If you’ve ever taken a writing class, you’ve probably heard the adage “show, don’t tell.” But what does that even mean? What “show, don’t tell” really boils down to is a question ...
Writing a book is like making a contract with our readers. We agree to craft a great story and our readers in turn agree to suspend their disbelief and keep turning pages. Furthermore, I believe ...
https://diymfa.com/writing/five-promises-in-the-first-five-pages/
Story marketing has been all the buzz for the past several years. More than snappy taglines and fancy graphics, companies have been relying on storytelling to engage their audiences. As writers, ...
Point of view is one of the trickiest and most technical aspects of writing, but it’s also my favorite. There are so many choices and possibilities—it’s like being in the literary version o...
https://diymfa.com/writing/the-three-rules-of-point-of-view/
You may not know this about me, but I am a die-hard Twilight Zone fan. The show represents some of the finest writing in television and I especially love that it’s kid-friendly so I can watch w...
https://diymfa.com/writing/writing-insights-from-the-twilight-zone/
As a New Year’s resolution in January of 2007, I decided I was a writer and would start acting like one. No more excuses. I was going to stop complaining and saying that I’d start writing “...
You might not know this about me, but DIY MFA was not my first choice as a career. In fact, I was forced to walk away from my dream job, but founded DIY MFA and created a career of a lifetime. Le...
https://diymfa.com/writing/how-i-left-my-dream-job-and-found-the-career-of-a-lifetime/
The topic of voice has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s a subject that writers are expected to understand, but rarely does anyone actually explain what it really is. Until now. Voice is the f...
https://diymfa.com/writing/3-things-writers-need-to-know-about-voice/
I have played the violin since I was four years old, and my son and daughter play piano and violin respectively. They both go to a Suzuki music school—the same school I attended from ages 4-18....
https://diymfa.com/writing/how-a-writing-practice-is-like-playing-the-violin/
At the end of January, I pulled out an old notebook and started journaling. Eleven months and nine notebooks later, I have written something just about every day since then. (Okay, I’m not coun...