In Part One of the Write What You Know series, I talked a little bit about how limiting it can be if we take the advice offered by many folks who think they know what we should write about: “Write what you know!” Near the end of that post, I talked about an interesting phenomenon. Often, when workshopping a fiction piece, the sections that readers identify as “thin” or “unbelievable” or “not convincing” are those parts or pieces that are, in fact, closest to our actual experi

Today’s writing prompt comes from Ursula K. Le Guin‘s fabulous little book, Steering The Craft. For today’s prompt, you need a character you are already working with in a novel, story, or, at the very least, a character that has been kicking around inside your head for a while, begging for a role in your next blockbuster story. Write this in the third person, not from the character’s point of view. The exercise is to describe your character by detailing some place the charact

The week is winding down, and here we are again, with another Unblocker to help you break out of a writing slump. This unblocker is all about setting. This exercise isn’t too long, but you can do it more than once, or, take what you write and add some, you know, plot and characters and other story elements, and turn it into something a little more complete. Unblocker #9 – Places You Go. Think of the last public place you were that would be similar to a small town bakery, tire

Tuesday this week I presented part one of an adaptation of an exercise in “What if?” by Bernays and Painter. You can get your own copy from Amazon right here. The exercise for today is the same as Tuesday’s so if you’ve already read the details, feel free to jump down to the prompts! ********** For this exercise you need a story of your own (likely, an early draft, though I would advocate doing this with a story that is just stuck and lifeless…one of those stories you know is

Today and Thursday this week, I’m going to be giving you an adaptation of an exercise in “What if?” by Bernays and Painter. You can get your own copy from Amazon right here. The exercise for today and Thursday is basically the same, with some different questions being asked to stimulate your writing. For this exercise you need a story of your own (likely, an early draft, though I would advocate doing this with a story that is just stuck and lifeless…one of those stories you k

I first read a Pinckney Benedict story before I realized who Pinckney was, and before I realized I would be studying in a program where he is a member of the instructional staff. About a year before I decided to apply to the Queens University MFA program, I purchased a copy of the anthology, New Stories from the South, 2008, edited by ZZ Packer. Somehow, I think of my self as a Southern writer, even though I’ve spent most of my life in Ohio and Indiana. There is something tha

This story kicks off American Short Fiction’s winter 2009 issue with a bang. Or a thwack. Or…some other word that deftly uses onomatopoeia to imitate the sound a guillotine makes as it severs heads. The Execution Trick A short story, told in the first-person, written by Laura C.J. Owen and appearing in the Winter 2009 issue of American Short Fiction. First Lines At first glance, there does not appear to be anything wrong with the Magician’s neck. I adjust my camera, framing t

Where I’m Calling From, originally appeared in The New Yorker and was later included in two of author Raymond Carver’s short story collections. Summary J.P. And the narrator are “drying out” from alcohol at a treatment facility called the “Frank Martin Center.” “This has never happened to me before,” he says. He means the trembling. I tell him I sympathize. I tell him the shakes will idle down. And they will. But it takes time. Another fellow, Tiny, tells a story of a drunken