It’s a crazy hypothetical, but let’s say you could only give one piece of writing advice, and the advice had to be expressed in a single sentence. Based on where we are along our trajectories as writers, each of us would choose differently. In large part because of the developmental editing assistance I render, my […]
Deb Vanasse | Know It All Read More »
Word went out via email a while back to those on our mailing list announcing the exciting news that Louise Erdrich will be our guest instructor this year at our 8th Annual Tutka Bay Writers Retreat. We’re awfully excited that she’s coming and have heard—and seen, as reflected in the high number of applications coming
Jeremy Pataky | Louise Erdrich Coming to Tutka Bay Read More »
This short piece reprises part of Daryl Farmer’s talk earlier this month in Anchorage, part of 49 Writers’ Reading & Craft Talk Series at Indigo Tea Lounge. The event was occasioned by his new book of stories, Where We Land. Tension, I tell my students. Dramatize, give your characters conflicts for them to resolve. This
Daryl Farmer | Writing the Indelible Moment Read More »
Thanks to all who turned out last week for a special Reading & Craft Talk Series event, this time held downtown at the 49th State Brewing Co. The event paired Kathleen Dean Moore and Libby Roderick on stage. Kathy is a philosopher and award-winning author best known for books about our cultural and spiritual relation
Jeremy Pataky | “What do you do when the life rafts are burning?” Read More »
Let’s say you’re writing a novel, and somehow—maybe owing to the 24/7 news cycle or to the protest signs leaning against a wall in your garage or to the hours you’ve spent organizing indivisible enthusiasts—you come upon the idea of writing a narcissist into your fiction. Don’t do it. A narcissist operates like a
Deb Vanasse | Unfit for Fiction Read More »
I did something I thought I’d never do: I hired a beta reader to help with the beginning chapters of my second novel. I’d been struggling for months, with no end in sight. I was literally making myself sick with the worrying and the obsession. I had, no exaggeration, over twenty takes of the
Guest Blogger Cinthia Ritchie | Why I Hired a Beta Reader Read More »
When I was in fourth grade, there was a fat girl in my class. She wore glasses that slid down her nose and hair that hung lank and she had breasts (breasts!) when the rest of the girls in the class wore undershirts with one pink flower embroidered in the middle (bought two for a
Guest Blogger Cinthia Ritchie | Dazzled by the Past Read More »
It is the day after the Women’s March and I am asking the question: Am I a well-balanced reader when it comes to the multiplicity of writers, especially that of women writers and characters? I sit down in my office this morning to take stock of all the books on my shelves. I want to
Guest Blogger Bryan Allen Fierro | Taking Stock Read More »
The one question I get more than any other regarding my new fiction collection, Dodger Blue Will Fill Your Soul, is Did all those stories actually happen? I usually respond with something about truth being no excuse for fiction, or some other defensive-ism that confirms a satisfying enough response for the reader/interrogator. I explain that
Guest Blogger Bryan Allen Fierro | Let Me Pin You Down Read More »
Determined to finish a story I began a few years ago, set in my hometown of Butte, Montana, I had no idea where it would lead. What began as memoir has morphed into a historical fiction novel, with fictitious characters based on real people and events. I’ve always wanted to write a story with Butte
Lois Paige Simenson | Can We Really Go Home—And Write About It—Again? Read More »
