Last week, we posted about strategies for making it through National Novel Writing Month. This week, a couple of us are going to talk about why we aren’t doing NaNo this year, and why that’s totally fine.
Rachel Halpern (Alpha 2007 & 2008):
I … Read more
Alpha is pleased to announce that Kij Johnson will teach for two days at the 2012 workshop.
Ms. Johnson is the author of three published novels, many short stories, and several essays, and a winner of the Nebula, World … Read more
Last week, Alpha graduate Jameyanne Fuller talked about “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About National Novel Writing Month.” This week, Alphans discuss how they do the impossible (or at least highly improbable), win NaNoWriMo, and finish their 50,000 words … Read more
Don’t get me wrong. November is my favorite month of the year. NaNoWriMo provides the structure and the goal setting I really need to get writing done on a day to day basis. There’s also the excessive amount of candy, and the sheer thrill of churning out so many words so quickly. That being … Read more
2011 Alpha student Aleka Gurel wrote a fantastic review of this year’s workshop, which has been posted at Teen Ink. Check it out!
Also, Alpha is now on Twitter (@AlphaWorkshop). We renamed the account that Alpha alumni used for the “Ned and Jane” fundraiser in 2010, so if you were following @nedandjane … Read more
I realized between this post and the last that I left out something extremely important when it comes to how not to write romance. I mentioned a few common tropes that drive me crazy. I didn’t go into any of the larger implications of certain types of “romance” or our responsibility as contributors to popular … Read more
Romances are defined as a lot of different things, all vaguely related to one another. A strong, sometimes short-lived fascination or enthusiasm for something. A mysterious quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful. An artistic work, such as a novel, story, or film, that deals with sexual love, especially in an … Read more
Your writing is valuable. Your time, your words and your skill have gone into honing a story, and that story is worth something.
Getting published is hard. There are a lot of unpublished authors in this world, and only so many paying markets. This gives publishers a lot of power. They can ask for … Read more
A pun is not a premise; it is a pun. A twist ending is not a premise. A punchline is not a premise unless your story is very, very short.
Premise, for all the things it is not, is difficult to define. It is not like characters, who are the people who walk around … Read more
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the second half of my two-part post on description! Part one can be found here.
Getting back into it, let’s start with Rule Three, which I consider the most important rule: I would argue that all description (as with anything else in your story) should inherently be guided … Read more
