“Wiki loop” is one of those phrases that has popped up to describe a phenomenon we’ve all experienced: getting stuck reading endless Wikipedia articles. If you’re like me, you may wonder why this could ever be considered a bad thing. But I guess some people have better things to do on Friday nights than click through… Continue reading Embracing the Wiki Loop
Category: My Writing
Getting to Know Your Main Character
This is my favorite part of writing. Your main character will make or break your story, and unfortunately they will not just appear from your head fully-formed, Athena-style. That is why this getting-to-know-you stage is arguably the most important part of writing. If you’re not sure what I mean by “getting to know” your main character,… Continue reading Getting to Know Your Main Character
The Creating Process
Creating a story is like creating anything else. It takes time, some reflection, and a little bit of improvisation. Of course, like anything, your story might not exactly come out right the first time. The good thing is that it’s easier to rewrite a sentence than it is to fix a painting or remodel a… Continue reading The Creating Process
Trusting the Workshop
We tend to think of writing as a personal, internal experience. Thought to paper, right? And that idea is fine until someone actually reads your work. Then you have to think about what your writing means, its relationship to reality, what people think of it–all the stuff you would rather avoid while just continuing to write. I… Continue reading Trusting the Workshop
Translating Experience to Fiction
I’ve found myself relying more and more on my experiences as I’ve been writing this semester. It’s weird for me, since I tend to write less from “what I know” and more from research. But I think there are just some experiences that beg to be written about, and I discovered a lot of them… Continue reading Translating Experience to Fiction
Writing Abroad
Writing is something you have to make time for. I know this. What I didn’t know is how easy it is to make time for writing when you’re doing things like homework and laundry all the time…it’s much harder to make time in between traveling, eating out, and sightseeing. During the five weeks I was… Continue reading Writing Abroad
All You Need is Something to Write In
I’ve been abroad for a week now, and I haven’t even attempted to do any creative writing. And yesterday, as we were walking around and exploring the city, I realized that part of this is my fault for not taking advantage of all the inspiration around me. So I bought a journal, and last night… Continue reading All You Need is Something to Write In
Guest Post: A Challenge to Read for Fun
I wrote a guest post (my first!) about how to get back into the habit of reading for fun. You can check it out on John’s blog, Write me a Book, John! You should also spend some time reading his other posts, because they’re always enjoyable!