I have quite the corral of short stories with word counts ranging from 1,500 to 10,000. Some of my friends have suggested I expand a few of my stories to 70,000 or even 90,000 words. In other words, turn the stories into novels. At first this sounds like a great prospect because a novel has…
Like most creative writers, I have a lot going on in my life that isn’t related to the story I’m penning. First, there’s the repetitive work at my day job, then household chores like dirty dishes, shopping, cooking, paying bills, and finally, the shameless attempt to stay in touch with friends and relatives. When I…
About the Book The complete book title is: Dear Writer, You Need to Quit: What to Keep, What to Quit, What to Question. All sixteen chapters begin with the word “Quit.” The author, Becca Syme, is the writing coach who developed the successful “Write Better-Faster” courses. This book (185 pages) was not written to augment…
In my writing critiques I often advise authors to use more strong, active verbs and fewer weak, passive verbs. Yet, when it comes to verbs, strong doesn’t actually mean active and weak doesn’t actually mean passive, even though that’s what they are often labeled today. Starken und Schwachen Verben When I was an undergrad I…
At first it seemed that being forced indoors, laid off work, and practicing social distancing would foster my creative endeavors. Just imagine what I could do with loads of free time alone—time to finish abandoned projects, to bolster my research, to type the stack of story notes languishing atop the file cabinet, and to expand…