Taking the time to learn about craft was an important part of my writing journey and what ultimately made the biggest difference in helping me break into the world of traditional publishing. I'm still learning and trying to sharpen my craft all the time.
I'll compile my favorite writing resources here, for anyone else looking for guidance, and will try to keep it updated!
For plotting: I love K.M. Weiland's blog series on story structure, as well as a specific post on structural timing. Her podcast is also great.
- The Secrets of Story Structure: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-story-structure-complete-series/
- Calculating Your Book's Length: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/calculate-books-length-writing/
For showing vs telling: This short, affordable craft book breaks down when to "show" and when to "tell" more clearly than any other resource I've encountered so far.
- Understanding Show, Don't Tell: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Show-Dont-Tell-Builders-ebook/dp/B01M0BE4UP/
For scenes: This blog post by Maggie Stiefvater discusses "in-between" scenes where on a surface level it doesn't seem like much is happening, but the story is still moving along in significant ways.
- The Art of Invisible Movement: https://maggiestiefvater.com/the-art-of-invisible-movement/
For general discussions of craft: I haven't yet gotten around to reading Matthew Salesses' book, Craft in the Real World, but this article he wrote about craft puts it squarely at the top of my writing-related TBR.
- 25 Essential Notes on Craft: https://lithub.com/25-essential-notes-on-craft-from-matthew-salesses/
For revision: These exercises are specific, detailed, and seem to get at a lot of common pitfalls many writers (myself included!) fall into during the early drafting stage.
- Revision prompts: https://pleiadesmag.com/teaching-revision-even-more-revision-prompts/
For metaphor/imagery: Literary fiction writer & poet Ocean Vuong did an amazing discussion of metaphor on his instagram.
- Metaphors: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17888013988759825/?hl=en
- (Not sure if that link will work, so you can also access it by going to the highlights on the main page of his insta: https://www.instagram.com/ocean_vuong/?hl=en)
I love to hear from kids and teens about the writing resources they found helpful too, so I'll be compiling those links here.
Thank you to Anna for sharing this resource on writing for film and theatre:
More to come!
