The Tool-Kit: The Fundamental Tools and Skills
If in exploring the Itch you meet a link which leads to Typepad’s ‘closed’ sign, don’t despair: virtually all important posts have in fact been migrated over here to Substack. We are still working our way through the massive job of updating the thousands of links in the hundreds of posts, but meanwhile just use the ‘search’ facility to find the Substack version of the post you’re looking for - and feel free to message us if you get stuck!
PSYCHIC DISTANCE: what it is and how to use it : also called narrative distance; an extraordinarily useful way of thinking, which is responsible for more lightbulb moments in my students than everything else put together.
SHOWING AND TELLING: the basics : a newly revised and updated post about how to use both showing and telling to make your story do everything you want it to do.
HOW SHOWING AND TELLING CO-OPERATE : why you need both, and how they work together
HOW TO TELL, AND STILL SHOW : how to get on with the story without sacrificing vividness
THE REAL SIXTH SENSE : writing uses all SIX of your senses - here's how.
PAST AND PRESENT TENSE : the pros and cons of both : the different issues that arise with first and third person for each tense, and why the new creative writing orthodoxy is wrong
‘HAD HAD’ AND OTHER TENSE MOMENTS : why getting the hang of past and present perfective can help your writing
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL : the full series began in March 2020 and it's intended for writers who would love to write a novel but find the prospect daunting, or just don't know where to start.
PINPOINT YOUR PROBLEM : eight classic developmental and diagnostic tools for your story
