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Evan Swensen

The Gift That Changed Literature

Have you ever received a Christmas gift that changed your life? Maybe it was a childhood bicycle, a book that …

Evan Swensen

The Power of Criticism

“It is, I think, as clear as daylight that literature can only be kept alive by criticism.” Henry James, a …

Carl Douglass

HOW TO WRITE WITH ACCENTS, DIALECT, SLANG, COLLOQUALISM, AND ETHNICITY

PART XI How to speak British beyond England, course 301 For the sake of completeness and for brevity, we will …

Evan Swensen

The Art of Letting Readers See

There’s an old saying in writing circles—probably scrawled on a thousand sticky notes across the desks of aspiring authors—that commands, …

Evan Swensen

The Novel That Never Used ‘E’

Some people run marathons. Others climb mountains. But in 1939, one man decided to challenge himself in an entirely different …

Evan Swensen

The Wordsmith’s Drug

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling Language is no mere tool. It hypnotizes, …

Carl Douglass

A unique honeymoon, and the start of the Great Depression

“We had to go to Salt Lake City to get married which was a long ways from the mining camp …

Evan Swensen

Writing the Right Book for the Right Readers

There’s a moment every writer faces—when the words are flowing, the pages are stacking up, and then it hits—that nagging …

Evan Swensen

A Ban Worthy of the Queen of Hearts

Imagine waking up one day and finding out that a whimsical tale about a girl chasing a white rabbit was …

Evan Swensen

The Peril and Power of Words

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little …

Carl Douglass

HOW TO WRITE WITH ACCENTS, DIALECT, SLANG, COLLOQUALISM, AND ETHNICITY

Singapore English/Singlish: Singapore is a multilingual nation. The Singapore government recognizes four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. Students in primary and secondary schools …

Evan Swensen

Thick Skin and Open Ears: A Writer’s Guide to Criticism

The first time I received a harsh critique, it was a gut punch, the kind that lingers in your chest …

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