Thanks for the mention and I’m glad you’re finding something helpful in the articles on A Writer’s Block. I had the exact same experience you’re describing, although it was about 30+ years ago. Lots of great books on writing fiction but mostly on art and a few high-level craft issues. Not much to help get started. I had to figure that out, and I was a journalist so pretty adept at writing in general. In critique groups, I learned some things, and learned even more by critiquing other writers. I knew something wasn’t working but didn’t know how to explain why or how to fix it. So I’d go down rabbit holes to find out. When I started a blog, which evolved into my Substack, that was my goal. It just felt like there was an overlooked niche of the basics of the craft of writing fiction. Lots of sources for the art and plotting and such, but not much on the nuts and bolts. Although I try to hit all levels, it’s the beginner to novice that I always try to keep in mind.
And I’m also a reader of Monalisa’s Musings and highly recommend!
Thanks for the mention and I'm glad you are finding my Substack useful. Your comments here are exactly why I am currently working on (along with Toni Weisskopf and Joy Freeman) on a non-fiction book to help people like yourself.
Actually, I was wondering if you were going to do a non-fiction book on the viewpoint stuff. I've been finding it very helpful myself, but I would actually like it in [gasp] hard-copy book form so I could compare my own writing to your diagrams, side by side.
The book will be about more than viewpoint, but yes. We are working on it. It will contain other topics as well and we hope to make it the definitive reference for writing in the 21st century.
Thanks for the mention and I’m glad you’re finding something helpful in the articles on A Writer’s Block. I had the exact same experience you’re describing, although it was about 30+ years ago. Lots of great books on writing fiction but mostly on art and a few high-level craft issues. Not much to help get started. I had to figure that out, and I was a journalist so pretty adept at writing in general. In critique groups, I learned some things, and learned even more by critiquing other writers. I knew something wasn’t working but didn’t know how to explain why or how to fix it. So I’d go down rabbit holes to find out. When I started a blog, which evolved into my Substack, that was my goal. It just felt like there was an overlooked niche of the basics of the craft of writing fiction. Lots of sources for the art and plotting and such, but not much on the nuts and bolts. Although I try to hit all levels, it’s the beginner to novice that I always try to keep in mind.
And I’m also a reader of Monalisa’s Musings and highly recommend!
Thanks for the mention and I'm glad you are finding my Substack useful. Your comments here are exactly why I am currently working on (along with Toni Weisskopf and Joy Freeman) on a non-fiction book to help people like yourself.
Actually, I was wondering if you were going to do a non-fiction book on the viewpoint stuff. I've been finding it very helpful myself, but I would actually like it in [gasp] hard-copy book form so I could compare my own writing to your diagrams, side by side.
The book will be about more than viewpoint, but yes. We are working on it. It will contain other topics as well and we hope to make it the definitive reference for writing in the 21st century.
🫡