ARCHIVE FOR Kayleigh Shoen

Author and GrubStreet Instructor Kayleigh Shoen shares her guidelines for a great writing prompt. You can learn more in Kayleigh’s FREE upcoming seminar, Short and Sweet: Fiction Generator, in-person at our Seaport location on August 27th.

 

 

Recently, I was watching a TV show in which an astronaut climbed out of his spaceship to make a repair. As I looked at the tiny cord that prevented him from floating off into the endless emptiness of space, I thought, hey, I know that feeling.

Writing prompts have saved me from the infinite abyss of the blank doc more times than …

Author and GrubStreet Instructor Kayleigh Shoen shares why fiction writers should draw on their real lives in their work. You can learn more in Kayleigh’s upcoming In-Person: Seaport class, Writing Fiction from Real Life, starting May 2nd.

 

 

For a long time when I was starting out as a writer, I shied away from writing about my real life. It felt risky to portray my friends and family in ways they might not like, or to dramatize situations that could reflect badly on me. And, the times when I did choose to include situations from my life, it …