MK’s Book Reviews: On the Road, The Original Scroll

So after letting it languish on my shelf for years, I finally tackled this…

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Improve Your Writing: Protagonists

In writing class the other night we got into an interesting discussion. According to my teacher (an agented, traditionally-published writer), the biggest reason readers put down a book is…

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Friday Things

Four of the greatest words in the English language: this too shall pass.

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Learning from the Masters: Opening Lines

I’ve already done a list of the opening lines from all my favorite books, but now I’m going to do a list of some of my favorite opening lines. (There’s a difference, though some overlap.) I’m also going to avoid the classics, since those lists are already all over the internet already. Opening lines are so […]

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Improve Your Writing: On Consistent Point of View

There are a lot of things that go into writing a novel. Today I’m going to focus on an important one–point of view. One of the first decisions you need to make when starting a novel is: who is telling this story? 

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Friday Things

It’s nothing, sir, so long as there’s health and a clear conscience. This quote, from Anna Karenina, is the attitude we should all have about our “problems”.

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Learning from the Masters: Voice

Time for a look at another brilliant example of writer voice! This week I’m picking an unusual one…

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MK’s Book Reviews: Looking for Alaska

With this uber-popular John Green novel (that was redundant) set to become a movie, I thought I’d add my own book review to the undoubtedly dozens out there…

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You Can’t Rest on Good Writing

So I’m taking a writing class this summer at this fine institution. (It’s awesome. I highly recommend it.) The structure of the class is that each week, some students hand in writing submissions, and the next week you’re “workshopped”, meaning everyone tells you what they thought. When it was my turn, the teacher of the […]

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Friday Things

Happy Friday! I love summer. It’s the season of getting invited to go beautiful places for free.

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