#creative-writing

              He had always been so shy. He was there now, staring at the woman he had always loved, his throat dry, his saliva tasteless. He began to sweat, his hands were chilled. She was watching him as if she was studying every little movement of his muscles, as if they could tell a story in the form of pulsing moments under his skin.  Every fragment of the prelude to their sex was emerging…

Photo from Big Stock. This morning’s email from Writer’s Digest linked to a great article, “Time Anxiety and the Writer’s Clock: Making Peace with Your Pace” by Deanna Martinez-Bey. I’ve had an ongoing issue with time and writing–feeling like I write too slowly, and that the world is passing me by and that I’m missing out on opportunities and success due to my age and pace. So, I thought I’d…

This week’s post I would like to talk about your character’s agency in your story. While your main character is the person who Does the Things and Solves the Crimes or Defeats the Villain, that is just What they Do. The agency is Why they do It. And that sometimes gets lost or forgotten in the story writing process. See, Agency is all about the choices that your characters make, and I don’t just…

By Briar Rose Toyoshiba How you hold your head up high And flick your hair out of your sea filled eyes And how your charming smile comes so naturally, I don’t understand.  I don’t understand you. Or your graceful hands, And your calculated moves, And how you float across the room. I don’t get it.  I’m rough,  And flat And literal.  I don’t cary charm  Or grace.  So why oh…

There comes a moment when a fictional world stops feeling like a collection of ideas and starts feeling like somewhere you could actually visit. The streets have names. The forests seem to whisper. The cities have histories hidden beneath every stone. Characters no longer simply exist there—they belong there. One of the best ways to deepen your worldbuilding is to stop treating your setting like…