Letting Go of Attachments
I am an expert at cleaning out my closet. I have been pushed by circumstance to get rid of many of my possessions again and again. But when it comes to my words—I’m not as talented. I have been thinking…
Category: Rewriting
Exploring Character Through Memoir
Fiction readers expect more of characters than they do of people in real life. In life you can have a person who does inexplicable self-destructive or transgressive shit, and friends and colleagues just shake their heads and say, “Oh, that’s…
DNA, Memory and Fiction as Magic: A True Story
Every fiction writer, it’s safe to say, has had the experience of writing something, then asking: “Where the hell did that come from?” Sometimes our next act is to delete it and try again, but on occasion we’re lucky, and…
Interview with October ’17 Craft on Draft Contest Winner: Charlotte Gross
October’s Craft on Draft reading event asked the question every writer wants on their reader’s mind. “What happens next?” Authors Kelly J. Ford (Cottonmouths), Stephanie Gayle (Idyll Fears) and Crystal King (Feast of Sorrow) read from their novels and shared…
Four Writing Struggles of Abuse Survivors
Abuse kind of fucks up your head. Anybody who’s been there will tell you that. And while we survivors can respond to the injustices done upon us in a myriad of ways, I’ve noticed a significant ratio of us seem…
What NOT to Say When You Get “The Call”
As writers, we expect rejection. We are told we should embrace it, that we aren’t really writers until someone slams a door in our face. Rejection seasons us, toughens our skin. I think I may have internalized this advice a…