Author Archives: Steph Nickel
A Three Act Sandwich by Tracy Krauss
Building a Sandwich You may be familiar with the good old sandwich analogy. Take two pieces of bread—the beginning of the story and the ending—and layer the rest of the ingredients in between. This is the basic three act structure that fits almost every kind of fiction, no matter if it’s a play, a short… Read more »
Are You Hooked? by Steph Beth Nickel
NONFICTION OPENINGS “Imagine for a moment that one of your favorite female Bible characters were to somehow travel through time to the modern day. What would Esther, or Ruth, or Mary Magdalene think as they stared, amazed, at our lives?” (opening of Chapter 1 of The Life Ready Woman: Thinking in a Do-It-All World by… Read more »
Opinion Pieces Need Muscled Middles by Pamela Mytroen
Nonfiction has unique challenges with middles. A reader may notice that the body of the piece flops around in too many directions rather than delivering a muscled middle. This divergence should be addressed at the very beginning of every opinion piece by developing a focused thesis.
What is a Poem? by Violet Nesdoly
In my last blog post I asked and tried to answer this question: “What is poetry?” Even as I was coming to my conclusion, I realized I would need to answer another question before we went on to other things poetic: “What is a poem?”.
Middles by Janice L. Dick
Middles have a way of sagging. I’m talking about books, of course! (adapted from http://www.coloring.ws/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.coloring.ws/animals/horses/horse7.gif)
10 Excuses I Hear Most Often
Thanks to Brenda Wood for sharing Lucy V. Hay’s post. 1. “I wish . . .” Stop it. Just stop it. You want to write? Do it. You want to try your hand at another type of writing? Do it. You want to change genres? Do it. DO IT! You get the gist. Life is… Read more »
Take Charge of Your Writing Life by Tracy Krauss
For most of the writers I know, finding ideas to write about is not an issue. Finding the time to craft these ideas into something worthy of sharing is another thing altogether. It takes effort. It takes discipline. It takes a certain amount of dogged determination.
A Time and Place to Write by Jack Popjes
You’ll never find time to write, but you can make time. And when you make time, you need to make a place as well. Productive writers know that time and place tend to be connected. It has to do with what actors call body memory.
Ten Steps to Prepare for Your Writers’ Workshop by Pamela Mytroen
1. Create an appropriate title for your workshop. Your title is like a menu item. It must be short and concise but appealing and descriptive to writers as they peruse the list of workshops at a conference. “The Life of Pie for Writers” was one of my recent workshop titles. It worked well visually.
What Is Poetry? by Violet Nesdoly
Welcome to our newest contributor, Violet Nesdoly. I’m delighted to be re-entering the world of group blogging. Though I enjoyed my hiatus, I’m happy to get back into this saddle. In my posts here, I plan to talk about a genre dear to my heart—poetry. It’s a huge topic with a history as old as… Read more »