Reading Like a Writer

When Their Hand Around a Locket Speaks With More Conviction Than the Movement of Their Lips

It's no one's place to say what constitutes as "bad" writing for anyone other than themselves. There are pieces of writing that can...

Sweat the Details, but Only a Little

Knowledge is a blessing and a curse. A well-thought-out story can inspire, explain, inform, validate, shock, resonate, but the author of...

The Resonance of Our Speech

I would only order coffee under one of two circumstances. If C-- had arrived early and I'd seen her at a table, my first destination...

Building Character

In last week's Purposeful Prose post, I discussed the ways in which people value representations that they can impress some kind of...

It's All a Matter of Perspective

In writing, there are always options. While writing often needs to be evaluated to a standard, a style guide, a syllabus, a list of...

The Uncertainty and Instinct that Models Our Paragraphs

One of the most anxiety-inducing and thrilling discoveries we might have, when working to understand rules for creative pursuits, is that...

Show and Tell

Recently, I've had to focus the majority of my criticisms on writers' openings. It's not a secret that the way in which a writer performs...

The Disturbing Amount of and Lack of Answers to a Simple Question

Readers often enter their desired source of new material with preconceived notions of what is and isn't good, what is or isn't correct,...