Toolbox or Toybox? The Playfulness of Writers Helping Writers
I've been given the unschooling treatment and wish to share it with you!
If I could pay for hundreds of newsletter subscriptions, I'd do it. Since I can't, I've been looking for other ways to support as many writers as possible in an expansive and engaging way. A couple of months ago, I suggested this:
The conversation continued after
restacked it, and more peeps gave their thoughts.I'm thankful for the great ideas and thoughtful comments everyone offered. The project has clear merit and I’m excited for what’s in store.
Working title: The Substantial Substack Subscription Submissions - or The SubSubSubSub for short. :)
As a prelude to my plans, today I take a quick look at the teeniest fraction of what's on offer from the impressive archive of the .
I'm showcasing this newsletter first because I discovered on my subs list that I had access from a free month of subscription to the Unschool. I don't know where it came from, but I'm thankful to or whoever gifted me access until today. ❤️
First off, the Unschool title alone promotes curiosity, letting the writer investigate without a strict emphasis on hard rules and directions. Foundations and principles are positive, as long as they're recognised as a point to jump off and explore beyond when the writer is ready to play in new ways.
Alison's Unschool covers so much ground to play with too. From the details of punctuation, characterisation, word choice, and layout, through to the practical points of book promotion, finding a literary agent, and the publishing process (including self-publishing).
There are regular features and series collections, amassed across what must be hundreds of articles. This is a big and valuable collection to help writers at every conceivable level of experience. Seasoned pros are as welcome as budding beginners. We're all able to unschool our way to new learnings!
That's certainly my approach. I challenge my assumptions, set a course for lifelong learning, and am always on the lookout for new areas to examine and analyse. Alison Acheson offers so many tools—or toys, since this is an unschool—to take away and have fun working with.
The idea of writers helping writers encapsulates so much of the community I see here on Substack, making Alison's publication a fitting start to my exploration of what goodies are on offer via this platform. I'm going to skim the surface of some of the gold within, from key insights to unique tangents. One is such a doozy that I plan to make it part of my toolkit/toy-box right away.
I hope these
tips whet your appetite and maybe get you signing up for much, much more!Everything you write is part of your useful creative process, even if you don't end up using it in published form. Ghost pages cannot be destroyed and form part of the whole, even when they are invisible. They exist as a past for your published words to exist in the present.
If you're going to have a literary agent, be thorough in your research. Don't just marry the first one who shows an interest in you.
Calendars are useful. I've long seen that for non-fiction purposes, but the advice on using blank calendar pages for fiction is one I'll keep in my back pocket now.
Hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes are great fun and worth using more often. I found the use of "And look what I found—apples" particularly useful. I'd have put "..." instead, which I'm far too fond of doing. This is a new tool for me to overuse now. :)
Pick a manageable word count or timeframe to reach every day, to keep the ritual of writing going. 500 words or 20 minutes are suggested as relatively reasonable. But find what you can do and bring that game as a minimum each day. Remember, not all of it will end up published, but it will all be useful.
Communication trumps dialogue. Think not just about what is said, but what is unsaid. Also consider body language, subtext, and so on.
"There should be a 'genre wheel'—something like the circle of fifths in music—that reveals what can be gleaned from one genre or form to inform another." - I'm just full-on quoting this one. I love this idea of finding new ideas from other genres. You can take strong common elements from specific genres, styles, and subjects. Each has the potential for use in unexpected crossover ways. An unusual piece of advice with massive practical value.
Thoughtful repetition helps enhance narrative, create rhythm, and emphasise themes. It's a favourite of mine, along with alliteration. For unconscious repeats of words, revisit your writing and read it aloud. You're far more likely to notice. [You could also use a tool like ProWritingAid, but reading aloud showcases anything unnatural. If you grimace as you speak it, that's an edit screaming to be made!]
Promote yourself—don't hide! You don't have to go big either. Lots of small actions build up in the promotional ride. This can go beyond the obvious social media platforms and extend to educational forums, book clubs, email lists, and supplementary resources to complement your writing.
Alison has a detailed two-part "show, don't tell" masterclass. Senses, movements, actions, outbursts. The "getting inside," which Alison describes as, "the real work of a fiction writer: to inhabit characters. And to allow them to inhabit us." At the same time, heed this: "'Telling' can be useful to move the plot along at times. Honestly, if we were limited to showing-only, novels would be 1500-page dragging things that no one would read."
The terrifying second draft is also fun. It's tough but also enjoyable. You'll get messy, but you'll also go deeper. In many ways, the second draft isn't the editing phase as you traditionally expect it. Maybe it's Writing 2.0.
Paragraphs. There's a deep dive on these. I threw out the rules forever ago and I keep practically all paragraphs short. But there's one thing I need to remember—a long paragraph can come in useful sometimes:
"Hard and fast 'rules'—which are too often the go-to now—don’t always take into account the reality of your story. So… what does your story need? Sometimes you want flow or a certain type of flow… even a bit of purposeful muddying."
I don't like getting muddy. And that's the point. There are times it might be worth the mess. I can clean up afterwards!
I've chosen that last piece of advice not only because I need to challenge my lazy rule-breaking rule on paragraphs but also because of the dashes and the ellipses Alison uses. Writing isn't just about having fun with writing... It's also about enjoying the punctuation!
Are you ready for some unschooling in your writing? What tips challenge you the most?
I hope you enjoyed this taster of my intentions to explore other publications in depth. My aim is also to interview the authors and find transformational links through curiosity. If there's any specific direction you'd be interested in me taking, please share your ideas in the comments.
Many thanks once again to
for the chance to check out your rich repository of writing advice through your .
I love your idea of supporting writers this way. Unschool for Writers sounds like a great newsletter. I'll check it out!
I love this. I already subscribed and am considering getting the paid.
We unschooled our son when he went into 9th grade and COVID hit. Best thing ever...
I began the "unschooling" myself as a writer the first time I read Cormac McCarthy. I thought the publisher had left out punctuation!! OMG. I felt so out of touch.
Thanks for the suggest!