I’m rewriting a novel! Determined to make good progress after a quiet 2023, I have revisited my novel and already made some big decisions. The original concept was a story contained within 12 songs. I have discussed this novel here before. My protagonist plays a CD, and the story plays out through the memories that…
Author: samuel
I hardly worked on my novel this year.
This website is about offering creative writing advice. Well, mostly it is. But I’ve decided to share a summary of my creative writing year here instead. Something personal. Unfortunately, I have to say that 2023 has been a disappointingly infertile year, and I hardly worked on my novel this year. Other parts of my life…
Is ChatGPT Evil?
I didn’t think I’d be wondering if ChatGPT was evil on this website. I’m not using ChatGPT for any of my fiction writing, though I’ve written about the potential of doing so. I’ve only experimented with it in my work as a copywriter and found it to be a simple way to save time during…
How to write with style – with Kurt Vonnegut.
Kurt Vonnegut was a great writer. He was an author with a unique voice, and he once published some of his insight with a short piece that I now want to share, titled How to write with style. He published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five non-fiction books throughout his career. After…
Who are you writing for?
There’s only one answer to the question ‘Who you are writing for?’ and that’s yourself. You write in a language and style that you know, and you create something that you would love to read. You write what you know, and you write for yourself. So why all the writing advice? What’s that all about?…
How to write realistic dialogue: an introduction.
There’s a lot of good, easy-to-follow advice on ‘how to write realistic dialogue,’ and I will soon share my ideas on that here, but this first post on the subject will cover when and why I choose to use dialogue. Every writer should have this conversation with themselves before refining the dialogue that’s already on…
ChatGPT and Creative Writing.
ChatGPT is a hot topic, but is it relevant to Creative Writing? Creative Writing is a craft that requires inspiration, imagination, and a lot of hard work. But would writers embrace a tool that could help them generate ideas, overcome writer’s block, and even write entire scenes? ChatGPT offers to do just that. In this…
Explore the Dark World of Dirty Realism.
Have you enjoyed a book or movie and felt like you were seeing real life unfold? If you have, you’ve experienced Dirty Realism. Dirty Realism is a literary movement during the late 20th century. It features sharp language and explicit depictions of life’s gritty realities. Discussed alongside other movements such as minimalism and postmodernism, it…
How to Write Poetry: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Writing poetry is a great way to express yourself through language, imagery and emotion. While there are many different forms of poetry, each with its own unique rules and guidelines, there are also common principles that all poets should learn to write compelling poetry. This article will provide readers with step-by-step instructions on how to…
On Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet.
Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry is notoriously difficult to translate. For non-German speakers, Rilke’s writing in Letters to a Young Poet is the closest we can get to the poet. It doesn’t only bring us closer to his writing style, but also the man and the general nature of poetry and writing. In Letters to a…