Long-Form Writing in a TL;DR World

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Long-form writing is a dying art. In a world that has the attention span of a fruit fly with ADHD, the superficial has eclipsed the substantive at incredible intellectual and cultural cost. Content is a buzzword—*smacks fruit fly*—that employers, brands and platforms throw around like glitter. Like glitter, the content might be sticky, but it …

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Perspective: The Secret to Authentic Character Voices

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Perspective is one of the most commonly overlooked skills we authors can build, and the stronger the skill, the better the stories. Whether we write in first-person, third-person, third shifting, third close, it really doesn’t matter if the character is not believable. We’ve already discussed how POV (point of view) shapes a story and how …

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Writing Water Wings: 5 Habits that Betray a Lack of Mastery

In the modern age when everyone can use AI to produce at least passable work, mastery is more critical than it’s ever been. AI has largely eradicated typos and poor grammar that used to signal inexperience which has some benefits. Those who struggle with spelling or grammar aren’t as far behind the Eight Ball as …

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FEAR: Why Humans STILL Crave Stories That Scare US

Fear is, in all likelihood, the single most complex human emotion. Our fears can keep us up at night, but they can also be the only thing that keeps us alive. They can save us, strangle us, liberate us or even destroy us. Like fire, fear can be intoxicating and even addictive and for sound …

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Human Resources: When Did Humans Become Raw Materials?

Human resources. It’s such a ubiquitous term I’d never really thought about it—I mean really thought about it—until recently. As writers, we of all people, understand the power of words. How something noble or kind can be twisted. Yet, ponder the term for a moment and maybe what it’s come to entail. Human resources. First, …

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