Posts tagged as:

prose

Reading Like a Writer

June 25, 2010

Image via Wikipedia Can creative writing be taught? It’s a loaded question, and one which Francine Prose, the author of the 2006 book Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them, tackles in the opening passages. Given the popularity of creative writing programs across [...]

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In the Beginning…

June 11, 2010

Few facets of writing are as important as an opening line. While every story needs well-drawn characters and an engaging plot, nothing will deter a reader faster than a lousy first sentence—particularly in short fiction. Thus, your job as a storyteller is to hook the audience at the beginning of your tale and give them [...]

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Open Up.

June 2, 2010

The irony here is I have no good opening for this post.  I’ve been thinking about this one for a couple of days and realized a few things.  One is that outside of screenplays, where the first ten pages are of vital importance, the writers I hang out with and I haven’t talked much about the [...]

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An Exercise in Voice

November 30, 2009

Welcome to Redemption, Texas population 687, well, minus one now. Let’s try that again. Howdy from Redemption, Texas, population 686 proudly known as the “Sweetest Rolling Green Hills Town in the Lone Star State.” But since that doesn’t fit on most license plates the people here call their home simply Sweet Rollin’ Redemption. And while [...]

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Six-Word Memoirs

November 20, 2009

The novelist Ernest Hemingway was once asked to create a full story in six words or less.  Here is what he wrote:  “For Sale:  baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, the online magazine Smith asked readers to take up the same challenge and write the story of their own lives in a single, six-word sentence.  [...]

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