The “fix-up” novel has a long and honorable history in genre fiction. The term refers to the practice of turning short stories into a novel, and the “fixing” is what has to be added, subtracted, or altered in order to make the stories work as a novel.
Read more →I never had any formal academic training in writing novels. I barely have any training in analyzing and interpreting literature—my last English course was my senior year in high school. When it comes to writing, I’m pretty much self-taught. I do have some small experience with workshops,
Read more →A while back, I got asked about rearranging plot points. It was a difficult question to answer, because the usual definition of plot points seems to have hardened around the growing number of carefully described linear story structures. If that’s your definition of plot points, the answer
Read more →Let’s talk about setting for a minute. For purposes of this post, the setting is not just the physical location (geography, buildings, flora/fauna) of the story. It encompasses all that, plus things like the history, politics, culture, and customs of the people who live there. This can
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