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She lived in so many places, experienced so much—it was enough to fill several lives. We have, most of us, known at least some part of what she went through: children in trouble, or early molestation, or a rapturous love affair, struggles with addiction, a difficult illness or disability, an unexpe…

You are interesting. Your experiences, your imagination, your perceptions, your emotions are interesting. What is closest to you is valuable for your art. Believe that. Your honesty and your talent are inseparable. Don’t falsify by conventionalizing. Your uniqueness lies not in fulfilling cultural …

“A story about a beautiful day at Palisades Amusement Park is out of the ordinary,” the writer says. “It was a rare day, a wonderful day, a day when everything went right. Why isn’t that a story?”

The writer’s argument only makes our point stronger. His example can be a story. There is real te…

Writers often respond to the charge by conjuring up reality. Perhaps a story has a high school principal who is a pompous, rigid, overweight person in a bow tie who fails to understand his students and thinks them worthless.

“A stereotype,” say the readers.

“But I know a person just like this…

When writers try to manipulate their readers by making them feel emotions that the writers haven’t honestly earned, we call the work sentimental. Certain situations will make readers teary-eyed—the death of a child, the reunion of long-lost loved ones, the call to action of a group of unjustly oppr…