How a Critique Group Exposed My Secret Flaws
Daniel Schwabauer
As I teach in The One Year Adventure Novel, you don't convince readers of a theme by placing it behind protective glass.
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.
Is Your Student’s Storytelling Engine Stalling?
By Tineke Bryson, Staff Writer
There are many reasons why young writers stall. And it’s hard to watch, as a parent and teacher. What do you do when your son or daughter loses momentum with The One Year Adventure Novel course?
Writing Secondary Characters Who Stand Out from the Crowd
By Emily Steadman, Guest Contributor
How do we create sympathy for the main character without villainizing whoever comes against her? How do we create tension and conflict while treating characters on all sides as three-dimensional people who can be good as well as bad?
Respecting the Past: A Philosophy for Historical Fiction
By Rachel Garner, Staff Writer
If people ask me about nonfiction resources, I’m happy to oblige, cheerfully pelting England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings and other books or articles at them, forgetting that titles like that don’t sound exciting to most people. But when asked for fiction suggestions, I find myself in a sudden quandary.