Confession: I’m writing this post as a form of procrastination and it may be a bit wandering, but I think we’ll end at a coherent place. I’m supposed to be working through my editor’s notes for Part 2 of the Project Renovatio series (hereafter known as Project Liberatio, or PL). And I have been. In…
Today’s post comes courtesy of the lovely and talented Cathleen Townsend, who offers some insight into what she sees when she wears her critique-ing hat. Take it away, Cathleen! ***** Allison suggested a guest post on critiquing, and I’ve actually been thinking about it for some time. I could simply give you a checklist, but…
You guys rock. Have I told you that lately? But why do we rock? you may be asking. Sit back, and I shall tell you a tale. TFD has had an amazing first year. Mind blowing, even. And if not for you, the readers, reviewers, and fans, none of what I’m about to tell you…
Every story needs certain elements to be a story. We’ve talked about characters, settings, and problems. If we’re following the mnemonic below, that leaves us with solutions to talk about. Cows = Characters See = Setting Pretty = Problem Sunflowers = Solution This works great for eight-year-olds learning the parts of the story they should…
I wasn’t planning to blog today, but then I saw this article on Facebook. Since nearly 100,000 others were talking about it, according to fb, chances are good that you saw it too. If you don’t want to read it right now (though I’d recommend doing so at some point) the premise is this: Life is…
A few weeks ago, in the post about setting, I shared with you a mnemonic I used with my students to help them remember the important parts of a story: Cows See Pretty Sunflowers. Cows = Characters See = Setting Pretty = Problem Sunflowers = Solution All these things are necessary to have a good story.…
Back when I was an elementary school teacher, I created a mnemonic device to help my students remember to include all the story elements in their retells: Cows See Pretty Sunflowers. I didn’t say it was a great mnemonic. But it worked. Cows = Characters See = Setting Pretty = Problem Sunflowers = Solution They drew…
Stephen King says a lot of quote-worthy things. Many of them are true. The one I think is the most true is this: Writers must be readers. It’s how we learn from the masters. I know this is true because I’ve been a voracious reader since I could first decode words. My absolute favorite book…
A few have asked me if I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year (that’s National Novel Writing Month, for anyone scratching their heads). It’s a really big freaking deal among writerly types. So much so that not participating can make one feel left out. Alone. A little loser-ish. But everyone else is doing it, they…
Dan Alatorre’s flash fiction challenge for this week came with simple directions: scare us. Us being the readers. So I took a YA angle and gave it a shot. Is it scary? You decide. The Lab I stare at the dark building and take a long breath. I’ll never forgive Connor for this. I don’t like coming to…
Allison Maruska 