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Grading Fiction the Smart Way, Not the Easy Way

By Tineke Bryson, Staff Writer How big a part should grading play in your One Year Adventure Novel journey? How do you grade a teenager’s novel? The grading rubric for The One Year Adventure Novel—or “OYAN” for short—is disarmingly simple. But in my years of interacting with parents, I’ve come to realize that, sometimes, this disarming quality can mask some of the complexities of nurturing a young writer.
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How to Write Battle Scenes When You’re Not into Battles

By Avrie Roberts, Guest Contributor If you’re non-military minded, like me, the thought of writing battle scenes makes you inwardly groan. Maybe also like me, you hate every attempt you’ve made at writing those scenes. You can get away with not including warfare in some stories, but what happens when you can’t avoid it any longer?
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Unforeseen Endings & Other Gifts of a Flexible Novel Outline

Daniel Schwabauer Outlines aren’t the only way to bring shape to a story. A bad outline will drive you compulsively in the wrong direction. Instead of giving advice, it will give commands. It will tell you to write what it summarizes, regardless of how the story has changed in your mind during the telling. “I am the story,” a bad outline will say. And if you listen to it, your story will be bad too.
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