Tweet This week we’re talking about what comes after NaNoWriMo. We’re talking about looking ahead. We’re talking about finishing a book and revising a book and being a writer. That’s three different processes, but all of them share the same three core, critical steps: Write. Take stock. Follow through. November made you write. Yesterday I […]
Tweet This week we’ve been talking about writing setbacks, and the biggest setback of all: not wanting to write. It’s part of the process, but that doesn’t mean it’s pleasant, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s productive. (Alliteration is fun.) As I said yesterday, every writer occasionally feels that sense of ultimate distraction. It’s a […]
Tweet Okay, for a week now I’ve been talking about the Conflict Resolution Cycle worksheet. It’s a questionnaire/assignment I cooked up a couple years back to force a writer through the questions necessary to convert a story idea into an actual narrative. Most of the questions explain themselves, so instead of opening with a big […]
Tweet Earlier this week I told a story. It was one I had to tell, under the circumstances. On the day I launched Gods Tomorrow to the public, you’d better bet I was going to talk about my novel. It works well as an illustration for the writing principles I want to talk about this […]
Tweet This week I stopped complaining about restrictive writing rules in favor of more generous advice. It’s really a continuation of the same theme, though. Write what you know. and Tell your readers what they need to know. The trick to both of those, really, is knowing what you know (and, of course, what you […]
Tweet Yesterday I told the story of my second novel…again. I’m well aware that I’ve talked about that book several times around here (and I’m certain I will again). In fact, the last time I mentioned it previously, I described it like this: The Poet Alexander is basically the 180,000-word story of my adolescence, chronicling […]
Tweet I wrote my first novel in high school, and it was a very high school sort of book. I spent a lot of time back then priding myself on being above the stupid high school drama going on all around me…and, of course, I was completely full of it. I’ve already introduced you to […]
…After I read Aaron’s comment, I realized that here, at Unstressed Syllables, I have, in fact, not been talking about sestinas at all. What a horrid oversight on my part. I do believe it’s high time I rectified this.
At first glance, a sestina is nothing more than a rhyming poem of six six-line stanzas with a tercet…
Tweet I spent yesterday explaining why technical writers use text columns, providing some specific examples along the way. What I didn’t provide was any kind of instructions. I hope to remedy that today. I’m going to walk you through the basics of setting up columns in Microsoft Word. Setting Up a Columned Layout The easiest […]
Tweet With all these posts lately on writing rules, I’m becoming quite the party pooper, aren’t I? That’s no fun. My goal isn’t to limit you as a writer, though — it’s to help you grow as a storyteller. Yesterday’s discussion of late attribution and flickering perspective was meant to help you spot the really […]
