The Look of It: Visual Elements of Fiction
A book isn’t just words tossed into the ether. The choices made around how to contain those words matter, too. The artistic intent stretches beyond the ephemeral.
On Craft
Softening Your Heart: A Strategy for Ending Essays
Contributor Natalie Villacorta teaches us how to use the act of letting go to make better writing.
Liminal Spaces in Poetry
Associate Editor Andy Sia on eerie and liminal spaces.
On Craft: “Ruin Porn” by Maya Jewell Zeller
A craft essay on how writers can best depict rural America without resorting to “poverty porn.”
From Our Contributors: The Button Box
Contributor Cristi Donoso on encouraging her son’s creativity through an art cart and button box.
Reading Between the Pages
Assistant Editor Andy Sia on reading surfaces and reading as an embodied act.
Narrative Tension in Fiction
The more I consider craft, the more I think we’re studying how to identify and harness wondrous paradoxes of creativity.
Violence or Voice? Why Erasure Poetry
Editorial Assistant Arah Ko on the ethics and craft of erasure poetry.
On Craft: Rebecca Bernard on Plotting Character
A craft exercise about how to understand character through plot and vice versa
Fiction Craft and Film
Assistant Editor Kate Jayroe: Imagine that you’re writing a short story or novel. In drafting a scene, are you seeing your intentions play out much like a film? A miniseries? A prestige television show? Dramatic moments might appear in slow motion, a soundtrack might kick in at a pivotal moment, and a popular actor could …