope I have inspired some of you to try a game or two. This will be my final column for DIY MFA, thank you for reading, and I’m pulling for all of you to achieve all of your writing goals.

What is LARP?The collaborative storytelling games I’ve told you about thus far are played around a table with dice and paper. Maps and miniatures may or may not be present, but your friends always are. These types of games are called TTRPGs, or Tabletop games, and they are by far the most common type of collaborative storytelling game because they require fewer players, less time, and much less prep and coordination than the second most common type of collaborative storytelling game.

Live Action Role Playing, or LARP for those that play, is a game where a large group of players meet up for an extended period of time and interact in character for the duration of the game. LARPs often involve costumes, large venues, decoration, and ambiance design. These elements vary wildly depending on the type of game, the setting, and the team running it, but they exist to help players stay in character and occupy the world of the game with a greater degree of immersion.

What types of LARPs are there?LARPs vary wildly in terms of plot, settings, rules, and gameplay, but there are some common types of LARP games. LARPs may also be a mix of styles as well. This is not an exclusive list by any means, but I hope it will help to illustrate some of the varieties of games you may find.

1. Historical – These LARPs focus on stories set in a particular era, and often involve courts, crusades, and crafts. There are many different games all over the world that fall into this category, such as Ground Zero – a LARP set in a bomb shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I also believe that a lot of civil war reenactments are historical LARPs, but some re-enactors may disagree.

2. Nordic – These games are rooted in the LARPing traditions of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway. They tend to be rules-light and focus on interpersonal roleplay. They vary in style and setting, but the thing that connects them is their focus on narrative themes and on staying in character throughout. The Future is Straight is a Nordic LARP that addresses gay conversion therapy in a retro sci-fi setting with a focus on love, survival, individualism, and the desire to conform.

3. Blockbuster – These LARPs are often, but not always, destinations for LARP tourism. They take place at impressive venues and place a lot of emphasis on costumes, surroundings, and big events. They are days-long events where participants submit characters before arriving, and are expected to interact in character the whole time. One of the most successful blockbuster LARPs was Fourtune & Felicity, a Jane Austen inspired LARP that took place in Medevi Brunn, a Swedish spa and resort that resembles a small village.

4. Chamber – These LARPs take place over the course of a few hours and usually place more emphasis on storylines that take place over years. Players meet regularly to play episodes of their chronicle. There are many more Chamber LARPs than other types because they do not focus as heavily on venue or production, so they are much more easily organized. They can be independent games that are coordinated by the LARPers within a city, or part of a shared universe of connected games across a wide area. Canada at Midnight (despite its name) is a shared universe of connected chamber LARPs that take place across Canada and the United States.

5. Military Simulation – Also called MilSim, these LARPs include a combat aspect and war games. The game can go on for days and sometimes goes on 24 hours a day for the duration.

6. Boffer – This is the type of LARP that most people imagine. Like MilSim LARPs, These games include an element of combat and often involve fantasy elements. They usually take place over the course of a weekend and sometimes include camping. They are named for foam weapons used in combat.

How can LARP help your writing?LARP is helpful when writing character arcs because players are speaking, moving, dressing, and thinking in character. Players are responsible for their character’s stories, and the people that run the game set up an open-world setting that characters can explore however they like. LARP differs from Tabletop gaming because the game focuses on creating relationships with other characters.

While you interact as your character, you gain a deeper understanding of their motivations and how they view the world. You inhabit the mind of the character, so it helps you to develop your character’s unique voice. It’s also an excellent tool for first-person narration because you’ve inhabited your character’s mind. Each LARP will be made up of several different types of scenes, which helps you fully explore and pinpoint your character’s perspective.

It helps with dialogue because you have to speak as your character in the moment, and you gain the invaluable resource of what other player’s characters say in response. It is a great way to test emotionally charged scenes.

Other characters in the game are the most important writing resource because they help you develop how your character acts in their relationships with other people, and because every player has their own goals for their characters. You can almost always find a player that is looking to play any character bond you want to explore, be it a familial relationship, friendship, romance, rivalry, and anything in between. Since players are responsible for their own characters and stories, you’ll also be afforded the opportunity to see how your character reacts to events that may have little or nothing to do with them, which I find to be a difficult area of a character’s persona to develop alone.

Kris Hill is working on several genre fiction novels because she has difficulty sticking to writing one project at a time. In her daily life, she attempts to navigate the corporate world as the Senior Marketing Manager for an editing company. When Kris is not working, she can be found sprawled on a couch reading, or running tabletop adventures for her friends. She lives in Canada’s capital city with her husband, her best friend, and three cats.

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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 and over to my elementary students as an excuse to watch them again.

In his book Creativity, Inc, Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull divulges a behind-the-scenes look at what creates the magic in stories of childhood toys, bugs, cars, fish and garbage-cleaning space robots with hearts of gold. And while much of it boils down to an environment that supports teamwork and creativity, there is one familiar element that Pixar teaches that we can all lean on for creating tightly crafted stories and keep the reader turning the page: their storytelling structure.

1. Once upon a time / Every day… The classic once-upon-a-time opener serves more purpose than simply making us think of princesses in ball gowns. Although we are often anxious to jump right into the action, we have to pause and think about the state of affairs at the beginning before everything changes and the plot begins to unfold.

In addition to setting the stage with exposition, this is also where we need to think deeply about who our protagonist is and how they spend their time. Most importantly, we need to understand how they got here, to the beginning of this story, and why they are going to make the decisions they are going to make.

In Toy Story, we are intentionally shown how Woody has always been Andy’s most beloved toy and the leader of the toy box community, which sets him up to have a devastating fall from grace with the introduction of Buzz Lightyear. Could the stakes be any higher?

1. One day… This is the catalyst, the thing that happens that changes everything. The catalyst could be huge, like the loss of a loved one, a diagnosis, or being replaced by a new space ranger toy. It could also be small, like something someone says offhandedly to the protagonist.

Whatever it is, the catalyst needs to be intentional and clear, because it leads into everything that comes next.

1. Because of that… This is the only beat in the structure that will repeat…and repeat…and repeat. But it’s also perhaps the most crucial. As writers, we are tasked with creating a series of events and obstacles that our protagonist and other characters will move through. And so often we wind up writing our way into dead ends or dark corners where we never meant to be.

Instead of simply saying “and then this happened”, we are intentionally connecting plot events through cause and effect by swapping it with because of that. Because one thing happened, the next thing happened. Because the protagonist was feeling a certain way, they made the next decision. Because Buzz Lightyear came into Andy’s life, Woody decided to get rid of him. This is how our key plot events stay connected and intentional, and keep from getting lost in the woods.

Pixar is known for giving all of their characters some sort of emotional arc. Whether the arc is central to the story, or subplot, or backstory, we can play with it as we make decisions for even the smallest character.

1. Until finally… This could be thought of as the climax of the story, the peak where everything changes again, for good this time. But we should also consider this as the moment when the lightbulb goes on above the protagonist’s head.

In Woody and Buzz’s case, they realize they’ll be better together than working against each other. They now understand the world in a new way, and are going to make decisions from here on out based on this new understanding.

It’s what your reader has been rooting for them to realize all along the way. If, as the writer, we have a vision for what this point is, it’s much easier to point our protagonist in the right direction from the beginning, even if they take some missteps and wrong turns along the way.

1. And ever since that day… Of course, many stories don’t wrap up with quite a nice, tidy bow, as Pixar would have us believe. But we have to think about what imagery, emotions, and new understandings we want to leave the reader with as they turn the final page. This connects right back to once upon a time and every day: Who is the protagonist now? How have the events of the story changed them? What do they see for themselves in the future?

In summary…Writing a novel or short story is very different from writing a screenplay, but a story is a story, and the essential elements are the same. What this fairytale-esque story structure offers us is a way to connect the key scenes and draw a through line that takes the reader on both an external adventure, and an internal emotional journey (to infinity…and beyond!).

Stephanie Dethlefs is a writer and book coach living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two teenagers, two cats, and a spunky dog. A former teacher, she now helps writers with stories on their hearts finally write their novels. She’s the author of the middle grade novel Unspoken and several published essays and articles. Connect with Stephanie at HelloWriters.net.

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My author dreams began with my obsession with reading. I’m a book fangirl at heart, so it won’t come as a surprise that I love the Reading with Purpose tenet of DIY MFA (side note: I really love all three tenets, but reading will always hold a little edge on the others).

When I first jumped into the DIY MFA plan, I read and read, and read some more, with purpose; sixty young adult novels in one year, to be exact. It was a reading boot camp extravaganza, and I was so there for it. I took Gabriela’s advice to heart and read across the spectrum of essential reading: competitive, contextual, contemporary, and classic books. Not sure if I slept that year, but I blame the books. They wouldn’t let me.

It’s so important that you read the books in your genre so you know what’s out there, where the genre is going, and how your book can stand out. And because of how important this step is, I wanted to give you a little jump start on what books you should be reading if you are writing a young adult (YA) mystery or thriller.

So here they are, my top five picks for YA Thrillers (plus a bonus) to add to your reading list when writing a young adult mystery or thriller.

Top Five Young Adult Thrillers for Your Reading List (Plus a Bonus!)1. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus If you’re writing a YA thriller and haven’t read this book, then immediately stop writing, don’t pass go, don’t collect $200, and go straight to your favorite bookstore to pick up a copy of One of Us is Lying.

At the time of writing this article, One of Us is Lying has spent 253 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list for Young Adult hardcovers. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s still being printed in hardcover five years after its original publication date in 2017. And it’s been on the best sellers list almost every week since it was published.

In my humble opinion, this one book single-handedly ushered in the current-day market for young adult thrillers. As the dystopian frenzy in Young Adult was winding down, this book landed on the NYT list and paved the way for all the outstanding mysteries and thrillers published since.

Entertainment Weekly called it Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast club. Five high schoolers walk into detention and only four of them walk out alive. And the victim, Simon, was about to publish a scathing gossip column the very next day. One that would have exposed the secrets of each of his classmates who were in detention with him, making all four of them instant suspects in his murder.

McManus masterfully weaves a whodunit that keeps you guessing until the very end. And any aspiring young adult thriller author will be wise to read this breakout novel and learn firsthand why it remains one of the bestselling young adult thrillers today.

1. Grown by Tiffany D. JacksonThis masterful YA thriller was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, and with good reason. Jackson, an award-winning author, wrote a complex mystery that delves into socially relevant themes today.

Dhonielle Clayton, NYT bestselling author of The Belles, said, “Grown exposes the underbelly of a tough conversation, providing a searing examination of misogynoir, rape culture, and the vulnerability of young Black girls.” Jackson’s ability to weave complex issues into an unputdownable novel means her books should be on the shelves of authors looking to make an impact with their writing. Whether you are a POC author or not, it’s important to read widely and your reading list should not only be diverse in content, but authorship.

When Enchanted Jones is scouted at an audition by R&B singer Korey Fields, she believes her dreams are about to come true. But when she wakes up to find Korey Fields dead and has no recollection of the night before, her dreams descend into a living nightmare.

Booklist gave this book a starred review and said, “Gripping in both its content and format… Jackson’s writing some of the best thrillers for teens these days.” So if your goal is to write a book that can sit on the shelves next to Grown, then this novel needs to be added to your DIY MFA reading list now.

1. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline BoulleyConsider these accolades: A 2021 Young Adult Best Book of the Year selection for both Amazon and Barnes and Noble; Printz Medal and Morris award winner; a TIME magazine Best YA Book of All Time selection; and instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Do you think a book with these honors should maybe be on your DIY MFA reading list? I think maybe so. And this is just a selection of the recognition Firekeeper’s Daughter has received.

When a YA thriller makes these kinds of waves, then it means aspiring authors should be paying attention. This story follows a Native American teen protagonist who has to choose between protecting the people she loves or her tribal community. Another astounding story by a POC author who delves into her culture while crafting a high-stakes, page-turner. This novel deserves a spot on your list.

The story follows the journey of Daunis Fontaine, a girl who has never felt like she fits in—not at home and not at the Objiwe reservation nearby—as she was born from scandal. When she witnesses a murder, she goes undercover for the investigation. But threats start to strike closer and closer to home, and Daunis is faced with a decision that could tear apart the world as she knows it.

1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly JacksonWhen a book is listed as a “multimillion bestselling mystery series,” then it might be a good idea to check it out. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was already a NYT bestseller, but it has also taken off on BookTok. The unpredictable plot twist and killer are part of what made this book so loved on BookTok.

Jackson weaves in multimedia as part of the investigation the main character is conducting for the unsolved murder mystery. There are several expertly designed red herrings that make you think you know who the murderer is only to be surprised again and again.

As a review from Bookpage said, “fans of true crime will be hooked by the hunt for the killer,” true crime aficionados will not be disappointed when reading this book. Plus, the multimedia aspect of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder will bring a unique touch to your DIY MFA reading list.

Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Five years ago, a pretty, popular girl, Andie Bell, was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, before he killed himself. Case closed. Or so they thought. Pip knew Sal when he was a kid, and he was always so nice, she couldn’t see how he could have been responsible for murder. So for her senior project, she decides to reexamine the case only to discover a trail of dark secrets which means the actual killer might still be at large. And now Pip’s life might be in danger too.

1. The Ivies by Alexa Donne (plus Bonus!)If you love boarding school stories, especially when there is murder involved, then you have to check out The Ivies. Donne crafts a twisty murder mystery about teens who will do anything to get what they want.

Kirkus Reviews described this novel as “a thrilling boarding school story with a satirical edge,” and J. Elle, NYT bestselling author of Wings of Ebony, said it was “a definite one-sitting read.” If you want to learn how to tell a YA thriller with shocking surprises and unexpected twists, then Donne’s The Ivies needs to be one of your next reads.

The Ivies are the most prestigious universities in the United States. But on the campus of Claflin Academy, the Ivies are a group of five girls with a mission to do whatever it takes to get into an Ivy League. These girls don’t care who they have to step on or destroy to improve their chances of acceptance, with nothing, not even murder, off the table. A true nail-biter, The Ivies will keep you on the edge-of-your-seat until the very last page.

You may be wondering about the bonus! Well, not only do you get a book to add to your reading list, you also get something for your Write with Focus wheelhouse. Because Alexa Donne is not only an author, she is also a prolific publishing industry YouTuber with over 147,000 subscribers.

On her YouTube channel, she talks about all things: writing, publishing, and books. And now it’s time for the drumroll, please, for your bonus reveal:

Alexa Donne’s Thriller Writing 10 Video Series on YouTube: Donne has created a ten video series on YA thriller writing. For your bonus for reading all the way to the end, check out this link where you will learn directly from the author herself on how to write the kind of twists readers raved about in The Ivies.

Now it’s your turn! Do you have any YA thrillers you think should be on the list? We’d love to hear about them in the comments. Please tell us what books you recommend and why!

Dominique Richardson is the coauthor of The Everbeach Series—a young adult, romantic suspense series full of forbidden romance, deadly twists, and scandalous secrets that will keep you turning pages into the night. The first book in the series, Red as Blood, comes out February 28, 2023. Passionate about all things books and giving back to the community, she is also the Executive Director and cofounder of YA by the Bay, a nonprofit young adult reading and leadership festival, dedicated to inspiring teens to “be the author of your own life.” Raised between Jamaica and the United States, her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. She now lives in Tampa, Florida, with her family.

She would love to connect with you! Find her online on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. If you’d like to stay in the know about her upcoming book releases, sign-up for her email list. To learn more about the YA by the Bay Young Adult Book Festival, check out the website.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Amy Christine Parker. They’ll be talking about coming up with unsettling ideas and Amy’s book, Flight 171.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for December is Cozy Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Amy Christine Parker and Lori discuss: Where she comes up with unsettling ideas and how she deals with fears on the page. * The importance of the first line and why the opening chapters are the hardest to write. * How she developed the characterization for the ensemble cast in Flight 171*.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Amy Christine ParkerAmy Christine Parker is the author of the critically acclaimed young adult thriller novels: Gated, Astray, Smash & Grab, and most recently the horror novel, Flight 171.

When she is not busy dreaming up unsettling stories, Amy loves to read, go to the movies, and travel around the world in search of story inspiration.

She lives and works in Tampa, Florida along with her husband, their two daughters, and two very high-maintenance cats.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.

Flight 171In this edge-of-your-seat horror novel, a four-hour flight takes a nightmarish turn when a supernatural creature gives a group of high school students a sinister ultimatum.

Devon Marsh is haunted by secrets. Like the identity of the person who killed her twin sister, Emily, in a hit-and-run accident last Halloween, which Devon has vowed to uncover. Like the things Devon said to Emily just before she died.

But she’s determined to start fresh when she boards a four-hour flight along with her classmates for their senior class ski trip. Devon never could have guessed those secrets would surface in the most terrifying way when a supernatural creature hijacks their flight and gives the students a deadly ultimatum:

Choose one among them to sacrifice before the end of the flight. Or the plane will crash.

As the clock ticks down, the creature slowly unearths the passengers’ deepest, darkest secrets—and reveals that one of the teens on the plane is responsible for Emily’s death. The students must agree on a sacrifice, or there won’t be any survivors. But can Devon find a way to stop the creature, or will she give in to her anger and let revenge take control?

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 442(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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Researching tidbits of information before creating a new romance novel is like unopened presents waiting to reveal hidden treasures. Thorough research can uncover behind-the-scenes goodies and historical secrets that turn a yawner story into a can’t-put-it-down page-turner. My vivid imagination takes me on a research mission, listening for ghost-like whispers in a closet and the possibility of unearthing yummy tidbits hidden behind lock and key.

So, when I uncover a genuine holy SH*T, I get giddy inside.

I wondered what the “big romance houses” were saying would be hot in 2023. I found all kinds of juicy predictions and will share three hot romance writing trends for 2023 this research unveiled. I told you, I love research.

My Takeaway:It became obvious right off the kicker that the historical romance writing trend would remain a full-force genre favorite, but with a twist to set it apart from the past. What kind of twist? I read much favoritism toward the more mature single woman who is a divorcee, a widow, or a widower as the lead role. Force this character to find love again rather than first love.

To jiggle your memory, I’ll quickly list the ten most popular romance tropes:

1. The Cute Meet-Cute
2. Enemies to Lovers
3. Forced Proximity
4. Destiny
5. Childhood Sweethearts
6. Forbidden Love
7. Impossible Love
8. Fake Relationship
9. Love Triangle
10. Opposites Attract

The above tropes work for any age group. Since romance readers absorb billions of romance books and enjoy placing themselves in the heroine’s role, I’d say many baby boomers would pluck a romance novel with the plot focusing on a more mature couple right from the shelf.

Think how much fun it would be to write about a 40, 50, 60+ character attempting online dating. Oh my! Sounds like a romantic comedy (romcom) to me. What about finding love at a grief counseling group where folks have lost a spouse? A single (again) cruise?

A New Flicker to the Flame:Guess what? There is chatter about adapting favorite romance writing trends from the past with an LGBTQIA+ flavor. (LGBTQIA+ is an acronym to signify Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual.)

One suggestion? The friends-to-lovers trope as two women are called upon to empty the contents of a deceased, elderly woman’s attic and find love amongst the bobbles and bangles. Think how you can make the relationship real with inner and outer dialogue, the thoughts running through the minds of your characters, the hopes, and the fears. Authors who truly relate need to dive in with both feet. Write your story. You GOT this!

Young Adult (YA) Romance Novels:The talk surrounding young adult romance? Dark and dramatic teen romances will rate on the hot scale as dangerous and damaged souls unite in fiery, forbidden love. A tortured past, a young man who cannot, will not control his violent temper, but she cannot bear to leave him behind. These tropes will become as popular as TikTok and BookTok.

If you haven’t climbed aboard the BookTok phenom, scramble to create talk about your novel among the masses on BookTok. You may not be paying attention, but agents, publishers, and subscription-based streaming services are watching and plucking faves. Romance talk on BookTok? Think Colleen Hoover. I’m serious, scramble! Now. Scoot!

Vamps & Vamp Hunters:Popular tropes such as a vampire falling in love with the hot vampire hunter hired to bring her down remain popular romance writing trends, BUT, with a twist. Have the main characters step aside and fill the hero and heroine’s shoes with mega-interesting secondary characters. How intriguing to have lesser characters move from the dark, dreary shadows and emerge as the center of attraction and action.

Universal Theme:As I researched this article, I came across a theme.

We live in a scary world.

We really do.

I bet each of us could name a scary topic we are dealing with for every letter of the alphabet. Yes, A-Z without skipping a beat. During these times of conflict in so many avenues of our lives, I believe many of us have fearful moments. Sometimes daily. Sometimes all day.

I hope for an upcoming, heartfelt trend in 2023.

Be kind to one another.

It matters.

Writers Write!!!

Tammy Lough creates ​​cozy women’s fiction sprinkled with humor, romance, and moxie aplenty. Her romantic comedy, Lacey’s Lessons of Love, is a 2022 national and international best-seller & the first book of the For the Love of Lacey series. Available Spring 2023: Lacey’s Circle of Love & Fall 2023: Lacey’s Legacy of Love.She is an active member of the Missouri Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Southwest Writers, Saturday Writers, and Women Writing the West. You can connect with Tammy on her website, or on Twitter and Facebook.

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A while back, I talked about the separation between writing and editing. Writing is a process of accumulation, while editing is a process of curation. It is difficult and often inefficient to complete both of these tasks at the same time.

But how do we know when to stop writing and start editing? Is it okay to edit before we’re done with the full draft? When should editing start?

First, let’s look at the phases of editing.

Three Levels of EditingWhen we say “editing,” we could mean a variety of things. For the purposes of this article, we’re talking about developmental editing, line editing, and copy editing.

• Developmental editing is big-picture stuff.
• Line editing is sentence style and order.
• Copy editing is grammar and punctuation.

Every piece of writing—be it a blog, short story, or novel—should go through all three of these stages. So, when do we start each?

When to Start EditingDevelopmental EditingFor the first step of editing, you want to have a completed work AND have taken a break between writing and reviewing. That break might be anywhere from a few days for a project you’ve been working on quickly, or it could mean stepping away for weeks or months if it’s a project you’ve been working on for years. Take this time to forget your plot so you can come at it with fresh eyes.

During developmental editing, you will be rereading and making changes. I recommend doing a complete read-through first and only making notes on what to change, not actually changing it yet. Trust me, this will save you time and lots of rewriting your already rewritten scenes. Once you’ve gone through and commented, now you can start the editing phase of actually rewriting.

Line EditingAt this point, I’d be surprised if you didn’t need a break from your work. But you don’t always need one between developmental and line editing. Now that you know your plot is solid, you can go through and start looking at the words and sentence constructions you’ve been using and turn them into the words you really wanted to write, the ones true to your character and your author voice. Line editing should only start after developmental editing, though. You don’t want to line-edit something into a beautiful turn of phrase only to cut that scene later.

Copy EditingThe final step in editing is to complete copy editing, which looks at grammar and punctuation. This third step of the editing process should truly come last. Only once you’ve reread and revised your text should you start trying to perfect it grammatically. Otherwise, like with rewriting too early, you might change or cut a section later, making your detailed copy edit there null and void.

Final ThoughtsKnowing when to stop editing is as important as knowing when to start it. Keep the editing stages in order, and don’t start one until you’ve finished the one before. It may be tempting to skip ahead. Don’t. Slow and methodical wins the day.

Jeanette the Writer is a freelance editor and writer based in Dallas, TX. When not at her computer, you can find her crafting, scuba diving, or posting pictures of her cats on Instagram. Visit JeanettetheWriter.com for more info and follow @JeanettetheWriter on Instagram and Facebook.

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Only a few more days til 2023! With Covid largely behind us, 2023 means we can get back out there and live fully. We can do research at destinations we’ve had on our lists for years! In the spirit of kicking off the new year, my December 2022 leisure learning recommendations are designed to set you up for your best writing in 2023.

Creative Routines from the MastersTraditionally, January is a time to reset, which often means looking at your writing routine. This is the time to re-evaluate how long projects may take, tighten up the specifics and, of course, try and get the best work out of yourself, despite your actual life.

For centuries, creators have asked the eternal question authors still sit with today: How do I do my best work while trying to do everything else required by life?

This infographic provides a visual for how W. H. Auden, Benjamin Franklin, Maya Angelou, and many other artists and composers planned their days on this pale blue dot. According to these creative luminaries, an artistic life mainly consists of:

• deep work
• taking care of the body (food, drink, exercise)
• time spent with other people
• trying to make ends meet
• personal development / learning
• sleep

See how close your ideal writing day compares to the standards of these legendary creators. Moreover, get inspired by the evidence that long, wandering strolls are central to an artist’s life work.

The Library That Dolly BuiltDolly Parton is one of America’s most well-known figures, quite literally. Her chest is internationally famous for its dimensions, and her wholehearted spunk could easily serve as a trademark of Americana.

This country music queen has a reputation for “doing good things” with the money she has earned through her success. Dolly grew up in a family where her father didn’t have a choice in trading his own education for hours of work in the fields of Appalachia. Her father couldn’t read or write, and Dolly is passionate about ensuring American children have a foundation for literacy.

In 1995, Parton started The Imagination Library as a local, early-literacy program in Tennessee. Since then, it has expanded to where it now provides 10% of America’s children, from birth to age 5, with free books every month. This notable statistic was obtained, unfortunately, because Covid sent the program into overdrive.

The importance of reading in the home is a key predictor of how well a child will thrive in school. These books constitute some of the child’s first very owned property, and the experience of getting mail adds to the idea that books are something important and special.

The Library That Dolly Built provides more information about this unique non-profit. However, it is for nostalgia and sentimentality that I am recommending this selection. It’s a 68-minute documentary that shows something everyone should be seeing more of: children falling in love with reading.

DIY Your Ultimate Literary CanonOn the opposite end of serving literary needs sits Benjamin McEvoy, graduate of Oxford University. McEvoy earned his degree in English Language and Literature, an experience that taught him to hate reading.

Fortunately, after a few years in the real world, books called to him once again, and he realized that what he was seeking at Oxford was a way of living the lessons he’d learned in books.

That’s the excitement about reading the Great Books: they change you for the better through thoughtful contemplation, rumination and (ideally) action.

In this YouTube segment, McEvoy reveals assignments Kurt Vonnegut formerly gave his students to cultivate a love of literature that they could carry throughout their entire lives. McEvoy builds on these as well as his own education to show how one can practically and passionately approach literature by making one’s own literary canon.

Even if you choose not to DIY your own stack of required reading, Vonnegut’s instruction and commentary about the reader’s state of mind will change how you read and deserves a watch.

Take a Tour of The Charles Dickens MuseumLast month, I doled out Dickens recommendations for a warm and cheerful December. To get an even better idea of Dickens’ version of Christmas, take this short tour of his former home, now The Charles Dickens Museum.

Find out why Ebenezer specifically brought a turkey to dinner, learn what pseudonym Dickens’ wife published her 1851 cookbook under, and see how the English Christmas pudding collided with hygiene in this charming house-turned-museum on Doughty Street.

Writers and Their Notebooks by Diana Raab and Peter Selgin (ed)For writers, notebooks serve as our studios. Whether you’re committed to paper, have gone digital, or (like myself) are somewhere in between, a writer’s notebook is essential when you work in words. If there is any rule of writing that authors can actually agree on, it’s that you must keep a notebook.

Easier said than done.

Many people are starting 2023 with the intent of keeping a writing notebook…but what exactly goes in there? A writer’s notebook is part gym, part wilderness, part gobbledy-gook, and 100% affordable therapist.

Writers and Their Notebooks is a collection of essays on how writers have learned to use their notebooks over the years. It’s about the relationships they’ve formed with this often embarrassingly messy tool. It is not an instructional book, nor is it a visual look at anyone’s Moleskins. It’s about how authors figure out what they think they want to say on the road to figuring out precisely what they need to say.

This book is a worthwhile read for authors of all genres and levels of experience. Contributors (aka people who talk to themselves via notebook) include John Dufresne, Sue Grafton and Kyoko Mori.

Whether you are starting a notebook or giving your own a re-evaluation, this is a terrific dive into what a writer’s notebook can be.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

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I posted previously about how a writing friend and I made a script from a short story for a Halloween film contest. Today’s post is a little more in-depth on the process of taking a short story and turning it into a film. Our short film ultimately took second place in the contest. You can watch it here: (Sculling – YouTube). In a nutshell, here are the five major steps that worked for us and can work for you, too:

1. Choose the right storyDetermining which story to use for the film was the most important step. Written stories include characters’ inner thoughts, descriptions of places real and imagined, and narratives that can be near impossible to capture on film without a Hollywood-sized budget and access to the most advanced computerized effects.

Since we wanted to use a story I’d already written for our film, I looked through my completed stories for one that had interesting characters and enough action and dialogue to keep the story moving visually. I also considered the setting for the story, and if we could find or create a similar backdrop for the scenes that would be filmed.

1. Make a List of Filmable ScenesMy filming partner, who was also the director and cameraperson, looked over the short story and made a list of the scenes and dialogue that she thought would make the most pleasing visual pictures.

We were making a ghost story, so “pleasing” for the purpose of our film really meant: “creepy, haunting, and eerie.” We also had to consider what was feasible to film, like how much lighting would be required at specific times of day. Would we need a lot of special effects, lights, sounds, microphones, props, or people to make a scene look believable? Did we have easy access to actors, and settings that would not be financially or otherwise prohibitive?

A lot of the story we wanted to film takes place on a sailboat. Neither of us is a boat owner or knows anyone with a boat we could use. We considered the possibility that we might need to rent or charter a boat to film on, which would cost hundreds of dollars. Or we could come up with alternative scenes that didn’t need a sailboat in case filming on a sailboat was impossible.

1. Add Stage Directions and Snappy DialogueEven before drafting a script or screenplay, we added actions, dialogue, and motivations for our characters to the scene list we’d developed. We got creative about ways to show the characters’ inner thoughts, feelings, and complex relationships through dialogue and body language. We also added some details about what actions the characters were taking and their physical locations in each scene.

All of this was closely tied to the individual character arcs, the overall arc of the story, and written clearly enough for the actors and director to follow along. To do this, we had to hash it out until we agreed on what our characters wanted most and the obstacles that stood in their way of getting it.

When we felt we both had a good understanding of where the characters had been and where they were going, we were ready to write the script.

1. Put Everything into a Script/Screenplay for the Director and Actors to Follow There are software, app, and Internet resources galore about writing scripts and screenplays. When it was time to write the screenplay, I was familiar enough with a basic format that I decided to do a simple internet search for a template I could use as a guide.

The real challenge was fitting everything on our scene list into the screenplay template without going over the page/time limit for the film, and not adding in too many stage directions for the actors to follow (that’s the purview of the director, after all). One page of a screenplay is roughly equal to one minute of filming. Our time limit for our film was 15 minutes.

Me and my filming partner still had a few disagreements about the direction for some scenes and bits of dialogue we wanted to change. We both found ways we could compromise, and the screenplay ended up exactly 15 pages long!

1. Film it!When the screenplay was complete, we were ready to start filming. We’d done a lot of preparatory work before and while we were working on the screenplay. We’d lined up our actors, knew our locations, and had collected props and equipment. We’d even found a sailboat that we could film on for free!

We weren’t filming at night, so we didn’t need any lights. We needed a camera (we used the camera on a smartphone) and microphones we hooked up to a laptop for one day of shooting. We also had a filming schedule and a full copy of the screenplay on hand during shooting days. I brought snacks and water for the actors and ourselves. This may seem like a lot of extra work upfront, but it was extremely beneficial. It kept us on schedule and respectful of everyone’s time.

That’s basically it, from short story to film! There’s more that can be done in postproduction, which is after filming has been completed. That’s traditionally when scenes are edited and moved around. Music, sound effects, titles, and credits are usually added during postproduction. That’s a whole post of its own for another day!

After 20+ years with the U.S. government, A.H. Plotts (she/her) is finally settled (mostly) in California. When not at her desk writing horror and dark sci-fi, she enjoys delicious coastal cuisine, fun in the sun, and blogging about it at www.ahplottsthecoast.com. Find A.H. on Twitter (@ahplotts) and Instagram (@ahplottsthecoast) posting about her favorite authors, books, movies, cities, and restaurants.

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Have you noticed book covers stepping up their game? If so, you’re right! These trends make today’s annual book cover review extra exciting.

To provide some background, much of my professional life has been spent studying trends and foresight (I’ve also worked in marketing, strategy, competitive intelligence, digital, and more…stories for another time!)

At its surface, foresight might appear to be “reading the tea leaves,” the impossible job of predicting the future. But people don’t just identify the future, we create it. We as writers wield the power to spark newly imaginable possibilities. (For example, think of the aspects of science fiction that have come to pass). Hold that power with reverence! For me, my fiction aims to deepen hope and empathy.

Today, we’re turning our foresight toward the specific topic of book cover design!

First of all, I’m proud that last year’s roundup continues to be relevant.

My year-end 2021 themes included:1. Simple yet evocative covers that leverage bold colors and sans serif fonts to stand out in the digital environment of online bookshops 2. Jewel tones that create a rich palette and contrasts 3. Abstract covers that include geometrical abstraction 4. Increased illustrated and graphical covers vs. realistic ones

Read the full article here

Looking forward to 2023, there are four big themes that build on the rationale of last year’s slew of covers, plus one bonus insight. Let me know if you’ve noticed these trends as well…

My 2023 predictions:1. Animation Anytime. Increasingly, covers are illustrated, with high pops of color and animated characters, which play well in online marketplaces where images need to break through as a small thumbnail image.

This look started primarily in romance, as it can effectively convey a breezy light-heartedness (see example covers Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic and You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince). The cartoon-like look allows characters to be depicted generally, with broad suggestions for features. This can be helpful to allow the reader to fully imagine the characters.

Nowadays, Animation Anytime is beginning to transcend genres. See how the theme is completely effective on Pulitzer Prize winning author Andrew Sean Greer’s sequel, Less is Lost.

What’s next? This trend has potential for longevity, since it’s effective in our increasingly digital shopping marketplaces. My prediction is that the effect might migrate to more genres. For instance, imagine this look executed in darker, moodier color palettes to connote gravitas appropriate for more serious literature.

2. “Welcome to the Magentaverse”The Pantone company is famous for defining the exact hues of all the colors that are used in packaging, ads, and design. In early December, they unveiled their annual color of the year. For 2023, it’s bright and bold Viva Magenta. This color embodies the joy that people are seeking, and works well in both physical and digital worlds.

Some book launches already illustrate this trend. For instance, take a look at the geometric shapes in hues of magenta on the cover of Atomic Anna. Fiona Davis’ 2023 novel, The Spectacular, lights up New York City’s iconic Radio City Music Hall in magenta, Kristan Higgins’ A Little Ray of Sunshine uses a pop of magenta, and designer Sarah Flood-Baumann had dressed my own novel, Always Orchid, in magenta well before Pantone’s announcement (the cover is partially concealed because the full design hasn’t yet been revealed).

What’s next? Some trend experts are predicting that people will be embracing fresh modern colors. Keep an eye out for futurists’ favorite hues like Digital Lavender.

3. It’s All About the Title, No Extras. One way to compete in a crowded digital marketplace with dozens of thumbnail images per screen is to shout your title. No shrinking violets here. The idea is to embed the book’s name into the reader’s mind. Sometimes, bold sans serif fonts accompany these looks that splash the title right down the full cover, like Reminders of Him or Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. In other cases, handwritten fonts provide a warmer, human feel to the cover design, like The Color of Ice. Non-fiction books have long employed this tactic, and now it’s making a splash in fiction!

What’s next? Placing title at the highest order of the communications certainly holds allure. I predict that designers will play at the edges of this approach. For instance, look for interwoven graphics that embellish the title, like the novels Hester and The Chosen and The Beautiful where leaves overlap with the simple sans serif lettering. This detailing can add some visual interest, cueing the book’s meaning while preserving the boldness of the font size. Authors who try this approach should make sure that the adornments don’t detract from the readability of the title – it needs to be legible even in a small thumbnail size.

4. Light it Up. Although book covers are essentially static 2D images, cover designers use techniques to create dynamism (for instance, my debut novel Goodbye, Orchid used shattered orchids to connote motion). In this set of covers, designers have cleverly used the illusion of lights to “light up” the images.

Here are some more examples. Electric Idol shows a sparkly heart with bolts emitting from the center image to electrify the cover. Acts of Violet is dotted with circles of yellow to hint at stars. The Daydreams slaps electric green against a grayscale image to light up the cover as if it’s a marquee. Brilliant Carrie Soto is Back‘s cover bathes the protagonist in a shimmery gold light.

What to consider: When well-designed, the “Light it Up” trend can be a game changer. However, this technique can be hard to execute in printed covers. Metallic colors like silver, copper, and gold are particularly hard to print without special techniques like metallized inks (and their accompanying upcharges). Always test your cover design on print presses!

Please let me know which themes you’re seeing…And look for a future article from me on covers that display well on social media!

Carol Van Den Hende is the award-winning author of Goodbye, Orchid, a public speaker, and MBA with 20+ years’ experience in marketing, strategy and insights.. Carol is passionate about simplifying marketing concepts into actionable steps that authors need for publishing success. Please sign up for Carol’s newsletter at https://carolvandenhende.com/contact or linktr.ee/cvdh

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Terena Elizabeth Bell. We’ll be talking about experimental fiction and her book of short stories, Tell Me What You See.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for December is Cozy Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Terena Elizabeth Bell and I discuss:* How she merged images and text and other ways she experimented in her stories. * Her advice for managing your mental health when writing about difficult topics. * What it means to write what you see and how she applied it to her writing.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Terena Elizabeth BellTerena Elizabeth Bell is a fiction writer. Her debut short story collection, Tell Me What You See (Whiskey Tit), publishes Holiday 2022. Short stories, poetry, and journalism work have appeared in The Atlantic, Playboy, MysteryTribune, Santa Monica Review, Saturday Evening Post, and more than 100 similar publications throughout the US, the UK, Ireland, and Spain. Short fiction has won grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

She is a 2021 NYFA City Artists Corps winner, a 2018 Arlene Eisenberg Award winner, a 2018 Azbee Award of Excellence winner, and Centre College’s 2014 Distinguished Young Alumna of the Year. Lead editor of the Writing Through the Classics series of books on fiction craft, she has taught creative writing independently and through the New York Society Library, Woodlawn Children’s Home, and Bowling Green State University.

From 2005 to 2015, Bell served as CEO of an international translation company and, in 2012, was appointed to President Barack Obama’s White House Business Council by US Representative John Yarmuth. She holds a BA in English from Centre College and an MA in French from the University of Louisville. Originally from Sinking Fork, Kentucky, she lives in Manhattan, where her landlord once was Philip Roth.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, TikTok, buymeacoffee.com, and medium.com.

Tell Me What You SeeTell Me What You See is a collection of ten experimental short stories about the January 6th invasion on the US Capitol, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, the increase in Alzheimer’s cases, and other news events from 2020 and 2021.

Written in both word and image, pieces from the collection have been called “​​inventive and topical and fresh, emotional, chaotic, and important” by The McNeese Review, “timely, relevant, and interesting” by The MIssouri Review, and “cool” by The Baffler. Title story “Tell Me What You See” is also a 2021 New York Foundation for the Arts City Artist Corps winner.

If you decide to check out the book, please do so via this Amazon Affiliate link. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 441(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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For the past two and a half years, I’ve worked as a freelance editor. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of coaching and editing for amazing writers and their stories. But during that time, I’ve also been writing.

I’m currently working on a middle-grade fantasy. I finished my first draft in May of this year. It was my first draft of a manuscript. And after a long three years of writing, rewriting, and finally discovering my plot, I was ecstatic to move on to the editing phase.

I’m an absolute geek for editing! As a content editor, I was up against my favorite challenge, and this time, I was facing it with my own beloved characters. But…as I faced down that first draft, I learned some important things from the process.

Editing your own work is hard. Even with all my skills and techniques, one big thing continued to hold me back: indecision. I struggled to make solid choices about my main character, names for side characters, world building, setting, etc…

Maybe you can relate. You LOVE your characters, and you’ve worked so hard to put together that first draft. Now you need to tear it all apart and do the work necessary to make it echo with purpose and heart. Where do you start? How do you deal with changing things you know need editing, yet you love so much?

I dealt with all these things while editing my first draft. I want to share my top 6 things to focus on when editing your first draft.

1. Take. A. Break.Alright, I’m going to be real with you for a second. I hate taking breaks in my writing. Obviously, I fall off the bandwagon sometimes when life with two little kids, a working husband, my own job, and a puppy take over. But, when I finished my first draft, I was SO ready to edit it.

But…almost every writing craft book and author I spoke to HIGHLY recommended taking a break after you finish writing your first draft.

Why? Because it gives you the necessary distance to dig into your first draft and tear it apart. The amount of time you take away from your manuscript is up to you, but I would recommend at least two weeks. If you can hold out for a whole month, that would be even better!

1. Outline Your Current Plot and Revised PlotWhen you have finished your break, the first thing I recommend doing is reading through your manuscript. Don’t make any notes on this read-through. Once you have read through it, copy your story into a new document and make an outline of your current story. If you already have an outlining method you love, use that! If you don’t have an outlining method you love, I recommend the Save the Cat method for novelists by Jessica Brody. You can find it on her website or in the Save the Cat Writes a Novel, by Jessica Brody.

Once you have your current outline down, make an outline that includes any revisions you want to make. Be sure to spend a lot of time here making those plot decisions. Plot elements always change in rewrites, but it’s important to start into revisions with a strong idea of where you are going and what needs to be cut.

1. Start with your Main Character(s)Just like your novel’s plot, when you start editing your first draft, you want to outline your character’s arc throughout the story. Go through their development, their traits, attitude, behaviors, etc. Make sure these are working in tandem and not against each other.

Your character should grow, but they should also be consistent. Focus on your character’s wants, needs, and goals. What do they need internally to change by the end of the story? What do they want more than anything else? What are they trying to achieve by the beginning versus the end of your novel? If you can flesh those out before doing any rewrites, you’ll save yourself a lot of editing down the road.

1. Work through World BuildingThis point is fairly straightforward, but no matter what genre of children’s books you are writing, whether that’s contemporary fiction or fantasy, you will need to flesh out the elements of your world. Heading into editing your first draft, you can flag areas where you need to strengthen your worldbuilding.

Are there settings you can strengthen? What kind of details should you include in your world’s description? There are so many great resources out there on worldbuilding. One of my favorites is A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting, by Mary Buckham. Dig into these resources and nail down any weak worldbuilding in your manuscript!

1. Make Your Choices NowWhen working with clients about finishing the first draft, I constantly emphasize banishing your inner editor. My writer’s group and I are big fans of using brackets to summarize what needs to happen when we get stuck while drafting. I would use them on everything, from names to entire scenes. When I finished the first draft, I added in that information, but not all of it. My first draft was littered with indecision.

As you begin evaluating and tackling editing your first draft, you need to commit to making decisions about any content you haven’t fully fleshed out. Like worldbuilding, leave no proverbial stone unturned. Come up with names for characters and places, flesh out settings, nail down character personalities, and don’t be afraid to take your time here. It will make a huge difference to your manuscript. When agents and readers pick up a manuscript or book, they want to be hooked into all of the unique elements of your story. Take the time now to plan those and make choices about what details you want to include to make your world rich and enthralling.

1. Embrace Rewriting Of all of the things I learned while revising, embracing rewriting was one I didn’t think I’d advocate so strongly for. I used to think that all I needed to do for revision was work on adding in elements of world-building, straighten out some character development, and rewrite a few chapters. What I ended up realizing was how much easier it was to rewrite everything with the new plot in place.

Now, this might not be the case for you. I discovered that the entire first half of my book wasn’t working. I didn’t love it. So…I cut it all out and rewrote 17 chapters. That might sound daunting, but it actually only took me two months, and by the end, I was so much happier with the plot!

Don’t be afraid to rewrite parts or large swaths of your manuscript. It may seem daunting, but the reward is immeasurable and noticeable in your manuscript.

There are so many other revision points I could discuss here, but these are the ones I struggled with and learned the most from. Hopefully, they will guide you on your exciting and sometimes arduous revision journey. Since this is my last article for the year and for this column, I hope you will continue to improve your kid lit craft and have a wonderful writing journey. Feel free to reach out and follow me on social media!

Happy writing!

Olivia Fisher is a children’s lit writer and freelance editor with an English degree from BYU-Idaho. When she isn’t dreaming about living in a treehouse or chasing down her two young boys, she enjoys curling up with a book, watching Star Wars, writing her next adventure, and trying to live in the state of child-like wonder that we all secretly, or not so secretly, miss. Follow her adventures on Twitter or Instagram, or hire her for your next editing escapade on Fiverr.

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After nearly two years of being able to teach through these articles, my time with the DIY MFA family is ending. I’ve absolutely loved sharing my best strategies and recommendations for your authorial career, and this last article won’t be any different.

While I could have left you with more to-do’s, I’ve opted for something a little unconventional, and instead, want to leave you with 6 self-publishing principles you should know.

Take some time after reading the article to put them to memory and commit to them. If you do, you’ll have a lasting authorial career brimmed with fulfillment and accomplishment.

Know Your Vision and Remain TrueMarketing trends will come and go. This is a fact of the Indie Publishing industry. What shouldn’t morph like the wind is your vision.

• Why are you writing?
• What stories are you curating?
• Who are you intending to impact?
• What does success look like for you?

These are vital to know from the outset, for they will be what ground you when the noise of opinion grows louder than the steady call of your original vision.

What you originally set out to do with your stories has to become your anchor. This will help you through seasons of doubt. Comparison. Slowness.

There will be many times you’ll think you haven’t done enough, written enough, published enough, or earned enough. But when you lift your vision, you’ll find you’re still on track, and perhaps even ahead of yourself.

Knowing your own goals and desires will allow you to craft blinders necessary to keep from betraying your work and following everyone else. Know with all certainty what your vision is and do what’s in your capability to remain true to it throughout your career.

Have A Strong CommunityCommunity isn’t synonymous with loved ones. Nor does it often translate to those you assumed would naturally support you. There isn’t a writer who starts their career without hope their greatest support will be their significant other, their parents, or even best friends.

Unfortunately, a great number of times, this isn’t the case. Many of these individuals eventually come around if they see success (by their own definition), but until then, writers and authors alike need a safe place to land when things are not going as planned. When comparison and imposter syndrome kicks in. When doubt becomes crippling, and the novel seems like it’ll never get done.

Communities of like-minded people who are in the trenches like you are vital. This can be a community of authors, and non-authors alike, but they’re also entrepreneurs working hard to build something from nothing. I have both, and they’ve kept me through the years when I nearly quit for good.

Keep your community at the top of your list. These will become your people. They will nurture you, love you, encourage you, support you, buy from you, and stick beside you, no matter what.

Get Comfortable PivotingThe sooner you make a habit of getting comfortable having to do things differently, the easier your journey will be. What you do today to write, edit, publish, and market your novel is not what you’ll be doing in one year. Or five.

Make pivoting your friend.

As your skills grow, and as you develop as a human being with increasing experiences, your process will evolve. Not to mention, marketing trends are always fluctuating. What attracts readers today is not what will attract readers tomorrow.

Pivoting in business is natural. It has nothing to do with how well you write, or whether you did something wrong. It simply comes when people are ready for change. Usually this doesn’t mean a change in the tropes they love, or the books they favor, but mainly in the way they receive it, and how they want their reading experience to be curated.

Learn to pivot and be okay. It will happen often.

Quit But Don’t FailI can’t stress this enough. It is okay to quit.

Yes, I said it. Quit and do it fast.

If the story isn’t working? Quit. If the characters aren’t going in the direction needed? Either follow them down their path or quit. If you no longer believe the thematics of the novel align with your personal values, quit.

Quitting isn’t a permanent end. It’s simply stopping what isn’t working to pivot to what is. Most authors would have undergone far less stress in their careers had they let an idea go and just quit.

Of course, when you give your word, especially if a release date is attached to it, sound integrity would have you meet your deadlines, and keep your word by publishing.

But if you’re in the ideation phase, the editing phase, or you’ve been working to publish secretly but have told no one – if it feels right, and there wouldn’t be egregious conflicts – if you’ve got to quit, quit.

It’s only when you permanently give up you then become a failure.

You’re not obligated to keep working at a story, marketing plan, or towards a goal that just no longer works. Strive for alignment and fulfillment instead. Do what feels right, because often that intuition is our clue that it is.

Show Up For Your Readers, and They’ll Show Up For YouThere’s power in remembering who you’re doing this for. Of course, we first write for ourselves. At least, we should. Because if you’re not a fan of your own books, then it’ll be tough convincing others to be.

That said, after writing for ourselves, we write for our readers. In this era of Instagram and TikTok, it’s easy to look at follower counts, strive to keep getting more, and forget these are all people.

It’s easy to say, “I only have one thousand followers.”

But imagine if one thousand people showed up at your front door, asking for an autographed novel. You would lose your mind.

I want you to keep that at the forefront. Let gratitude be the choice you continuously make while growing as an author. Whether you have ten readers, or ten thousand, you have actual human beings besides your mom who are in their homes, browsing your website, reading your emails, and highly expecting your release.

Show up for these precious humans, because I promise you, they’re already showing up for you. They’re talking to other readers about your books. They’re creating Pinterest boards inspired by your characters. They’re waiting for your next email with more bookish goodies.

They’re inspired by you and wholly support who you are, and the books you write. Show up, and you’ll find that your people have been there all along.

Stephanie BwaBwa is an Afro-Caribbean, Christian epic romantasy novelist, fantasy universe builder, educator, and podcastor, with big dreams, a big heart, and novels that fill readers with awe, light, and wonder. She’s the creator and author behind the fantasy universe: Elledelle, full of angels, adventure, romance, and light. You can usually catch her going for a walk through a park, or simply binging anything creatively juicy with too many snacks. Get in contact with Stephanie directly at: stephaniebwabwa.com or follow her on Instagram or Goodreads.

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I love craft books and I love food. So when I saw How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies by Amy Wallen come across my desk, I just knew I had to investigate further. And what a treat! Not only does Amy provide fantastic advice, but the recipes she weaves throughout look super yummy. I was also pleasantly surprised that she included recipes for savory pies for those like me who don’t have much of a sweet-tooth.

Read on for this fantastic interview!

About Amy WallenAmy Wallen is the author of How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet and Savory Tips for the Writing Life, the Los Angeles Times bestselling novel MoonPies and Movie Stars, and the memoir When We Were Ghouls: A Memoir of Ghost Stories.

As writer-in-residence at Ocean Discovery Institute, Amy teaches personal storytelling to young people traditionally excluded from science due to race, income status, and educational opportunity. She also facilitates and co-teaches manuscript workshops in San Diego and France (at which she serves pie). For several years, Amy was associate director at the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and a novel writing instructor at UCSD and UCLA Extensions.

She is also the creator of Savory Salons—literary salons with pie—a day of discourse with successful authors on the writing life, and the founder of DimeStories—three-minute stories told by the author and featured on NPR.

You can follow Amy on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About How to Write a Novel in 20 PiesProviding comfort food and inspiration for the aspiring novelist, How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies offers novelist and writing coach Amy Wallen’s insider secrets on living the writing life. Filled with chapters about writing, revising, submitting to an agent, and book promotion, this book combines Wallen’s experienced writing advice with the brilliant illustrations of Emil Wilson, including recipes for literary success and the full recipes for 20 sweet and savory pies.

As a novelist, memoirist, and associate director of the New York State Summer Writers Institute, Amy Wallen has a few things to say about the writing world, many of them irreverent and snarky. From her perspective as a teacher, mentor, and published author, her belief is that the way to survive the hard knocks of writing a book and trying to get published is to bust a gut working, laughing, and eating pie.

With chapters including “Oh Agent, Where Art Thou?”, “Revising, Rewriting, and Reimagining,” and “The Joy of Rejection,” Wallen balances out the challenging stages of the writing process with both sweet and savory goodness, featuring recipes for chocolate pecan pie, salmon and portobello pie, and the recipe for the best cherry pie ever.

Throughout the book, Wallen demystifies the vagaries of the publishing business, providing delicious recipes that will keep your belly full even when you’re staring at an empty page. Her writing advice is neatly paired with the brilliant illustrations of Emil Wilson, who shares her sharp wit, sardonic look at the demands of the writing life, and her mad love of pie. Combined, the stories, lessons, images, and recipes will provide encouragement and camaraderie for the novel-writing journey, from putting pen to page, to finding an agent, to celebrating publication—all with a piece of pie.

Interview with Amy WallenLori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that magical moment you knew?

Amy Wallen: So many authors answer the same, but I’ve always written stories. When I was a child my family traveled around the world living in places like the Southern US, Africa, and South America.

My first “book” was “self-published” (Scotch tape and Big Chief perforated tablet pages) when, at the age of 7, I wrote a few lines about each place we had lived, and I drew a picture of each place. Colored pencil was my medium. I suppose that was my first illustrated book. When I was 12, I wrote a book of short stories collected in a Snoopy spiral notebook for my brother for Christmas one year.

But my start came later when I was asked to be a member of Janet Fitch’s writing group. For four years I drove to Los Angeles every two weeks for her read & critique group. She was one of my toughest and best teachers who I felt gave me the answers to all the questions about writing that I didn’t know I had.

The magical moment when I knew I was truly a writer was when my first novel was published and when someone asked me how it felt, out of my mouth came, “I feel legitimate.”

LW: You’ve written a novel. You’ve written a memoir. Now a craft book. Can you tell me a bit about why you’ve chosen to write in so many genres and how you pull it off?

AW: I’m not sure any of my books were a choice. I don’t mean to get woo-woo about the process, but each book happened by happenstance.

The novel started when I was doing morning pages. I mostly journaled and one day was tired of complaining and meandering on and on about my woes. I was tired of listening to myself, so I took a character who I had created a few weeks before in a workshop and let her write my morning pages. And off we went. She started telling me her story, which I thought was going to be a short story, and 300 pages later was a novel. I’ve always thought of Ruby as the writer, and I was just the typist.

My memoir happened because I went to grad school so I could get those letters after my name in order to get a teaching job. Since I had a novel published I decided I would study creative nonfiction instead and hone my ability to write essays. A lot like my first novel, I had one essay I was working on and 300 pages later it became my creative thesis and then my published memoir. Maybe I just don’t know when to put my pen down.

This third book came to me while standing in front of my novel writing classes. All the students sit looking up at me as though I have the secrets to writing a novel. I figured that’s why they signed up for the class, so I wanted to share all my secrets. I took my class curriculum and personal stories I share in all my classes and put them together to encourage all writers that the secret is persevering.

Writing my books and seeing them published has been living my dream. And, I wanted to help my students and other writers to live their own dreams.

How did I pull off writing three different genres? I guess I pulled a Nike and Just Did It. I didn’t think about the fact that I was writing different genres until I got to the other side of them. I just keep writing what wants to come out. I just write.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

AW: Every day seems to be different. I love editing and revising as much as I love creating a new story, so when a story grabs me I can be at my seat for hours. But when the book throws up an obstacle, I find myself up and about more. I walk my dog more than she wants to go out, I ride my bike on every errand I can think of, and I make more pies.

Sometimes, yes, this can be procrastination, but usually for me, it’s when I’m percolating ideas. I don’t walk with anyone but my dog because she doesn’t interrupt my thoughts, I don’t ride my bike with anyone else in tow, and making pies is pretty solitary, except for the eating part.

Then, when I’ve got the book at a place where it needs polish and shine, I am at my desk for hours at a time again, and my bike tires go flat, my dog whines to go out, and my husband loses his pie belly.

A typical day of writing starts first thing in the morning. Post-dog walk, I take a big jug of water and climb the stairs to my attic office, I open the work-in-progress document, reread the last couple of pages, and set to writing.

I don’t write an outline, but I do make lots of lists and as my fingers move across the keyboard and my head thinks of what’s to come, I jot down notes of what I don’t want to forget to include. So, my desk is an utter rainbow of sticky notes of all my reminders-to-self. If my typing slows, I’ll scan the notes for what I wanted to make sure to include, and then I include it.

I feel writing is a 24/7 job. Even when I’m at the grocery store I’m thinking about a story or ideas.

LW: I love the unique decision to weave a craft book with one of the timeless procrastination methods, baking. I think for nonfiction writing, be it memoir, essay, or even this craft book, coming up with the structure can be difficult. Can you talk about how you came up with the structure?

AW: Procrastibaking. That’s the term I’ve heard a lot. I love the word, but not sure I believe procrastination is what I am always doing. I could very well be lying to myself, and it wouldn’t be the first time. But, I consider cleaning out my fridge as procrastinating, and pie baking is more of a meditation for me. It’s where my mind settles and I can revisit something that, prior to baking, I couldn’t figure out for the story.

A lot of people, Mark Twain for one, and me, go for walks to let the story percolate or simmer, or what it feels like to me is that the scenes settle. Baking is where my ideas can finally settle rather than floating around inside my head not knowing where to fall. It’s like I leave my desk, and my ideas can find a seat as the music of musical chairs stops. But pie is twofold because it is also comfort food.

Yes, structure can often be one of the hardest parts of writing a book-length manuscript. I think memoir may be the hardest to figure that out, but maybe that’s my own experience, or maybe the nature of the beast since it can be hard to determine what sets the story off on its trajectory, because it’s the specific story and situation we want to read/write about, not the chronology of the life (that would be autobiography).

So, where does this story begin and/or end is a common question when writing memoir. Obviously, the author hasn’t died, so the life hasn’t ended but the story to be told needs to have an ending. That’s a part of the examination of what the writer wants and needs to tell. My memoir started in the middle and the story fanned out from there, but it took me a few drafts to figure that out.

For this most recent book I naturally felt it should be structured in the order it takes to have an idea, write a solid book, find an agent, get a publishing deal, and have a book out in the world. Each of those require consistent persistence, and I wanted to help writers to keep going no matter how long it seems it takes to realize their aspirations and achievement of each of those steps.

Of course, the order of the pies was another structure that had to lie parallel to the narrative about writing and publishing. The recipes and the personal essays that go with each recipe have an overall arc as well. The theme of the book is perseverance, and the recipes build in momentum and difficulty. I wouldn’t say any are difficult, but they do get fancier, because after all don’t each of the steps toward finishing and publishing deserve celebration pies?

LW: So, your title says “How to Write a Novel,” but you also include advice on writing memoir in this book. What are some of the similarities and differences between fiction and memoir?

AW: Yes, the title, like the rest of the book, is irreverent. The book tackles all types of creative writing, and it focuses on how to pursue the writing life.

There are many differences and similarities between memoir and novels, but I’ll share a couple of my own personal experiences when switching genres from novel writing to memoir.

One similarity in fiction and nonfiction is both have a main character in a particular situation, which sets the character off on a journey. All characters have wants and needs.

One area where the two genres differ is the main character in a memoir has two voices—voice of experience and voice of innocence. The voice of experience is telling the story. The voice of innocence is to whom the story is happening.

As a novelist, this was hard for me to get my head around. I could hear the little girl telling the story, me as a child. But I couldn’t figure out how to bring out the older, more experienced me examining the situation from a distance, from experience.

It took me reading many memoirs and examining how others had done it, and the description in Fearless Confessions by Sue William Silverman. It wasn’t that I didn’t already analyze and think about my childhood and have an adult perspective, the difficulty for me was seamlessly allowing both voices to exist side-by-side in a scene on the same page.

In fiction, this had always been a shift in point of view and worked either inside the point of view character, or from a more distant perspective within the same point of view. Eventually, it clicked for me, and I was able to not just tell the story of my peripatetic childhood, but could reveal how it made me who I was and who I am.

Both genres need conflict, tension, suspense. And, both genres require the writer to use their imagination. Memoir is not just the transcript of a recording of your life. Memoir is a litany of memories, but memories come from our imagination and the “creative” part of creative nonfiction is how to put the story together, how the story develops. This is true of fiction as well.

As mentioned above, the structure of a memoir, as in fiction, plays an important part. In fiction, this same building of the story is done by fully understanding the motivations of the characters. So, in some ways that’s what a fiction writer does as well—examines the whole of the character—how they got to be who they are now.

The best writing is when none of these building blocks and character developments are seen. We can just read the story and not think about whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, just that it’s a story that transports us to another experience by another human being.

LW: How do you know when a nugget of an idea has the legs to become a full-fledged book or story? What is your process for getting it there?

AW: If a character in a story has much more to reveal than just what happens in one short story, then the writer should keep going. Every character has a want and a need. When these are resolved, then that’s when the story is complete. One story may turn into a novel because there is more to what the character needs to learn.

If it’s just an idea about where a story might go, writers have different ways of testing it out. Some sit down and write it and see where it takes them. This is me—I write from the seat of my pants. Curiosity keeps me digging. If I am not curious after a few pages, I know the idea won’t intrigue anyone else.

Others prepare an outline. This is a great way to see if the story can be plotted out. My third book was sold on proposal, so I wrote it after I got a book deal. But the chapter outline I wrote to sell the book were all chapters I was certain I could solve for X. I felt confident the trajectory had a beginning, middle, and THE END.

LW: What is one of the biggest mistakes that you see beginning writers make and how can they avoid it?

AW: Not writing from their gut. I’ve seen too many writers try to follow what they think is supposed to be done instead of reminding themselves of their own hopes and desires for the story. I’ve seen too many writers try to follow everything their writing group or early readers tell them to do. They end up confused about what they even meant the story to be in the first place.

On the other hand, some writers only listen to their ego and don’t take any advice, and this also gets them no place but a book that is about one thing with very little depth.

To sum up, beginning writers would do best if they took in advice, considered the source, their original intention, and how the two mesh. Can that scene that the group said to get rid of be rewritten from a different perspective? There’s a reason it was written in the first place. But listen to your gut. If it feels right to let it go, then hit Delete.

LW: I want to know all about the illustrations! Why did you decide to use illustrations? What was the process of working with an illustrator like? How much creative control did you have? How did you collaborate with Emil Wilson on the artwork?

AW: I always saw this book as illustrated with whimsical characters. My friend Emil is mentioned in the book as a friend in our Janet Fitch group. We are both pie bakers and I knew his illustrations, so I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in collaborating. He was very much interested. I already knew our senses of humor connected, so that was no issue.

I sent him my proposal and because he is an art director in advertising he was able to help put together one of the most top-notch proposals. My idea and narrative, along with his whimsy, set off to the agents and publishers hand in hand.

As far as creative control, I wrote and he drew. I handed him what I had written and he always came up with something I loved. We meshed well. It was a partnership in creativity.

I learned later that most writers have an illustrator assigned to them, but that wasn’t the case with this book, so I guess I was very lucky to know Emil would be a good fit.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. I know How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies is a craft book, so maybe what are some of the top books that you recommend to people?

AW: The first song I would want to go with this book is “I Can See Clearly Now” because this is a book on perseverance, on how to keep pushing through all the obstacles, riding over bumps, and going around detours in the writing life, from putting your pie butt in the chair all the way through to publication, and hopefully, by the end, the reader can see their path and at least know they can return to the book for more pushes and nudges and pie, that I’m there for them when the going gets tough.

But you didn’t ask for songs, you asked for books.

For me, what got my foot tapping was Annie Lamott’s Bird by Bird. I got up and started to dance when I read Ralph Keyes’ The Courage to Write.

To help my novel-writing students learn to boogie, I teach them the basic steps with The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman.

But to really jive and get down, we do exercises in What If? edited by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. We rock out and go deep inside our writing with Naming the World edited by Bret Anthony Johnston.

For any wallflowers who come to my creative writing workshops, we work on stepping out with Now Write! books, both the fiction and nonfiction editions, edited by Sherry Ellis.

Sue Silverman’s Fearless Confessions answered many questions for me about the voice of innocence vs voice of experience when writing my memoir, and it’s a wonderful waltz through the corridors of revealing truth and finding metaphor and beauty in moments of life.

I also believe that one of the best dance partners to have is other books, not just how-to, but being the apprentice to the author of books one loves. The best way to learn the steps is to take the arms of someone else and follow what they do. Then learn how to lead.

I love quirky off beat stories, and some of my all-time favorites that inspired my own were Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Greeley, and Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje, and Claire DeWitt’s crime novels as I’m working on my next novel which is about a menopausal Nancy Drew, so I’m trying to figure out the crime/mystery drama. Here I go working on a whole new genre again, a whole new melody.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

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For many writers, beginnings are easy. An image floats in your head for months or an idea marinates for years during the commute to your day job or a line comes fully formed into your mind while cooking dinner. When you finally sit down to honor this image, idea, or line, the story pours out. Kicking off a story and complicating a protagonist’s world can be loads of fun for a writer. You follow your train of thought and watch the word count stack up. But then…inevitably, you hit the dreaded murky middle of your story. You’re only 40,000 words in and have 40,000 or more to go. The shine of your idea has faded a little, the image in your head only took you so far, and suddenly even sitting down to write may feel like a chore.

Like quicksand, the harder you fight the murky middle, the worse it gets. Scenes feel forced. Dialogue stilted. Plot holes abound.

When you feel the pull of the murky middle quicksand at your feet, here are five things to try to get your writing back on solid ground:

1. Go back to your why.Why are you writing this story? What was the germ of the idea that started you down this particular story journey? Was it an article you read, a beautiful setting you happened upon on vacation, or a snippet of overheard conversation? Try to recapture the original feeling that sparked your creativity. Next, dig into why you were drawn to this idea. What about you makes you the best person to write this story?

Understanding why we want to write a particular thing is a powerful motivator for both your writing and for your story. Keeping your why front and center will make coming to the work easier and, let’s be honest, the only real way through the murky middle is through. You have to keep writing. Remember why you started when the middle feels tough, let it inspire you to keep going.

1. Articulate the point of your story.Whether it’s that love conquers all in your romance or the triumph of the human spirit in your dystopian novel or that we are all worthy of redemption in your literary fiction, you have something to say in your writing.

Knowing the point of your particular story is imperative to keeping your writing on track from beginning to end. Setting up all those plot complications and secondary characters can easily distract even the most focused writer from their point. Take a moment to step back and articulate your book’s point. Re-read the chapter where you last left off and see if knowing your point opens up the door to what should happen next. If not, back up another scene and another until you find the spot where you lost your point.

Now, write your point on a Post-it and put it somewhere you can see it when you sit down to write. Keep that point top of mind as you write forward.

1. Skip ahead.If whatever you are writing is boring you, stop. If you’re bored writing it, your reader will probably be bored reading it. Skip ahead to a scene that excites you. Know what your climax is going to be? Write it. Now, back it out. How do you get there from where you left off?

This tactic can be hard for a chronological writer—that’s me!—but giving yourself permission to skip ahead will open up new ideas and can keep your writing fresh. You may find that whatever scene you thought needed to come next doesn’t actually have a place in your story after all.

1. Brainstorm a list.If you find yourself not sure what should happen next in your story, take a break to brainstorm. Write down the first five things that come to mind of what your protagonist could do next in their story. Now throw that list out. Take out a new sheet of paper and write another five. Then write another five after that.

Your first five ideas are more than likely the most predictable—and no one wants a predictable story. Generate more and more ideas until you finally find the option that both surprises you and feels most authentic to your character. Chances are, it will be exactly what needs to happen next to move your protagonist forward.

1. Shore up the “because of that” trajectory.Outline what you’ve written so far and see how each scene or chapter is linked. Are the scenes linked by “and then” or “because of that” or “but” or “therefore?” If your scenes are linked by “and then” you have a problem. “And then” means either not much is happening in your story or things are happening to your protagonist and, as a result, your protagonist lacks agency.

Each action in your story should have a consequence (because of that) driving the next scene’s action or create a complication for your protagonist (but/therefore). Take a look at the outline you made and analyze your connectors. If you are stuck in the middle and unsure what happens next, go back a scene or two and see if your connectors slipped into “and then” territory and make an adjustment. Ideally, your action should be falling dominoes of action/consequence/action/consequence that lead the reader right into your inevitable climax scene.

The middle is always going to be somewhat slow going and difficult, but don’t be tempted to abandon your project for the next shiny new idea. Take the opportunity to slow down and get intentional with your writing. Go back to the heart of your story and remember when it was a sparkly and woke you in the middle of the night with its brilliance. Harness that energy and use it to propel you—and your protagonist—through the second half of your story.

Monica Cox is a writer and book coach living in North Carolina with her husband, two teenage boys, and a cranky but adorable cat. A former public and media relations executive, she now guides writers through their writing and revision process, including navigating murky middles. Her goal is to give writers the encouragement, feedback, and tools they need to keep writing, finish their manuscripts, and strengthen their craft along the way. Connect with Monica at monicacox.net and on Instagram and Twitter.

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When I sit down to write a novel, setting comes first. And the setting needs to be familiar. I spent much of my time in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, before we moved to the suburbs of Southern California. All my books have been set in one of these two locations.

I love that my characters, like me, are creatures of the suburbs and these familiar stomping grounds flow through my imagination with ease, leaving enough space for my characters to take over the story. I can smell the grass in Ohio, and I can feel the salt air in California even if I’m simply sitting at my desk, writing. My characters visit my favorite restaurants in my imagination, and those places are based on my real memories.

I find the setting to be the foundation of my stories.And that setting is the suburbs. I love the competition seething beneath the surface of these seemingly perfect lives. The drama of the proverbial keeping up with the Joneses. The soccer moms and the football dads, the sometimes ruthless striving and social climbing that can happen in the outwardly perfect places. These are the situations that form my characters. The places they love to live in and do devious things in. That is, until now.

With my new novel, The Widow, I’ve left the suburbs and plopped my characters inside the DC beltway and I had so much fun. My husband had the honor of his lifetime serving a term in congress, and I took advantage of being in DC as often as I could. I trained to become a docent at the Library of Congress and learned how to lead tours of the White House. I climbed to the top of the capitol dome and attended every social event I could. I jumped in with both feet, even serving on the committee for the First Lady’s Luncheon. And because I did all of this, and lived about half of every month in DC for almost two years, it became another foundational setting for me and my writing.

I loved the eeriness, the density of the city can evoke, and I loved the ability to walk to fabulous restaurants for dinner. The charm of the district’s townhomes and row houses with views, if you’re lucky, of a fabulous monument or the capitol dome lit up during session is incomparable. I loved wandering the district and learning about its history and charm.

The Eastern Market area, one of the longest-running city markets, became a place where I shopped for cheese at the cheese store, grabbed flowers from the local florist, and otherwise enjoyed the vibrancy of city life. In the summers, young moms and their children would play in the fountains outside our apartment building for hours. I visited Arlington Cemetery, marveling at the feeling visiting our country’s fallen heroes evokes in your soul.

I made the most of my time in DC, and I’m so glad I did. When the story of The Widow popped into my head, I knew I had to write it and because I felt at home, so to speak, on The Hill, my characters did, too. In fact, Jody Asher, the congressman’s wife, has enjoyed thirty years on The Hill when the story opens. We find her climbing the grand stairs of the Library of Congress—my favorite building in DC—and as she did, as we did, I could feel the indentations in the marble steps from all the generations of visitors.

We were there together, in the story, even though I was at home in California, in my office behind my desk. Jody and her daughter grab lunch at a bistro located across the street from my first apartment in DC near Eastern Market, and Jody and Martin happily live in the townhome my husband and I lived in for a year on the Northeast side of the city, only five blocks from the Supreme Court.

Martin goes to work in the Raymond House office building, where my husband’s office was, and Jody remembers decorating it when they first arrived in DC. That’s an experience I had myself, and because I was there, and lived it, I found it so poignantly present the setting came alive for me in my imagination, and hopefully for you when you read the story of The Widow.

I remember walking through Statuary Hall in the Capitol where each state gets to honor a famous citizen with a grand statue. It’s fun to stroll through, discovering who is who, looking the person up if you don’t know who it is. Just beyond, down a corridor, I found a salute to the first women who served in Congress.

And it was there, down that hall, that I first heard of the tradition of The Widow’s Mandate. First, there was Mae Ella Nolan from California, who became a U.S. Representative after her husband died in 1922. Throughout the next century, forty-seven additional American women followed in her footsteps, including Mary Bono, Sonny Bono’s wife, and recently, Cindy McCain, John McCain’s wife.

If I hadn’t been exploring my setting, I wouldn’t have connected to this tradition and found my story there. Of course, since I’m a suspense author, my twist on The Widow’s Mandate is a little darker. As Diane Kincaid, a political scientist, wrote: “Statistically speaking, for women aspiring to serve in Congress, the best husband has been a dead husband.” How could I not find a story there?

So my tip: If you know your setting well, if you’ve lived it, breathed it, your characters will be free to roam, explore and get into trouble. And you can create knowing the story is grounded in your reality. To me, that’s the best. So be sure to go explore the place you live, see it from a character’s eyes. It’s wonderful what’s waiting out there.

Kaira Rouda is a multiple award–winning, Amazon Charts and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her novels of domestic suspense include Somebody’s Home, The Next Wife, The Favorite Daughter, Best Day Ever, and All the Difference. To date, Kaira’s work has been translated into more than ten languages. She lives in Southern California with her family. For more information, visit www.kairarouda.com.

The post Using a Setting You Know to Set Your Characters Free appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Heloisa Prieto. We’ll be talking about all of the puzzle pieces in her book, The Musician.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for December is Cozy Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Heloisa Prieto and I discuss: The different points of view that she used and why she included journal excerpts. * How she incorporated her love of fairy tales, mythology, and magic in The Musician*. * Her process for keeping her story organized as she pieced it together.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Heloisa PrietoDr. Heloisa Prieto is one of Brazil’s most celebrated children and YA authors. She has sold over two million books in her native country. Her Mano series of YA novels inspired the Time Warner movie The Best Things in the World. She recently published 1,002 Ghosts, and her book Viajantes do Vento was selected for the PNLD Public Book-Purchasing Programme, the biggest of its kind in the world.

She has spent a lifetime researching myths and legends-both ancient and modern-and organizing and curating collections of cross-cultural interest. She has created and organized numerous creative writing workshops for children, teenagers, and adults. Heloisa also has a PhD in French literature from the University of São Paulo, and a master’s degree in semiotics from the Catholic University of São Paulo.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The MusicianThomas has felt alone most of his life, his only companions the musical creatures that he can see but others can’t. Wealth, talent, charisma, good looks, and fame conceal the eighteen-year-old’s lingering pain following the loss of his parents. His music is his bridge to the world, and his favorite form of connection.

A chance meeting with a group of strangers leads to the eventual revelation of his magical musical secret-and there are those who wish to steal it from him. Soon the wealthy Dr. Alonso and his beguiling daughter, Dora, trick Thomas into joining a cult from which he may never escape.

When Marlui, a young Guarani shaman, senses the danger surrounding Thomas, she vows to protect him from Dr. Alonso at all costs. Can she rescue him, or will Thomas succumb to the advances of Dora and lose not only his heart but the powers that bring him joy?

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 440(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 440: Music and Magic: Writing a Brazilian Story for an English-Speaking Audience — Interview with Heloisa Prieto appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Like many mystery readers, I love mystery television shows. Although I found it a tough task to narrow them down, today I share my favorites. I think there is something for everyone on this list, from cozies to gritty police procedural to dark (sometimes really dark) suspense. Happy reading and watching!

ShetlandGenre: Police Procedural

Adaptation/Original: Adapted from Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series

Setting: Mainland island of the Shetland Islands with not infrequent trips to the Scottish mainland and others of the Shetland Islands.

Premise of show (I say “of show” for all of these, because sometimes it is different from the source material.): Widowed police Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez solves murders and raises his daughter Cassie on the island of Mainland, one of the chain of islands off the coast of Scotland that comprise Shetland. He is ably assisted by Detective Constable Sandy Wilson and Detective Sergeant Alison (Tosh) McIntosh. The murders often intertwine with the rivalries and grudges of the community as well as social issues.

Why I Love It: Shetland is just so satisfying to watch. The scenery is breathtaking, the cinematography and editing atmospheric, the culture fascinating, and the characters have my heart. I love them all and just want happiness for them, dammit! The mysteries are twisty and rooted in the place and the characters.

The Brokenwood Mysteries Genre: Police Procedural, Cozy

Adaptation/Original: Original

Setting: Brokenwood, NZ (fictional)

Premise of Show: Big city police detective Mike Shepherd comes to Brokenwood to help on a case. He likes it so much, he decides to take the empty Detective Senior Sergeant position, even though it’s a step down from his position in the Big Smoke (nickname for the city).

With a charming/annoying (depending on who you talk to) penchant for playing country music in his car and a kind, egalitarian attitude, Mike soon wins over his new colleagues Detective Constable Kristin Sims, DC Sam Breen (who left at the end of the last season I watched and was replaced by DC Daniel Chalmers), and especially medical examiner Dr. Gina Kadinsky. Brokenwood may be small, but its share of crime and quirky characters are not, creating a show that’s twisty, interesting, warm, and funny.

Why I Love It: The gorgeous setting of small town New Zealand and the glimpses of another culture delight, but the real draw here is the well-drawn characters and their relationships. The writing and acting are top-notch, as are the plots. This show features some seriously memorable murders as well as some compelling overarching storylines and character arcs. I particularly enjoy Kristin Sims with her confidence in her work and her identity. I confess to often being annoyed by Gina’s fixation on Mike and her treatment of Kristin. I wish Kristin would give her hell about it sometime. (I haven’t watched the new season yet, so maybe I will get my wish.)

Murder She WroteGenre: Cozy, Amateur Sleuth

Adaptation/Original: Original (Although there is a long-running book series inspired by the TV series and written by “Jessica Fletcher” and different co-writers, as well as a new book series where Jessica’s great-niece Bea takes over the sleuthing in Cabot Cove. It’s good so far!)

Setting: Cabot Cove, Maine (fictional)

Premise of Show: Widowed and retired high school English teacher Jessica Fletcher tries her hand at mystery novel writing and becomes a huge success. The series follows her life in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine, as she writes murder mysteries and solves them in real life. Although Jessica does travel quite a bit and solves murders then as well, the extremely high number of murders in Cabot Cove for such a small place spawned the term “Cabot Cove Syndrome,” as well as joking (I think.) theories that Jessica carried out all the murders.

Why I Love It: I grew up watching it with my grandmother, who loved mysteries and I think was pleased to see a woman her age starring in a successful show about such an independent, active character. Also, Angela Lansbury (RIP) was an excellent actress and a wonderful person. The mysteries are solid and interesting, and I find the character of Jessica inspiring as well. I also like the cozy feel of Cabot Cove. (But not the murder rate. Yikes.) Oh, and the theme song is a classic.

BroadchurchGenre: Police Procedural

Adaptation/Original: Original, but an American remake called Gracepoint exists.

Setting: Broadchurch (fictional town), Dorset (real), Southwest Coastal England

Premise of Show: In the English town of Broadchurch, an eleven-year-old boy named Danny Latimer is found dead on the beach. One of the two detectives, DS Ellie Miller, played by the always amazing Olivia Colman, is a friend of the family and immediately recognizes the boy. A new DI Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant (Also always amazing. He reprised the role in the American version.), runs the case, ruffling local feathers a bit. But his brilliance and care for the case soon win over Ellie and the family of the victim.

The series ran for three seasons. The second deals with the aftermath of the unveiling of Danny’s murderer and the third with a new case, but with the same local characters still there.

Why I Love It: It took me a very long time to watch Broadchurch, despite being aware of its brilliance and popularity. I have a hard time dealing with child murder. I lost a child myself, so watching parents deal with that can be triggering sometimes. But I became a bit more hardened due to watching many crime shows and listening to many a crime podcast, so I finally went for it.

Of course, I was blown away and addicted. The beautiful bleakness of the scenery, the searing emotion of the storyline, and the stellar performances by the actors (including Jodie Whittaker, the future first female Dr. Who, a show David Tennant also starred in) blend into a captivating, heartbreaking work of art. Hard as it can be for me to watch at times, I also appreciate seeing bereaved parents represented in popular media living their lives after the immediate aftermath.

MarcellaGenre: Dark Thriller/Suspense, Police Procedural

Adaptation/Original: Original

Setting: London (except season 3, which is mostly set in Northern Ireland)

Premise of Show: Former police detective Marcella Backland is approached by a new detective from her former workplace about a case. He thinks it ties in with a case she worked on and hopes to pick her brain.

She helps him and even ends up going back to work. But her brain is, unfortunately, not in good shape. As in Broadchurch, Marcella lost a child and ever since, she has repeatedly experienced blackouts during which she supposedly acts violently, but retains no memory of it after. Her relationship with her husband and surviving children became strained as a result. And I think it’s obvious why this condition is problematic for a police detective. But there is much more to ALL of this story than Marcella and many of the other characters suspect.

Police cases intertwine with revelations about Marcella’s trauma and mental condition over three seasons.

Why I Love It: Anna Friel as Marcella and the character of Marcella herself for one. Marcella is tough, fragile, ferocious, passionate, and whip-smart. She’s terrified of what’s happening to her and loathes herself, but keeps trying to be there for her kids and do her job well.

Also, this show is bonkers in the best way. It is not for the faint of heart. It can be violent and heartrending and characters make very questionable choices. The third season in particular is just C-R-A-Z-Y. But the show is always fast-paced, compelling, well-written, well-acted, and unafraid to take risks. This show eats risk for breakfast. I could not take my eyes off of it and I loved every minute.

Sherlock(Known informally as the BBC Sherlock.)Genre: Modern Adaptation, Private Investigator/Detective

Adaptation/Original: Adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Setting: Mostly London

Premise of Show: Sherlock Holmes lives in 21st-century London, assisted by Watson, who is a doctor and veteran of the Afghanistan War. Both the police and citizens come to him with cases. On the face of it, just like the original. Except completely different. Sherlock, as played by Benedict Cumberbatch, has flash, style, and more than a hint of neurodivergence. Martin Freeman’s Watson is intelligent and compassionate, but also calls Sherlock on his BS. And they have modern technology at their disposal.

Why I Love It: The entire show has flash and style. It’s not just limited to the star. The visual representation of Sherlock’s mental processes, the music, Sherlock’s wardrobe, the cinematography, and the storylines (Some of them adapted from Sherlock stories.) all dazzle. But it would be all show and no substance without the acting and writing. I’ve already mentioned Cumberbatch and Freeman, but I would be horribly remiss if I left out Andrew Scott’s Moriarty. He is a revelation of shadowy evil that turns as showy as Sherlock in person, whether he’s wearing the Crown Jewels or threatening Sherlock in an aquatic center.

The one quibble I have with the show is its treatment of female characters. (I don’t even want to get into their interpretation of Irene Adler.) But the mortician Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Watson’s wife Mary Morstan (played by Freeman’s real-life partner at the time Amanda Abbington) do an excellent job with the material given them. A truly modern update would have treated them better. But this show is so excellent that I don’t want to end on a down note. It is well worth your time.

VeraGenre: Police Procedural

Adaptation/Original: Adaptation of Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope series

Setting: Northumberland, in the northeast region of England

Premise of Show: Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope (played by the marvelous Brenda Blethyn) is the idiosyncratic daughter of an idiosyncratic single father with some emotional issues and childhood trauma she avoids by burying herself in her work. (While still living in her childhood home.) She can be gruff, but she is devoted to her team, particularly Joe Ashworth, her favorite to partner with on cases. People often underestimate her at first sight due to her age, gender, and the fact that she is overweight. But they quickly learn how wrong they are. She’s brilliant and dogged and she always gets the job done.

Why I Love It: Vera and the plot lines. The plots are engrossing and intricate. Vera is unique. I love when she’s bull-headed and uncompromising. I love when she realizes she needs to compromise and show more kindness. She is never anything but her ever-evolving, flawed, and at times, vulnerable self.

Agatha Raisin Genre: Cozy, Amateur Sleuth

Adaptation/Original: Adaptation of M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin series

Setting: Village of Carsely (fictional) in the Cotswolds (real)

Premise of Show: PR maven Agatha Raisin decides to abandon London for the Cotswolds. She finds a charming home, quirky friends (the vicar’s wife, her house cleaner, the local police detective, and two local men who vie for her). She also finds murder. Of course. She discovers a knack for solving cases (and almost getting killed).

Why I Love It: The characters, the gorgeous setting, and the unique murders. Agatha, as played by the wonderful Ashley Benson, is strong, intelligent, independent, outspoken, and a fierce dresser with a fierce car. She is, in a word, formidable. But she is also kind and loyal and would do anything for her band of friends, who would do the same for her. It’s funny, a bit gruesome, witty, and just a pleasure to watch with the classic English mystery settings. (Village, country home, inns, the vicarage, etc.) I also love Benson’s Scottish accent. It is strong enough to underscore her personality, but mild enough that she is understandable to the rest of the world.

Midsomer Murders Genre: Cozy, Police Procedural

Adaptation/Original: Adaptation of Caroline Graham’s Chief Inspector Barnaby novels

Setting: English county of Midsomer (fictional)

Premise: DCI Tom Barnaby and Sergeant Gavin Troy solve murders in Midsomer county, which is comprised of several villages. The villages look peaceful and picturesque, but dark doings permeate them. Some of the detectives’ personal lives are explored, especially when they intersect with a case.

Why I Love It: There is a reason this show has run for 22 seasons. (Season 23 is finished and will debut in the US and Canada in December 2022.) From its maudlin, wailing, yet mischievous theme song, to the acting, the plot lines, and the setting, this is the quintessential English cozy mystery show. The mysteries aren’t super exciting, but they are interesting and not always easy to figure out. The cast has changed a few times (Thankfully, it became more diverse since controversial comments made in 2011 by former producer Brian True-May.), but the show remains reliable and just comforting and satisfying to watch.

Oh, and a certain writer named Anthony Horowitz, who is now a very big deal in the mystery world and whose novel Magpie Murders was turned into an excellent show recently, co-created the show and wrote episodes. (Horowitz’s novels appeared in this column in the Famous Authors as Sleuths installment and Part One of the Sherlock adaptations.)

Now pick a show and start binging! Let me know what you watch.

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

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Twitter, the linchpin of the publishing industry online, has felt like it may very well be crumbling under the new leadership of Elon Musk. With this, there’s been a lot of chatter in the publishing community about where we go from here.

It’s up to you whether and when you choose to go down with the ship by sticking around on Twitter or cast out your lifeboat and seek out stabler, calmer seas, but it’s worth keeping an ear to the ground and approaching the other networks you hear about with an attitude of curiosity and exploration.

For social media, it’s a moment of strange upheaval. As I write this, publishing Twitter today has suddenly started mass exodus-ing to Hive as its new hub. And it’s pretty nice over there! But for all I know at the time of writing this, the pendulum could swing again in a different direction by the time this publishes in a few weeks.

As it happens, this is a moment of change for me personally, too—though I’ve written for DIY MFA for about a decade (since I was an author baby myself!) and loved every minute of contributing to this community, the time has finally come when I must reduce my commitments. Thus, this will be my last DIY MFA article.

So rather than offer you an intro to Hive, which is still a TBD move for the long term, it seemed like a good idea to recap some of the general best practices I’ve learned in all my years of author platforming and communications professional practice.

Here are my top four lessons learned from a decade of author platforming:1. Be consistent with your account handleThis feels a little granular compared to some of my other takeaways, but it’s so important, and something I see a lot of authors struggle with. And it’s very easy to see how a single person ends up as @BettyBoop on one network but @BettysBooks on a second and @BettyBoopWrites on a third—these accounts are often created over time, at different points in an author’s career development. And God forbid that the handle you used on your last account is now taken by someone else before you got to the next one.

But as much as possible, make this simple! Readers have a hard time keeping track of all those different tags! The best option is to stick to your author name as much as possible. (Hint: On a lot of networks, it’s possible to change your handle even if it’s already set, and it’s definitely worth the effort!)

For this reason, when something like Hive starts buzzing as a new network, it’s smart to go ahead and grab your account handle, even if you don’t think you’ll ever use it. This way it’ll always be an option, and no one else can use a handle your fans associate with you!

1. Take advantage of your profile and key real estatePay attention to your profile options on each network, and take full advantage of each element to communicate your author brand. Be consistent with your headshot, bio and banner images across all networks, as these visual cues will help readers easily know they found the right account, and link to your website.

Don’t forget to take advantage of other prime real estate, too! For example, many networks let you pin a post to the top of your account, and this is a great opportunity to introduce your writing and help readers discover what you’re about.

1. Take time to get to know the cultureEvery channel is a little different and this should inform how you engage. How can you know? Before you start doing a ton of posting, follow others and see how they’re interacting. Are they using hashtags? Are they more formal or casual? How do they support others?

For example, on Hive, a unique feature is that every user can turn on or off a Q&A function. When you turn it on, you invite the community to ask you questions. Showing your interest in others by asking them questions too is both part of the fun and part of how you support others on the platform.

In general, engagement should not be transactional, but it should be reciprocal. Take the time to understand how to do it well on the platforms you use regularly.

1. Be a person, not a promoterEvery network has its own rules, but generally, social networks should be social first, not promotional. You’ll connect better with followers by sharing a little of your personality and interests (especially if they’re related to your books!) than you will by blasting sales pitches. So give them a peek into your writing life, what you get excited about, and the books you read and love.

As a sub-point to this, some people get really focused on how to work with the algorithm to get into people’s feeds (especially on TikTok). And sure, you can take some steps to hone the algorithm to your favor if you are really committed. But you don’t have to do this. Lead with being yourself and focus on being authentic, helpful, and consistent.

Depending on the platform, you may not grow as fast, but you willgrow, and for me, it’s much more manageable and enjoyable this way.

Focus on Making ConnectionsThank you all for reading this column all these years! I’ve loved writing for this community so much, but over this time my other responsibilities have changed and grown, and it’s time for new adventures and to make space for new voices.

I leave you with these parting points as my greatest lessons learned from social media, and best wishes to you with your writing and platforming. If you lead with making connections and engaging at a sustainable pace, you’ll find a lot of fun and good surprises along the way!

By day, E. J. Wenstrom is a digital strategy pro with over 10 years at communications firms. By early-early morning, she’s an award-winning sci-fi and fantasy author of the Chronicles of the Third Realm War novels, starting with Mud. She believes in complicated characters, terrifying monsters, and purple hair dye.

The post 4 Lessons Learned over a Decade of Author Platforming appeared first on DIY MFA.

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It was six months into the COVID pandemic that I made one of the biggest career decisions of my life. I had spent over 20 years in the tech industry, mostly as a founder, or early employee, at Silicon Valley tech startups. I had just decided to shut down my latest venture and was feeling burned out.

So I decided to make the most of that setback by pursuing something radically different that I had always wanted to do: write a novel.

Two years later, my debut novel, Bit Flip, is finally being published. It has been a long journey that felt daunting at first. But what I discovered along the way is that my time as a tech entrepreneur actually prepared me quite well for being a novelist.

Although it felt like a 180-degree pivot at the time, I’ve come to recognize the striking similarities of the two occupations. Both are, essentially, typing words (or code) into a computer to create a product. Both are forms of entertainment. And both have discouragingly low probabilities of success.

Beyond those vocational similarities, I realized there were many lessons I learned as an entrepreneur that, somewhat unexpectedly, prepared me to be an author. I offer these learnings here because I believe they represent a unique perspective and perhaps different advice than most authors receive.

Authors are taught to focus on their craft, that great writing will get discovered. Most don’t think of embarking on a career as an author like starting a business, but, in many ways, that’s exactly what it is. In short, they approach their writing careers like MFAs, not MBAs.

With that preamble, here are the 5 things I learned and practiced as an entrepreneur that directly translated to becoming an author. Hopefully, this will provide aspiring authors with an alternative mental framework for pursuing a career in writing—and maybe even encourage some entrepreneurs that becoming an author isn’t so farfetched.

1. Creating Something from NothingThe core similarity between starting a company and writing a book is that, at the outset, they are only an idea in your head. Transforming that idea into something real requires tremendous vision, creativity, and tenacity. When founding a company, you have to have a thesis not only for what your product will be, but why customers will want to buy it and how it will be differentiated in the market.

Writing a book requires the same level of passion, determination, and unwavering belief that you can bring your idea for a story to life in a unique and compelling way. Some writers plan out their story like a product manager writing a product requirements document, some writers just start writing like a coder who can visualize an entire software program in his head.

Personally, my approach falls between these “Planner” and “Pantser” approaches—creating an outline that I frequently stray from along the way—but this part of the creative process is my favorite. Coming up with ideas for new products was what I loved about being an entrepreneur. And it’s probably my favorite part of being an author as well.

Finding inspiration, refining your concept, and delivering that first, raw instantiation of your idea is like a drug, whether it’s starting a company or writing a novel.

1. Obsessing Over ProductOne of the most important practices I learned building software products is the ability to continuously refine your offering.

It starts with a really rough version of your product (a “minimum viable product” in start-up lingo), which you expose to friends and family—your “alpha” users. Then you capture and incorporate their feedback into a next version of your product.

As you broaden to a larger set of “beta” users, you analyze their usage, conduct user surveys, organize focus groups, run A/B tests, and capture feedback any way possible, which again gets incorporated into a next version, and a next, always improving.

The same technique applies to writing a book. Many authors think of writing as a solitary exercise—words in your head captured on the page. But once your story is written, and ideally along the way, you need feedback from customers.

Solicit as many early readers as you can. Be explicit about the type of feedback you want from them. Join writing classes and workshop your story with your peers. Hire professional editors to critique your work.

Don’t be bashful. Candid criticism is invaluable. Listen to and incorporate their feedback. Obsess over getting it right. Let the market steer you toward a successful book, just as market research can steer an entrepreneur to a successful product.

1. Investing in YourselfAnother critical lesson I took from entrepreneurship and applied to becoming an author is the willingness to invest in yourself.

You need to have faith that the near-term income you are forgoing will be worth it, despite the long odds of success. When starting a company, you usually need to bootstrap it at the beginning, investing your own time and money to get the venture off the ground before raising capital from outside investors.

Becoming an author requires a similar investment of time and money into the success of your books. Just as if you were starting a business, you need to know what you are willing and able to invest. How much income do you need? How much progress can you make writing on nights and weekends? Can you afford to write full-time? What other sources of income can you develop? Do you have a spouse or partner who can support you while you write?

Be scrappy and efficient. Give yourself a budget and timeframe. Approach it in a financially sustainable way. Getting into financial distress will only set you back. Just like the entrepreneur who has built a meaningful equity stake for herself in her own business, the rewards—not only financial but emotional—for an author can be substantial.

1. Building a BrandAs an entrepreneur, I spent as much time strategizing over sales and marketing as I did product. In business parlance, I focused on building a brand—from the corporate logo, to messaging and positioning, to user experience, to the “brand promise” communicated to customers.

As I pivoted to writing, I learned that, just like building a brand for a company, you need to build an author brand. This discipline is one where I see many authors struggle. They view the “promotional” aspects of writing as a distraction or the job of their publisher. They underinvest in building a website, developing a social media presence, producing engaging content, publicizing their work, and the myriad other efforts required to build a brand.

Even those who do invest in these tactics often lack a larger strategy. They aren’t thoughtful about what they want their author brand to represent.

The best-selling authors all have clear brands. Their readers know what to expect, from the subject of their writing to the fonts on their covers, and that turns them into fans.

If you’re not a best-selling author, then you need to build your author brand yourself. You need to look as professional and established as possible. You need to be conscious and consistent about what your author brand will be.

Plot out the reader journey, from initial discovery, to social proof, to first-time reader, to 5-star reviewer, to loyal fan. This requires not just your book itself, but all the messages, reviews, media coverage, and other ancillary content that constitute a full-fledged brand.

1. Creating an EcosystemPerhaps the biggest lesson I learned as an entrepreneur that applies equally to writing is you can’t do it alone. Every entrepreneur needs to be scrappy at the beginning, usually mustering an initial product by themselves or with a small set of co-founders. But to scale that business up requires an ecosystem—investors, employees, partners, and others to grow it into a real business.

Many first-time writers fall into the trap of trying to do everything themselves. While they recognize the need for an agent or publisher, they fail to develop the other complementary talent necessary for success. Becoming a successful author requires an ecosystem.

Even if you are self-publishing, you need a developmental editor, copyeditor, proofreader, designer, cover artist, publicist, and other critical functions.

Nobody possesses all the disparate skill sets necessary to launch a successful book. Even if you somehow did, the time required to perform all those functions yourself would mean you never publish. Just look at the acknowledgements page of any book—it’s a long list of people!

Be thoughtful about all the additional resources and investments you need to make. Ask other authors. Get references and recommendations. Post projects on Reedsy. However you do it, having a team around you will result in a much better book and a much higher probability of success.

The process of becoming a published author has been incredibly rewarding. At the same time, it’s been unexpectedly familiar from my time as a tech entrepreneur. The thrill of people reading my book is nearly identical to the excitement of having those first customers use a product I helped build.

I’ve come to see becoming a novelist less as the radical career change I first thought, and more as the latest chapter in my lifelong interest in entrepreneurship. A continuation of what I loved about founding tech companies, activating the same passion, creativity, and determination.

I hope these learnings help you approach your career as an author more like an entrepreneur.

Mike Trigg is an author and former tech executive. His debut novel, BIT FLIP, comes out August 16 with SparkPress. Follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, or on miketrigg.com.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways Being an Entrepreneur Taught Me to Be an Author appeared first on DIY MFA.

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There are so many ways to structure a novel, and one key consideration is the timeline. Are you telling the fast-paced, high-tension story of a heist that takes place over a week (or a day)? Are you crafting a family saga that spans generations? Once you have a sense of where your story takes place in time, this will guide narrative choices. Often, linear stories work best. Sometimes the narrative benefits from flashbacks. Other stories are enriched by balancing alternating timelines.

I wrote my YA coming-of-age novel, Chasing Harmony, seeking to explore the gaps between expectations and lived experience. The main character, Anna, is a musical prodigy. Her path seems set. But life is messy, and as we grow up, we rarely move in a linear way toward a goal. Sometimes we want and/or need to get off the beaten path and lost in the weeds!

This contrast inspired me to use a non-linear timeline, alternating past and present at different points in my protagonist’s life. How did I do it? How could you use alternating timelines in a narrative? And is it the best choice for the story you’re telling? Here are some questions to ask yourself if you’d like to try your hand at a non-linear novel.

When do the timeline breaks happen?Are you going for flashbacks interspersed with the action, or are alternating timelines a core part of your structure? Do the timelines change within chapters, between chapters, or between sections?

I decided to move back and forth between chapters, with one taking place in year A and the next one taking place in year B. I included one chapter with scenes from multiple years, as a pivot point. Some authors will go from scene to scene when moving between times, or set Part 1 at one point in time, Part 2 at another, and so on.

How do you keep track of what happens when?Writing alternating timelines works best when you plot them out, at least to some degree. I made a chapter outline, noting the times each chapter took place. It’s often helpful to add time markers. Because mine were chapter dependent, I wrote them under my chapter headings. I assigned ages; some authors use days, years, or other signifiers. However you alternate times in your story, you have to keep track of them!

Do the points of view change with the alternating timelines?Chasing Harmony uses a single point of view character, touching on different points in her life, so her perspective changes depending on her age. If you’re writing about multiple characters at different times, such as two people at different points in history, the perspective shift will be more dramatic. Think not only about what your different timelines are, but who is telling each temporal story.

How do the different timelines impact each other (if they do)?Does your story focus on how different times affect each other? On how history repeats itself? Do you set up scenes in the past as, for instance, clues to a mystery that unfolds in the present? Or insights into what shaped a character’s psychology?

If you’re writing speculative fiction, such as a time travel story, you have even more options: people from different timelines can move between them or interact, and characters from the future can impact the past! Or are the different timelines discrete in their impact? If they don’t affect each other directly, there needs to be another clear reason for them to alternate.

Why do your timelines alternate?I’ve saved the most important question for last. What do you want to show with your time jumps? In Chasing Harmony, some of my chapters follow the main character’s relationship with a girl and are directly contrasted with her later relationship with a boy. Other events were juxtaposed to contrast expectations and reality. If you choose to move between timelines in your story, it’s probably because important events happen at different points in time, but there’s a narrative reason they shouldn’t be revealed to the reader in sequence. Narrow down that reason and use it to focus your storytelling.

Once you’ve written a novel with alternating timelines, make sure to read back over your draft and edit it for consistency. Moving between timelines can be trickier than telling a story in order, but its impact can be profound. And it can be a rewarding way to write. Have fun playing time traveler from the safety of your own laptop!

Melanie Bell is a Canadian multi-genre writer living in the UK. Her books include Chasing Harmony, Dream Signs, and The Modern Enneagram. She has written for several publications including Contrary, Cicada, The Fiddlehead, and Huffington Post. She loves music, art, and nature, and aspires to see as much of the world as she can. Connect with Melanie at InspireEnvisioning.com.

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Today, Lori is interviewing Deeba Zargarpur. They’ll be talking about family trauma and her book House of Yesterday.

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 the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for December is Cozy Books, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Deeba Zargarpur and Lori discuss:* How to write a creepy book your audience will have to read with the lights on. * Why she focuses on the grandparent and grandchild relationship in her book. * When to edge the supernatural elements of your story toward the chilling.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.About Deeba ZargarpurDeeba Zargarpur is an Afghan-Uzbek American. She credits her love of literature across various languages to her immigrant parents, whose eerie tales haunted her well into the night.

If given the choice, Deeba would spend her days getting lost in spooky towns with nothing but a notebook and eye for adventure to guide her. House of Yesterday is her debut novel.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.

House of YesterdayTaking inspiration from the author’s own Afghan-Uzbek heritage, this contemporary YA debut is a breathtaking journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past.

Struggling to deal with the pain of her parents’ impending divorce, fifteen-year-old Sara is facing a world of unknowns and uncertainties. Unfortunately, the one person she could always lean on when things got hard, her beloved Bibi Jan, has become a mere echo of the grandmother she once was. And so Sara retreats into the family business, hoping a summer working on her mom’s latest home renovation project will provide a distraction from her fracturing world.

But the house holds more than plaster and stone. It holds secrets that have her clinging desperately to the memories of her old life. Secrets that only her Bibi Jan could have untangled. Secrets Sara is powerless to ignore as the dark truths of her family’s history rise in ghostly apparitions — and with it, the realization that as much as she wants to hold onto her old life, nothing will ever be the same.

Told in lush, sweeping prose, this story of secrets, summer, and family sacrifice will chill you to the bone as the house that wraps Sara in warmth of her past becomes the one thing she cannot escape…

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 439(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 439: Blending Family Trauma with the Supernatural – Interview with Deeba Zargarpur appeared first on DIY MFA.

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This has been one of these days where no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot focus on the task at hand. OK, maybe it’s been one of those months. I know for some people, it’s been difficult to find focus since the pandemic started.

Every person has their own way of finding focus. But every now and then, it feels like the old ways stop working and I need something new to regain my focus, creatively or even in the work setting.

Fortunately, DIY MFA has you covered with tons of tips on how to find or regain your focus. Just in time for the holidays with all of their disruptions and distractions and in time for the new year with its set of lofty goals.

1. Overwhelmed? Overworked? Over-Committed? How to Keep Focus in 2014This is truly an oldie but a goodie! It’s a month out from being nine years old! But the information that Marcie Flinchum Atkins shares about goal setting is still applicable today. She breaks down how you can narrow your focus in quarterly, monthly, and weekly segments. Check it out if you are in need of some general order.

2. Episode 31: Finding Focus in Your WritingThis episode was back when Gabriela was primarily doing solo shows on the podcast. Here she walks listeners through her process for deciding where to spend her writerly energy. Inspiration is everywhere and there are shiny new projects around every corner, but we can’t write all the things at once. This episode will help you narrow it down.

3. 5onFri: Five Tai Chi and Yoga Techniques to Help With Writer FocusPhysical movement is a great way of expending excess energy, which then allows us to return to the task at hand with a clearer mind and sharpened focus. Columnist Ambre Dawn Leffler walks you through five exercises to help relieve stress, reduce mental clutter, and fuel your creativity.

4. Lose The Mental Clutter and Find Your FocusRemember several years ago when we were all Marie Kondo-ing our possessions to get rid of clutter? Well, former DIY MFA columnist Leanne Sowul walks you through five steps that will help you Marie Kondo your mind and get rid of mental clutter. Once your mind is freer, you’ll be able to return to the open page with more clarity.

5. Episode 293: Find Your Creative Focus — Interview with Jessica AbelJessica Abel is a longtime friend of DIY MFA and in this episode, she talks about taking the creative process from beginning to The End. Jessica is all about helping writers find the structure and processes they need to cross that creative finish line, but it all starts with finding focus and taking control.

6. 5onFri: Five Tips for Narrowing Your FocusChoosing a topic for a book can be a pretty daunting task. We want to tell ALL THE STORIES! But we can’t do that in a single volume. So how do you choose? Well, this guest post will help walk you through Lynne Golodner’s process for narrowing down your possibilities until you find that one topic you’re excited to write about. Then you save the other ideas for your next project—nothing is ever wasted!

7. 5onFri: Five Ways the Vagus Nerve Helps Writers FocusSometimes we need a little grounding in order to get back on track. When we get stressed, our brains kick into fight-or-flight mode and they don’t always know when to come out and resume normal operations. But guest poster Brittany Capozzi shares her secret weapon—the Vagus nerve—and how you can harness its power to get grounded.

Regardless of what kind of focus you are trying to gain—be it organizational, creative, or momentary—I hope these resources help you out.

Happy creating!

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

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I’ve discovered several advantages if I start to plan for the new year at the beginning of December: more time for my reflections and new ideas to marinate, I feel ahead of the game on January 1, and I’m more intentional with my time and focus in December. Rather than working double time to accomplish everything on my to-do list by December 31, I have better data to re-prioritize my task list and decide what’s worthy of a big year-end push; so, I can spend more time recharging during the holiday season.

This final installment of Tales of a Solopreneur explains how you can combine strategic planning for your business with your personal planning using my Reflect, Reboot & Re-prioritize (“RRR”) framework to set you up for long-term success and short-term fun.

ReflectRunning a solopreneur business effectively requires an alignment between your mindset, skills, and determination. You can learn what you don’t know. You can develop your skills and double down on your strengths. But self-reflection is key to determining where you should be focusing your time, versus where you’re spinning your wheels or wasting your time.

Spending one hour up front to reflect on the past year will help you more efficiently plan what steps you can take next year to move your small business forward without sacrificing your personal happiness and satisfaction.

The first step is to ask yourself the following questions about this year:

Completed Goals: Which goals did you complete, when, and how long did they take?* Did you finish them sooner or faster than planned? Were they time-sensitive, or something you loved to do or played into your strengths? * If you started them later or they took longer, why? Did other projects or self-doubt get in the way, or did you fail to plan right (i.e., underestimated how long things would take or failed to identify the action steps needed)?

Open Goals: Which goals did you start but not finish, and which goals were never started?* Why? What roadblocks did you run into? * Did timelines change, did the goals stop making sense, did you fail to plan right, did you get side-tracked with something else, or were your eyes bigger than your year and you just ran out of time? * Which goals do you want to do a final year-end push on, carryover to next year (“Carryover Goals”), back burner for a future year, or eliminate completely, and why?

Themes: Identify themes that keep popping up.* Did you complete the most important goals to move you and your business forward, or did you focus on the easiest goals because you were good at them, the other items were too scary, or you just wanted to check something off your list? * Did you delay goals because you were undermined by your mindset? * How good were you at identifying smaller required tasks and estimating work time? * How good were you at staying focused?

Progress: What progress are you most proud of, and why? Do you feel like you could have done more, or did you have unrealistic expectations? Resistance: What was the toughest challenge, biggest surprise, and biggest disappointment you faced and why? Lessons: What did you learn about your business or yourself this year, and which was the hardest lesson you learned, and why?3 Roadblock Busters: Make a list of three actions you can take to bust through your roadblocks. * For example, do you need to start or stop something, to learn a specific skill, to hire an expert to complete a task that’s holding you up, to recalibrate your mindset, tips on developing an effective action plan, practice showing up and keeping a routine, or a reality check when setting expectations for yourself and others?

Your Wins: Celebrate where you are, what you’ve learned, and the progress you’ve made. Cue your happy dance!RebootThe hard part is over. Now for the fun part.

Cast Your VisionI’ve discovered planning for my business and personal life together provides a more holistic life perspective and is a better gauge of what I can reasonably fit into a year.

Spend 30 minutes brainstorming what you desire for you and your business. Be bold. Do not self-edit. Only you will see your answers. Start with these questions:

• What’s your pie in the sky dream for you and your business?
• Where do you want you and your business to be in 1, 3, and 5 years?
• What must you accomplish to achieve your vision? Is there a clear path forward, or do you need to design it?
• What’s your WHY (or why do you want what you want)?

Claim Your Goals Now, review your vision answers, and identify the goals you want to complete by the end of next year for you and your business.

Your Business.

• Top 3-5 new business goals that will move you closer to your vision.
• Carryover Goals.
• 3 Roadblock Busters.

You: Identify at least one goal from each category below to build balance into your upcoming year.

• Passion project (e.g., start or focus on a hobby, sport, or nonprofit organization).
• Physical and well-being (e.g., build and strengthen your health habits)
• Social and relationships (e.g., build and strengthen your connections and community).
• Fun (e.g., add more joy, more often).

Re-prioritizeFinally, it’s time to re-prioritize your perspective and your task list and plan for next year’s goals.

Adopt a Four Quarters PerspectiveFocusing your energy and building your implementation plan on a quarterly basis provides you wiggle room to refresh and pivot throughout the year.

• Quarters Grid: Draw a four-box grid on a piece of paper and label the quadrants: Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Assign your new goals in chronological order to the four quarters based on when you need/want to work on each of them. Limit each quarter to 1-2 big goals or 3-4 smaller goals, so you can maintain your focus and gain traction.
• Bonus: Plot out your annual vacations and build them into your calendar and your four quarters now. It will give you something to look forward to, help you refresh periodically to avoid burnout, and help you be more realistic about what you can accomplish in a three-month period without sacrificing your time off.

Plan Your First Quarter On a new piece of paper, prioritize each goal you assigned to Q1. Then, for each goal, ask:

• Milestones: Identify the 3-5 action steps (“milestones”) you must take to complete the goal. If you’re stuck, try working backwards from the last step you need to complete the goal until you get to where you are now.
• Timing: Estimate how long each milestone will take to complete and then multiply it by 1.5 for a built-in buffer.

On a separate piece of paper, write 1-12 down the left side and add the dates for each week in the quarter.

• Commitments: Note for each week the days you need to block out for previously scheduled work and personal commitments, such as school breaks, work travel, and scheduled vacations.
• Weekly Targets: Assign your milestones in the order you plan to work on them across the 12 weeks, using your milestone time estimates and how many weekly hours you plan to devote to your goals. If you run out of weeks, decide which goal(s) to move to a future quarter.
• Bonus: Build in days for you to brainstorm and strategize for your business, as well as days for you to decompress. Also, build in at least one buffer week to knock out tasks on lingering projects.
• Weekly Planning: Review your Weekly Targets for each new week and update them for your prior week’s progress. Consider what information, education, or resources you need to learn or acquire to keep moving forward on your milestones. Then identify which actions you will take that week.

Refine Your Next QuarterAt the end of Q1, spend 30-60 minutes thinking about how your progress compares to your initial quarterly plan.

• What did you complete?
• How close were your time estimates?
• What challenges did you face?
• What changed in your business that requires changes in your planning for next quarter?
• Will incomplete milestones be carried over or eliminated?
• How do you feel?
• What are you excited about?

Repeat the ‘Plan Your First Quarter’ steps for the goals you initially identified for Q2 and add in any Carryover Goals you identified from Q1.

Repeat this ‘Re-prioritize’ step for Q3 and Q4.

Then restart the entire RRR process at the beginning of December for the next year.

ImplementI will be finishing my 2023 planning over the coming weeks. I can’t wait to see which business and personal goals I decide on and the fun activities ahead.

I hope you find the RRR framework helpful as you strategize for your business and decide where to focus your time and energy in 2023. And remember to celebrate your wins now and throughout the year. Keeping your eyes on your prizes is a great way to create your own long-term success and personal fulfillment.

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who now spends her days focused on the writing life. Her favorite fiction reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer their fears while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She’s also a fan of non-fiction reads focused on personal growth and transformation. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Instagram.

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Writers deal with ambiguity regularly. Every time we submit a piece to a publication, it exists in both states: published and unpublished. Until the acceptance or rejection slides into our inboxes, the piece remains in limbo.  Maybe we decide to send it out to several places at a time. The anxiety heightens. What if two... Read more »

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I’ve been a classic film fan all my life. I’ve always loved backstage or meta stories, and the ultra-meta-aspect of writers writing about writers. In movies, there are few scenes that show writers writing, for the simple fact that watching someone write for 90 minutes isn’t entertainment. The focus is generally on how life influences... Read more »

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Setting the Scene I write horror and dark sci-fi. My friend is a writer and an actor with a YouTube channel of short videos she’s made on her own. Last fall we partnered up to make a short film for a local Halloween film contest. I had a ghost story I’d been working on that... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Fran Hawthorne. They’ll be talking about her new book I Meant To Tell You and delaying the payoff. 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... Read more »

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Not long ago, I finished my fourth read of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. It is one of those rare texts that doesn’t just invite itself for a revisit, but is almost a necessary lifelong companion. Speaking as it does on homosexuality in America, and on the AIDS crisis (and the political mess that surrounded/continues... Read more »

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Here at DIY MFA, we are passionate about literacy, learning, and helping writers hone their skills. It’s our jam, our laser-focus; it is the air we breathe.  As many of you know, I am not only a columnist, but I also work for DIY MFA as the Community Welcome Dragon. I handle many of the... Read more »

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Happy holidays and solstice celebrations to all! As the year comes to an end, I hope that you take the time to look over those moments which made 2022 special for you in terms of literature. Whether they are of the reading, writing, or researching variety – anything that inspires linguistic love counts as a... Read more »

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I’m a stickler for detail, as all writers should be. When I read about an event, a film, a song, or a place I’m familiar with, I’ll do a quick internet search to see if the writer has done their homework. When I find an error, it makes me question the reliability of the author,... Read more »

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“Papa, come back! Please!” I was sixteen, on my way to raid the refrigerator yet again, when I heard my grandmother crying out from our living room. Hunger temporarily extinguished, I peeked around the corner to find Nana, as we called her, sitting on the edge of the sofa. “Why did you leave us, Papa?”... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Carolyn Hays. They’ll be talking about the freedom that can be found in a pen name and her new book A Girlhood: Letter to my Transgender Daughter. Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter, especially for our podcast listeners.... Read more »

The post Episode 437: The Freedom of a Pen Name and the Power of Voice in Memoir – Interview with Carolyn Hays appeared first on DIY MFA.

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What is the difference between good novels and great novels? Great novels explore a literary theme that leaves a huge impact on the readers’ mind. These novels explore human nature, universal emotions, and the desires within each of us. The literary themes are what can leave your readers with a sense of wonder and pull... Read more »

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Welcome back to It’s Messy in The Middle, where we reflect on ways to craft complex characters and build dynamic worlds that will connect with readers from underrepresented identity groups.  So far, we have established the importance of answering the call for diverse and inclusive writing by focusing on specific, honest, and intentional representations of... Read more »

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Hello beautiful people of the Internet! Welcome back to Worldly Wise, where we’re going to take the reins of your speculative fiction story and see it to the finish line together. Last time, we figured out what we should absolutely not include in the first chapter. Now that the first chapter is out of the... Read more »

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Ingredients 1 sparkly new writing project 1 outline that has been edited and re-edited at least 4 times 1,667 daily word count 1 journal filled with novel-related notes 1 pen case filled with favorite markers, pens, and other writing implements 3 different types of word-processing software 4 cups of caffeinated beverage of choice 1 bowl... Read more »

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Hullo, word nerds! The festivities have begun! Holiday season is upon us, and Black Friday is only a week away. If you’re anything like me, I’m willing to bet that you’re comfortably avoiding those herds of shoppers who hath ventured forth into the bleak midwinter’s darkness, determined to get deals.  Still, just because you’re not... Read more »

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Do you ever feel like you could fill out a thousand character worksheets and still not get to the soul of who your protagonist, antagonist, or supporting cast are? Not the details of what they look like, what they do, and what they want, but the essence of what makes them them. It’s that depth... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Amanda Jayatissa. They’ll be talking about secrets and hidden motivation in her latest thriller, You’re Invited. 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... Read more »

The post Episode 436: Secrets, Quirks, and Hidden Motivations in Thrillers – Interview with Amanda Jayatissa appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Ah, mid-November! When, in many parts of the US, one delights in autumnal hues, crisp, sweet, final apple harvest days, and pumpkin-spiced everything as far as the eye can see!  Or, if you are participating in National Novel Writing Month, this might be the crankiest time of year. “50,000 words in 30 days? What on... Read more »

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I call my first draft a “pile of words.” The first draft of anything is just about getting the words on the page, and those words don’t have to make a lot of sense. Between the time I shove that pile of words out of my brain and deliver a finished piece to an editor,... Read more »

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Today I had the privilege of interviewing John Matthew Fox, author of The Linchpin Writer, a book on creativity. Since this is a craft book, the bulk of this interview will focus on applying his advice, which I think you will find extremely useful to your own writing projects. I know I found it useful... Read more »

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Fiction isn’t journalism, of course. You don’t need to cram all five Ws (who, what, when, where, and why) into the opening paragraph of your novel or short story. Still, if you’re writing mainstream fiction, your readers ought to be able to establish some bearings early in the narrative. You need to set the scene. ... Read more »

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Time, or lack thereof, is the biggest hurdle most writers seem to face. It’s also one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves. And look, as far as excuses go, I’m the queen of them. Homeschooling three kids, a farm, family commitments, blah, blah, blah. But here’s the thing, I mean, the dishes and the... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Suzanne Parry. They’ll be talking about the power of art and her book Lost Souls of Leningrad. 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... Read more »

The post Episode 435: Family, Soviet History, and the Power of Art in Historical Fiction – Interview with Suzanne Parry appeared first on DIY MFA.

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I love kids. They’re like adults, but with no boring filters like civility or conversational norms. Sometimes what pops out of a five-year-old’s mouth is rude, sometimes it’s sad, but it’s usually funny. My youngest is in kindergarten and I got a chance to help them with their fall science fair this week and let... Read more »

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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 »

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Hello fellow kid lit writers! By the time you read this, I will be home from my latest writer’s conference! I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and my regional chapter had their annual conference recently. It was a blast! Not only did I get to attend some wonderful... Read more »

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What’s the most important quality in a writer? Joyce Carol Oates has a surprising opinion. The most important writerly quality, she says, is not the ability to develop characters or structure plots. It’s not the presence of voice or the ear for flowing prose. It’s energy. But maybe that’s not a surprising opinion after all.... Read more »

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Today, Lori is interviewing Carol Van Den Hende. They’ll be talking about finding purpose and her new book Orchid Blooming. 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... Read more »

The post Episode 430: Finding Inspiration and Writing Purpose-Driven Fiction – Interview with Carol Van Den Hende appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today I begin a series about a subgenre (possibly a sub-sub-genre) of mystery I find delightful. I’m talking about mysteries concerning the life, cultural impact, and characters of Jane Austen, one of the most respected and best-loved writers ever.  On this list, you will find sequels, alternate universe retellings, modern retellings, crossovers containing all the... Read more »

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Just as a high-stress job can lead to Sunday Scaries as the dreaded Monday deluge approaches, many authors experience what I call Book Promotion Scaries as a launch date for a new book nears. In fact, I don’t think I know a single author who doesn’t get a case of nerves from putting their newest... Read more »

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Hello, mystery enthusiasts! Today I have something a little different to share with you, an interview with the wonderful author Rudy Ruiz about his latest novel Valley of Shadows.  About Rudy Ruiz Rudy Ruiz is an American author, advocate, and social entrepreneur. The son and grandson of Mexican immigrants, Rudy Ruiz was born in Brownsville,... Read more »

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: Interview with Rudy Ruiz appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today I had the privilege of interviewing Kristine Langley Mahler, author of the experimental memoir in essays, Curing Season. As a non-fiction writer myself, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to pick her brain about her process and her career. Plus, I loved getting some inside scoop on how to experiment more with my... Read more »

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Kristine Langley Mahler appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Coming of age stories are timeless. They’re found across a multitude of genres, from children’s books (picture and chapter books, middle grade, young adult) to adult fiction and even in nonfiction form, such as memoirs and biographies. And many novels ostensibly focused on something else contain coming of age content or aspects, whether it’s memories... Read more »

The post #5onFri: Five Things to Think About When Writing a Coming of Age Story appeared first on DIY MFA.

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I came from a family of great storytellers. Growing up I saw first-hand how stories came about and then took on a life of their own. Some occurrences, which at the time, may have been harrowing experiences, would later be retold as a lighthearted story repeated with laughter and joy at family gatherings. The segments... Read more »

The post How I Found Balance Between Capturing Joy, Sorrow, Humor, and Rage in My Writing appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jeffrey James Higgins. We’ll be talking about his closed setting thriller novel, Furious: Sailing Into Terror. 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... Read more »

The post Episode 429: World Building an Pacing in a Closed Setting Thriller – Interview with Jeffrey James Higgins appeared first on DIY MFA.

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“What about writing about friends and family?” Some version of this question comes toward the end of almost every personal essay class I teach. We’ve already discussed interrogation and discovery as we write. We’ve thought about beginnings and endings. We’ve considered scene, summary, and reflection. We’ve explored where to find ideas. We’ve spent time engaged... Read more »

The post After the Story Is on the Page: Writing about People We Love appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Creating Your Logo, the Arts & Crafts Way  After some enjoyable downtime over the summer, I’m back building my small business with renewed energy. So, I decided to start with tackling some of the areas that I’ve had resistance with in the past – primarily setting up my first website and drafting and designing the... Read more »

The post Tales of a Solopreneur: Designing a Logo from Scratch appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Happy Autumn, word nerds! Fall has officially arrived and in just a few days, we will be entering perhaps the most magical month of the year: October. Can you feel the sparkle in the air? My cat and I certainly can (see bio). While not everyone celebrates Halloween, October is a particularly special month for... Read more »

The post September 2022 Leisure Learning appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Do you need a break? A lot of people recommend pressing forward through exhaustion, hard choices, and those moments that make you want to give up. And I want to be perfectly clear. I am not asking you to give up. I am asking you to take a break before you push through to the... Read more »

The post Boost Your Creativity with a Break appeared first on DIY MFA.

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Hello fellow kid lit writers! I’m extra excited about this author interview today because I got to interview one of my dear college friends and brilliant author, Kaela Rivera! Kaela has some great writing advice for you all and some valuable insight into the publishing process. About Kaela Rivera Kaela Rivera is the award-winning author... Read more »

The post Kid Lit Craft: Interview with Kaela Rivera appeared first on DIY MFA.

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As a writer, it’s tempting to want to test out new styles and approaches to storytelling. One such is writing multiple points of view—where instead of one character’s voice telling the entire story, the author writes with more than one “narrator.” Multi-POV books are popular for many reasons: They allow readers to hear from more... Read more »

The post #5onFri: Five Tips for Writing Multi-POV Stories appeared first on DIY MFA.