Don’t Watch The Play
Not long after I started writing my first play, I called a local playwright and asked if I buy him lunch and pick his brain. (Food is always a good way to reach theatre people.) It was very...
View ArticleA Cure for What Ails You
Perhaps one of the things for which I’m most grateful in having completed my MFA is the time it forced me to spend looking inward. For as much time as I was asked to consider the writing of others, I...
View ArticleZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Wake me When Something Happens
By Darlene Cah I had written humorous essays, sketch comedy and advertising copy, but always danced around fiction, too scared to really commit. Though, I’d tried to write short stories now and again,...
View Article“It Has To Hurt If It’s To Heal”
By Jennie Jarvis Do you remember The NeverEnding Story? While being chased by bullies, young Bastian (Barrett Oliver) hides in a small bookshop where he discovers a book unlike any of the “safe” ones...
View ArticleGetting Emotional by Matt Peters
5writers is delighted to welcome today’s guest blogger, Matt Peters. Matt Peters has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans and a BA in English from the University of Central...
View ArticleWriters Need to Read
By Brad Windhauser I watched Project Runway for a couple seasons early on, in part because I like to see what pressure does to creativity.I also enjoyed the cat-fighting as well as eavesdropping on...
View ArticleHere And There…Or Maybe Just Not Anywhere
by Ron Hayes Recently I opened a poetry contest to celebrate a historical event’s bicentennial here in my town. Entrants were invited to address and/or interpret the contest’s theme as broadly as they...
View ArticleThe Performance or The Page? Poetry’s Great Schism
by Ron Hayes In the month or so since my last post, I had the pleasure of hosting a poetry reading to close out the local poetry contest I’d run over the summer. I invited all those who had entered a...
View Article“Tennis Anyone?” or: “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Handcuffs”
by Ron Hayes Stockholm Syndrome. Harry Houdini. Robert Frost. Spelunking. A short but strange list, no? It may not be obvious right away, but there is a thread of commonality that runs through it. But...
View ArticleThe Image Abides by Emilia Fuentes Grant
5writers.com is delighted to welcome back Emilia Fuentes Grant as a guest writer for this month! The Image Abides By Emilia Fuentes Grant This month is Poetry Month (as I’m sure you are aware) and we...
View ArticleJust Keep Swimming: Jennie’s Secret to Staying Positive In The Wake Of Rejection
By Jennie Jarvis Let’s face it – In the writing industry, we face a lot of rejection. In fact, most people know more about how writers are rejected than any other part of the industry. Throughout my...
View ArticleWhat’s In YOUR Belly? What Writers Can Learn From Athletes
by Ron Hayes I can’t help but love the way Brad Windhauser recently invoked the excitement and the intrigue and the infectious nature of the 2014 World Cup (congrats Deutschland!) in his post about...
View ArticleSpecial Edition: 5 Ways Exploring New Mediums Can Re-Invigorate Your Writing
by Jennie Jarvis Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending a great workshop on writing Children’s Picture Books, conducted by Alicia Thompson (@Aliciabooks). I’ve never written Picture Books...
View ArticleDeath Poems: Peverse and Pedestrian Ways of “Making it New”
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Macbeth Act IV Scene 1 by Ron Hayes Recently I was speaking with a colleague new to our school. He had just learned that I was the...
View ArticleWriting As Catharsis: Writing As A Coping Mechanism
by Jennie Jarvis One of the sad truths about being human is that we will, without doubt, have to deal with death at some point in our life. Even if we are the most anti-social person in the world and...
View ArticleSpecial Edition – Horror Writing: Playing an Insidious Game by Sidney Williams.
This month, 5writers.com is delighted to welcome guest blogger Sidney Williams. Sidney Williams is the author of numerous traditionally horror and thriller novels and short stories. His work has been...
View ArticleHats Off: Ten Things To Consider When Writing Your Acknowledgements
by Jennie Jarvis As Brad stated in his great post last week, this month we here at 5 Writers are getting into the spirit of Thanksgiving and talking about paying tribute in our work. For me, this topic...
View ArticleDon’t be a Punk!: The Secret to Marketing Your Work
By Jennie Jarvis People who have never worked within the film industry are often surprised when I tell them about the ins and outs of how a screenplay gets turned into a movie. Well, maybe “surprised”...
View ArticleAll You Need Is Decency: Networking and Butt Sniffing For Beginners
By Jennie Jarvis As the Faculty Chairperson for the Florida Writers Conference, and as an attendee at countless other writing conferences and film festivals, I’ve come to learn how terribly awkward...
View ArticleThe Secret to Writing Fantasy: Reality
by Jennie Jarvis In both my screenwriting and my novel writing, a lot of my work has been in the fantasy genre. I’ve created worlds where leprechauns play tricksters, where yokai run shops, and where a...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....