The very act of telling stories can be transformative. Both storytellers and listeners are given a chance to indirectly disclose themselves. They experience and reveal beliefs and opinions that might otherwise be too uncomfortable to share.
I've always been a planner...some say to a fault. Some people have criticized me for "wasting time" planning, when I should just jump in and "git 'er done". I believe good planning is essential to success. So, rather than sitting at my keyboard banging out whatever came into my head...just to get something on paper, I brainstormed with myself.
Even for writers who write more for themselves than to have their words read by the masses, a writing routine is essential. This is because even the most dedicated of us can find ourselves lost in the shuffle of daily life — paying our bills, going to work, walking the dog, or binging the latest show on Netflix. Writing routines help us to prioritize our craft in the same way we prioritize our exercise regimen or household chores.
Joe Taylor Because much of what I write is in the first person there is often confusion about whether the voice is "me" or "the narrator". For better or worse,…
by Jo Scheier Bugay All writing shares certain inalienable challenges. Regardless of our chosen genre, who among us hasn’t struggled with writer’s block, imposter syndrome, rejection woes, or an existential…
Finding the right beta reader can take some time and thought. Like any relationship, it can be complicated and there is the risk of feelings being hurt. It’s important to take the time to choose the right person and establish the right tone in moving forward. I can say from personal experience, I have benefited tremendously from my beta readers, not only their feedback, but their support in validating the work I am doing.
There is a golden moment in writer’s meetings that I both dread and relish, every time. It’s that few seconds after you have finished reading your work, just before you look up from the page. You are filled with elation. What was conceived as an idea and hatched in a battle of words has now discovered flight. Your story is your secret no longer; it has left the nest and taken on a life of its own.
Each time someone says, “Oh yeah” to a poem something good – in a much broader sense than morality – is birthed. We have seen through the eyes of another and that makes our vision clearer.
As Gioia asks, how did Kool Herc, the father of hip-hop, change the very nature of poetry without an English degree? There is only one conclusion, he asserts: today’s poets do not need a degree. They write while they work as baristas, bookstore clerks, or in law, medicine, and business. Social media is the great equalizer: an online journal requires virtually nothing but someone’s time. Gioia exults that this new Bohemia of poets, existing outside the academic economy, is a vigorous alternative culture. “They have diversified, democratized and localized American poetry,” he crows.
There’s a difference between young writers who are trying to “find their voice” and faking the voice. “The Voice” is the person the reader hears telling the story or reading the poem. So whereas you may indeed be able to sound like Anne Rice or Tom Clancy for a few amazing paragraphs, no matter how hard you try the real you will come through. And both the reader and you will hit a wall like an egg-splat when that happens. The reader will say something like, hey, wait just a minute . . . you’re no Stephen King or whomever you are trying to sound like. That loss of trust is catastrophic.