Understand Your Experiences: Part 13 This is the thirteenth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 13: Great short story writers provide great insights. “The power of fiction is that it gives us, as readers, the opportunity to move inside another human being, to look [...]
Don’t Try to Solve Problems or Find Solutions: Part 12 This is the twelfth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 12: Great short story writers don’t try to solve problems or find solutions. “A writer doesn't solve problems. He allows them to emerge.” [...]
Know Your Last Sentence: Part 11 This is the eleventh blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 11: Great short story writers write great endings. “It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it [...]
Write Great Beginnings: Part 10 This is the tenth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 9: Great short story writers write great beginnings. “The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Style and personality are irrelevant. They can be formal [...]
Who Drives Your Story: Part 9 This is the ninth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 9: Great short story writers develop strong characters. “It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I [...]
Write From Where You Are: Part 8 This is the eighth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 8: Great short story writers recognize the importance of place. “Every story would be another story, and unrecognized . . . if it took [...]
Getting At The Truth: Part 7 This is the seventh blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 7: Great short story writers draw from their own life experiences. “The proper relationship of a writer to his or her own life is [...]
Discovering Greatness in Smallness: Part 6 This is the sixth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 6: Great short story writers are also poets. “Lyrical prose makes the words sing, doesn’t it?”-- Silvia Villalobos When American Indian, Sherman Alexie, began writing during his [...]
Discovering Greatness in Smallness: Part 5 This is the fifth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 5: Great short story writers are concise. Get in, get out. Don’t linger. Go on.—Raymond Carver The best short stories are tightly constructed and compacted. They are both [...]
Discovering Greatness in Smallness: Part 4 This is the fourth blog in the weekly 15-part Discovering the Greatness in Smallness: 15 Qualities of Great Short Story Writers series by Susanne Carter. Quality 4: Great short story writers view the ordinary world in extraordinary ways. “I get [ideas] from looking at the world we live in, [...]
How to Silence your Inner Critic Do you ever question what you're writing or ask yourself whether it's good enough? Writers can be their own worst critics, especially during the act of writing itself. This kind of self judgement can break the creative flow, and worse yet, cause actual writer's block. Before you start listening to [...]
The Cycles of Productivity and what it does to your writing by Phillip Smalley Writer's block. We usually think of it as a temporary blockage of creative spirit or energy which is resolved at some point and can be remedied through various solutions. Things like taking a walk, doing some exercise or changing the environment [...]
