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Author: Ace Baker
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STARTERS : Great opening lines from 2013 BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS
I picked up a copy of the 2013 BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, edited by Cheryl Strayed. Here are a few of the best opening lines: On Thanksgiving my father asked me if I wanted to visit the Nazi. –“Keeper of the Flame,” by Matthew Vollmer The first time I heard her I didn’t hear her at…
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Master storyteller Jennifer Manuel: Technique #001: Setting as Character!
Jennifer Manuel is a gifted storyteller. In fact, not one, but two of her stories won the SIWC Storyteller Award this year ($1000 and publication!). While she’s a writer who has many tools in her toolbox, one of her strengths is using setting as a character. The time she has spent in “the farthest…
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GOOD NEWS at SIWC…
Ok, my three-day SIWC nirvana is soon coming to a close (just a half-day Sunday remaining), but already it’s been amazing because… I met Zsuzsi Gartner, a short story goddess whose work I admire and even teach to my students, and she blue-penciled a short story I wrote, giving excellent advice and instructions for that five-page piece of short…
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2 Days Until SIWC… 2 Novel Writing Myths Debunked!
Are you fighting with writing? For those who are daunted by penning something as long as a novel, here’s a link to an article that debunks two myths: 1. Writing a novel takes huge talent. 2. Writing a novel is difficult. http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-a-novel.html It also includes a link to another site that takes you, step by…
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3 Days to SIWC…so here’s a link to a post on the power of 3!
Three days until SIWC . . . so here’s a link to an Aussie writer, Jonathan Crossfield, who has penned his own take on the POWER OF THREE in writing. Click and take a peek: http://www.jonathancrossfield.com/blog/2009/06/writing-the-power-of-three.html
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4 Days to SIWC… 4 Writing Prompts from the 4 A.M. Breakthrough
4 Prompts from one of my favorite prompt books, The 4 A.M. Breakthrough, by Brian Kiteley 1. Write about a shopping list, as if this shopping list had much more meaning than it could possibly hold. Imagine this list found hundreds of years later and analyzed for hidden meaning (or perhaps without understanding of its…
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5 days until SIWC…so here’s a 5-point plan for NANOWRIMO
Our countdown to the best writing conference in North America–SIWC–continues….It’s only five short days away, so here is a quick, 5-point plan for some of the madness that comes in the next month during NANOWRIMO. When you’re planning a novel, here’s a quick way to think about it: 1. One-sentence NY Times Bestseller line. The…
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6 days until SIWC… 6 sentence styles to test out in your writing
6 days until SIWC, so here are six styles of sentences (found in recent readings!) for you to take a peek at. Thanks Shan, Katie, Aaron, and Lena for chasing these down in your reading: 1. The Interrupted Sentence Maybe he should have stopped—showed them that he wasn’t afraid—but the muscles in his legs…