Writer's Toolbox

Interview with Mary Schendlinger

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:49:00 GMT

Luanne Armstrong interviews Mary Schendlinger on: types of editing, from developmental, structural, to copyediting; writing Geist buys; finding an editor; the term "creative non-fiction."

Warm-up exercise: Eyes shut

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:25:00 GMT

Close your eyes and freewrite one page.

How does narrative die?

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 23:57:00 GMT

The death of narrative finds its roots in the optical culture of the twentieth century.

Narrative exercise: Birthday

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:36:00 GMT

Write down an anecdote about your birthday (any birthday). An anecdote is a very short account, a wee story: it has a beginning, a middle and an end, and something happens for the narrator, or someone else in the story, or both.

Morale exercise: Real writers

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:34:00 GMT

Write this down: “Real writers . . .” and freewrite from there for 10 minutes.

Warm-up exercise: Lunch

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:32:00 GMT

Freewrite for 10 minutes about lunch—any lunch you had during the last week that sticks in your mind. Where were you? Who were you with? What did you eat, or not eat? What else was going on? Maybe you skipped lunch; write about that.

Warm-up exercise: Television weeping

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:02:00 GMT

Start with this line by Dionne Brand, from Inventory, a book of poems, then freewrite for 10 minutes:“One year she sat at the television weeping, no reason”

Warm-up exercise: Scar

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:00:00 GMT

Freewrite for 10 minutes about a scar or scars: your own or someone else’s.

Narrative: Six principles and some examples

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:00:00 GMT

The editors of Geist turn down a dozen or more submissions of prose writing every week, most often because the piece is more descriptive than narrative: it consists of facts and/or descriptions and/or backstory in preparation for a story, but it is not a story. The prose that lasts is the good story, well told.