Writing school

Writing a memoir comes down to two words: reflection and transmission. Understanding your life by writing it, then passing it on. Four simple moves to begin, no literary ambition required.

Every genre worth writing runs on a code — and every beginner wants to break it on day one. Why the subversion you're dreaming of only works after the apprenticeship you're avoiding.

Heroic fantasy is a contract with the marvelous: an ordinary soul, a world of wonder and danger, a power that costs, and a dark thing that must be answered. A primer on the genre's fair-play promise — before you learn to write it.

The heist is a mystery told forward: an impossible target, a crew of specialists, a plan with a hole in it, and a reveal that re-reads everything. A primer on the genre's fair-play contract — before you learn to write it.

Romance is the most structured genre there is: two people, two wounds, one earned ending. A primer on the form's beat-sheet and its unbreakable promise — before you learn to write it.

The op-ed is the most codified form in nonfiction: one arguable sentence, defended fairly in under a thousand words. A primer on the argument-and-evidence contract — before you learn to write it.

The fairy tale is the only story form with a complete formal grammar — a finite set of moves in a fixed order. Learn story's skeleton from the stories that ARE skeleton. A primer before you write your first.

Dialogue is not people talking — it is people wanting, in words. A primer on how the page's hardest craft actually works, before you learn to write it.

The ghost story is the quietest form of horror and the hardest to write: atmosphere over shock, restraint over explanation. A primer on the genre's code — before you learn to write it.

The impossible crime is the purest puzzle fiction ever built: a body in a sealed room, and no way in or out. A primer on the genre's code — before you learn to write it.