Welcome to another week of informal writerly learnings!
Black lives matter. Indigenous lives matter. All lives cannot matter until Black and Indigenous lives matter. This is a fundamental truth.
The EI ERB and CERB have been extended for the third time and three new transitional benefits are being created to support Canadians in this crisis. It’s resulted in chaos at work, but chaos has been the rule since March 15th.
Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay within your bubbles and avoid crowded events. Take care and stay safe. You don’t know who you could be putting at risk with careless behaviour.
K.M. Weiland shares five exercises for honing your story instincts. Helping Writers Become Authors
Vaughn Roycroft explains why he prefers novels with prologues. Dave King is discussing fiction in the time of plague. Then, Sarah Penner shares the results of a working-from-home survey: navigating changes to our work environments. Later in the week, Porter Anderson discusses emergent voices. Writer Unboxed
Shaelin Bishop shares some of her favourite writing techniques. Shaelin Writes
Tasha Seegmiller: every novel needs a village. Then, Barbara Linn Probst advises us to read like a writer and write like a reader. Later in the week, John Peragine explains the vital importance of your writing community. Writers in the Storm
The muse trope, explained. The Take
Rochelle Melander suggests some tools for revision. Fiction University
Christina Delay uses the lyrics of “Yesterday” to look back at the first act. Writers Helping Writers
Helen J. Darling helps you build your author newsletter list. Then, Pamela Taylor helps you figure out whether you’re writing historical fiction, or something else. Later in the week, Chere Hughes describes the key features of a no-fear critique. DIY MFA
Susan DeFreitas explains what your first 50 pages reveal. Jane Friedman
Nathan Bransford wants you to be very careful with dreams and hallucinations in novels.
Chris Winkle explains why story structures like the Hero’s Journey don’t work. Then, Oren Ashkenazi analyzes five stories with anticlimactic endings. Mythcreants
What English can’t do. NativLang
Alexandra Alter: “We’ve already survived an apocalypse”: Indigenous authors are changing science fiction. The New York Times
Thanks for visiting and I hope you’re taking away something that will support your current work in progress.
Until Thursday, be well and stay safe.
Always Looking Up 