Plot

Craft in the Real World book cover

The New Plot

I’ve read two books recently that are knocking over some of the great pillars of craft supporting my writing practice.  I’m both disconcerted and thrilled. First, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping.  Matthew Salesses, a Korean American novelist, explores how culturally bound our contemporary literary standards are, which is why they …

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Giving Your Story a Plot

I can’t tell you how often I read early drafts of memoirs that are thorough, lively recordings of events, great for preserving family history but absolutely unsatisfying as memoirs.  First this happened, and then this, and then this… Even when the events are shocking, amazing, horrific, terrifying, or otherwise scintillating, the drafts read like flat …

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