Freewriting Exercise: Rewrite An Oral Story

For this exercise, you get to retell a story that at some point has been told to you by someone else. We all have stories we carry around. Some of these stories come from our own experience and others are those that have been shared to us by someone else. Stories passed along by an… Continue reading Freewriting Exercise: Rewrite An Oral Story

Freewriting Exercise: Story Remix

There is a lot of value when artists are magpies, collecting, listening, mimicking. Trying their hand at different things. This exercise is about remixing, collecting, gathering, playing with existing stories. Doing your version of something just as an experiment. The opportunities here are endless. I find the mimicking and copying approach more valuable than studying… Continue reading Freewriting Exercise: Story Remix

Should You Finish a Broken First Draft Or Go Back And Fix Its Problems?

It can be hard to press on and finish a first draft, especially when you discover there is a critical problem with the way you have been writing it. Let’s say you’re writing a novel with an awesome story and a great main character. Everything seems to be going along nicely until you realize you… Continue reading Should You Finish a Broken First Draft Or Go Back And Fix Its Problems?

How to Really Transport Your Reader

When we read a story, we get transported to someplace. For this to happen, people talk about the need for the reader to have a willing suspension of disbelief. This phrase came from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Romantic writer. “In this idea originated the plan of the ‘Lyrical Ballads’; in which it was agreed, that… Continue reading How to Really Transport Your Reader