JUST WRITE FICTION
A free collection of contemporary fiction & craft essays.
GETTING STARTED
Building a writing practice is strange, unformulaic work. There is no right or wrong way to come to the page—so let’s get started.
WRITING PROMPTS
"Let’s right here and now dispense with the notion of the 'real writer' and while we’re at it, anything else that’s designed to make you feel small. You’re a writer because you write, period. My mantra, as a writer and teacher has always been: 'Whatever gets you to the page.'"—Kathy Fish
READING
"Every piece of art has two lives: the life it lives in our capitalist market place, as capital, as commerce, as goods delivered, and its own interior life, the inward sweep and expanse of its voyages, which may even be beyond the artist who’s made the art. "—Brandon Taylor
OPENING
"An invitation. A doorway.
A promise to—or even contract with—the reader."—Albert Liau
CHARACTER
“Human character is the foreground of all fiction.”—Janet Burroway
PLACE
"If you live in a place – any place, city or country – long enough and deeply enough you can learn anything, the dynamics and inter connections that exist in every community, be in plant, human, or animal – you can learn what a writer needs to know.”
—Ehrlich
A new place is just the friction we need to add new tension,
to twist the emotional knob, to make the feelings fresh. —TOMMY DEAN
PLOT
"A first draft is a lot like a character sketch, in it, especially at the beginning of writers’ careers, it is a series of explorations. You have usually kicked a number of decisions down the road, thinking that I will decide that later."—Alexander Chee
DIALOGUE
“Most writers fall into one of two groups: either they hate writing dialogue and try to avoid it as much as humanly possible or they love writing dialogue and fill their entire novel with mostly useless exchanges.”— NY Book Editors
VOICE
FORM & EXPERIMENT
Narrative form is so much more malleable than chronological order and scene breaks. Experimental fiction finds a shape that suits them, and it becomes their home.
FLASH FICTION
“I do think excellent flash requires and rewards experimentation.
As a form, it’s almost a liminal space.”— Jasmine Sawers
MAGIC REALISM & FABULISM
“It’s a perfect time to turn ourselves inside out by turning the world around us outside in.”— Amber Sparks
REVISION
"Your best days are sometimes those when you end up with less on the page than when you started."—Hilary Mantel
WRITER'S BLOCK + IMPOSTER SYNDROME
We can’t always do everything, but we can look, add a sentence.It might lead to another sentence, and another after that.
GET UNSTUCK
Writer’s block for me is a question I haven’t solved yet—
but I trust that in 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 months I will eventually answer it.
—Colson Whitehead
PUBLISHING
Isn’t there a little part of us that writes because....we want to be read?Because we’re searching for our readers out there?Because we’ve read a story before and felt less alone?And we’d like our story to give that feeling to someone else in the universe?
COVER LETTER TEMPLATE
Dear Fiction Editors,Attached please find my short story “[Title of Story]” for your consideration. This is a simultaneous submission.My work has previously appeared in [list 2-3 journals]. [Or: This would be my first publication.]Thank you for your time and consideration.Best,
[Your Name]
AUTHOR BIO TEMPLATES
[Your name] is a writer based in [City]. Their work has previously appeared in [2-3 journals]. Find them at [author website] or [social media handle].[Your name] is a writer earning their [degree] at [Name of University]. They live in [City].[Your name] writes stories. Follow them at [social media handle].