History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Courses on Atlas Obscura?

| August 15, 2022

If you’re looking for an unlikely place to learn about a topic, check out the courses on Atlas Obscura! Originally known as a site for strange places, Atlas Obscura has branched out to offering on-demand and live courses. And while not all of them are directly related to writing, some of them may be on […]

Returning to Long Form Writing

| August 8, 2022

I started the year deciding that I didn’t want to write longer works for 2022, unless I came up with an idea that absolutely had to be longer. And I wound up with one of those ideas. And then a second one, when I realized the first one wouldn’t work as I had planned it. […]

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 6

| August 1, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 6, on syllabic verse. This is a very short section, and interestingly for me, it basically describes a lot of the poetry that […]

Indie Author Resources

| July 25, 2022

If you’re an indie author looking for a bunch of great resources, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has just released a website called Indie Pub 101, which is a one-stop-shop for information for people who are already publishing independently or are interested in pursuing that route. Not all of the resources are in […]

The Shapes of Stories

| July 18, 2022

When you’re plotting out a story, a lot of folks go for a linear structure of if A, then B, and then C. Perhaps for some, it’s more of a climb from A to C, and then a denouement of D. But you can also try out different story shapes, and this article offers some […]

Checking In after Six Months without Novel Writing

| July 11, 2022

Since early this year, I’ve been focusing only on short fiction and poetry, and not trying to write any novels or even novellas. It’s been a little over six months, so it’s time to check in. If you read my recap from last week, you probably noticed that there’s a novella on it now. I […]

Stephen Fry on Meter, Part 5

| July 4, 2022

As I mentioned previously, I’m working through Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled very slowly to absorb as much wisdom as I can about writing poetry. This week’s post covers Chapter 1, Section 5, on non-metered poetry from the Anglo-Saxons. Instead of meter and feet, the primary technique covered in this chapter is accentual-alliterative poetry, in […]

Outlining Advice

| June 27, 2022

I’ve got outlining on the brain at the moment, as I frantically put one together for what was supposed to be a simple July project that grew into “no, put that idea down for a while and use this one”. The first idea required a bunch of research, which is done now, but also ate […]

Approaches to Writing Endings

| June 20, 2022

How do you know when you’re at the end of your story? How do you wrap it all up neatly and put a bow on it? This article suggests ten different approaches to endings, which will resonate with different authors. For some of my stories, I definitely see the end when I get started. I […]

Learning Your Pace to Deal with Deadlines

| June 13, 2022

Recently, the NSFWords Thursday evening Twitter chat was about deadlines, and I gave a suggestion that I thought was worth expanding. The question was looking for advice for authors who struggle with deadlines, and I said “I wasn’t really good at setting and hitting deadlines until I had a good sense of how long it […]