My Novel is a Snowflake
Once again I’m wrestling with figuring out the genre of my novel. Anyone else who’s run into this particular problem, raise your hand. Yes, I see you all. Seriously, do we really care which category each book falls into, so…
Category: Craft Discussion
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…
Character Arcs to Warm the Heart
You could chalk it up to nostalgia: Re-watching a childhood classic to remember a loved one or a Christmas past. But often, I find turning to classic Christmas movies can be a way for me, my family and friends to…
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…
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…
Of Poetry, Sounding Good and Being Useful
I took a course called Technical Writing in grad school. The professor assigned a short manual that he had written himself as the required reading. He spent a lot of the time talking about the precision of language required to…