Looking for more resources about creative writing to share during Writing Center appointments? Want to learn more about writing novels? Here is a list of articles for tutors and tutees alike!
How to Write About Trans People: Eli Cugini
If trans characters just come in to advance the plot arc of cis characters, there’s a similar problem to the “Black side characters assist the white protagonist and then die” or “saintly disabled person imparts wisdom to the abled protagonist and then dies” phenomena.
Cugini, 2021
Don’t Overthink It: The Argument For Just Starting to Write: Matt Bell
What I’ve found is that overplanning before beginning writing risks blocking opportunities for discovery and surprise. Rather than dutifully following an outline, I want to be guided by what appears on the page as I write, by the emerging desires of characters and the dramatic demands of drafted scenes.
Bell, 2022
On Finding Confidence as a New Writer: Nicki Porter
My best advice when questioned about your desire to pursue writing is to simply say, “Because I need to.” And try, if at all possible, to shake off the need for loved ones’ approval and understanding. You are a writer – no matter if you’ve never published a word! – so long as you’ve written one.
Porter, 2022
25 Essential Notes on Craft: Matthew Salesses
If we can admit by now that history is about who has had the power to write history, we should be able to admit the same of craft. Craft is about who has the power to write stories, what stories are historicized and who historicizes them, who gets to write literature and who folklore, whose writing is important and to whom, in what context.
Salesses, 2021
Invite the Vampires Inside (and Other Rules for Genre Writing): Alex Gonzalez
What nobody will tell you is that genre writing requires discipline. Whether it’s a pulpy crime thriller, a romance, a clown with a chainsaw, or a swords-and-sorcery epic, there are certain indulgences that a genre writer has to deny themselves in order to follow the rules.
Gonzalez, 2022