History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

An (Un)helpful Reminder?

| August 8, 2024

In case you missed it, An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel is out in the world! It’s a great book for aspiring authors, and it also contains advice that established authors might also find useful! Plus, it’s got just the right amount of humor and illustrations to make it a lot of fun! Most books […]

An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel Out Today!

| July 16, 2024

My non-fiction, tongue-in-cheek, book of novel writing advice, An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel, is out today! Most books about writing a novel give you advice about plot and structure and stakes and more. This isn’t most books. Within the pages of An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel, you’ll find information about writing novels from […]

Coming in July: An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel

| June 18, 2024

I’ve spent a lot of time preparing to publish An (Un)helpful Guide to Writing a Novel, my non-fiction, tongue-in-cheek, guide for aspiring novel writers. In large part, some of the humor in this book is the fact that I do not enjoy writing novels, but I’ve got advice to share about the process. The other part […]

Review of From Big Idea to Book by Jessie L. Kwak

| February 6, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. I really love Jessie L. Kwak’s writing style, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Her non-fiction style is so conversational and easy to grasp. So of […]

Review of Creative, Not Famous by Ayun Halliday

| January 11, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and creativity books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto is a book that explores the very good possibility that as a creative person, you will not […]

Review of From Chaos to Creativity by Jessie L. Kwak

| January 9, 2023

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Jessie L. Kwak’s From Chaos to Creativity is designed to help creatives build a creativity system that works for them. It tackles topics related to scheduling, […]

Review of Unf#ck Your Writing by Joe Biel and Faith G. Harper

| December 26, 2022

I recently got a big stack of writing craft and books through a Microcosm Publishing Kickstarter, so I’ve decided to work through several of them for reviewing on my blog. Unf#ck Your Writing is a guide to how authors can produce their best works, but it’s not about the nitty gritty of grammar and prose […]

Writer Gift Ideas: Microcosm Publishing

| November 28, 2022

If you’re looking for a great gift for a writer, I always recommend books. But specifically, check out the writing section at Microcosm Publishing. They’re a small publishing house that publishes books and zines about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice. Their books about writing are fantastic, including things like Jessie Kwak’s From Chaos […]

Three Cool Kickstarters!

| December 15, 2021

There’s always a lot of cool stuff to be found on Kickstarter, but here are three projects that have caught my attention! The first is From Big Idea to Book: Create a Writing Practice that Brings You Joy. While many books on writing advice retread the same territory that many experienced authors have already covered, […]

Book Recommendation: Story Genius by Lisa Cron

| May 19, 2021

I recently read and recommended Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, and now I’m back to talk about another of her books, Story Genius. Whereas I found Wired for Story to be something that I could apply to both novel and shorter writing, Story Genius is 100 percent a book for people who want to write a novel. […]