Rolling along

“Rolling revising” is a writing term that I think is fairly clear, but I’ll take a whack at a quick definition: Instead of writing a complete first draft from start to finish, the writer periodically goes back over already-written parts and revises them before continuing, even though

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More on Beginnings

“Beginning: The point in time or space when something starts.” – Oxford languages. From that deceptively simple definition stems a lot of writerly misunderstanding. At a rough and very unscientific estimate, around 90% of the writing advice on beginnings talks about what belongs in the first few

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Micro-level bad habits

A lot of story analysis and critique starts by focusing on macro-level aspects of storytelling: characterization, narrative, worldbuilding, plot, and the ways one develops or reveals these things over the course of a novel. Ultimately, though, how one presents characterization, growth, personality, action, worldbuilding, plot, and everything

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June Open Mic

It is time for another Open Mic! Announce successes, complain about things that aren’t going right, wonder about things that don’t make sense…whatever you want to talk about, this is your chance.

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Uses of structure

I’ve talked a bit about the difference between plot and structure, and some of the ways structure is currently being misused (in my opinion). But structure is still a massively useful concept, and that usefulness is the reason behind the huge focus so many how-to-write books and

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