This Itch of Writing with Emma Darwin

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Jerusha Cowless, agony aunt: the archive
All the problems which Jerusha managed to answer before she vanished up a melting glacier.
 • 
Emma Darwin

September 2024

Surviving the Submission Blues
Is Your Writing Out on Submission? Welcome to Hell
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Emma Darwin
1
You're Writing a Novel, so Why on Earth Would You Write a Short Story?
And why novels are not just longer, and short stories are not just shorter.
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Emma Darwin
2
Psychic Distance: What It Is and How To Use It
How thinking in terms of psychic/narrative/emotional distance is a game-changer for your writing
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Emma Darwin
2
Narrators: An Itch of Writing Guide
And why choosing your narrative setup is so much more than "first person or third person?"
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Emma Darwin
5

August 2024

Writing Emotion
Is less more, and how do you make it real?
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Emma Darwin
6
Ten Wise Sayings About Creative Practice
But did Chekhov really say (exactly) that? And does it matter if he didn't?
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Emma Darwin
5
Composting, Dreaming & Other Hard Work
You know it's too early to start the heavy planning or the first draft, but what can you do now to help your brilliant new idea?
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Emma Darwin
5
Wake Up and (re)Write
Why the waking-up opening to a story is so natural, and so often a bad idea
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Emma Darwin
2
Is it ballad? Is it a play? No, it's a super idea! But now what?
When a writing idea arrives, how do you know what form it should take?
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Emma Darwin
3

July 2024

Rhythm - then rhyme - then reason
Why the sound and rhythm of your words is the foundation, not merely the flourish, of your prose.
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Emma Darwin
12
What is a Zero Draft?
And why do so many writers write them?
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Emma Darwin
1
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