I wrote about Amanda Lee Koe's phenomenal SISTER SNAKE, (and couldn't stop myself from a light musing on fairy tales because you know me).
https://loft.org/writers-block-blog/sister-snake-amanda-lee-koe-and-time-magic
I interviewed Maria Reva about her (absolutely stunning) novel ENDLING. We talked about about structural play, narrative power, and how the violence and uncertainty of today’s world must reflect in the upheaval of the novel. Check it out here:
So, the folks in Lit!Commons made a zine and are making more and here's a write-up one did about the collaboration.
(I'm so pleased with this project and honored to be a very tiny part of it.)
https://loft.org/writers-block-blog/behind-zine-handmade-space-hope-kristy-wessel
CLASS IS FULL
(but there is a waitlist and the possibility to add a second section)
Flash Summer 2025!
Jun 16-Aug. 18, Mondays 12-1pm (CT), Online (Zoom), $160
-Close reading of newly published flash to discover exciting craft techniques
Generative writing prompts to create 10 new flash pieces
Supportive feedback to identify points of heat & reader connection
Three spots left!
#WritingCommunity #WritingClass #WritingConversations #FlashFiction
These gargoyles aren’t worried about explaining themselves to a human reader; they’re just trying to survive.
I wrote about Tara Campbell's fantastic CITY OF DANCING GARGOYLES and an opening that unsettles.
https://loft.org/writers-block-blog/city-dancing-gargoyles-and-decentering-humanity
This class goes deep into perspective, 1st/2nd/3rd person singular & plural POV, filtering through personality, sensibility, reliability, secrets & mystery, omniscience, tense, narrative distance, zooming, curation of artifacts, narrative strategy, & a few stranger options.
Here's another creepy fairy tale I wrote:
I got to interview Avitus B. Carle abut her collection of flash fiction, THESE WORN BODIES. We talked about the playful deconstruction of human and narrative form, the upending of regressive gender expectations, the POV of small animals, and how tiny stories can both create and destroy.
Here's my interview of Linda Michel-Cassidy about her short story collection, WHEN WE WERE HARDCORE. We talk about death, treacherous landscapes, and oddball characters living in in-between spaces.
OK I'm looking to change up some readings for my course on intimacy and conflict--the theory being they can both be tools to make scenes dynamic.
I've got plenty of non-conflict examples, but I'd like one really great physical action full-on conflict scene. Like a fistfight or something. Bodies in motion & swinging at each other & the outcome of the fight really has consequences.
What are your favorites?
This class is about making things happen. It's about writing dynamic scenes that move the plot & reveal character. Many writers swear by conflict, but positive moments of interpersonal connection or intimacy can do the same work. We'll practice both ways.
8 weeks, Wednesdays, 1/22/25 - 3/12/25, 10am-12pm CST, Online (live meetings)
#WritingCommunity #WritingClass #AmWriting #WritingConversations #DynamicScenes #Intimacy&Conflict #WritingCraft
This writing class is billed as about overcoming hangups when writing sex scenes--and it is that--but we also cover a lot of really practical techniques for making writing sexy. It's a fun class. Sometimes also a funny class. Join me! (It's in person though, which I know is quite limiting...)
Saturday, 1/18/25, 9am-12pm, OpenBook, Minneapolis MN
Here's my little witch story.
(I love a journal that releases on the solstice.)
Here's something amazing we've been working on in Lit!Commons:
I got to interview Anna Farro Henderson (author of Core Samples: A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood) about her very wonderful book and some of the tools she used to make climate science feel relatable, human, and urgent.
(And of course—this being me—I asked about the writing tool of including weird and personal bodily functions.)
Ghost Stories: Writing What Haunts Us
6 Weeks, Thurs. 6-8pm (C), Oct. 24, 2024 - Dec. 5, 2024, Online—Live Meeting
This one is all about ghosts--both the terrifying Halloween kind and the literary sort of hauntings (memory, longing, metaphor, resonance).
Expect close reading of texts (ghost stories!), discussion of techniques & strategies, and writing exercises to practice what we learn.
This is a great class on how to write complex and interesting characters. It's useful for all kinds of characters, but we study villains--because that makes it extra fun!
I’ve been thinking about what a gift it is to be allowed to read another writer’s WIP. I get to do it a lot as a teacher & book coach & also in my writing group.
There’s just so much you can learn from a _draft_, when the possibilities are endless & before it’s all buttoned up.
There’s craft & there’s also how another person’s brain work &—maybe most important—there are these big, fresh, exciting IDEAS.
Here's me writing about one of my favorite things again...
How do YOU sustain wonder (or horror) in your fiction?
This one's by my co-writer, but you should still check it out. It's about leaving space for the reader to feel.
Of course, I think both (or many) strategies are good--it just depends what you're going for. But also, I keep thinking about how a film or tv adaptation might dig into the spaces left for a reader. And that might clash with the emotions the reader first had, or it might layer with them to create a new depth.
https://imprompt2.beehiiv.com/p/sale-character-trauma-endlessly-processed
