Category: Creative Process/Craft

Percy’s Six Elements of Story: Create Obstacles that Ramp Up Tension

[This is the third in a series of six posts started on December 2, 2020. We’re exploring Benjamin Percy’s foundational elements of story as found…

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Percy’s Six Elements of Story: Human Urgency

[This is the second in a series of six posts that started on December 2, 2020. We’re exploring Benjamin Percy’s foundational elements of story as…

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Percy’s Six Elements of Story: Establish A Clear Narrative Goal

I am reading Benjamin Percy’s Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction. In the second chapter, Percy lays out his list of the foundational elements of story.…

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To Wrangle and Capture

The poet Billy Collins’ latest book was released in September, Whale Day. As I do with every new Collins collection, I’m reading it slowly, treating…

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A Blind Man in a Textile Shop

Perhaps this is an illness of all creative writers. Perhaps it’s an illness with which I alone suffer. In either case, I am constantly seeking…

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