Category Archives: Writing tools

Late next week we’ll move toward revision at the sentence level, but for now consider the Micro-edit Diagnostic Checklist from Susan Bell’s The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself. Our final is inspired by the last few pages of Heather Sellers’ The … Continue reading →

Never underestimate your opening. From the always excellent Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively,this exercise suggests eight useful options for you to consider as you revise. Remember that while the most important opening begins your draft (whether novel, novella, or story), each chapter … Continue reading →

First, an example of global revision. Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was was published in 1984. Here’s a brief excerpt. Also available online, a PDF of the first draft. What do you notice when … Continue reading →

“Four Approaches to the Chapter” by Paul Graham and Mary Atwell from the Writer’s Chronicle suggests interesting strategies for chapters. As writers move from a rough to revised draft, they have an opportunity to use these and other strategies while building … Continue reading →

Eavesdropping was often mentioned as a source for stories in the first creative writing classes I took. Cell phones have certainly improved opportunities for evesdropping. Overheard fragments of conversations can act as, in the words of They Might Be Giants, … Continue reading →

Here are links to two PDFs. The first seems useful for developing large structures or cores (albeit traditional ones) around which long narratives can be built. The second gives simple, direct steps (scaleable steps, good for scenes or books) for … Continue reading →

Two exercises about characterization from the sixth edition of Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft: Write down three adjectives (beautiful, aggressive, haughty) that describe a character in your story-in-progress. (Be sure the adjectives describe different qualities, not … Continue reading →

I don’t know much about Cory Doctorow, but I like some of the writing advice he gives: Don’t research. Researching isn’t writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don’t. Don’t … Continue reading →