In the writing sphere, there's a lot of discussion on how to fix your story or your characters or your plot, but not a lot of discussion on how to find the ideas to tell said stories. Finding an idea can sometimes seem impossible, especially when a teacher or editor is asking for something new.
Read MoreBreak ups are hard. And not because whatever or whomever you're breaking up with is just important to you, but because of all the time you feel has been lost afterwards. Your mind wonders if maybe you'd have been better of never encountering this person (or story!) or what you're supposed to do with all the scraps of those efforts. Do you toss them out? Do you try and build back up the pieces? Or do you attempt to forget it all?
Read MoreThe term "literary fiction," is a bit of a loaded one. Defined as any fictional work that holds "literary merit," the phrase is undeniably subjective. After all, what does it mean for something to hold literary merit? Who decides such things? Why are some works better than others and how are some books universally regarded as so? Where do we draw the line and define something as literary versus not?
Read MoreIf you sit in a creative writing class today or read a book on the craft, you'll likely hear at some point about the hackneyed "show don't tell" rule, and maybe for a long time you've followed said rule. To clarify, it is not really a "rule" in the way we understand it, but instead exists as an unspoken standard all creatives are supposed to strive for in prose for it to be considered "good," so that "bad" prose is telling and "good" is showing. Which is not true.
Read MoreWhen I was younger, I, like many others, was at one point convinced I needed to suffer to be an artist. I wanted to be great and memorable and someone people talked about, and if I'm being honest it's still something I want. Who wouldn't? We all want to have meaning in this world, and a lot of us storytellers find that via writing, so it'd be nice to make a living and maybe then some off of that.
Read MoreIf you were fortunate enough to take a university level course on Shakespeare at some point in your life (with a good professor!), you'll understand the necessity in reading Shakespeare's work as a storyteller. However, since so many people tend to experience Shakespeare in high school where they either couldn't appreciate the text or their teacher did not appreciate the text, people often neglect to read Shakespeare's work. They claim he's too "hard" to read, that they lack the skills to understand him or that they think his work to be too "high brow' for them.
Read MoreWhile in many ways the minute-by-minute approach to writing a script feels comfortable - it is in fact just a very detailed three act structure guiding writers when to hit major plot points - for some, this writing approach can feel stressful. Maybe all your scenes are just a few pages ahead of the typical page numbers you're supposed to be aiming for, or maybe you find the entire approach too precise for your taste. Either way, it can get intimidating starting down the 100 blank pages you need to fill without some sort of guidance.
Read MoreWhen you first learn about screenwriting, one of the first general rules you'll learn is that one page in the script equals about roughly one minute of screen time. Of course, that's not always the case, Veep's first script being around 45 pages long but coming in at 30 minutes on screen. However, if you haven't "made it" in the industry, you'll likely have to face the reality that your script won't be accepted many places if it's over 120 pages or under 90.
Read MoreIt's finally here! My brand new and completely free ebook, The Storytelling System, a 50-page guide to taking your story through the four main mediums for telling stories: novels, movies, plays and video games.
Read MoreA lot of storytellers will tell you that the hardest part about writing is getting started, but for me that has always been the easiest part. Maybe that's because my whole youth involved me starting a bunch of stories I never finished, leading to my subsequent problem of never being able to figure out how to end my stories because all I had ever practiced was beginning. A lot of times I would leave my story endings in limbo, cutting the story off early because I couldn't figure out where to go or tying way too many loose ends together because I figured the reader wanted to know how every single detail worked out.
Read MoreWhen I first began navigating the world of video games in my adult years and unearthed the massive world of RPG gaming, I couldn't help but ask myself "What the heck does a script for this game look like?" After all, while I knew these games were written in a format similar to screenplays, I also realized that writers weren't just writing out one scene's dialogue, but all the different outcomes of that scenes dialogue, so I knew these scripts had to be massive to account for all the different possibilities.
Read MoreBack when I was quite the lazy storyteller who believed my one short story would pave the way to my greatness, I stumbled upon tumblr where people write short, easy little paragraphs that sound pretty and made me feel deep and interesting. I felt very comfortable in this area because I could slay away on one sentence until it was perfect and then people would comment on my talents and I would try to appear very modest like it just came to me naturally.
Read MoreCreative Writing Coach and Storyteller | Serving creative writers who want to write novels, movies, plays, and video games – and helping them learn how to write all four.
Hey there—I’m E.M. Welsh and I’m a writer and storyteller based in Texas. In my spare time, you can find me reading books, watching TV and movies, and playing video games. I also cook a lot of food and dabble in a plethora of other hobbies.
I’m currently working on my first book, which I hope to have published in 2024.
This blog is basically a diary of what I’m up to, random musings, and progress updates on my book.
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