Revision: Realizing the Full Potential of the Story

Revising a short story can be both challenging and rewarding. In a way, you have a lot more control once you've completed the first draft - our goal is to make the most of that control in order to refine the story.  Here's a look at how my approach to revision has changed over time.

June 9, 2010 Newsletter - Short Story Workshop Starts Friday

In our latest Creative Writing Newsletter, read about the Short Story Workshop coming up this Friday and the encore of Freewriting Across Genres coming on June 25.  If you would like to register for either of these courses, visit our Online Registration Page.

Also, you don't want to miss our Online Workshop Survey.  With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can help us determine which classes to add to our roster over next couple months.

Freewriting Across Genres is Off to a Good Start

I'm very pleased to announce the start to our summer workshops with Freewriting Across Genres, which began yesterday.  To give an idea of the scope and direction of the course, here's a selection from the teaching material...

How to Write a Novel in Three Easy Steps

There are really three steps to writing a novel: begin, persevere, and revise.  Once you master these three steps, the rest of the work - the entire novel itself, actually - will literally complete itself.

But then only three easy steps?  Is it really that simple to write a novel?  The answer, dear reader, is yes.  And at the same time it's no...

Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers

Glimmer Train announces their Short Story Award for New Writers, deadline of May 31st: 1st place wins $1,200, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies. 2nd place: $500 and possible publication. 3rd place: $300 and possible publication. Glimmer Train is one of the best magazines for aspiring writers to publish in.  They are always open to new talent, and they pay significant earnings for contributors and contest winners.  Because of this, competition is also fairly stiff.

Why I Write Fiction and Not Autobiography

In 2005 - when I was first putting up a website, still deployed in Afghanistan - I thought I knew what direction my writing would take in the years ahead.  In my article "Because the Truth Hurts: Why I Write Fiction Instead of Autobiography," I tried to lay out the reasons why fiction, for me, was so much safer than works more personal.

Paragons - Master Science Fiction Writers Ply Their Craft

Few things are more rewarding than a book about writing written by a writer.  In Paragons, we get the best of two worlds: a collection of twelve short stories written by some of the best authors in the genre coupled with craft essays in which they discuss the source of their ideas and the art of getting them on the page.  Besides providing excellent tips for writing well, the book delivers a good dose of perspective.  It shows us that all writers - even established writers - must rely on the fundamentals of storytelling as they face their own doubts about writing. Divided into six sections, Paragons devotes individual sections to plot, character, setting, theme, point of view, and style.

Write the Reading Experience You've Always Wanted

Everyone, it seems, wants fame.  We want success.  And success, in writing, is measured by readership.  It's measured by exposure to the greater public.  It's measured in the connections we have to other writers and also to our publishers.  Yet the root of these connections is the work itself - the writing.

Writing Your Way to the Long Story

Writing the ten page Whole Story is, in a way, the culmination of the Introduction to Fiction and Poetry course I teach here at Hopkins.  At ten pages, we begin to cross the threshold from college essay into plot development, from simply writing a scene or revealing a character to developing the forward motion of the story.  To read about how you can write a ten page story (or start any longer work of fiction), take a look at my Writing the Whole Story article on the IFP Blog.

1-2-Writing Home - IFP Course Page

Revise Your Fiction by Expanding the Details

Writers often tremble at the thought of revising a story, especially a long and complex work of fiction. But if you are working on a novel or a novella, you'll need to fill out your story with all the details and subplots necessary to present a rich experience for your readers. For advice on how to radically revise and expand a story, see "Expanding Your Fiction" on the IFP Blog.  For more examples on how to rewrite chapter openings, see "Maria Villanueva - Story Openings from Happy Ever After" or "Selonge Naita, The Martian Spy" on my Science Fiction Blog.

April 11, 2010 Newsletter

Take a look at our Latest Creative Writing Newsletter.  In this issue, you can find tips on Writing Sonnets, writing a Symbol Piece, and using Tone with Specificity of Detail to hold the reader's interest.

Or, View All Our Newsletters on iContact.

1-2-Writing Workshops Online

Write Fiction with Symbolism

Want to write with Symbol?  Do you want the objects in your fiction to carry special meaning above-and-beyond the call of existence?  Then take a look at Writing the Symbol Sketch on the IFP Blog.

1-2-Writing Workshops Online

Manage the Shifting Tone in Your Writing

In fiction and poetry, we often discuss this idea of "shifting tone," sometimes as if it's some kind of leprous creature to be avoided at all costs.  "The tone shifts here - it really bothered me" is a common refrain in workshops.  But this isn't to say the tone of your story should remain constant throughout - quite the contrary...

Publish Your Romance Novel with Harlequin

Do you stop by the Romance Section with each visit to the bookstore?  Do you find yourself writing surreptitious stories about loves lost and found?  Are you working on a novel?  Then you may want to publish a Harlequin Romance...

March 20 Newsletter - Character, Dialogue Tags, and Contests

The latest 1-2-Writing Newsletter is now online!  You can sit it by visiting my iContact Profile.  And if you would like to receive regular updates (about two newsletters per month), then you can Subscribe to Our RSS Feed or add your e-mail over to the right.

1-2-Writing Workshops Online

Writing Short Story Characters with Purpose

The saga of the MFA Thesis continues with Character Development.

The next step: developing my characters to reveal genuine motivations in the tight form of the short story.  And this can be challenging.  In order to be interesting and compelling, characters in fiction must have something at stake in the outcome of the story.

Write to the Finish with Sean Murphy and Tania Casselle

Are you writing a novel?  Would you like to?  The award-winning authors Sean Murphy (www.murphyzen.com) and Tania Casselle (www.writeondeadline.com
& www.tcwriter.com) will again be hosting their "Write to the Finish" Distance Workshop starting in April. 

Dialogue Tags

"You're really want to read this Amazing Post About Dialogue Tags," he said.  "It is thoroughly entertaining."

"You said the same thing about paragliding into a swamp bog," she replied.  "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I speak so prettily," he laughed lovingly, with the tone of one walking on air.

Read more about Dialogue Tags for Squirt Guns

Dialogue Tags for Squirt Guns

It's the sharp voice at the start of the chapter.  It's the old man saying to go west, young man - west.  It's the young woman telling off that scumbag loser who wants to go on a date.  Yes: it's dialogue.

But dialogue can't stand alone.  It requires attribution, so we know who's speaking.  And this is where dialogue tags come in: the "he said/she said" of your story.  Here are some quick tips you need to follow in order to avoid voices that sharply cut with the jagged feel of rusty nails, old men who snort out directions, and young women who shriek out rebuttals...

Wake Your Fictional Characters!

How do you tell your characters to wake up?  When your fiction doesn't feel caffeinated enough, use this simple trick: annoy your characters until they fight back.  Go to our Member's Area to see this technique in action with Waking Up Dagny.