Latest Craft Articles
What Home Does Your Writing Live In?
Is your story a hundred unit apartment building? A cottage in the woods? A skyscraper? A hut? A victorian mansion? A pyramid? A tent? A…
Brains Don’t Do Random
How do we abandon the concept of being good, or getting it right? How do we train ourselves to produce stories on command? Those are…
Mail 100 Stories
You can write faster than editors read their slush.
How To Speed Write
Every year, I go to a group of cabins in the mountains on the banks of the Mackenzie River here in Oregon for Ghost Story…
Writing the “Deep Stuff”
When we craft stories, essays or memoir, the “deeper” elements are the last thing on our minds. At least they should be. Concentrate on getting…
A Bubble Off Plumb
“Whatever traits you want the reader to remember need to be magnified and exaggerated, even if only a little bit.”
Trust Me, I’m An Editor
“Try to resist the urge to prune a few bushes while the forest burns.”
Listen to Your Story
“I had been neglecting to follow my story’s lead. I’d been so adamant about what I wanted my story to be that I’d ignored the…
Double Trouble: Put Your Setting to Work
“…require that characters deliver their news while climbing three flights of stairs, place a protagonist’s important interview in a too-noisy or sinister location that will…
