Jeanette Taylor of The Scribes is a writer, instructor, mentor and editor. She shares monthly musings about writing, based upon her classes and workshops. She also posts history tales of the BC coast. Read more…
Write Successful Fiction and Nonfiction Openers
Captivate Fiction & Nonfiction Readers from the Start A lot rides on the opening, which determines whether—or not—readers will commit to your book. For this reason, it’s best to leave writing the first chapter in polished detail until you've completed the first...
Choosing a point of view and tense for writing
The Writer’s Stance: Point of View and Tense Options Fiction and nonfiction writers often simply fall into a point of view (POV)—the narrator’s stance—on an intuitive whim, adopting either first-person (the I-position), second-person (addressing a ‘you’); or...
Writers Need to Know How Stories Impact Our Brains
How Stories Impact Our Brains Crafting a memorable fiction or nonfiction story requires compelling characters with unmet desires, specific and sensory details that fire the imagination, tension, setbacks, a tangible setting, and a delivery with universal appeal. It...
A sasquatch sighting on Quadra Island, BC
There’s a Sasquatch on Quadra Island, BC A lifelike sculpture of a sasquatch at Quadra Island’s Rebecca Spit Park is headed south at a brisk stride. His shaggy body, tapered fingers and beady eyes express movement and determination, though he was crafted entirely from...
Writing Scenes in Fiction and Nonfiction
Scene Writing in Fiction & Nonfiction A scene unfolds in the moment, dropping readers into the thick of a critical interaction or experience. Something important takes place and if there’s dialogue, it reveals characters’ strengths, weaknesses, and goals. There’s...
When and How Should the Nonfiction Writer Offer Insights
When Should the Nonfiction Author Interrupt a Story to Offer Insights? Readers of nonfiction want glimmers of author interpretation, either within an underlying narrator’s ‘voice’, or overtly in first-person—but doing so in my current piece, a history of a...
Tips for organizing research materials
Tips for Organizing Research Material for a Nonfiction Writing Project Nonfiction projects, whether it’s a memoir, an essay about a natural disaster, or a community history, are backed by research. For memoir there are clippings, journals and contemporary accounts....
When is a draft manuscript ready for review?
When is a draft manuscript ready for feedback? Writers ache to share their literary darlings with others, but therein lurks danger. To the writer, those first few chapters—or even a first full draft—are loaded with the sparkle of a rough-cut gem. But that’s not how an...
What Drove Europeans to Settle in 20th century Canada?
Leaving Behind the Known World: The James and Isabella Robb Family of Comox, BC This is the first in a series of mini-portraits of 20th century immigrants to British Columbia, exploring what compelled them to leave their homes--and what they found in their new lives....
Publishing a memoir may require buy-in from others
Is Consent Needed from Others for Personal Writing ? Many personal writing projects get shelved at the concept stage because of fears about how others portrayed might respond. What’s lost is not just a writer’s search for personal meaning, but insights for others...
The opening of both fiction and nonfiction requires skillful crafting.
The Complex Craft of the Opening Paragraph in Fiction & Nonfiction The first paragraph of a piece of writing must be impeccably crafted. And that’s just the start of what’s required to draw readers in. A structure and purpose should be evident, promising...
Choose Words that Breath Life Into Writing
Specific Details Fully Engage Readers’ Minds Deliver need-to-know background details at a rapid clip, but for transformative drama slow the pace and inject life with the sparkle of sensory and specific details. This is the passage readers will remember years later...