History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Stephen Fry on Form, Part 7

| May 8, 2023

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 3, Section 7, on more closed forms. An alternate name for this section of the chapter on form could easily have been “closed forms that make […]

Tips and Tricks for Online Readings

| May 1, 2023

One of the panels I spoke on at Flights of Foundry was about tips and tricks for online readings. Learning to give good readings in person is one set of skills. Learning how to do so when you don’t have audience reactions to gauge how you’re doing can be exponentially more difficult. Among other things, […]

Dream Foundry Video Library

| April 24, 2023

Did you know that Dream Foundry has over 150 videos of panels, interviews, and more from previous years of the Flights of Foundry convention? The convention is over for 2023, but you can find tons of writing resources, as well as resources for other creative endeavors, on their YouTube. The videos also have English captions. […]

Stephen Fry on Form, Part 6

| April 10, 2023

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 3, Section 6, on closed forms. This section covers four closed forms, the villanelle, sestina, pantoum, and ballade. These four forms have some fairly complicated […]

Free Worksheets for Writers

| March 27, 2023

I love sharing free resources for authors, like these worksheets by Jami Gold and other authors! There are worksheets for story, plot, characters, and more craft things, as well as worksheets for business aspects of writing. Take a look and see if there’s something there you can use!  

Co-Working as a Writing Tool

| March 20, 2023

When I started writing, we had a weekly in-person writing group. It wasn’t super structured, and it wasn’t strict on what you could work on, but the goal was to share companionship and writing. It eventually evolved to be one evening and one weekend morning. And then, the Fire Nation* attacked. (Read: the pandemic.) While […]

Stephen Fry on Form, Part 5

| March 13, 2023

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 3, Section 5, on the ode. This section covers several different formats of odes, including Sapphic, Pindaric, Horatian, lyric, and anacreontic. The ongoing theme in this […]

Dealing with Other Peoples’ Success

| March 6, 2023

When you’re a writer, it’s easy to compare yourself to other writers and wonder why you’re not as successful or talented or whatever as they are. But it’s important to not get too wrapped up in comparisons or jealousy. This article calls it “the writer’s other classic curse” and offers some suggestions of ways to […]

Writing Flash Fiction Panel

| February 27, 2023

Last year, I moderated a panel on flash fiction for Flights of Foundry. The YouTube video is available now, in case you’re interested in hearing a group of flash fiction authors share some of our favorite tips and tricks. We talk a bit about multiple genres, poetry, and more!  

Stephen Fry on Form, Part 4

| February 20, 2023

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 3, Section 4, on heroic verse. Heroic verse, which is iambic pentameters in rhymed couplets, is an older form that goes back to Chaucer, but has […]