by Kathryn Craft | Sep 12, 2019 | Book Talk, charles dickens, Craft, Elizabeth Gilbert, exposition, How to be Good, Inspirations, Kathryn Craft, Mad Skills, Nick Hornby, show don't tell, Writing
photo adapted / Horia VarlanWhen writing teachers say “show, don’t tell,” they typically suggest doing so through dialogue, action, and sense imagery. Exposition, on the other hand—the writing that contextualizes the more active aspects of scene, and is often thought...
by Kathryn Craft | Aug 8, 2019 | Barbara Kingsolver, Book Talk, Craft, Inspirations, Kathryn Craft, Mad Skills, metaphors, overwriting, reading experience, Writing
photo adapted / Horia VarlanOur earliest attempts to fill a fresh, daunting expanse of novel-length white can be a bit like choosing crayons. We want colors that will show what our characters look like, how they feel, what they think about this or that. We want to...
by Kathryn Craft | Jul 11, 2019 | Barbara Claypole White, book club fiction, Book Talk, Chris Bohjalian, Craft, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Delia Owens, Garth Stein, Inspirations, John Irving, Kathryn Craft, Lori Lansens, Mad Skills, Marketing, Markus Zusak, reading guide, REAL WORLD, Sue Monk Kidd, Writing
photo adapted / Horia VarlanLong before I started writing fiction, I belonged to numerous book clubs. For me, adding book-centered conversation to a glass of wine, snacks, and the chance to poke around in a neighbor’s house creates a perfect social event. Yet 90...
by Kathryn Craft | Jun 13, 2019 | Book Talk, Craft, inciting incidents, Inspirations, Kathryn Craft, Kelly Harms, Mad Skills, Patricia Wood, story arc, Writing
photo adapted / Horia VarlanA story arc is launched when something happens to a protagonist that knocks her off her rails. Life did not go as expected this day, and in fact, life may never seem the same again. You may call this event something else, but I use the...
by Kathryn Craft | May 9, 2019 | bridging conflict, Craft, Kathryn Craft, Mad Skills, novel opening, opening scenes, Writing
photo adapted / Horia VarlanTo write a novel is to invite your reader on a journey. Once she gets to the station for departure, don’t expect her to be satisfied watching the train sit on the tracks. Or taking a tour of its cars. Or watching its engine be tugged from...
by Kathryn Craft | Apr 11, 2019 | Book Talk, inspiration, Inspirations, John Cheever, Kathryn Craft, learning the craft, Mad Skills, REAL WORLD, short stories, short story collections, Writing, Writing life, writing prompts
photo adapted / Horia VarlanMany aspiring novelists learn their craft by first writing short stories. This makes oodles of sense: the character’s goal is more immediate, its complications are fewer, and the supporting cast is more manageable. With the end never far...