Writing Archives

June 15, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Writing During a Pandemic ~ Intuition and Self-Awareness

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the June 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

In April and May, I detailed how authors found a way to push through hard times and continue to work. This month focuses on ways you can discover inspiration, even during a pandemic.

Let’s get personal

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, my generally calm interior started to wobble. I felt a little like the heroine of a disaster movie, preparing to jump over an enormous crack in a glacier shelf as it hangs by one inch of ice. I was startled and disappointed that my steel backbone wasn’t holding me up the way I wanted. After all, I’m in an advantageous position in comparison to many. I can work from home and my husband has a secure job where he can also work from home. However, I didn’t factor in that extra stressors might toss me off balance.

Even before COVID-19, my stress level started to rise in December when we discovered my dog had a mass cell tumor in one of his legs and would require surgery, chemo and radiation. Taking my dog for radiation in Tucson, which is 175 miles round trip, exacerbated my stress. For three weeks, I dropped my pup off at the vet on a Monday and he’d board there all week because he was receiving treatments every day. Friday I’d return to pick him up. (The good news is the treatments worked well and my dog is now healthy.)

The stress took its toll, and I started meds in February, after being diagnosed as having a mild case of hypothyroidism. Between the stress and starting meds, I lost more weight than I intended.

What’s the point of me revealing this about myself? I expected the stress to block my creativity. It did, but not as much as expected. I’ve worked on a screenplay, and I’ve even started a new novel.

Here’s what I did to keep the creativity flowing—I focused on intuition.

I spent many years denying my intuition always works far better than if I try to “logic” myself into a decision, even though evidence repeatedly showed I made my best decisions by following my gut. Now I’ve become far better at allowing my intuition to guide me in everyday life, including how I approach my muse.

I’ve discovered many writers struggling with creativity have abandoned their intuition, or perhaps they have never used it.

This means when my intuition told me to write a “pandemic time period” romance, I went with it. If instead I’d told myself no one will want to read that story in the coming months or years, I wouldn’t have started it. My guess is there are dozens of writers out their struggling to create even though they’ve got an idea calling. Take advantage of this inspiration. Don’t allow yourself to allow “logic” to stifle creativity by telling yourself the idea isn’t worthy.

Why do we deny intuition has value? Answer—it’s too uncertain and scary. In the Western world, we are geared toward an “outline until your eyes bleed” work process. Even when people tap into their intuition, they don’t always know that’s what they are doing. Maybe now is a good time to experiment with an outside-of-the-box approach.

How can you experiment with letting your intuition lead your creativity? Here are a few tips:

Experiment with writing by the seat of your pants. If your writing is feeling clogged up during the pandemic, consider trying to write a story without an outline. It can be a story just for you. Let it rip and allow yourself to play. You never know where that story could evolve, and that’s a good thing. Go with inspiration and not logic to free up space for new ideas.
Grab some paper and solitude. Take a favorite pen, paper, and schedule time when you won’t be disturbed. If you are locked in your house with other people this might prove a challenge. Schedule it anyway and don’t allow others to derail you. If the weather allows, you might go outside. Put on favorite soothing music, or “theme” music that goes with a story idea you already have. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Close your eyes and let images roll around in your mind’s eye. Don’t try to make those ideas conform to a story. When the timer goes off, immediately write down the images, thoughts, and feelings that came to you. Don’t be concerned if the things you wrote do not seem to embrace a coherent story idea and sound like gibberish. Don’t trash it even if the ideas seem mean-spirited or contrary to the way you’d like to think of yourself. Most of us try to be good people, and therefore we repress recognizing that we don’t always have charitable thoughts. Write it down anyway. You might find a story idea or tidbit immediately. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. Save what you wrote. These ideas and images might be useful for a project down the line.
Do more reading, not less. If there is an old favorite you haven’t read in ages, why not read it now? Oftentimes, reading something you loved (yes, even a children’s book) can rev up your creativity. Don’t overthink. Just enjoy. If an idea comes for a new story, or if it inspires your current project, it is all good. Write down the idea, no matter what, even if it sounds wild or is out of your typical genre.
Look to your dreams. If you remember your dreams, immediately write down what you recall as soon as you awaken. Not every dream may evolve into a story down the pike, but you never know.
Reconnect with nature. Depending on your current weather, can you sit outside for a few minutes or take a walk? Even a gentle stroll could refresh you physically and get your creative blood flowing. If your weather isn’t cooperating, what can you write down about that weather that could shape or change a current project or inspire a new project?
Watch some television. In our productivity-oriented world, people sometimes say watching television is a waste of time. Can it be overdone? Of course. Moderation is key. When I mentioned reading more and not less, I think that also goes for television. If there’s a beloved movie or series that always makes you feel good or gives you creative ideas, why not find some time to watch it? Binge on whatever provides comfort and satisfaction.
Write down what makes you feel good. Simply acknowledging what lifts you up can refresh your memory of it and could generate creativity and a sense of profound well-being. Many times people use journals to express their unhappiness. See if you’re spending equal time to remind yourself of what is working right in your world and how grateful you are.
Acknowledge possibilities. Write down every idea you’ve had about something you want to create in your writing world, even if it seems impractical. In our society, we often downplay loving to do something and devalue that experience. It goes straight back to the idea that if you enjoy doing it, it must somehow be unproductive or not worthy. I’ve coached a number of writers who’ve discovered that they want to write about XYZ and haven’t because of outside influences and fears about what other people will think.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration. Now is the time to discover new facets of your creativity you’ve always wanted to explore.

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Denise A. Agnew is the award-winning author of over 69 novels and screenplays. Denise’s novels Love from The Ashes and Blackout were optioned for film/TV by Where’s Lucy? Productions, Bright Frontier Films and MDR Entertainment. Denise is a Writer/Producer (Where’s Lucy? Productions, Happy Catastrophe Productions, Bright Frontier Films), a paranormal investigator, Reiki Master, and Certified Creativity Coach. As a creativity coach, Denise assists anyone in the creative arts to maintain lifelong creativity. You can find her at www.deniseagnew.com and www.creativepencoaching.com.

April 17, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Serving Your Reader Through Editing

This article, written by Lindsay Randall is from the April 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

For author and professor Denny Wilkins, editing is this: defending your reader—from error, inaccuracies, a confusing story.

Any discussion of it being a mix of rules and artistry doesn’t hold much interest for him.

“Editing is just work. It’s thoughtful, meticulous, persistent work,” Wilkins said. “Debate about the art and science of it all you want. You have to want to defend your reader, right down to its and it’s.”

Wilkins, who has spent the past 20 years teaching journalism and mass communication, said the “search for the right word is a moral imperative for a good writer.”

But the evolution of language, especially recently, has narrowed the ability to create fine distinctions in meaning. Added to this is the fact that while the English language has by far the largest number of words, the working vocabulary of the average person is decreasing. Too, words can cause distance and division, perhaps more so now than ever before.

All the more reason for novelists to have fresh eyes on their work—both conceptually and line by line, Wilkins noted—to ensure serving today’s reader.

Benjamin Dreyer, author of the bestselling Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, has devoted nearly three decades to “making skilled writing better.”

He began his publishing career as a freelance proofreader and copy editor and today serves as vice president, executive managing editor and copy chief, of Random House.

Dreyer defines copyediting as “the act of doing one’s best to make an author’s text into the best possible version of itself that it can be.”

He does this by ensuring that sentences are grammatical, words are spelled correctly, and punctuation is error-free.

He also asks questions “carefully and respectfully” and makes suggestions on “more subjective, nuantial issues of style,” which is, in other words, “a great big blanket term covering everything an author sets on a page,” he said.

In the past 20 years, Dreyer has noted a decrease in the use of punctuation from all kinds of writers, but the biggest change in written English, he said, “derives from the awareness on the part of writers that the default reader—and the default human being—are not male, are not white, are not heterosexual.

“This appreciation of a larger world is reflected, I’d say, in the near disappearance of the supposedly genderless use of the pronoun ‘he,’ and the rise of the singular and nonbinary ‘they,’ to any number of changes in perspective and assumption that writers bring to their work in all sorts of ways,” he said.

Dreyer's English, named one of the best books of 2019 by O: The Oprah Magazine, the Strand Book Store, and Shelf Awareness, details the many tips and tricks Dreyer has gathered through the years, plus features his fun sense of humor and true delight in all things word related.

Special to this edition of the newsletter are the following excerpts from the book.

From Chapter 7, The Realities Of Fiction

Putting aside the extensive mechanical work of attending to the rudiments of spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc., the styling of prose is very much about listening. An attentive copy editor should become attuned to and immersed in a writer’s voice to the point where the copy editor has so thoroughly absorbed the writer’s intentions that the process turns into a sort of conversation-on-the-page.

Nowhere is this conversation more crucial than in the copyediting of fiction, where artistry, however you want to define that slippery concept, can outrank and outweigh notions of what might conventionally be deemed “correct”; where voice—eccentric, particular, peculiar as it may be—is paramount; and where a copy editor, however well-intentioned, who can’t hear what a writer is doing, or at least attempting to do, is apt to wreak havoc. Unfortunately, havoc is occasionally wreaked: I cringingly recall an instance in which one of the finest copy editors I know—so attentive, so sensitive, so adept that editors clamor for her service—crashed and burned on a job in which for some mysterious, unhappy reason she didn’t understand what the writer was doing generally and, specifically and perhaps worst of all, didn’t get his jokes, which she proceeded to flatten as if with a steamroller. Happily, this sort of calamity is exceptionally rare, and it was easy enough, in this case, to put the writer’s nose back in joint by having his manuscript recopyedited, tip to toe, by another copy editor.

Though I can’t here demonstrate in any practical fashion the elusive art of empathic listening, I can certainly let you in on some of the methodology—scrutinizing everything, taking nothing for granted, asking lots of questions, taking lots of notes, and performing scores of little tricks—a copy editor employs in the act of copyediting a work of fiction. I can, as well, point out to you some of the glitches that, since I’ve repeatedly come face-to-face with them over the years, you may well find in your own work.

The Real Reality Of Fiction

Fiction may be fictional, but a work of fiction won’t work if it isn’t logical and consistent.

Characters must age in accordance with the calendar—that is, someone asserted to have been born in May 1960 must then be twenty-five in May 1985, forty in May 2000, etc.—and at the same pace as other characters: Two characters who meet at the ages of thirty-five and eighteen cannot, in a later scene, be fifty and merely twenty-six. Grandparents and great-grandparents, I’ve occasionally noted, are often said to have lived decades out of whack, in either direction, with what is reproductively possible.
Keep track of passage of time, particularly in narratives whose plots play themselves out, crucially, in a matter of days or weeks. I’ve encountered many a Friday arriving two days after a Tuesday, and third graders in math class on what, once one adds up the various “the next day”s, turns out to be a Sunday.
Height; weight; eye and hair color; nose, ear, and chin size; right- or left-handedness; etc., mandate consistency.
Stage management and choreography: Watch out for people going up to the attic only to shortly and directly step out onto the driveway; removing their shoes and socks twice over the course of five minutes; drinking from glasses they quite definitively set down, a few paragraphs earlier, in another room; and reading newspapers that suddenly transform into magazines.
While we’re here: I recall one manuscript in which fully half the characters had names beginning with the letter M. You may not be surprised to learn that the author’s given name also began with an M. This is not a good thing.
I don’t know why or how writers end up laboriously and lengthily describing restaurant meals as if they—the writers, that is—have never experienced one, but: Pay better attention.
I don’t know why or how writers end up laboriously and lengthily counterfeiting newspaper articles as if they—the writers, that is—had never read one. At the least, remember to establish the whowhatwherewhywhen you were taught in high school, and terse it up a bit too.

Fun tip for counterfeiting newspaper articles with verisimilitude and panache: Yank out all the series commas.

From pages 123-124: A Few Pointers On Unfinished Speech

• If one of your characters is speaking and is cut off in midsentence by the speech or action of another character, haul out a dash:

“I’m about to play Chopin’s Prelude—” Grace slammed the piano lid onto Horace’s fingers.

• When a line of dialogue is interrupted by an action, note that the dashes are placed not within the dialogue but one either side of the interrupting action.

“I can’t possibly”—she set the jam pot down furiously—“eat such overtoasted toast.”

Writers will often do this:

“I can’t possibly—” she set the jam pot down furiously “—eat such overtoasted toast.”

and that floating, unmoored narration is, I’m sure you’ll agree, spooky-looking.

• If one of your characters is speaking and drifts off dreamily in midsentence, indicate that not with a dash, but with an ellipsis.

“It’s been such a spring for daffodils,” she crooned kittenishly. “I can’t recall the last time…” she drifted off dreamily in midsentence.

• When characters self-interrupt and immediately resume speaking with a pronounced change in thought, I suggest the em dash-space-capital letter combo pack, thus:

“Our lesson for today is— No, we can’t have class outside today, it’s raining.”

• “Furthermore,” he noted, “if your characters are in the habit of nattering on for numerous uninterrupted paragraphs of dialogue, do remember that each paragraph of dialogue concludes without a closing quotation mark, until you get to the last one.

“Only then do you properly conclude the dialogue with a closing quotation mark.

“Like so.”

Excerpted from Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer. Copyright © 2019 by Benjamin Dreyer. Excerpted by permission of Random House, A Penguin Random House Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Lindsay Randall writes historical romance and most recently served as assistant editor of Nink.

March 19, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Creativity Hacks

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the March 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Anyone who has tried and succeeded in writing a book knows that sometimes tried and true methods for keeping creativity flowing don’t always work forever. Circumstances such as illness, divorce, births, deaths, and other stressful situations can temporarily upend the ability to get words on paper. A writer doesn’t even have to experience a life-changing event for creativity to dry up. To jump start it, use new hacks.

Deadlines
If for some reason you don’t have a deadline, create one. If you find the book isn’t getting done, don’t let lack of a deadline give you an excuse to not finish. Pick a time frame you think is reasonable to finish and stick to it.

Battle buddies
Grab a battle buddy. Make a pact with another writer that you’ll email or text them every day and tell them how much you’ve written. Accountability boosts your creativity. If you want to put a page count on the commitment, that’s even better. Start slow and commit to three pages per day for a week, then consider four pages a day the next week and so on. Ease into the page count so there isn’t too much pressure but you’re still getting something accomplished.

Read
Read! The number of writers who decide not to read anything while working on their own project is astounding. Consider reading outside your genre. Focusing on something that isn’t in the same genre you’re writing can open you to fresh ideas and inspiration.

Sensory deprivation: silence and closing the curtains
Many writers listen to soundtrack music. This is excellent, but silence can prove equally golden. Experiment with noise-canceling headphones for a writing session. Extreme quiet can force your brain to concentrate on the task in front of you.

If you have a writing area with a window view, what do you see? Is it a beautiful vista? A metropolitan sprawl with tons of traffic? Beautiful scenery can help with inspiration, but it can be as distracting and counterproductive as an ugly view. Try closing the curtains. You might have to turn on the light, but the view won’t keep snagging your attention. Like the noise-canceling headphones, lack of a view can force your imagination back to work.

Observation mode
Contrary to popular belief, many writers don’t like to look at people, places or things when they venture out. The real world can sometimes be a bit too much.

If you’re one of these writers, try giving your observation mode a chance. If something catches your attention, pause and write it down. Take note of the weird, funny, or even distressing things you find—they could produce inspiration for projects. You don’t have to tote an eight-by-ten spiral notebook. Consider a petite notebook that fits in a handbag or use the notes application on your phone. Or, you can use a reminder application on your phone set to ring later in the day that reminds you of that detail you noted while out and about. Give it a try.

Self-talk habits
Change what you say to yourself before you sit down to write. Replace any “I should write” statements with “I choose to write” or “I want to write.” If the nasty voice in your head tells you your writing sucks, or you are not as good as ABC writer, replace that lie with “I am a great writer” or “I’ve got this.” Design a desktop wallpaper for your computer with “I choose to write” and/or “I want to write” and display it when you’re feeling blasé. Switch it out with another wallpaper declaring you are a great writer and you’ve got this. What you say to yourself can make a difference.

Examine your writing space
Are you happy with your writing space? Many of us would love a large, glamourous area to dream up stories. Jot down ideas on what your dream space would look like. Go wild and don’t hold back. Make it as elaborate and as long as you wish.

This is where many writers throw up their hands and say, “This is ridiculous. I’m never going to get an office like that.” Just hang in there a moment. When you’re done with your fantasy writing space, see if there is any part of that dream office you can incorporate now. Each month see if there is something else that can be incorporated. Any step you can take toward making your office more of what you want increases your ability to create and believe in yourself.

Buy a new chair
Speaking of offices, is your chair lumpy from age and falling apart? You might need to treat yourself to a design that supports you in a more comfortable fashion. If the chair you have now isn’t cutting it, and you can afford it, make this investment. If you’re not currently working in a place where you’re using a real office chair, consider the dining chair/recliner/couch you’re using. Is it really supportive and comfortable? If not, try moving to a different spot in your house.

Take those breaks. Really.
Have you been denying yourself breaks because you think you can push through another hour? Every hour, take at least five minutes to leave your chair. Walk around, grab a drink or a snack. Do a couple of stretching exercises. Chances are if you move a bit and switch your mind to something else, you will feel refreshed and ready to work again within no time.

Be creative in another way
Is there another creative endeavor you long to try? Do it. Consider it play time. Want to color? Do it. Drawing or painting? Try it. Whatever it is you want to do, indulge yourself. If you’re concerned, you might do this other project rather than complete your writing, use it as a prize for accomplishing your daily writing goal.

Mind map
If you are a by-the-seat-of-the-pants writer, you might have tried mind mapping and believed it was too left-brained. A program like Scapple might be what you need. Scapple is designed to work more for the writer. It’s created by Literature and Latte, the same company that designed Scrivener writing software. You can even use it for brainstorming not related to your writing. Scapple allows you to map out ideas you have without forcing you into specific patterns or shapes to represent ideas, character names, or other story-related associations. To see if you like it, download the software and use it for a short trial.

Hang out with supportive and positive writers
Spend less time listening to naysayers and Negative Nelly people. If you feel bad about your writing or the writing profession after hanging out with another writer, consider spending less time with them. A constant or daily bombardment of negativity about the industry isn’t going to boost creativity. Try turning lists you are on to digests if they aren’t positive. This way you can scan the digest titles and scroll by if it isn’t something you are interested in.

Forget opinions
Been hearing a lot of “musts” and “shoulds" from other writers or gurus proclaiming to be experts? They might be right; but they could also be wrong. There are a ton of “how to” opinions in the writing world. Let it rip and do it your way. Forget the “should” and “musts” and discover the methods that free you to write what you want and how you want.

Accomplish a small chore
Been putting off unloading the dishwasher? Do it and then get back to writing. Be sure to do the writing first if all possible, then do the small chore.

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February 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink Knowledge: Creative Tools—Alternatives

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the February 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Writers who are blocked creatively look for tools to restart their flow. Even if you aren’t blocked, your writing might feel stale and uninspired. Here are some tools you might not have considered that can give you a boost.

Timed mind dump
Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way philosophy is to dedicate several minutes each morning to writing down everything in your thoughts, which can include good or bad things. The idea is to dump all of that on the page before you attempt to create. This process can be healthy not only for general life stress, but also for feeling fresh and inspired. Writing in a paper journal uses a different way of expressing yourself than an electronic one, so if you usually create on computer, give that a break and use paper. You may find it helpful to give yourself a specific amount of time to write these morning pages. If you’re feeling extremely blocked, try for just 10 minutes. Put a timer on and stick to it. Build that up and see if you can stretch it to 20 minutes and write away! Even if you are not experiencing writer’s block, you may find a 10-minute journaling session is helpful before starting your real writing work.

Oracle cards
There is a difference between oracle cards and tarot cards, which you can read about here. Whether or not you believe that oracle cards can enlighten you about everyday personal matters, the cards can help you tap into intuition and your right brain.

I own three oracle decks. If a project is giving me fits, my process is this:

I gather all three and write down whatever questions or concerns I’m wrestling with.
After closing my eyes, I consider which deck calls to me, open my eyes, and select the deck with my questions in mind.
I shuffle the cards and select three cards from various spots.
I turn over each card and note the symbolism. Does anything jump out to me? If it does, I write it down. I do this with each card.
Afterward, I consult the book that comes with the deck and look up the listed meaning for each card. If there is other wisdom contained within the book for the meaning behind each card, I also write this down.

Often I find a new kernel of inspiration each time I use the cards. There’s no requirement that you have more than one deck. Although you could use tarot cards in a similar way, I find oracle cards better for this experience because of the flexible meaning of each card.

How do you choose an oracle deck right for you? It can be a little confusing, because there are so many oracle decks available. Select a deck that appeals to you visually. Explore photos of decks on Amazon and Pinterest. New Age stores almost always have some.

Writing prompt books
Maybe you don’t have a single idea for a novel, short story or screenplay. You’re completely stumped. You may need a writing idea prompt book. There are dozens out there, including ones geared for certain genres.

As an example, I took a horror writing prompt book and went through the entire book, writing down each prompt that sounded fun. Then I selected the one that called to me to try first.

Silence or noise?
Many people write in silence, afraid music will disturb their flow. Try making a special soundtrack of music for a book. Songs with lyrics might be distracting, but often writing with soothing classical or “themed” music can inspire a writer.

Or if you’ve always had music or a noisy coffee shop in the background while you work, try using silence. That could mean noise-cancelling headphones or closing the door to the room. Change things up and disrupt the status quo so your creativity has a chance to come through.

In the category of “not music but a little noise” is something I discovered on YouTube called ASMR. These videos are visual but also include sound. I discovered these clever things watching a favorite YouTuber who likes to read with ASMR on their television. I tried one called Leaky Cauldron, a Harry Potter Ambience. Another great one is Ancient Library Room with relaxing thunder and rain sounds along with a crackling fireplace.

Read or watch a favorite
Writers are often told, especially at the beginning of their writing journey, to read in the genre they want to write. That alone might not stimulate you to pick up a pen or grab your laptop.

You could find it more creatively stimulating to reread a favorite novel or short story whenever you’re hitting a rough patch and regardless of the genre you’re currently writing. Or watching a favorite movie could do the same thing. You don’t have to experience full blown writer’s block to need that zing of inspiration. My personal favorite to boost my creativity is to read The Taking by Dean Koontz. I read the first chapter and I’m often inspired to write immediately.

Play like a child
Many writers want to create the perfect story the first time out. That means they might outline like crazy and pick away at it. The problem isn’t whether you are an outliner or a by-the-seat-of-the-pants creator. It’s the idea that your story isn’t perfect that terrifies you into fiddling with the story right out of the gate and sucking the excitement out of creation.

Give yourself permission to play like a child on the first draft and write with freedom and the singular idea it is all for you. Forget about typos, grammar, spaces … all of that. If the idea of writing that way throughout the whole story is too terrifying, set a timer. Tell yourself that the first hour is for pure play. Let it rip. Chances are you might enjoy it so much you’ll continue playing past that first hour.

When you reach the end of your manuscript, you’ll have the satisfaction of completion. If this is something you’ve never done before and it terrifies you, try it on a short story project and see if it doesn’t provide you with a jolt of creativity.

Be open minded
Creative people are often considered open minded, but sometimes they aren’t when it comes to stepping outside of the box to bolster their own chances of creating. Consider the methods above, even the ones that don’t immediately appeal to you.

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January 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink Knowledge: How to Grow Voices ~ The Subtle Art of Facilitating Workshops

This article, written by Cat Rambo, is from the January 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Teaching is an art. A good teacher can help their students infinitely more than a bad one—and one expression of that is the ability to lead discussion groups and workshops, leading the students to come to realizations that will help them understand the concepts in ways they cannot learn through one-sided lecture.

Like any art, innate talent helps, but discussion and workshop facilitation definitely can be learned. Part of that learning is aided by thinking about it beforehand, during, and after. How do you, as a teacher, create a space in which as many students as possible will flourish, one in which no one is unable to participate? How do you build a process that encourages creativity while making sure everyone has their turn?

I have taught workshops of varying sizes over the past three decades and my process continues to evolve and change. Here are some of the more important things I’ve learned through experience or observation.

Every group is different, and every group comes with its own idiosyncrasies and voices. Enjoy the mix for the happy ephemeral phenomenon that it is, while drawing conclusions from its generalities in order to apply these in future iterations of the material. Many of your attendees will be very anxious. At least a handful will surprise and delight you with their talent, and sometimes staggeringly so.

I’ve always done introductions, having the students tell me their names and a little bit about themselves, but in recent years one thing I make sure to add is their preferred pronouns. Asking for those both allows me to accommodate their needs and acknowledge who they are as much as pronouncing their name correctly does.

If it’s a workshop where students are expected to critique each others’ work, attendees should have received both manuscripts and clear guidelines about how to structure their critique well in advance. Students can feel anxious about what’s going to happen in a workshop if they don’t know what the structure will be like, so I try to include an overview that lets them know what to expect: the class will go for two hours, with a 5-10 minute break in the middle; the writer doesn’t have to reply to comments if they don’t want to; we’ll have overall questions at the end. New writers in particular can be uncertain; there’s no shame in giving them a little handholding to encourage them into the water to swim.

Facilitating discussion means making sure people understand what the guidelines for participation are and how to take turns in conversation. Don’t let people interrupt each other but don’t be nasty about it, just be polite but firm. Don’t be afraid to pause in order to let people think of questions, even though it may feel like an uncomfortably long silence, and if you need to, ask leading questions like: Can you think about examples of what we’ve been talking about in your own life/your writing/media/literature? Or: How do you think you might apply this in your own writing?

When answering questions that someone has asked, repeat the question first. That helps people who didn’t hear it the first time, as well as allowing you to clarify things that may not be immediately apparent. I prefer to have the students asking questions and myself answering them, but there is a give and take to such things that will vary with the students and the circumstances.

Overprepare. You get better at judging how long things will take as you gain experience, but there will always be that class where things go awry and no one has turned in the work. Have a couple of writing exercises up your sleeve and while the students are working on it, use that 5-10 minutes to assemble discussion questions or other points to cover in order to get yourself through the class time.

You never stop learning from other teachers. Sometimes it’s a new technique or a good metaphor. Be good about crediting your fellows for the clever sayings. It’s also handy to listen to the students and find out what worked for them or not—one of the things I’m working on is following up better in 2020, such as asking students what parts of workshops they liked/disliked, as well as what was particularly effective. Learning from other teachers also keeps you from ossifying and just spitting out the same theories and observations over and over again.

Teaching writing is, I think, one of the ways you can become a better writer yourself. Often I do the writing exercises along with the students in my classes, to the point where I think somewhere between a third to half of my published flash fiction pieces were the result of such writings. It’s also something that makes you articulate and challenges your own practice of fiction and the rules by which you write. It’s never bad to look at those with an interrogatory eye in order to move beyond them.

When leading a discussion, don’t be afraid to go with the flow. Sometimes the oddest questions may be the most fruitful, or those questions may lead to additions for the future, sometimes even inspiring entirely new classes. The question of how to maintain a fruitful writing practice in the face of increasingly grey times, for example, led to a class on hopepunk that has become one of my favorites to teach and one which was even referenced in a Wall Street Journal article on the subgenre.

Post class, encourage your students to let you know about their publications and victories as they go forward. One of the nicest things about teaching is a chance to see the coming wave, and to know some of the voices that are rising in fiction and creating new stories. Watching a student succeed is one of the most satisfying feelings I know.

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Novelist and short story writer Cat Rambo is the founder of online writing school The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. Her 200+ fiction publications include works in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, and Clarkesworld Magazine. Her space opera You Sexy Thing appears in January 2021 from Tor Macmillan. She is a former two-term president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

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