Thank you for joining me in exploring exciting approaches to writing. This newsletter pays special attention to voice, first drafts, revision, working with feedback, working with revision, and creating a story that is whole and complete. While I will address specific aspects of craft, I am particularly interested in giving you tools that are specific enough to use right away, but general enough so that you can take them into your workroom and make them your own. This substack is useful to flash fiction writers, short story writers and novelists. I have published in all three forms. They also are useful to writers of creative memoir.
When I first started to write, I had no idea of how what made a collection of words hang together and become more than a sum of its parts. Nor did I know how to find this mysterious thing called voice. This sub stack is an unraveling of how I learned through trial and error and how I made the journey from rough drafts and fragments, to a story. Some of these tools and musings come from working with fellow writers as a teacher and developmental editor. I always learn from other people.
The 21st century is an unparalleled moment in fiction. We are embracing traditions outside of the Western model of the hero’s journey, while continuing to write wonderful pieces in that form. Flash has leapt to center stage, allowing writers and readers to engage with the poetry of language. This newsletter explores the protean nature of fiction and suggests tools that you will find helpful.
No writer is a carbon copy of another writer: Some of us write flash, others write novels, and others write short stories. Some if us write all three. Some of us are minimalists, others write longer descriptions. Take these tools into your workroom and make them your own.
About me: I write flash fiction, short stories and novels. Fire, a piece of flash fiction, won a Pushcart Prize last year and Heidegger's Glasses, a novel, got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was picked up by ten foreign countries before publication. My two collections of short stories, Sleeping in Velvet and A Brief History of Camouflage were nominated for The Northern California Book Award. Finding Your Writer’s Voice, originally with St. Martins, is still available on Kindle. I've taught in the English Department and the Extension at the University of California at Berkeley, the MFA program at SF State and the MFA program at SFU. I also teach private classes and work as a developmental editor. I am open to in-person consultations if you live in the area My website is www.thaisafrank.com.
Please write! I enjoy hearing from you.
Thaisa
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