The relationship between creativity and talent is a rocky one. For years I’ve heard variations of, “Do I need talent to be a good writer?” with “writer” easily substituted by other creative professions like painter, sculptor, and musician. At first, I was the one asking the question, an insecure teen wondering if I’d ever make…
Technology has evolved exponentially over the course of human history, with most advances aimed toward taking labor off the shoulders of skilled workers. The printing press shortened the time it took to print a book and created output so robust it brought a surge of literacy along with it. The internal combustion engine streamlined transportation,…
Passion: it’s what so many of us crave and what so few of us pursue. Sometimes it’s a lack of self-knowledge– after all, you can’t chase something you don’t know exists. Others find there’s just not enough time in the day. So much of our lives are taken up by family obligations, errands, chores, and,…
When we left off in Fanfiction, Part 1: A Brief History, we’d just discovered the wonders of a centralized fanfiction hub: FanFiction.Net. While a great boon to the fanfiction internet landscape, it invited many more eyes– and more scrutiny. Copyright holders only had to type in a single web address or search their property’s name…
All writing is dialogue. Not dialogue as in he-said-she-said, but as in referencing and relating to other ideas. Choosing to write about vampires, for example, puts you in dialogue with works like Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles, and Twilight. Writing a historical biography of a famous leader or innovator forces you to dialogue with historical texts,…
If I were to describe my writing schedule before starting this blog, I’d pick the word “sporadic”. The writing folder on my computer, sorted by year, alternates between years with forty-plus documents and years that are completely barren. An entire bottom shelf of a bookcase is dedicated to notebooks I won’t throw out due to…
Everyone has a story they want to tell. For most, it’ll percolate in the back of their minds for most of their lives, drip-drip-dripping on long flights, empty commutes, and while doing the dishes. It rarely moves past the idle daydream stage, its existence reserved for downtime conversations of, “When I retire, maybe I’ll write…
Humans love to engage in challenges. When we’re small, we race down the block or count to ten to see who’s the fastest. As we get older we join sports, form clubs, and enter contests to compete, learn, and grow. Social media has expanded these opportunities, connecting people from all over the world to join…
If you’ve been following the Writing Rules series, you might have clicked on this blog post with some skepticism. Every “rule” so far has been a phrase, something catchy to teach new writers a simple trick to improve their prose. This rule is a little different; instead of one writing “rule” to pick apart, there…
Editing is hell. It may look peaceful from the outside. A writer sitting at their desk with a red pen, manuscript spread out, marking and noting along the margins. Maybe there’s a cup of tea steaming next to them or some gentle snowfall at the windowsill. Cleaning up your work sounds satisfying, but if you…
Tea Reads 