Though I've always been a fiction writer, my first online writing endeavors were actually mostly nonfiction. While working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant back in 2007, I started a writing tips blog to record some tips and tools on common writing questions, so I could share it as a resources for my students. I eventually morphed from teaching college-level English Composition to teaching composition and writing classes for home-educated high school students. When I later began using my love of fiction and my degree in Creative Writing to teach a Collaborative Novel Writing class for high schoolers, I kept the blog going, redirecting it to focus on fiction-writing tips for new and emerging writers of all ages.
After several years teaching classes on writing (both academic writing and fiction writing), I decided to condense what I teach in the classrooms into a written form, so that my students could have it as a handy guide to reference whenever they needed it. From that, emerged the writing guides you'll see below. These are basically me, teaching my classes... just... in book form.
They break down into roughly two categories:
fiction-writing guides (for beginning fiction writers of all ages), and
essay-writing textbooks (for high-school or early-college students taking English composition classes, or for any adult who wishes to polish their essay-writing skills).
*The essay-writing textbook set also includes a parent guide, for those who want or need a little support in helping their teens improve their essay-writing skills.*
Fiction-Writing Guides
Slap Him with a Fish: A Crash Course in Fiction Writing
This crash-course fiction guide covers all the most common questions and topics I covered with my fiction-writing students, including
What Makes a Story “Work”
Creating Emotional Impact
The Writing Process
Terminology
Genres and Genre Expectations
The True Meaning of Show, Don’t Tell
Backstory and the Iceberg Theory
Significant Detail versus Excess Detail
Writing for an Audience
How Characters, Setting, Plot, and Theme Interconnect
Hooking Your Reader
Crafting Realistic Conflict & Building Story Tension
Thematic Threads and Emotional Resonance
Using Description in Your Story
Using Exposition in Your Story
Point of View (POV)
Narrative Style & Authorial Voice
Crafting Strong Dialogue
Making Every Word Count
Worldbuilding
Developing Characters
Plotting & Planning
Basic Story Structure
Drafting: Tips for getting started
The Magic of “Flow”
Surviving the Suck
How To Finish That First Draft!
Editing/Rewriting
Tips for Self-Editing
Choosing a Title and Writing a Blurb/Description
Publishing Options
And more!
It's written in a conversational style, just like I would have taught it in class... and you'll get some cool checklists and even a haphazardly hand-drawn illustration or two, just like my students usually get on the whiteboard.
There may be more published fiction writing guides to come, but if you want more info right away and you've already read Slap Him with a Fish, be sure to check out the Tips for Writers category on my blog!
Essay-Writing Guides
Put Some Pants on That Kid
My essay-writing textbook set comes in two parts: a Student Book, and a Parent-Teacher Guide. The Student guide can be used alone, as a self-directed study, a reference handbook, or as a textbook in a more structured setting. The Parent-Teacher guide includes tips for helping student writers, as well as suggested lesson plans perfect for home-educating parents, co-ops, and/or group classes.
Though they're textbooks, the Put Some Pants on That Kid books are written very conversationally, with the specific intent of making the sometimes dry and complex subject of essay-writing a little more palatable. They also come with a link to exclusive printable resources, such as rubrics, checklists, and more! You can find more info on my Put Some Pants on That Kid textbook set here, or if you'd like to grab a copy, you can purchase them here.