This week at the Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, and Robert continue their conversation about writing great sentences in novels of any genres. How many types of sentences are there? Do sentences need to be grammatically correct to be great? Do they need to be lyrical to be great? No. The sentences we craft serve a variety of purposes in our prose.
Writing groups, are they helpful? If you are a part of a writing group, how do you give helpful feedback to your writing partners? We cover etiquette, how to mark manuscripts, and the time and effort you should put into being a good critique partner. Even as you critique you are learning as a writer, so have fun and grow together!
What details about our story do we miss in first draft? And what can we do to solve them? Is it possible to know everything before you start drafting? And what should your attitude be toward those missing pieces? We dive into how to revise those scenes that you love, and how to use rewriting in your revision process. In the end, it’s all writing! So be excited about making your story the best it can be.
This week, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn discuss the problem of multiple projects. Our listener Deanna wanted to know how should we prioritize what to work on when we have multiple projects and no specific deadline? The question raised the issues of carrying multiple projects, productivity and making progress, how to set up priorities, and the role of passion in your writing life. Then we addressed Kathryn’s question: when do you walk away? Is walking away always a bad thing? Should you be a “completer?” We touch on taking lessons learned with you and the evolution of ideas.
How do we encounter humor in fiction? Does it inspire or frustrate us as writers? How do you craft humor? What kinds of humor are there? And isn’t humor more of an audible medium? How do you learn to write humor? We dive into the benefits of studying improv, and offer some resources to learn more!
I'm Alida
I help people express their gifts to the world.
I do not believe in formulas. I believe that the stories we are compelled to tell the world make demands on us, and it is our privilege to meet those demands in order to reach the most people in the most authentic and compelling way possible.
