Tag Archives: Writing Fiction

Admiring and Learning from Flash Writing by Jim Heynen

Posted on by July 13, 2017
I have been an eager reader of flash stories by Jim Heynen for years. I’ve read The Man Who Kept Cigars Under His Cap, One-Room School House: Stories About the Boys, The Boy’s House: New and Selected Stories as well as his newest collection Ordinary Sins: Stories. You can visit this web page to view … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Reading as a Writer Reads — Taking a Lesson from the Writing in Just Fall, a Novel

Posted on by July 6, 2017
I am an avid fan of Jane Friedman’s blog on writing and publishing. She is informative and up-to-date, presenting her expertise with scope and clarity. This week, I read her interview with screenwriter turned novelist, Nina R. Sadowsky.  I was impressed with the author’s words on how a background in screenwriting informed her novel writing. … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Writing It Real Fall/Winter Contest Winner Dorothy Ross’ “A Night at the Plaza”

Posted on by and May 18, 2017
[I will be posting the work of our recent three winners this week and then for the next two weeks. I hope you enjoy their comments about the writing of their work, our contest judge Sharon Byran’s comments, and, of course, the writing. – Ed.] Here is Dorothy Ross on why she is writing the … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Excerpt From The Third Law of Motion, a Novel by Meg Files

Posted on by February 18, 2016
The opening of Meg Files’ fine novel The Third Law of Motion introduces the book’s first-person narrative as we enter protagonist Dulcie White’s life as a college-bound high school student. In alternating chapters throughout the book, the young woman’s sometimes boyfriend, a confused and needy young man, also narrates, but in the third person. Meg does an expert … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

20 Dialog Building Prompts

Posted on by December 17, 2014
Dialog moves a narrative along in fiction, personal essay, memoir and poetry, too. Playing with ways to experiment with dialog will help you build your dexterity with this aspect of the writing craft. And playing with the prompts might have you creating some new writing you’ll want to expand. Write a conversation between three people–one who … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

20 Character Building Exercises

Posted on by December 10, 2014
When we write fiction, we need to get inside our characters’ beings. When we write memoir, we need to learn more about our own character as well as the character of people who have influenced our experience. But sometimes we need a pathway to find fresh material. Here are 20 exercises for getting to know our characters and … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

That Crazy Little Thing, a Novel that Tackles What’s Big for a Writer and Her Characters

Posted on by and December 4, 2013
That Crazy Little Thing a debut novel by Kate Bracy has garnered wonderful reviews from readers and critics because of the author’s writing, the way she has developed her characters and how they explore issues of love — between friends, parents and their children, and adults looking for partners who understand them. Following Kate’s answers … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

The Work of an Opening — To Achieve an Engaging, Smooth and Useful Beginning

Posted on by and August 28, 2013
Julaina Kleist-Corwin’s story is our third place winner in the spring/summer 2013 Writing It Real writing contest. Guest judge Terry Persun wrote to us that he chose the story because he liked the pacing and grew “to know the characters, all the while not knowing which to trust or which he liked better.” He also … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 2

Posted on by July 17, 2013
Applying her method of reading as a writer reads to Pam Houston’s Contents May Have Shifted, Judith Kitchen asks, “So is this memoir, masked as novel? Or novel, masked as memoir? That’s one of the first questions that a reader of this book asks. “What does it matter?” you might venture.   Here is our guest author’s explanation. Reading … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 1

Posted on by July 17, 2013
For our community read this past March 2013, the librarians in Port Townsend, where I live, chose Pam Houston’s novel Contents May Have Shifted, a story, they felt to be about love and freedom in middle age, something dear to the hearts of many in this community. At the top of the month the library … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Taking Chances

Posted on by March 6, 2013
After years of writing, editing, publishing authors and teaching, Jack Heffron knows why we get stuck and how to work around that and back into our material. He’ll be teaching with Meg Files and Sheila Bender at our Writing It Real in Nashville April 25-28 conference. Join us for a chance to work with Jack as … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

A Children’s Book From the Heart: Interview with Penny Holland

Posted on by and February 6, 2013
Creating stories to delight children and help them understand sophisticated social concepts is a primary objective of children’s book authors. But it is often hard to cut to the essence of situations in language children understand. Penny Claire Holland had the story for a children’s picture book many years ago, but let her manuscript sit … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Excerpt from Meg Files Novel The Third Law of Motion

Posted on by January 30, 2013
This excerpt is from Chapter 15 of The Third Law of Motion by Meg Files, published by Anaphora Literary Press, 2011, reprinted here by permission of the author. Lonnie had already started work as an inventory clerk in a new discount store just outside town, and we’d used the Christmas money from Dad for rent and … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

The Third Law of Motion – An Interview with Meg Files

Posted on by and March 6, 2013
This week’s interview is with my colleague Meg Files about her process for writing The Third Law of Motion, her newest novel and the book’s impact on its audience. You can study with Meg at our April Writing It Real conference in Nashville or our June Centrum Creative weekend intensive in Port Townsend, WA. Sheila Your … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.

Lasting Impressions – Excerpt from The Art and Craft of Storytelling

Posted on by December 17, 2012
Author Nancy Lamb has published two books on writing fiction with Writer’s Digest Books, The Art and Craft of Storytelling: A Comprehenisve Guide to Classic Writing Techniques, from which we present an excerpt this week, as well as The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. She is a master at explaining the elements of … Continue reading →
To access this material you must be a member. Read about our Lifetime Membership benefits and discounts when you purchase Writing It Real services.