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  1. Writers: Make Conflict Sharpen Your Theme

    Most writers think of supporting characters as helpers, villains, or comic relief. John Truby argues they're something more: competing moral philosophies that sharpen your protagonist, strengthen your theme, and generate richer conflict. That single idea forced me to rethink scenes I'd already considered finished.

    nlbryar.page/2026/07/08/writer

  2. Writers: Make Conflict Sharpen Your Theme

    Most writers think of supporting characters as helpers, villains, or comic relief. John Truby argues they're something more: competing moral philosophies that sharpen your protagonist, strengthen your theme, and generate richer conflict. That single idea forced me to rethink scenes I'd already considered finished.

    nlbryar.page/2026/07/08/writer

  3. Writers: Make Conflict Sharpen Your Theme

    Most writers think of supporting characters as helpers, villains, or comic relief. John Truby argues they're something more: competing moral philosophies that sharpen your protagonist, strengthen your theme, and generate richer conflict. That single idea forced me to rethink scenes I'd already considered finished.

    nlbryar.page/2026/07/08/writer

  4. Writers: Make Conflict Sharpen Your Theme

    Most writers think of supporting characters as helpers, villains, or comic relief. John Truby argues they're something more: competing moral philosophies that sharpen your protagonist, strengthen your theme, and generate richer conflict. That single idea forced me to rethink scenes I'd already considered finished.

    nlbryar.page/2026/07/08/writer

  5. Writers: Make Conflict Sharpen Your Theme

    Most writers think of supporting characters as helpers, villains, or comic relief. John Truby argues they're something more: competing moral philosophies that sharpen your protagonist, strengthen your theme, and generate richer conflict. That single idea forced me to rethink scenes I'd already considered finished.

    nlbryar.page/2026/07/08/writer

  6. A setting is a character that can’t talk. But it always has something to say. The weather, the walls, the empty chair by the window, they carry mood and memory just like a person does. A place can foreshadow, grieve, comfort, or warn. Stop treating setting as backdrop and let it speak. Writing tip of the day. 😊

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #WritingTips #worldbuilding #creativewriting

  7. A setting is a character that can’t talk. But it always has something to say. The weather, the walls, the empty chair by the window, they carry mood and memory just like a person does. A place can foreshadow, grieve, comfort, or warn. Stop treating setting as backdrop and let it speak. Writing tip of the day. 😊

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #WritingTips #worldbuilding #creativewriting

  8. A setting is a character that can’t talk. But it always has something to say. The weather, the walls, the empty chair by the window, they carry mood and memory just like a person does. A place can foreshadow, grieve, comfort, or warn. Stop treating setting as backdrop and let it speak. Writing tip of the day. 😊

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #WritingTips #worldbuilding #creativewriting

  9. A setting is a character that can’t talk. But it always has something to say. The weather, the walls, the empty chair by the window, they carry mood and memory just like a person does. A place can foreshadow, grieve, comfort, or warn. Stop treating setting as backdrop and let it speak. Writing tip of the day. 😊

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #WritingTips #worldbuilding #creativewriting

  10. A setting is a character that can’t talk. But it always has something to say. The weather, the walls, the empty chair by the window, they carry mood and memory just like a person does. A place can foreshadow, grieve, comfort, or warn. Stop treating setting as backdrop and let it speak. Writing tip of the day. 😊

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #WritingTips #worldbuilding #creativewriting

  11. Mist

    a lake
    
    filled with fish shadows
    swimming in dark depths
    across a bottom covered with
    green creeping algae
    
    weeping willows press close
    moss hangs from branches 
    looming over the water
    where the wet roots of the trees 
    grip fungus covered rocks
     
    a mist slowly rises pale and thick
    from the glistening surface
    forms appear and vanish within
    weaving to and fro like ghosts
    swimming up into the night sky
    
    a white blanket spreads slowly
    over the sleeping countryside
    swirling around houses
    and slipping into chimneys
    across the silent hearthstones
    until the rising sun
    burns it away
     
     From the collection "Words at 16 (1983)" - edited June 2026
    #1983 #algae #atmosphericWriting #countryside #CreativeWriting #darkNature #earlyWriting #eeriePoetry #Fear #fishShadows #fog #ghostlyImagery #gothicNature #gothicPoetry #hauntingLandscape #lakePoem #memoryAndMist #mist #Nature #naturePoetry #nightLake #oldPoems #poeticImagery #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ruralGothic #shadowAndWater #teenagePoetry #weepingWillow #WordPressTagsPoetry #Writing
  12. Mist

    a lake
    
    filled with fish shadows
    swimming in dark depths
    across a bottom covered with
    green creeping algae
    
    weeping willows press close
    moss hangs from branches 
    looming over the water
    where the wet roots of the trees 
    grip fungus covered rocks
     
    a mist slowly rises pale and thick
    from the glistening surface
    forms appear and vanish within
    weaving to and fro like ghosts
    swimming up into the night sky
    
    a white blanket spreads slowly
    over the sleeping countryside
    swirling around houses
    and slipping into chimneys
    across the silent hearthstones
    until the rising sun
    burns it away
     
     From the collection "Words at 16 (1983)" - edited June 2026
    #1983 #algae #atmosphericWriting #countryside #CreativeWriting #darkNature #earlyWriting #eeriePoetry #Fear #fishShadows #fog #ghostlyImagery #gothicNature #gothicPoetry #hauntingLandscape #lakePoem #memoryAndMist #mist #Nature #naturePoetry #nightLake #oldPoems #poeticImagery #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ruralGothic #shadowAndWater #teenagePoetry #weepingWillow #WordPressTagsPoetry #Writing
  13. Mist

    a lake
    
    filled with fish shadows
    swimming in dark depths
    across a bottom covered with
    green creeping algae
    
    weeping willows press close
    moss hangs from branches 
    looming over the water
    where the wet roots of the trees 
    grip fungus covered rocks
     
    a mist slowly rises pale and thick
    from the glistening surface
    forms appear and vanish within
    weaving to and fro like ghosts
    swimming up into the night sky
    
    a white blanket spreads slowly
    over the sleeping countryside
    swirling around houses
    and slipping into chimneys
    across the silent hearthstones
    until the rising sun
    burns it away
     
     From the collection "Words at 16 (1983)" - edited June 2026
    #1983 #algae #atmosphericWriting #countryside #CreativeWriting #darkNature #earlyWriting #eeriePoetry #Fear #fishShadows #fog #ghostlyImagery #gothicNature #gothicPoetry #hauntingLandscape #lakePoem #memoryAndMist #mist #Nature #naturePoetry #nightLake #oldPoems #poeticImagery #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ruralGothic #shadowAndWater #teenagePoetry #weepingWillow #WordPressTagsPoetry #Writing
  14. Mist

    a lake
    
    filled with fish shadows
    swimming in dark depths
    across a bottom covered with
    green creeping algae
    
    weeping willows press close
    moss hangs from branches 
    looming over the water
    where the wet roots of the trees 
    grip fungus covered rocks
     
    a mist slowly rises pale and thick
    from the glistening surface
    forms appear and vanish within
    weaving to and fro like ghosts
    swimming up into the night sky
    
    a white blanket spreads slowly
    over the sleeping countryside
    swirling around houses
    and slipping into chimneys
    across the silent hearthstones
    until the rising sun
    burns it away
     
     From the collection "Words at 16 (1983)" - edited June 2026
    #1983 #algae #atmosphericWriting #countryside #CreativeWriting #darkNature #earlyWriting #eeriePoetry #Fear #fishShadows #fog #ghostlyImagery #gothicNature #gothicPoetry #hauntingLandscape #lakePoem #memoryAndMist #mist #Nature #naturePoetry #nightLake #oldPoems #poeticImagery #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ruralGothic #shadowAndWater #teenagePoetry #weepingWillow #WordPressTagsPoetry #Writing
  15. Mist

    a lake
    
    filled with fish shadows
    swimming in dark depths
    across a bottom covered with
    green creeping algae
    
    weeping willows press close
    moss hangs from branches 
    looming over the water
    where the wet roots of the trees 
    grip fungus covered rocks
     
    a mist slowly rises pale and thick
    from the glistening surface
    forms appear and vanish within
    weaving to and fro like ghosts
    swimming up into the night sky
    
    a white blanket spreads slowly
    over the sleeping countryside
    swirling around houses
    and slipping into chimneys
    across the silent hearthstones
    until the rising sun
    burns it away
     
     From the collection "Words at 16 (1983)" - edited June 2026
    #1983 #algae #atmosphericWriting #countryside #CreativeWriting #darkNature #earlyWriting #eeriePoetry #Fear #fishShadows #fog #ghostlyImagery #gothicNature #gothicPoetry #hauntingLandscape #lakePoem #memoryAndMist #mist #Nature #naturePoetry #nightLake #oldPoems #poeticImagery #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ruralGothic #shadowAndWater #teenagePoetry #weepingWillow #WordPressTagsPoetry #Writing
  16. W3 Prompt #219: Wea’ve Written Weekly

    Intro

    Dear friends,

    Welcome to our W3 Poetry Prompt, which goes live on Wednesdays at The Skeptic’s Kaddish.

    You may click here for a fuller explanation of W3; but here’s the ‘tldr’ version:

    Part I

    The main ingredient of W3 is a weekly poem written by a Poet of the Week (PoW), which participants read before participating in the prompt.

    Part II

    The second ingredient is a writing guideline (or two) provided by the PoW. Guidelines may include, but are not limited to: word counts, poetic forms, inclusion of specific words, and use of particular poetic devices.

    Part III

    After five days, when the prompt closes, the PoW shall select one participant’s poem as the W3 prompt for the following week, and its author becomes the next PoW.

    Simple enough, right?

    Kindly note: All entries for the W3 poetry prompt must be the original work of the submitting author. AI-generated poetry is not permitted.

    Okie dokie ~ Let’s do this thing!

    I. The prompt poem:

    ‘Freedom’ by Violet Lentz

    at fifteen
    i didn’t question
    your packing up my life
    in a garbage bag
    and sending me to gramma’s
    i wanted my freedom
    i saw being sent away
    as you giving it to me
    i thought i had won
    
    at twenty five
    i didn’t question
    abandoning my marriage
    and two children
    to recapture the freedom
    i perceived
    as having been stolen from me
    surely the end
    would justify the means
    
    at thirty five
    i didn’t question
    getting clean
    i knew it was
    either quit- or die
    so i quit- because
    too much freedom
    had in the end
    taken me hostage
    
    at forty five
    i looked into
    the eyes of a woman
    i had never seen before
    she told me:
    
    that fifteen year olds
    don’t get garbage bags
    full of freedom
    
    that twenty five year olds
    can disappear- but
    never really leave-
    (their children behind)
    
    that thirty five year olds
    never really get clean,,
    they just quit using….
    
    and that the only way
    to ever really catch freedom
    is to stop running…

    II. Jodi’s prompt: Tell it slant

    This week, we take our inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s famous poem:

    Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
    Success in Circuit lies
    Too bright for our infirm Delight
    The Truth’s superb surprise
    As Lightning to the Children eased
    With explanation kind
    The Truth must dazzle gradually
    Or every man be blind —

    For this prompt, write a poem in which every line is a lie — except one.

    You may take this playfully, seriously, mysteriously, or emotionally. Your “lies” might be obvious falsehoods, gentle self-deceptions, exaggerations, masks, evasions, myths, dreams, denials, or things the speaker wishes were true. Somewhere in the poem, however, let one line tell the truth plainly.

    Extra credit: Try writing your poem as a Golden Shovel.

    A Golden Shovel poem borrows a line from an existing poem and uses each word from that borrowed line, in order, as the final word of each line in your new poem. For example, if you use Dickinson’s line “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” your poem would have eight lines, ending with: Tell / all / the / truth / but / tell / it / slant.

    As always, let the prompt lead you where it wants to go!

    III. Submit: Click on ‘Mister Linky’ below

    In order to participate and share a poem, open up this blog post, outside of the WordPress reader. At the bottom, just below these words, you will see a small rectangular graphic with the words ‘Mr Linky’. Click on that to submit.

    Submissions are open for 5 days, until Monday, July 13, 10:00 AM (GMT+2)

    Last week’s W3 poem

    This week’s W3 prompt poem (above), composed by Jodi, was written in response to last week’s W3 prompt poem, which Benji wrote:

    ‘The scent of herbs’ by Benjamin Nambu

    returning home on foot after work
    through a shortcut behind houses
    poorly planned
    bumped into a lady burning weed
    after sweeping her backyard
    the scent of herbs reminds me
    of my childhood
    when I used to follow dad to the farm
    my happiest moments were in the afternoons
    when we paused for the lunch
    of roasted yam with agushi stew
    A mouse or two hovering over hot coals
    from their long poles
    as if in prayer, dripping with oil
    here I was, a city boy missing village life
    some village teen seated somewhere in a village daydreaming of life in a city they might never see
    #Community #CreativeWriting #Freedom #Inspiration #Poem #Poetry #Prompt #Routine #Silence #W3
  17. Stakes are not about danger, they are about cost. If your character can walk away from the story unharmed, with nothing lost and nothing risked, the reader has no reason to lean in. Give them something they cannot afford to lose, then make the story threaten it. The fear of losing it is what keeps people reading. Make leaving cost something. Writing tip of the day. 💯

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #writingtips #creativewriting #writersofmastodon

  18. Stakes are not about danger, they are about cost. If your character can walk away from the story unharmed, with nothing lost and nothing risked, the reader has no reason to lean in. Give them something they cannot afford to lose, then make the story threaten it. The fear of losing it is what keeps people reading. Make leaving cost something. Writing tip of the day. 💯

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #writingtips #creativewriting #writersofmastodon

  19. Stakes are not about danger, they are about cost. If your character can walk away from the story unharmed, with nothing lost and nothing risked, the reader has no reason to lean in. Give them something they cannot afford to lose, then make the story threaten it. The fear of losing it is what keeps people reading. Make leaving cost something. Writing tip of the day. 💯

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #writingtips #creativewriting #writersofmastodon

  20. Stakes are not about danger, they are about cost. If your character can walk away from the story unharmed, with nothing lost and nothing risked, the reader has no reason to lean in. Give them something they cannot afford to lose, then make the story threaten it. The fear of losing it is what keeps people reading. Make leaving cost something. Writing tip of the day. 💯

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #writingtips #creativewriting #writersofmastodon

  21. Stakes are not about danger, they are about cost. If your character can walk away from the story unharmed, with nothing lost and nothing risked, the reader has no reason to lean in. Give them something they cannot afford to lose, then make the story threaten it. The fear of losing it is what keeps people reading. Make leaving cost something. Writing tip of the day. 💯

    #writingcommunity #amWriting #writing #writingtips #creativewriting #writersofmastodon

  22. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon: Book Review

    I’ve reviewed this book, a really useful and practical guide for creators looking for exposure, on Medium. You can read it, without cost, using this link:

    Rate This

    #Author #BookReview #Books #CreativeWriting #Writing
  23. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon: Book Review

    I’ve reviewed this book, a really useful and practical guide for creators looking for exposure, on Medium. You can read it, without cost, using this link:

    Rate This

    #Author #BookReview #Books #CreativeWriting #Writing
  24. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon: Book Review

    I’ve reviewed this book, a really useful and practical guide for creators looking for exposure, on Medium. You can read it, without cost, using this link:

    Rate This

    #Author #BookReview #Books #CreativeWriting #Writing
  25. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon: Book Review

    I’ve reviewed this book, a really useful and practical guide for creators looking for exposure, on Medium. You can read it, without cost, using this link:

    Rate This

    #Author #BookReview #Books #CreativeWriting #Writing
  26. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon: Book Review

    I’ve reviewed this book, a really useful and practical guide for creators looking for exposure, on Medium. You can read it, without cost, using this link:

    Rate This

    #Author #BookReview #Books #CreativeWriting #Writing
  27. Subscribe to the Writing the Other announcement mailing list to get a notification each time we open enrollment for classes & get a discount on every course (plus other secret perks)!

    Join us here 👉🏾 writingtheother.com/contact/su
    #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting

  28. Subscribe to the Writing the Other announcement mailing list to get a notification each time we open enrollment for classes & get a discount on every course (plus other secret perks)!

    Join us here 👉🏾 writingtheother.com/contact/su
    #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting

  29. Subscribe to the Writing the Other announcement mailing list to get a notification each time we open enrollment for classes & get a discount on every course (plus other secret perks)!

    Join us here 👉🏾 writingtheother.com/contact/su
    #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting

  30. Subscribe to the Writing the Other announcement mailing list to get a notification each time we open enrollment for classes & get a discount on every course (plus other secret perks)!

    Join us here 👉🏾 writingtheother.com/contact/su
    #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting