News – Story Kitchen Studio

Some Announcements and Updates!

Hello writers, I hope November is treating you well so far! Are any of you participating in Nanowrimo? I am, although as usual I’m tweaking it to meet my own ends (finishing a work in progress rather than starting a new one from scratch) but Maureen is wrapping up the final semester of class, which doesn’t leave enough time for Nano. But! once she’s done teaching, we have a bunch of new things we want to try here!

First, I wanted to let you all know that we have started experimenting with video! We have a Youtube channel for Story Kitchen Studio where I’ve been posting once a week, on Thursdays. This week, I’ll be talking about Worldbuilding with Fashion and Clothing!

I also converted the post about starting out writing SFF into two videos, Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Writing SFF Part 1 and Part 2. And since I’ve been working a lot on my short story submissions, I decided to produce a video about that as well: SFF Story Submission Secrets. Please check it out if you enjoy videos like this!

I also narrated a short story for the first time, for Podcastle: Hummingbird, by Eisuke Aikawa, translated by Toshiya Kamei. It’s a quirky, sweet story about what home means, about freedom, about being yourself. It was a real challenge to narrate it, actually, and switch fluidly between English and Japanese. I think I’ll write more about that in the future because it was such an interesting experience for me.

Have you caught up on the Story Kitchen podcast episodes? There are nine episodes of deep dives into questions like “What is Technique, Anyway?” and other concerns that nerdy writers like Maureen and me ponder incessantly.

And, I sold a story to Uncanny Magazine for publication in 2022! It’s a story that went through a lot of revisions. I first drafted it, I think, about three years ago. Maybe longer? Then I completely rewrote it a couple of times. A few different writing groups gave me feedback on it over the years, and I also put it away for a while because I didn’t know how to fix it. Well, about six month ago, I pulled it out again and I tried something else to deliver the ending that I knew I wanted–and it worked! Uncanny liked it! I’m so chuffed. It’s called “Boundless” and I’ll update when I know what month it’ll be out.

I hope you are all well and thriving, and happy writing!

FIYAHCON 2021 Tomorrow! And Who’s Interested in a Game Design Workshop?

Well, things have been busy here at Story Kitchen! Maureen is teaching at USC this semester and knee deep in a new crop of students, and we’ve also both been experimenting with video as a format for some of the discussions we want to have.

BUT! I came here to talk about something else entirely, and that is this: Tomorrow I’m teaching a very condensed Game Design Workshop as part of FIYAHCON 2021 and as I prepared the slides and the activities, I realized how much I miss teaching game design, too!

There are lots of writers who want to learn more about game design, I bet, either so you can be more effective at writing for games, or because you want to design games, or maybe you’re just curious. So I’m toying with the idea of teaching a Game Design Lab where the goal would be to learn some stuff and then team up to collaborate on a game. I’d like it to be a nondigital game because a) it’s more accessible if programming skills are not required and b) there are lots of fundamental design principles that are EASIER to learn when you aren’t also trying to get the code to work.

So…if you’re interested in staying in touch about a future class on this, make sure you sign up for the newsletter, because we’ll be announcing new workshops and courses there.

If you’re also attending FIYAHCON, see you there! Otherwise, I’ll be back next week. Happy writing!

Our Latest Newsletter Tackles Writing Dialogue that Sounds Realistic

It’s something I’ve heard from many writers and I’ve complained about myself. How do you write dialogue that sounds realistic? Maureen, leveraging some of her screenwriting experience, offers some unexpected advice in the latest Story Kitchen newsletter: How to Write Dialogue that Sounds Realistic.

Check it out and if you’d like these kinds of tips delivered to your inbox twice a month, join the newsletter below!

How to Use Contracts and Rewards to Motivate Your Writing–Without Burning Out

Note: Part 2 of the Absolute Beginner’s Guide: How to Get Started Writing SFF is going up tomorrow!

This week on the podcast, Maureen and I talk about a motivational technique she uses in her classes, where you write a contract for yourself. The contract should include goals, a timeline, and also some sorts of rewards. It might be a good idea to create a contract after you finish a project or take a class, or if you’re facing a stretch of time that you want to carve out for writing.

It’s also important, though, to pace yourself and not set goals that will burn you out. Be kind to yourself!

Check out the podcast here: Contracts with Yourself and Rewards

My contract is here: Jane Writing Contract August 2021

Podcast Delayed This Week: Technical Difficulties

Hello friends, so sorry for this! Maureen and I had recorded a lively and exhilarating (at least, in my memory it was) episode about Space Opera, one of our favorite genres, and what tropes we love about it. But our recording software seems to have lost the files and so far our recovery processes haven’t worked! Sooooo please bear with us while we sort it out! Thank you!

In other news, I have a MASSIVE article I’m working on for next week: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Writing SFF, Part 1. So stay tuned for that!

Write a Story in a Weekend June 26th

Maureen and I have been talking for almost a year about how we would incorporate all of our ideas about teaching and writing into a series of classes and we’re so excited to announce the first one! Story from Beginning to End is an intensive short story clinic where we write a complete story in one weekend. It’s suitable for writers who already have the basics of writing but who are new to the short story format, or what to explore another method of approaching writing short stories.

Why did we decide to format a class like this?

There’s a clear goal: Finish a short story in a weekend! It’s ambitious, sure; but it’s not something you have to do every weekend — just try it once as an experiment.
The compressed time for writing lets you be deeply immersed in the process of writing for an intense burst of activity, which can lead to insights about your process (as well as the story itself.)
It’s a fun challenge!

Does this sound exciting? You can enroll here! Check out the syllabus for more details. Scholarships are available to BIPOC writers and writers of color around the world. Please email storykitchenstudio@gmail.com for more information!

Date and Time: Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th. 11am Pacific – 3pm Pacific (with breaks). Cost: $129.00

The Case for Taking Classes as a Writer

I had a revelation this past year: artists take classes all their lives.

Dancers are always in class. Painters still drop into life drawing sessions. Musicians take masterclasses and attend rehearsals. If you’re an artist, you’re always learning and working on your craft, testing the boundaries of your limits and gently expanding them.

But I think there’s often an expectation that classes for writers are for beginners. That once you achieve a certain level of professionalism, or craft confidence, you simply write on your own. You might have a critique group, or a couple of trusted beta readers, but there is no expectation that writers receive formal instruction after they achieve a certain level.

But I think that might be a mistake, at least for some writers.

This past year, partly to relieve the stress and anxiety of being trapped inside and partly because I missed writing communities so much, I took a bunch of online classes, some pre-recorded but most of them live, run by an instructor. While some classes definitely fell into the category of covering basics I was already confident in, many opened up new avenues for me, prompted story ideas, gave me new tools for storytelling and story generation. I grew more aware of my weaknesses and more able to create a self-study program designed to strengthen my shortcomings.

So that’s why we started The Story Kitchen, so we can examine the ingredients of story and practice our craft in a formal, systematic, but playful and open-ended way, like in cooking! There will be content here that is for beginners, because we all start somewhere. There will also be content here for emerging professional writers, and for experienced writers. Because learning never ends and a formal practice of instruction can be a valuable part of maintaining your creative spark, honing your skills, and opening you up to new explorations you didn’t access in your writing before.

Lots of writers have said this, but it bears repeating: there is no one right way to write. Just like there is no one right way to cook. But searing a cabbage has a very different effect on the vegetable to boiling it, and adding miso has a very different impact on the palate versus adding vinegar. Both great! But different! So we thought, this could be applied to writing, too. Understand the ingredients you’re working with, understand the techniques of handling those ingredients, and then you’ll understand what dishes you’re putting together and how the flavors will blend or contrast, and you’ll become a much more confident chef — er, writer — with a great range. Plus it’s fun to play!

(I just made myself hungry. This is a thing that happens a lot, because I write about food a lot? Literally and metaphorically?)

If this sounds interesting to you, sign up for our newsletter below! Our first one goes out today, and it’s one of the main ways we’ll deliver notes on writing craft, advice, tips, and writing prompts. We also include what I started calling an Unrecipe because they’re about techniques, not recipes, as well as writer quotes, links to books we like, and other fun tidbits. Join us!

Happy writing!

-Jane

Welcome to Story Kitchen

Story Kitchen came about because Maureen and I met while both teaching at a university, and we started getting together to talk about writing, fiction, and teaching. Pretty soon we had a critique group and a couple of weekly co-writing dates. We also had ongoing conversations about craft and books and how to help other writers.

Add to that mix the fact that we both love to cook, and Story Kitchen was born! We conceived of a place that was like getting together with your friends around a kitchen table, sharing stories, tips, techniques, commiserating and celebrating.

In our view, the way we learned to write was similar to the way we cook. Recipes are a good starting place, but what really changed the game for us was learning techniques and how to apply them in different contexts. Learning to handle POV is a technique. Voice is a technique. Literary devices are techniques — and once you understand how they work and what impact they deliver, you can create your own recipes for stories, knowing that each one is going to be different, too.

We’re planning lots of exciting stuff coming out this summer and fall! We’d love it if you’d stay in touch by joining our newsletter, where we’re also going to feature a ton of useful context, including tips and craft essays and a recipe (naturally!). Sign up for our newsletter, and get a free PDF guide, 10 Things to Try When You Feel Stuck.

Happy writing!

-Jane