If you’re wondering why your writing’s flat, you probably didn’t arrive at the word “flat” yourself. To you, it just feels off. Like it’s missing something. Like it’s almost where you want it to be. Like it’s just not landing. Like it’s writing pretending to be writing. And then the interwebs coined the term “flat” […]

Once running rampant, now rarely seen outside captivity, the tinkerer is a species teetering on the edge of decimation. Though they used to be found in abundance, their presence has been unknowingly diminished by that of elders claiming the species to be more invasive than functional. Their primary complaints included that of clangs coming from […]

There’s a lie a lot of writing advice teaches that if you “show, don’t tell,” then the emotion will come through in your writing. But emotion in writing isn’t something the reader can just witness. It’s something they have to move through. And that’s the biggest problem with most writers’ ability to write feelings. I’m […]

There’s a reason “show don’t tell” became writing advice in the first place. The goal was never just to make writing prettier. It was supposed to stop stories from feeling explained. Because when a writer explains everything directly—what the character feels, what the moment means, how the reader should interpret it—the experience becomes strangely lifeless. […]

It was never supposed to take an hour. Definitely not 90 whole minutes. Not the fleeting, I-can’t-believe-this-much-time-has-gone-by sort either. The kind that drags.