The Agile Writer – Page 8 – Greg Smith: Novelist and Coach

February 10, 2016

Leaving Space for the Reader

We entered into a productive discussion last week at Agile Writers. It centered on the problems inherent in writing (or acting, performing, producing) for an audience of peers rather than an audience of. . . people. The topic arose because we are making our way through Lawrence Block’s classic on writerly craft, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. Block’s chapter, […]

Guest Blogger Structure 0 5 min read

January 25, 2016

The Split Climax

One of the things I teach in my seminar on The Agile Writer Method is that the climax is the seventh and final turning point in the story. There is the classic climax where the hero defeats the villain and solves the main goal of the story. But there other ways to handle a climax. One of them is what I […]

Greg Smith Writing 0 3 min read

December 23, 2015

The Peril of The Pause

The wind barreled down the concrete breezeway and slapped my bare cheek as I walked through the library doors. I held a tottering stack of books flush against my chest, their corners digging into my ribs through my sweater. Inside the library, I had felt calm, as I usually do. The dank, dusty smell and crowded embrace of so many […]

Guest Blogger Writing 0 4 min read

December 18, 2015

The Night Before Agile Writers

By James Bono Twas the night before Thursday. Throughout Martins’ store Rishonda was browbeating us to write more. “Ten pages are sent every Sunday by peak agile writers. So how was your week?” Elevator pitches graced those who would dare, in hopes that Saint Gregory soon would be there. Each writer was nestled all snug in his seat while visions […]

Greg Smith Writing 0 2 min read

December 2, 2015

Authorpreneur

Confession time. Half of this word really scares me. Also, it makes me a little angry, a little frustrated, and a little unsure about my ability to succeed as a writer. Here’s why: I’m not so sure that the skills needed to be a successful writer can cohabitate with the skills necessary to be a great entrepreneur, brander, marketer, social […]

Guest Blogger Articles 0 2 min read

October 21, 2015

We are Not the Best Judge of Our Own Work

I think there are times when attempting to judge our own work is detrimental to the process. True, we must be discerning. I am in no way advocating that we sit down and type out the first 60,000 words that pop into our heads, self-publish it and wait for the accolades and zillions of dollars to come pouring in. On […]

Guest Blogger Writing 0 2 min read

October 13, 2015

You Bring the Passion…

“You don’t have to be a great grammarian or great speller to write a novel. You don’t have to have connections in the writing world. What you need is a passion for your story and a plan to complete. You bring the passion, we’ll bring the plan.” -Greg Smith (2011) Founder Agile Writers Creator of the Agile Writer Method

Greg Smith Writing 0 18 sec read

October 12, 2015

TIP: Simply Publish It

If you want to get your work out in the simplest possible way at the lowest possible cost, consider Smashwords.com. You put your lightly-formatted Microsoft Word document into their engine and it converts it to Apple iBook, Barnes&Noble Nook, Kobe, Sony, and many other formats. Then Smashwords will distribute the eBook to all the different publishers AND take in all […]

Greg Smith Publishing 0 26 sec read

September 23, 2015

Holding the Whole Thing

About midway through my first draft, I became intimate with a hurdle I posit is probably specific to the novelist. How could I hold the entirety of my novel—of the world I was creating—in my mind? In Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, Block addresses this issue as one that stops many would-be novelists in their tracks. He immediately reassures […]

Guest Blogger Writing 0 2 min read

September 7, 2015

What Does it Mean to Be a Storyteller?

“If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.” -Joseph Campbell “Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in storytelling, and our story shall be the education of our heroes.” -Plato We have been reading Lawrence Block’s Telling Lies for Fun and Profit as our group selection for the craft of writing […]

Guest Blogger Articles 0 2 min read

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