by Emily Wenstrom |
Disney released its new live re-telling of its classic fairy tale Cinderella last week to mostly good reviews and high enthusiasm.
This, after we’ve already consumed almost the exact same story in cartoon form for years, read the fairy tale itself, and consumed countless remixes of it, from Ever After to Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister to Pretty Woman to Into the Woods to… you get the point.
And Cinderella is hardly the only tale with this power. Consider how many different ways stories like The Wizard of Oz, Snow White, Romeo and Juliet, even Batman have been reinvented over the years.
But why do readers do this? Why do some stories keep readers coming back again and again? How do fairy tales stay popular for so long?
by Emily Wenstrom |
Story ideas often come to us almost out of thin air—whether from an overheard conversation in a coffee shop, or just a random thought that pops into your head in the shower. But other times, you’re ready to write a new story and all that you’ve got is the blank page in front of you.
That’s okay! There’s a number of tried and true methods to jumpstart your brain and draw those ideas out. Here are my three go-tos:
by Emily Wenstrom |
Many an expert has prescribed voracious reading as a way to improve your writing.
But don’t just read anything, they warn—read quality in addition to quantity. Read the stories in styles you adore, the plots you wish you’d come up with yourself. It’s by reading what you love and admire, say the experts, that you will improve your own writing the most.
Well, I love comic books.
by Emily Wenstrom |
As the editor of a genre fiction website, I’ve seen my share of short stories—the good and the bad.
No matter what kind of fiction you write, being able to craft a good short story can help you sharpen your skills. Ray Bradbury recommended writing one short story a week—it seemed to work out pretty well for him.
by Emily Wenstrom |
Welcome to 2015!
For me (and I imagine many of you, too), a new year means a new writing goal among my list of resolutions. One of the most common resolutions for writers is to simply get more words on the page.
