When to Slow Down

When to Slow Down

There is a time and place for summary in every story, but it’s not when you’re writing an important or dramatic scene. The more important the scene, the more you need to slow down. Summary is useful when you need to move along and a wide brush stroke...
To Be, Or Not To Be? In Your Writing, Not To Be!

To Be, Or Not To Be? In Your Writing, Not To Be!

As a native speaker of any language, you get to take certain things for granted, like conjugating irregular verbs. I’m not sure I was really aware of irregular verbs, never mind conjugating them, until I took French. Then, because I took English for granted, I...

Smut and Alice Munro

That story I mentioned in my last post, “Challenges (yoga, writing, sex),” the one that is about a sexual encounter, is still a work in progress. For now I am calling it “Gwen’s Window.” I asked my boyfriend to read it–he reads...

Je ne sais quoi

What makes a good story? I have a class right now where we are focusing on that question. Last week, we brainstormed a list of over twenty qualities that need to go into a story to make it work. Last night, we brainstormed a list of the deal breakers, the fatal flaws....

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