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Your Character’s Degree of Change: Evolution or Transformation?
Each story, and each character, is unique, and so the degree of change will be particular to your character and story situation. Once you determine the degree of change your character undergoes, evolution or transformation, you will be clearer about your overall deep story design.
Is it Time for a Break?
I'm fond of saying writers always have homework, but I also get tired of feeling that there's always more to do, always something incomplete needing attention. It's both a blessing and curse of being creative; one always has "multiple projects in various states of...
Structure is King, Character is Queen
In chess, the game is over when the king falls, but the queen is the strongest piece during the game. She has the most power and flexibility. If you lose your queen it's almost guaranteed you'll lose the game as well. In many ways, the queen rules the gameplay, but...
Do You Have a Routine?
Do you follow some kind of routine when you write? Most creative people I know (including myself) dislike routines but can’t get much done without them. Though we do try! Routines can feel rigid, boring, mechanical, or lacking vitality—or so those who resist routines...
Writing Scenes
You have a ton of tasks to tend to when it comes to crafting your stories, and writing scenes is one of them. What is a scene? A useful writer’s definition goes something like this: a scene consists of action through conflict in more or less continuous time and space...
How it Feels to Finish a Project
There comes a time when you tick off everything on your revision to-do list and call the project "done." It's a moment of stunned exhilaration--a rush of excitement at crossing a self-determined finish line paired with a kind of disbelief that you made it. Though none...
11 Things Every Writer Needs to Remember
It's easy to forget important truths about yourself and your writing. Today, I'd like to remind you... 1) You're allowed to write about whatever you want. 2) Your writing work is worthy of your time, your attention, and a dedicated space in your home. 3) To inspire...
Your ARE a talented Writer!
I would bet that someone, at some point in the past, maybe when you were quite young, once pronounced you “talented.” This was probably after you’d created something spontaneously in a spirit of enthusiasm, inspiration, or joy. This declaration of talent likely felt...
Choice, Change, and Conflict
In the midst of all the changes in the world, we are invited to make some new choices—collectively and individually. Unexpected changes bring us face to face with unexpected choices—to let go of certain assumptions and plans, to reframe cultural beliefs and “norms,”...
Story and the Pursuit of Transcendence
Why do we write? Why do we read? I ask these two questions often—in my courses, retreats, and even the book I’m working on right now. With reading, answers come down to understanding ourselves and the world, as well as knowing more and feeling more, including feeling...
Your Character’s Degree of Change: Evolution or Transformation?
Each story, and each character, is unique, and so the degree of change will be particular to your character and story situation. Once you determine the degree of change your character undergoes, evolution or transformation, you will be clearer about your overall deep story design.
Is it Time for a Break?
I'm fond of saying writers always have homework, but I also get tired of feeling that there's always more to do, always...
Structure is King, Character is Queen
In chess, the game is over when the king falls, but the queen is the strongest piece during the game. She has the most power and...
Do You Have a Routine?
Do you follow some kind of routine when you write? Most creative people I know (including myself) dislike routines but can’t...
Writing Scenes
You have a ton of tasks to tend to when it comes to crafting your stories, and writing scenes is one of them. What is a scene? A...
How it Feels to Finish a Project
There comes a time when you tick off everything on your revision to-do list and call the project "done." It's a moment of...
11 Things Every Writer Needs to Remember
It's easy to forget important truths about yourself and your writing. Today, I'd like to remind you... 1) You're allowed to...
Your ARE a talented Writer!
I would bet that someone, at some point in the past, maybe when you were quite young, once pronounced you “talented.” This was...
Choice, Change, and Conflict
In the midst of all the changes in the world, we are invited to make some new choices—collectively and individually. Unexpected...
Story and the Pursuit of Transcendence
Why do we write? Why do we read? I ask these two questions often—in my courses, retreats, and even the book I’m working on right...
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