When writing stories of 750 words or fewer, the writer must successfully employ the skills of compression and concision. Compression mandates economy of words, the squeezing together of story line, beginning, middle, end, story arc, number of characters, dialogue and time frame. Tightness in writing and meaningful word choice offer … Read More
E. M. Forster, in his 1927 Aspects of the Novel, applied the terms “flat” and “round” to describe fictional characters (pp. 103-166). Those true to life he considered to be “round,” while “flat” characters served only one purpose in the story. Authors create flat characters to represent a specific idea … Read More
In writing, voice might be defined as the personality, authenticity, sincerity, energy, texture of the narrative. Voice lifts the story off the page and grabs the reader. Voice consists of the sum of the author’s conscious and unconscious thoughts, perspectives, attitudes and experiential wisdom. It is the skillful way the … Read More
Do it with prose poetry. When my friend, Clark, sent me his pre-MFA collection of poems, I flipped through the book and flipped again, backing up, sitting down, reading in depth. Clark had written a set of lined poems that torched my imagination. In his letter to me, he said: … Read More