I don’t always start a project this way. Sometimes I write about the idea I’m having, or try to write the thing out without doing any planning. Invariably, I come back to making a plan because I get lost. All projects feel too big. I need to break them down. And I need to find […]
First Steps to a Story: by Angie Powers Read More »
Discoverability. It’s something that people who make video and throw it up on YouTube think about. And it doesn’t matter if it’s some kid in a bedroom in Wisconsin or a corporate committee working for Brawny paper towels. You make a video, you want people to find it easily so they can like it and
Your Authorial SEO: by Angie Powers Read More »
One mistake that newer writers often make is putting the reader in whiteboard world, one that is not particularly clear or worse completely absent. The voice might strong, the interiority VERY strong, the dialog sparkling and witty. And setting — gone. I can’t say why this happens for sure, but I suspect part of it
Senses of Place: Three Exercises to Flesh Out World: by Angie Powers Read More »
Our children have just “graduated” from preschool. Because of that, I’m a little tender-hearted toward the families with children slightly younger than ours are now. Just the other day, as I drove past the park to pick up my kids from one of their last days at preschool, I watched a mother and child walk
Losing Histories: by Angie Powers Read More »
I have heard that the novelist (and by extension any narrative writer or even any artist) has a responsibility to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. It seems vague, but it’s also a pretty exciting concept once you think about it and how you might use it in your own life. It’s downright
Big Changes in Small Details: by Angie Powers Read More »
Recently I was reading an article in the Atlantic Monthly about new apps that are helping people make life changes (such as losing weight) and how their power comes from BF Skinner’s behavior modification models. Long story short, or the way I like to paraphrase it, which may or may not be accurate, is that
Feedback Loupe: by By Angie Powers Read More »
It’s standard writing wisdom to know to whom you are writing. Knowing your intended audience lets you clarify genre, for example. Knowing your audience helps with voice. Knowing your audience preps you for dealing with those folks who aren’t part of your audience, read your work and feel like commenting anyway. But at a deeper
Why You Have to Keep Your Audience In Mind: By Angie Powers Read More »
Some folks are really capable. REALLY capable. Me, I’m more on the disorganized end of things. I get so many ideas they tend to spread all over the place. I could do this, or this, or this! It’s super fun to think about, but sometimes, all the possibilities make sitting down to write even harder.
Organizing Like a Preschool to Write Like a Master: by Angie Powers Read More »
I often am awed at how great writers are able to grab that one aspect of character and make it manifest in the physical form of their characters. The most famous version of this was Oedipus, gouging out his eyes. Of course, he was blind the whole time — and the act of blinding him
Challenging Characters: by Angie Powers Read More »
What makes prose different from performed writing is that you have access to the internal thoughts and feelings of your characters. Now, you may say, hey, when I write a film, it’s chock full of voice over, and what is voiceover if not the internal thoughts and feelings of a character? Aside from generally boring,
Are You Experienced?: by Angie Powers Read More »
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