Meredith Allard's Blog

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Every writer is different. Some people spend forty hours a week in an office or working from home. I happen to be in a school teaching high school English. I shared my daily routine as a working writer here.

So many people use having a job as an excuse not to write, claiming it’s too hard to find the time. The reality is that most writers have various streams of income and have to juggle many things in a day besides writing. I wrote 12 novels and edited a literary journal while working full time as an English teacher. Having a job isn’t an excuse not to write. It can be more challenging to find the time, certainly, but the time is there if you’re willing to put away the distractions to focus on what is really important to you. 

Most weeks, I find a few hours in the early evening after work when I can get some writing done. Even so, I look forward to the weekend as an opportunity to unwind as well as make some progress on my WIP. The weekend can be a great time to catch up, but there has to be a balance between writing and living our lives. 

It can be hard not to put a lot of pressure on myself to get a lot done over the weekend. I’ve learned the hard way that weekends are precious during the school year, and they’re not just for writing. They’re for me. I like to get some writing done, yes, but I also need to build in some fun time too. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made is treating the weekend like catch-up time, especially when I didn’t get a lot done during the week. They problem with that mindset is that it turns writing into a chore.

I’ve found it helpful to reframe my mindset. That’s true of so many things in life, isn’t it? So often it’s not the experience itself, but how we respond to it. I’ve come to think of the weekend as time to nurture my creativity as well as myself. As artists, we need to refill our creative wells. We can’t fill our story buckets from empty wells. Our creativity needs to be refilled as much as our word counts needs to grow. 

Morning

I usually run my errands on Saturday mornings, and I prefer to get everything done early so I have the rest of the day to myself. I go grocery shopping and finish whatever other errands need doing, and then I head to a favorite coffee shop. Then I come home and make breakfast.

After I give myself some time to enjoy a favorite TV program or two, I get writing. I don’t write all day, and I don’t write every weekend. Some weekends I’m just plain tired and need to rest, or I have other things planned. I love writing, but I still need to live my life. I don’t often do marathon sessions on the weekend. I write for two, three, sometimes four hours. I need to pace myself on Saturdays and Sundays. I’d rather get one solid hour of writing time than a full day of forced, half-hearted work. I’ve seen too many working writers go for eight-hour marathon sessions on the weekend and then burn themselves out. Not only do they fail in meeting their goals, but they’re hard on themselves for not achieving those goals.

Afternoon

I usually save my hobbies, like coloring or my reading journal, for weekend afternoons. I have more time to work on my reading journal on Sundays, for example, and I can take my time planning my spreads and searching my supply stash. I also use the time to watch TV and movies that I don’t get to during the week. I don’t watch much TV during the week because I’m either at work or writing, so weekends are when I watch whatever is hanging out on my TBW list. I love Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I’ve also been watching the latest season of The Great British Bake-Off. I went to see the final Downton Abbey movie, which surprises exactly zero people, I know. What is a week-end?

Evenings

My evening routine doesn’t change much on the weekend. I turn everything off, as in TV and computer, at about 7 pm, especially on Sundays when I have to go to work in the morning. I pull out my book and read for the rest of the night. It’s my way of winding down.

All of this is subject to change depending on where I am in the writing process. When I’m writing a first draft, I put in my 500 words and call it a day. When I’m in the flow, which is usually the third draft stage for me, I might write for several hours. If the words and ideas are coming, I don’t like to stop them. 

As with any routine, everything here is fluid. If I want to go to the movies, or to the park, or just sit on my little plant-filled patio, I can. That’s the joy of a weekend. I like getting some of my writing done during those two days, but I also like having space to relax. 

Over time, I’ve learned that my weekend routine isn’t about writing perfect pages or making massive progress on my word count. Weekends are about building a sustainable writing life. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve learned to embrace the balance and ditch the guilt for not doing more. As a result, my weekends have become both productive and creative, as well as time to refill my well.

In Painting the Past: A Guide for Writing Historical Fiction, I waxed poetic about how I love to listen to music as a way to get into the mindset of my story while I’m writing. Sometimes I listen to whatever I want. Sometimes I listen to music inspired by the time or the mood I’m writing about. 

I’m currently immersed in my Dark Academia novel. Luckily for me, there are some wonderful options for creating playlists, especially on YouTube and Spotify, to get into the Dark Academia mood. Some of my choices for Dark Classical music are pieces I already have since I love classical music. 

When I sit down to write my novel, complete with a secret library, secret rituals, and competing scholars, the music allows me to slip easily into that world. As I’m listening, I’m transported to a dimly lit corridor, a Gothic mansion, or a cottage by the raging sea. Listening to music while I’m writing helps to evoke the right mood and gives my imagination cues about where to go.

Why a Playlist Helps

Music helps to immerse me in the world of my story.  If we want our readers to fall into our fictional worlds, we, the writers, must fall in first so we can lead the way. My Dark Academia playlist creates a doorway that leads me into that world. 

Dark Academia is about melancholy. It’s about music in minor keys with slow builds or unexpected dissonance. Having a go-to soundtrack makes it easier for me to slip into that mind space when I’m writing because when I hear the music, I know it’s time to get to work. Mainly, I love music because it helps me get the right emotions onto the page. 

My Dark Classical Playlist

When I listen to Dark Academia music, I love brooding strings and a minor-key piano. Here are some of my favorites.

Chopin, Nocturne in C-sharp Minor (melancholy)
Rachmaninoff, Prelude in C-sharp Minor (stormy crescendos)
Max Richter, On the Nature of Daylight (more melancholy; a lot by Richter will do for Dark Academia)
Arvo Part, Spiegel im Spiegel (meditative)
Clint Mansell, Lux Aeterna (dark intensity)
Agnes Obel, Riverside (ethereal vocals)
The Tallis Scholars Sing Thomas Tallis, Spem in alium (ethereal vocals)

Chant by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (which I’ve had since 1994) also has some good Dark Academia vibes. I also love listening to movie soundtracks for their atmospheric effect. Some of my favorites are from the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice, the 2019 version of Little Women, Wolf Hall, and, of course, one of my all-time favorites, Harry Potter. 

YouTube Has Great Ambiance

There are some wonderful ambiance videos on YouTube that not only have Dark Academia music but also a matching scene to ponder. Here are some of my favorite ambiance videos with music.

Victorian House Private Library

The Winter Library

Mystical Winter Manor

Dark Classical Academia

You’re Writing Your Masterpiece

Dark Academia at the Ocean’s Edge

Dark Academia Piano and Cello

This is a very short list. You can find many more to choose from here. 

Spotify

If you prefer to listen only and don’t need the ambiance, here are two Spotify playlists I’ve been enjoying.

Dark Academia Writing Music This is a mostly instrumental collection of piano and strings.

Dark Academia Writing Music I love this one. It’s perfect for when I want to hear something with more intensity. 

For me, creating a playlist to write to is part of the fun of writing a novel. I know that we like to focus on what’s hard about writing, and it can be quite hard at times. But leaning into the fun things, like finding books about our topic, visiting places similar to our stories, listening to music that puts us in the time, place, and mood of our worlds, all of it can help make the writing process more interesting, and dare I say fun. Writing should be something that we look forward to getting back to. Music is one of my own personal doorways into creativity. 

Think about what music you might listen to along your journey. What songs or playlists will carry you into the world of your story?

Over the years, I’ve become more of a pantster (someone who flies by the seat of my pants) instead of a plotter (someone who writes out a detailed plot outline). I’m not entirely sure why the change happened. Maybe I simply learned to trust my own writing process. Maybe I realized that most of my carefully written plot outlines ended up going out with the virtual trash when the characters began doing things their own way, which they always do. 

When I started my current WIP, I began in my usual pantser manner. I started with a vague idea of the story I wanted to tell and wrote my first draft. This time, however, when my first draft was finished, I wasn’t any closer to understanding the story. The characters weren’t speaking to me. I was pushing them around on the chessboard of my story, but I wasn’t sure of my next move. When I’m in the flow of writing, my characters tell me where they want to go. Woo woo, I know, but it’s true. 

As a writer, I love the thrill of the unknown. I love the joy of watching my characters surprise me. I love letting the narrative unfold organically. Even though I’ve come to thrive on spontaneous magic and organic discoveries, I realized that I needed a chapter outline for my WIP after I finished the first draft. Instead of thinking of the outline as a cage, I thought of it as a roadmap to a better story.

As a pantser, I’m in my element when I’m writing a first draft. The words flow (or stumble–usually they stumble), and the characters come alive. Ideas flow, plot twists emerge, and I feel as if I’m uncovering a hidden world, my hidden world, with every sentence. 

Creative Detours

When I pants-only I tend to wander off the main plot. Almost always there are pacing issues. When I began this WIP, I knew the beginning and the end, but the middle was a soggy-bottomed mess. There were loose ends since I had a lot of ideas but I wasn’t sure how to see them through. For every story I write in a new world, at some point I hit a brick wall. I sit at my computer ready to write, and I have no idea what words to put on the page because I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen. 

Writing a Post-Draft Outline

I’ve learned the benefits of writing a post-draft chapter outline. I’ve already had my fun exploring the wild landscapes of my current world and written down the raw story. Next, it’s time to see what I built.

I found that the outline helped me make sense of all of the balls (plot, theme, character, mystery, etc.) I had in the air. Some of the balls I let drop because they didn’t add anything important to the story. The balls that made sense I worked through the narrative. Through the chapter outline, I was able to trace my characters’ journeys. Are they growing? Are they changing? Are their motivations clear? Are their actions consistent?

Preparing for Revision with Precision 

Instead of tackling a massive manuscript with vague ideas of what needed fixing, my post-draft outline provided a clear roadmap for my revisions. I could see at a glance exactly which chapters needed beefing up, which needed trimming, where character development was required, and where new scenes might be necessary and others could be deleted.

Read Your Manuscript Critically 

One of the most important skills a writer can develop is the ability to see what works and what doesn’t. When I teach my writing students about reading their work critically, I don’t mean that they need to trash everything because all of it sucks eggs. I mean they need to develop the ability to recognize what works and what doesn’t. Then you need to fix what doesn’t work. Take a step back and read your first draft as if you’re a reader who has never seen that story before. Be honest with yourself.

Go through your manuscript, chapter by chapter, and write a summary of the key events, character actions, and emotional beats of each chapter. Don’t judge at this point. Just document. Ideas beget ideas beget ideas, and you need a lot of ideas to tell a good story. 

Identify the Core Plot Points

Next, I mark the major turning points in the story. Does the story progress logically? Are there pacing issues? Based on that analysis, I make notes about what needs to change in specific chapters. This might include shifting events or developing character motivations. Often, this is the point where I begin to see the themes, and then I have to add tidbits of those themes into earlier chapters. The post-draft outline became my saving grace as I muddled through my second draft. Having the outline showed me what I needed to accomplish in each chapter in order to keep the story moving. I still did my fair share of pantsing and discovering the story organically, but the outline helped me discover what I was lacking. 

I can still embrace the unpredictable magic of discovery and allow the organic ideas to flow. But when pantsing left me struggling to see my story from beginning to end, it was time to bring in some strategic planning. If you were to ask me if I were a plotter or a pantster, I’d have to say I’m both. Probably most writers are. 

Categories: Creative Writing, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, creative writing inspiration, how to write fiction, plotter v. pantster, writing, writing a chapter outline, writing inspiration, writing tips

Where is My Story Hiding?

Every writer knows the moment when the glitter of a new idea has dulled and your story feels like it might be an unsalvageable mess. You start to wonder if you should put it aside for now, or maybe forever. I’m writing from experience because that’s where I was with my current WIP just a few weeks ago. After working on the novel for a year (I began the first draft in September 2024) I felt like I was going nowhere fast.

I was completely fed up with the story. I had gone back and forth between first and third person narration so many times that I was confusing myself. Without a settled point of view, I had no idea of the story’s structure so I was writing scenes with no sense of how they might fit into the overall story. While I was wresting with the mystery that is the heart of the story, I was fiddling around with ideas for the next novel I want to write, which is set in a world I’ve already written, making that story much easier to write than my WIP, which is set in a new world. I already knew the title of the second novel, and I had decided on the general premise a long time ago. All of this meant that the second novel was coming together easier than my WIP. I decided on a whim that I would put the mystery aside and focus on this other idea. I even considered how I would write the blog post explaining that for the first time in my career I was putting a book aside because I couldn’t see how to go forward. 

By the way, there is nothing wrong with setting one story aside to work on another if the second one is calling you with more intensity. Many writers do this. We need to write the story that is tugging at our brains and begging to be released, and sometimes that’s not the story we originally sat down to write. 

For reasons known only to my Muse, once I decided that I wasn’t going to write the mystery anymore, the mystery became clear. Go figure. I worked my way through the rough spots by trying some test runs, writing several scenes in both first person and third person, and I decided that first person was the way to go because it gave me the depth of character that I’m looking for. I was also finally able to plot how the mystery would come together step by step. I finally knew what clues and red herrings would be planted throughout the story. It took long enough, but better late than never.

I have this problem whenever I write a story set in a new world. It’s as if I have to learn how to construct a story all over again. When I begin a new project, I always begin with a burst of excitement. When I’m heading toward the end, I’m filled with a surge of momentum that pushes me through. It’s always the middle moments of writing a project that weighs me down, you know, the swampy, uncertain middle when I have a sense of the story I want to tell but I’m not sure how to pull it off, where things feel so hard and I’m certain it’s time to give up. 

Think Smaller, Not Bigger

One of the things weighing me down in my WIP is that I have a lot of ideas for themes and story arcs and I was trying to do too much. I had to back away from the big picture and focus on telling a good story. Instead of thinking “I’m writing a mystery novel” I narrowed my daily goal to writing one scene. Anne Lamott calls this writing what you can see through a one-inch picture frame. Sometimes that picture frame might contain a single scene or even a single paragraph. Shrinking the scope makes the work less overwhelming and reminds you that progress happens one word at a time.

Remember Your Why

This was a big one for me when I was ready to give up on my WIP. Why did I begin this project to begin with? I had the idea for this mystery for more than a year before I started writing it. I finished And Shadows Will Fall and The Swirl and Swing of Words first, and I was so excited after I finished SSW because it meant I could finally begin work on this Dark Academia mystery I had so much on my mind. 

Reconnecting with that spark was important to me. I journaled a bit about why I wanted to write this book in the first place, so that helped me find my motivation again. If you’re not into journaling you can keep a sticky note with your why in plain sight, even stuck to your computer, for those days when the urge to quit yells in your ear.

Change Your Approach

Once I understood that this was going to be a first person narrative written by the character looking back on his experiences at this strange college in coastal Maine, everything else fell into place. I had tried writing in third person limited, then first person point of view where the character told his story in letters. One day, out of frustration, I grabbed a pencil and my notebook and started free writing about the college from the character’s point of view. Interestingly, that became the beginning of the story. Just letting myself write without any expectations freed my brain enough to allow me to find his voice, and the beginning of the story.

If you’re hitting a wall as I was, you may need to try a new way forward. Try changing your point of view. Try outlining the next few chapters, writing scenes out of order, or switching from typing to handwriting. A small change can shake loose creativity that’s stuck.

Give Yourself Permission to Write Badly

I’ve spoken about this one many times, and I’m sure I’ll talk about it many times more. Natalie Goldberg said that we should allow ourselves to write the worst junk in the world, and this is the most true writing advice I’ve heard. As writers, we need the freedom to put one word after the next without being overwhelmed by that annoying old scrunch-faced editor in our head. 

Perfectionism is such a creativity killer. We have to accept that our drafts are going to be imperfect. If we feel paralyzed by perfectionism, we’ll never write another word. You can’t fix what isn’t written, so give yourself the freedom to write something flawed and then polish it later. Jodi Picoult said, “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” 

I’ve seen so many posts and videos about “How To Write a Book in 30 Days!” If that works for you, well done, you. I take anywhere from one to two years to write a book, especially one set in a new world. I’ve been working on my WIP for a year, and I’m only now feeling like I have a handle on the story. The book takes as long as it takes.

There’s no expiration date on our writing projects. We can work slowly, take breaks, and struggle along the way. The only way we fail is if we stop making progress. By showing up, by writing, by journaling when the story isn’t coming together, I finally discovered what I needed to bring this story to life. There’a a lot I’m still figuring out, but at least I feel like I know the frame of the story, which I didn’t before. When we’re writing a book, every finished page is a victory. Writing a novel is hard. It’s fun, but it’s hard.

I wish I were the kind of writer who could see the right way to tell a story from the beginning but I’m not. I have to try on different hats, different scarves, and different voices before I find the ones that match each new project. And that takes time.

I hope you’ve been enjoying these process posts. They are fascinating for me to write as I examine my own writing process in depth while I’m working my way through a new project. 

Categories: Creative Writing, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, creative writing inspiration, writing, writing inspiration, writing tips

I’ve made no secret of the fact that autumn is my favorite time of year. After a rough summer of 100+ degree heat, the cooler weather and pretty-colored trees in my neighborhood are a welcome relief. While we’re not quite in autumn yet in Southern Nevada, even 89 degrees Fahrenheit feels cooler after such hot days. The trees won’t turn until October, but when they do, they bring a little New England splendor to the Las Vegas valley.

There’s something magical about autumn that makes it the perfect season for reading. To be fair, I probably say that about every season. The crisper air and cozy blankets are wonderful excuses to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. 

Whether you’re drawn to classic tales, eerie mysteries, or beautifully written literary fiction, autumn invites us to slow down and get lost in a story. Here’s my ultimate autumn reading list, a mix of comfort, mystery, nostalgia, and a touch of the uncanny. 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

There’s no way I would begin any autumn reading list without naming one of my all-time favorites. 

I wrote here and here about how much I love the Dark Academia genre. This Dark Academia classic is practically the patron saint of autumn reads, especially since it begins with a new school term in autumn. Set on a picturesque New England college campus, The Secret History is about a group of Classics students who murder and then have to deal with the repercussions in a way that plays out like the Greek tragedies they study. 

That’s not a spoiler, by the way. This book is an inverse murder because we begin by learning who was murdered and who murdered him. The suspense comes from seeing how it all played out. 

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favorites and I reread it every autumn. Of course, one of my all-time favorite autumn quotes– “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers”–is from this book. Few characters embrace the changing seasons with as much passion as Anne Shirley, and her love for autumn is downright contagious. Her story has darker moments, which is why her gratitude for the small things is such an important lesson. Anne’s appreciation for everything that is beautiful in life is a good reminder to savor the little things. 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I read Rebecca for the first time last year and I was completely engrossed by this Gothic suspense story. Rebecca has one of the most famous first lines in English literature–“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Enter Manderley if you dare. Manderley, an English country house, is thick with secrets and the second Mrs. de Winter can’t escape the ghost of the wife who came before her.

One aspect of Rebecca I particularly loved is how the second Mrs. deWinter creates a whole story in her head about the events around her, but the reality is very different. That’s how things happen in real life, isn’t it? We project our own feelings onto what we see and often interpret things incorrectly. Or maybe that’s just me. 

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Of course, I have to have my witchy reading in the autumn. For those craving witchy vibes and sisterhood, this novel is a modern classic. With generations of Owens women and a hint of spellcraft, it’s an enchanting companion for the season of long shadows and falling leaves. I reread this one every few years as Halloween approaches. The movie is good too. 

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Austen’s playful take on Gothic tropes is a delight. Northanger Abbey is witty, charming, and full of subtle satire with Austen’s commentary on the excesses of Gothic fiction. Catherine Morland is our main character, and her overactive imagination is fueled by sensational novels and the shadowy corridors of Northanger Abbey. A cozy coming-of-age story as well as a literary spoof, Northanger Abbey is an invitation to indulge in autumn’s darker mood while laughing at its more melodramatic extremes. But then I love anything by Jane Austen. 

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Often called the first English detective novel, The Moonstone offers everything I love about reading mysteries in autumn. The story includes a cursed jewel, a country estate, unreliable narrators, and secrets waiting to be uncovered. 

This is the first Wilkie Collins novel I’ve read. I knew that Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were friends, but I was surprised at the similarity in their narrative styles. Collins, like Dickens, is laugh out loud funny. His portrayal of the various narrators is wonderful, and my favorite is the butler Betteredge. Some of the things Betteredge says are outrageous by today’s standards but he’s so funny I forgive him. I’ll forgive you almost anything if you can make me laugh. The characters attempt to discover what became of the Moonstone, an extremely valuable gem stolen by a British soldier while he was in India. I was impressed that, though it may not have been his intention, Collins makes a strong point about colonization and the stealing of treasures from other cultures. I haven’t yet read Collins’ The Woman in White, which is also a mystery, but I recently bought a copy from Barnes and Noble and I’ll be reading it soon. 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Autumn, especially around Halloween, is the ideal time to explore themes of duality, morality, and the shadows that dwell within us all. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dives into the darkness of the human psyche. Its foggy London setting and eerie transformation scenes make it a classic Gothic horror tale that feels particularly resonant this time of year. I’ve just read Jekyll and Hyde for the first time, and I’m sorry I waited so long to read it. It really is a fascinating tale. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

For me, there is no novel more synonymous with autumnal bleakness than Wuthering Heights. With its wild moorland setting, tempestuous love, and themes of revenge, Brontë’s novel practically howls with the wind. The characters are as untamed as the landscape, and the story feels deeply rooted in the decaying beauty of autumn. 

I’m going to be 100% honest and admit that I hated Wuthering Heights the first time I read it and I had to push myself to finish it. While I understood Healthcliff’s anger, his extraordinary need for revenge was too harsh for me, so whatever sympathy I might have had for him was gone. I had read that Wuthering Heights is the ultimate love story, and as I was reading I thought, well, if this is what people think love looks like then no wonder there are so many broken marriages. 

When I read it a second time, while I still had no love for Cathy or Heathcliff, I was able to appreciate Brontë’s descriptive prose and the wind-swept setting of the moors. I’ll never love this book, but I appreciate it, and it’s perfect for autumn. 

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Autumn can also be a time of turning inward and examining life’s larger questions. Middlemarch is a novel of sweeping ambition set in an 1830s English provincial town that looks deeply into the inner lives of its inhabitants. I was spellbound by Eliot’s story and I felt as if I were visiting the town of Middlemarch myself. I was particularly fond of Dorothea Brooke, who wants to be of some use to the world, something that wasn’t easy for women of her time. 

Reading Middlemarch is the literary equivalent of taking a long walk through fallen leaves and realizing how much everything is changing. It’s a slow paced novel, but that’s okay for long autumn evenings when curling up with a good book is the best thing to do. The BBC adaptation of Middlemarch is wonderful. It’s available in the US on Britbox. 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I love this nod to stories and libraries. Zafon’s books have a distinctly Gothic vibe that make them perfect for autumn. Zafon is at his best when he describes the sense of gloom and mystery that pervades post-war Barcelona. Images of damp cobblestones, narrow alleys, and a persistent fog hanging over the city add to the Gothic charm. I also loved Zafon’s Marina. Some of his books are more young adult than others, but both of these are great choices for adults.

Hallowe’en Town by Agatha Christie

Really, anything by Christie is great for autumn. Who doesn’t love to curl up with a great detective novel as the cooler weather sets in? In this Poirot novel, the scene is set with cobblestone streets, crooked fences, and looming trees, all perfectly autumn. The Halloween party where our victim is murdered alone is worth the read.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Have I said how much I love this book? The Night Circus is a 10-star book for me.

Beginning with the circus itself, with its color scheme of black, white, and gray, there are a number of rich sensory details that feel quite autumn. The scent of caramel popcorn and bonfires, the crunch of gravel underfoot, and the feel of the cool night air all help to bring the story to life. Exploring the hidden tents and discovering their magical secrets makes this book a perfect way to get lost by a fire on a dark evening.

Edgar Allan Poe

Pretty much anything from Poe is wonderful this time of year. He is the master of suspense and Gothic settings, after all.  

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” is one of the creepiest stories I’ve read. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve only just started reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle so I can’t rate it yet. I can say that already on the first page the dark, Gothic atmosphere is set. I like what I’ve read enough that I’ve already bought Jackson’s Haunting at Hill House.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

If you only know Frankenstein by the green, square-faced monster from the 1930s film, then you’re in for a treat. No one does a better job at setting a dark, mysterious, haunting mood than Shelley. Dr. Frankenstein becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life, but he gets more than he bargained for when his creature does indeed begin living. The story makes us consider who is more human–the doctor or his creature? I’ve taught Frankenstein to 15-year-olds, and every year many of them tell me that it’s their favorite book that they’ve ever read. Need I say more?

Dracula by Bram Stoker

If you love vampire stories, then reading this most famous one is a must. If you like classic vampires, you might also check out Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, about a young woman caught in the snare of a vampire who appears to be herself a young woman. I read Carmilla earlier this year and I liked it. It’s short, the pace moves briskly, and it’s a good example of how vampires lure humans into their traps. I recently downloaded The Vampyre by John William Polidori. The story grew out of the same ghost story contest that prompted Shelley to write Frankenstein. I haven’t read The Vampyre yet; I’m saving it for October.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I waxed poetic about this book in my guide to Dark Academia. It’s a long, sink-your-teeth-into story about magicians in early 19th-century England, but it’s so much more than that. It’s an entire world unto itself. It’s long at about 900 pages, but it’s worth every one of those 280,000 words to tell this brilliant, dark, and still funny story. This is another 10-star book for me.

Reading in autumn can be a seasonal aesthetic where we choose books that help us to enjoy the season even more. Sometimes I’m drawn to eerie transformations. Sometimes I’m drawn to brooding romances or puzzling mysteries. Sometimes I just want a good story with characters I’ll follow anywhere. I love pulling on my warmest sweater, turning on my electric fireplace, lighting a candle, and losing myself in a story that suits my favorite season.

Categories: Book Recommendations, Book Reviews, Books, Reading, Reading InspirationTags: autumn reads, books about witches, cozy fall books, fall reading list, fall reading list ideas, Reading Inspiration, reading recommendations, what to read this autumn

Historical fiction is kind of my thing. I was the executive editor of a literary journal of historical fiction for more than 20 years, and most of the novels I’ve written are historical. Last week I shared some general mystery writing tips. This week, I want to share what I’ve learned specifically about writing historical mysteries.

While everything about writing a general mystery still applies to writing a historical mystery, there are a few extra elements you should consider if you’re going to work history into your story. Writing a mystery is a puzzle, but writing a historical mystery is putting that same puzzle into an antique frame. You’re not only plotting a compelling whodunnit, but you’re also recreating a word from times past. The best historical mysteries immerse readers in another era where secrets are buried beneath and the tools of investigation are limited to instinct, observation, and an occasional dusty archive.

Choose Your Historical Moment with Purpose

Start by selecting a time period that sparks your imagination. Whether it’s Victorian England, Prohibition-era America, or Ancient Greece, your chosen era should offer more than window dressing. It should shape the crime, the characters, and the investigation.

Historical fiction blends fact with fiction. Real historical events, locations, or people can inspire your mystery or serve as its backdrop. Even if your plot is fictional, accuracy matters. Readers of historical fiction are detail oriented and will notice anachronisms. Go beyond the big events. What were some smaller happenings in your time period that readers may not have seen dramatized before? Study the clothing, food, language, and laws of the time. Look into how crimes were investigated or ignored.

Create a Sleuth Who Fits the Era

Your protagonist should be believable in the historical context. A female detective in the 1800s might face social barriers. A lawman in the Old West would dispense justice very differently from a modern police officer. Consider how class, gender, race, and education affect your sleuth’s role in the world.

A sleuth with a different perspective, such as a midwife, a journalist, or a servant, can offer fresh angles on historical society and crime. If you want a five-star example of this, read The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. The Frozen River is a 5-star book for me. It’s based on a real-life woman, Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife who worked to solve a crime. Martha’s unique point of view made this story for me.

Build a Mystery That Could Only Happen Then

The best historical mysteries feel true to their time. A scandal involving forged manuscripts in the 1920s or a murder during a 17th-century witch trial makes use of the period’s atmosphere, fears, and limitations. Consider how the setting influences every aspect of the mystery, from the crime to the clues to the cover-up. Don’t just transplant a modern plot into the past, but let the past drive the story. One key thing to ask yourself is what crimes would make sense in the era that you’re writing about? What social, political, or cultural tensions can you explore?

Historical Constraints To Build Suspense

Hercule Poirot couldn’t use cell phones, databases, or any of our other digital doo-dahs. Such limitations in historical fiction create narrative tension, forcing your characters to rely on observation and deduction. Even gathering information through gossip, letters, or physical surveillance becomes a dramatic act.

Suspects in a historical mystery are shaped by their time and should act accordingly. Their motives, secrets, and fears might be different than ours in some way, but just as compelling. Affairs, inheritances, religious tensions, political loyalties, or reputational ruin might all be reasons to kill or to lie to cover for someone who did. Suspects should have period-appropriate motives. Someone might be hiding something scandalous by the standards of their time, even if it seems minor today.

Reveal the Truth With Historical Weight

The solution to your mystery should not only satisfy the reader’s curiosity but it should also say something about the time period. Perhaps justice for that particular crime wasn’t possible within the bounds of the laws of the day. Perhaps the killer walks free because of privilege. Or maybe the crime reflects a moment of cultural or moral reckoning. The solution should resonate with both the characters and the historical moment. It should feel earned, haunting, and inevitable.

A well-written historical mystery should invite readers into a world that no longer exists and make them care about what happened. When I talk about history, one thing I always go back to is the fact that the more things change the more they stay the same. While a lot has changed over the centuries, what people want has basically stayed the same. We should be able to relate to your historical characters even if their circumstances seem different than ours, at least on the surface.

I had a lot to say about writing historical fiction in Painting the Past: A Guide to Writing Historical Fiction.

Categories: Creative Writing, Historical Fiction, Mysteries, Painting the Past, Writing, Writing Historical Fiction, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing inspiration, how to write a historical mystery, writing, writing historical fiction, writing inspiration, writing tips

There’s something just irresistible about a good mystery. While I’ve loved to watch TV mysteries for as long as I can remember, I’ve only started reading mysteries within the last year or so. When I decided to try my hand at writing one, I had to learn how to write a mystery novel. True, a mystery novel is like any other novel and requires a lot of the same skills. But there are some parts of writing mystery that is unique to the genre.

I discovered that writing a mystery isn’t only about hiding clues and revealing a killer. It’s about weaving a story that invites readers to play detective, only to surprise them with how wrong (or right) they were all along. By the way, I’m writing this post for myself as much as for any other aspiring mystery writers out there. This way I can refer to this when I forget what I’m doing, which is frequently. 

Start with the Crime

Every mystery starts with a central question: Whodunnit? Usually, the mystery revolves around a murder, but it could also be a theft, a disappearance, or a long-buried secret. You should decide on your what and why early on. Even if your reader won’t know the full truth until the end, we as the author should know it from early in the writing process. Things about the story might change as you work your way through the writing process, and that’s okay, but I’ve found with writing a mystery that’s it’s better to have a clearer direction of what I’m doing.

Create a Sleuth Readers Can Root For

Whether it’s a seasoned detective, an amateur with a knack for puzzles, or someone reluctantly pulled into the mystery, your protagonist is our guide through the investigation. Make your detective smart, curious, and just flawed enough to feel real. If their personal stakes in solving the mystery is strong, that’s all the more reason for readers to become invested in the story. In my mystery, the protagonist is working to discover who the murderer is while also trying to save himself. What drives your sleuth? What do they stand to lose if they fail?

Plot with Precision

Mystery readers love to solve the puzzle alongside your characters. I know I do. Sometimes I guess correctly, and sometimes not, and it doesn’t even matter to me if I solve the crime or not. I enjoy the process of being involved in the story. There should be reader participation in a well-written mystery. 

To help readers along, plant clues throughout the story. This is called the “fair play” rule in mystery novels where the author is expected to provide the reader with all of the clues necessary to solve the crime. The clues shouldn’t be obvious, but they should be there. I’ve read mysteries where suddenly the detective had a breakthrough in his mind about how the mystery was solved based on evidence the reader didn’t know. Those mysteries weren’t as much fun to read, and that author didn’t care about fair play.

It shouldn’t be smooth sailing to solve the puzzle. Misdirection is part of the fun of reading and writing mysteries. Red herrings and conflicting motives should muddy the waters, but the solution to the mystery must hold up on a second read. I’ve said before about how I’ve become more of a pantster than a plotter over the years. However, I’ve found with this murder mystery I had to be more precise about the plot before I began so I’ve had to do more outlining than I normally would.

One tip I discovered that helped me a lot is writing the story backwards. When I begin a new novel, the first thing I always know is how the story ends. I’ve found that particularly helpful as I’m writing my mystery. Begin by outlining how the crime happened, then layer in how the truth is discovered. By doing this, I knew precisely what clues and red herrings I needed to work into the story.

Another tip I’ve read about is the “Three Clue Rule” where the author makes sure the solution is supported by at least three clues spread throughout the story.

Give Every Suspect a Motive

Pacing is key in a mystery. Introduce suspects gradually and show their motives for committing the crime. With every discovery, your sleuth should get closer to the truth but face new obstacles. Let tension simmer with secrets, lies, unreliable characters, and ticking clocks.

The best mysteries keep readers guessing because every character has something to hide and/or a reason to commit the crime. Even if they didn’t commit the crime, suspects should have secrets, lies, or motives that make them look guilty. If you think over your favorite mystery novels, often the detective is wrong about whodunnit at least once. A case that is too easy to solve isn’t going to be interesting to read. 

The Big Reveal

The final twist should feel both surprising and inevitable. There should be no last-minute solutions that come from nowhere. Readers want to be surprised and then realize the truth was there all along. Your job is to make the path to the answer both present and invisible until just the right moment.

A great mystery isn’t just about whodunnit, although that’s an important part of the puzzle. A great mystery is about how you lead readers step by step to the solution. A well-written mystery should challenge, surprise, and linger in the reader’s mind long after the last page.

Even though I insisted that my current WIP wasn’t going to be historical fiction, it is. I should have known better than to make such a declaration, but there we are. Since I have some historical elements in my mystery, I also had to learn how to write a historical mystery. I’ll share what I learned next week. 

Categories: Mysteries, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing inspiration, detective fiction writing tips, how to write a mystery, mystery writing for beginners, writing, writing inspiration, writing tips

When I’m teaching writing, one of my favorite things to cover is the author’s voice. It’s an intriguing subject for me because a strong author voice can make a piece, and a boring author voice can break it. 

When I was running The Copperfield Review, one thing that quickly turned me off from wanting to publish a story was when the voice of the piece sounded like something anyone from anywhere could write. A strong author’s voice can make your writing stand out from the crowd. 

Finding your author’s voice sounds important, and it is. But what does it actually mean?

Peter Elbow was an acclaimed professor of composition, and in his seminal work Writing With Power, he said that “Writing with voice is writing into which someone has breathed. It has that fluency, rhythm, and liveliness that exists naturally in the speech of most people when they are enjoying a conversation.” He also said that “Real voice is whatever yields resonance, whatever makes the words bore through.” 

Your voice is the unique fingerprint of your writing. It’s the way you piece words together on the page. Voice is your tone, your diction, your rhythm, your syntax, and the perspective through which you filter the world. 

While I love teaching voice, the fascinating part of it (at least for me) is that I can’t actually teach writers what their voices should be. I can show examples of strong authorial voices, I can explain how I find my author voices (because I have more than one), and I can recommend exercises, but an author’s voice is completely unique and it’s up to each individual to find their voice. 

Here are some of the ways you can begin to discover your very own unique author’s voice

Write a Lot

Discovering voice doesn’t come from thinking about writing. It comes from writing. A lot. Journal. Blog. Write stories, poems, essays, letters, emails, novels. All of it. The more you write, the more patterns will begin to emerge. Notice those patterns. What words, phrases, tones, or rhythms are you drawn to? The recipe for your secret sauce is in there. Don’t worry about sounding good or literary, especially not in the beginning. Just write. Finding your author’s voice means leaning into what is special and wonderful about you. 

Read a Lot

Expose yourself to different voices. Read authors with bold, distinct styles such as Charles Dickens, Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, Stephen King, or whoever it is you love. More than likely, your favorite authors have distinct voices, which is one reason why you love them. 

Pay attention to how their language sounds. What makes them unique? Then ask yourself what kinds of voices are you drawn to. What feels natural to you?

When I was a young writer, I used to sit down with my spiral notebook and a pen and copy out favorite passages from Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, and Walt Whitman. I wanted a visceral understanding of how they connected words into sentences into paragraphs (or stanzas in Whitman’s case). That doesn’t mean that I copied their voices. But it does mean that I studied them closely. 

You can base your authorial voice on your favorite authors. When I wrote the Hembry Castle books, I deliberately tried to emulate Dickens’ style. It was a fun challenge. 

Notice Your Speaking Voice

I tell my writing students to pay attention to the way they use their speaking voices. Often, their writing voices are rooted in their speaking voices. What is your sense of humor? Your cultural background? Your unique way of seeing things? 

Do you speak in short, punchy sentences or long, winding ones? Do you lean into sarcasm or sentimentality? If you’re not used to paying attention to yourself in that way, you can record yourself telling a story out loud. Then try writing it down the way you told it.

Author voice is, in many ways, the written version of your personality.

Write Like No One’s Watching

It’s hard to find your voice if you’re constantly worried about what your readers will think. Try writing just for yourself. Write free writes, zero-draft scenes, and poetry for no one’s eyes but your own. Remove the pressure. When you’re not performing for an audience, your natural voice has room to emerge.

Identify What You Care About

Voice is tied to interests and passions. What themes do you return to again and again? What ideas keep you up at night? What questions do you wrestle with in your life and in your work? When you write about what matters to you, you write more honestly, and honesty is the foundation of voice. Actually, honesty is the foundation of all good writing.

I know everyone is trying to figure out the popular tropes so that they can write something that’s already in vogue, but as soon as you start writing to other people’s expectations your unique point of view is lost. Don’t chase trends. Write what feels true to you.

Revise With Intention

In early drafts, you’re discovering what you want to say. In later drafts, you’re shaping how you want to say it. When you revise, listen for when the writing feels flat or unnatural. Those are often the moments when you’re not in your voice. You’re trying to sound like someone else or forcing language that doesn’t fit. Trust your instincts.

We write for the ear, not for the eye. Your writing can look perfect with beautiful fonts and perfectly indented paragraphs, but if it doesn’t sound right it isn’t right. Read your writing aloud. Make sure your sentences flow from one thought to the next. If a sentence or a passage doesn’t sound right, rewrite it until it does.

I’m not worried about voice in my earliest drafts. I’m currently writing the second draft of my novel, and I’m telling you right now that the narrative voice is boring me to tears. It looks like something my high school students would write. It’s overly simple, there’s barely any description, and it reads like anyone could have written it. I don’t worry about voice until I’m on the third draft. That’s when I start to edit for word choice, syntax, and poetic devices.

Give It Time

Finding your voice isn’t a one-time event. The more you write, the more confident and consistent your voice becomes. Be patient. Keep showing up to the page. Your voice is already inside you. Now you need to allow it to open up and bloom. 

And just to make things more interesting, author voice can change from project to project. The voice I used for the Loving Husband Trilogy is not the same voice I used for the Hembry Castle books. For every new world that I write, I have to discover the voice that works for that world. How do I do it? Trial and error. I try something, and if I don’t like it, I try something new. When you find the right voice for that project, you’ll know. 

Your writing voice isn’t something you need to invent. You can uncover your author’s voice by writing honestly and often. Don’t wait until you feel like you’ve found your voice before you begin writing. Start now. We don’t need another writer who sounds like everyone else (I’m looking at you, AI). We need your unique way of looking at the world. 

Categories: Creative Writing, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, creative writing inspiration, how to develop your unique writing style, how to write with voice, tips for finding your author’s voice, writing, writing inspiration, writing tips

One of my most popular posts is this guide to the Dark Academia genre. I wanted to look a little more closely into the topic since reading Dark Academia novels has become one of my guilty pleasures. 

I’ve said before that I must live under a rock since I heard about Dark Academia maybe two years ago. After seeing it mentioned a thousand times, I looked it up and saw everything I love. Aging scented paper and woodsmoke. Whispering autumn leaves drifting outside gothic windows. Glowing candlelight illuminating scholarly texts. I love anything about a quest for knowledge.  

Atmosphere and Aesthetics

A huge part of Dark Academia’s appeal for me is its evocative atmosphere. So much of this genre focuses on things I loved even before I had a handy name for it: ivy-clad university buildings, hushed libraries, rain-slicked cobblestones, and melancholy atmospheres. You already know how much I love autumn and winter. Clothing choices such as tweed, cashmere, and worn leather satchels are also a go. Even though I’d never wear such things myself, I think people who wear them look pretty spiffy. 

Intellectual Curiosity 

Another thing I love about Dark Academia is that at its core it’s about the pursuit of knowledge. Whether the knowledge in question is classical languages, obscure philosophical texts, or magical rituals, the characters are driven by a desire to learn. 

Dark Academia promotes a love of learning, which gets points from me. Readers are often invited to learn alongside the characters as we encounter fascinating historical issues or philosophical dilemmas. In Dark Academia, however, this pursuit is rarely innocent, and it often leads down dangerous paths. 

Moral Ambiguity 

The dark in Dark Academia isn’t just about shadowy libraries but about moral complexities, and many of the characters are brilliant but deeply flawed. Actions can be driven by ambition or a warped sense of loyalty.

Dark Academia can also delve into themes of elitism, privilege, secrecy, and hypocrisy. I wrote a little about elitism in Dark Academia in this post. While there are certainly elitist institutions, my experience as an adjunct professor was quite different. 

Intense Relationships

In Dark Academia, relationships between characters can be incredibly intense. Friendships are passionate, rivalries are cutthroat, and romantic entanglements are all-consuming. When a small group of brilliant, often socially awkward individuals are thrown together in an exclusive environment, their bonds become highly charged and often dangerous.

These relationships can drive much of the drama and often lead to the central conflict or crime. The claustrophobic intimacy creates high stakes as betrayals feel deeper and loyalties are tested to their breaking point.

Mystery, Suspense, and the Gothic

While not always a murder mystery, many Dark Academia stories feature elements of suspense, mystery, and gothic intrigue. I wrote about Poe’s Gothic literary style here. There are secrets to uncover, past events that haunt the present, and often a pervasive sense of unease. The genre frequently draws on classic literary traditions, giving it a timeless feel that appeals to those who love the intellectual thrill of unraveling a complex plot.

Dark Academia Influences

Some of the greatest novels of all time have been important in influencing the Dark Academia genre. While not all of these books are specifically about learning or knowledge, they share a dark sensibility that influenced later writers.

Here’s a very short list.

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

4. Short stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe

5. Shakespeare’s tragedies such as Macbeth and Hamlet

6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

7. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (or really anything by du Maurier)

8. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

For me, Dark Academia often has intellectual depth, which I love and find lacking in a lot of what I read. Many writers these days (not all by any means) are good at telling stories but not as good at mining their stories for the deeper meanings within. This is why I go back to the classics again and again. The classics are about something.

Now that it’s nearly autumn, I’m getting ready to sit in my comfy recliner, grab a cup of tea, and get lost in the wonderful world of Dark Academia. I’ll probably start by rereading The Secret History yet again.

Categories: Book Recommendations, Books, Creative Writing, Reading Inspiration, What I’m Reading, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, dark academia, dark academia books, Reading Inspiration, writing inspiration

A few weeks ago I shared some of what I’ve learned about Edgar Allan Poe’s literary style. Here’s the post. This week I wanted to share a little more about what I’ve learned about Poe’s short stories. 

While Poe’s reputation as a master of the macabre is well-earned, to label him only as a horror writer misses the creativity that makes his short stories fascinating. Poe helped to popularize so many of the genres we continue to hold dear, such as Gothic, horror, and suspense. He also essentially created the detective story. Beyond the ghoulish plots, he wove a rich tapestry of literary elements that continue to captivate readers and inspire writers. 

What makes a Poe story a Poe story?

The Unreliable Narrator 

One of Poe’s main contributions to the short story form is his use of the unreliable first-person narrator. He places us directly inside the mind of characters whose sanity is questionable, whose perceptions are skewed, or whose motives are deeply flawed. Or all of the above.

How about the chilling precision of the narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” who insists on his sanity even as he plans and executes a murder motivated by an evil eye and then confesses all to the police? Or the tormented narrator of “The Cask of Amontillado,” who calmly recounts his perfect revenge as if it were an everyday thing to do? By seeing the world through a distorted lens, Poe doesn’t tell a simple story. He creates an unsettling experience where the reader is forced to question the narrator’s ability to tell the truth. 

Terror of the Soul

Poe’s horror often isn’t about jump scares or external monsters like Freddy Krueger. Instead, Poe delves into the deepest recesses of the human psyche, exploring guilt, obsession, and paranoia, as well as the slow unraveling of the mind.

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher’s heightened senses and decaying mental state are as terrifying as his sister’s eventual return from the dead. Or maybe she isn’t dead. We aren’t sure. “The Black Cat” follows a man’s descent from beloved pet owner to alcoholic murderer, driven by a grotesque spirit of perverseness. Poe called this the Imp of the Perverse. He understood that most chilling horrors reside within us, which helps his stories resonate on a deeply unnerving level.

Precision in Emotion

I spoke in my previous post about Poe’s belief in the “single effect” theory. By the single effect, Poe meant that every word, every phrase, and every element of a short story should contribute to evoking one dominant, overwhelming emotion or impression in the reader. 

Poe meticulously crafted his narratives to achieve this singular impact. There are no unnecessary details, no wasted words, and everything serves the overarching emotional goal, making his stories incredibly immersive. You feel as if you are standing alongside his characters as you read.

Atmosphere as a Character 

Poe’s settings are rarely just backdrops. His settings feel like living, breathing entities that reflect and influence the characters’ internal states. The setting can become extensions of the characters’ minds or active participants in their torment.

The crumbling House of Usher, which seems sentient with its fungi-covered stones and dark tarn, is as much of a character in the story as Roderick and Madeline. The claustrophobic, torturous confines of the dungeon in “The Pit and the Pendulum” amplify the protagonist’s terror. Poe’s descriptions don’t just set the scene. They create a palpable sense of psychological entrapment.

Pioneering the Detective Story 

Poe pretty much invented the modern detective story. His character C. Auguste Dupin, who appears in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Purloined Letter,” set the groundwork for the countless literary sleuths who came after him, including Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired by Poe, and Holmes shares many traits with Dupin.

Dupin relies on keen observation, deduction, and an understanding of human psychology to solve crimes. Poe was a noted puzzle-solver himself, and he would ask readers of the newspapers where he worked to send in puzzles. Apparently, he never found one he couldn’t solve. 

Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea

I’m aware that not everyone loves Poe. When I was reading his work, I could appreciate much of it for being the precursor to many of our beloved modern genres. Still, there were times when I felt his style was extremely repetitive, even monotonous, to the point of being predictable.

Harold Bloom, one of my favorite literary critics, was not a fan. While I was researching Poe, I discovered the Edgar Allan Poe edition of Bloom’s Modern Critical Views, where Bloom questions Poe’s writing ability and place in the canon of American literature. In later years, Bloom decided that perhaps he had been intolerant in his earlier considerations of Poe, and he revised his earlier harshness, a bit. Chris Power in The Guardian concurred with Bloom by saying that Poe was “no prose stylist.”

Perhaps Poe relied too much on strict structures of prose and poetry, and perhaps he stuck too closely to his idea about the single effect, to the point where his prose can feel overly simplistic. Even Bloom conceded Poe’s ability to peer into the darkest corners of the human mind and craft narratives that evoke powerful emotions. Poe’s unique blend of imagery and emotion ensures his place as one of literature’s most fascinating figures. Whether you like his work or not, Poe has influenced, and continues to influence, many well-known writers.

References

“A Brief Survey of the Short Story: Edgar Allan Poe” by Chris Power

“Neither Life Nor Death: Poe’s Aesthetic Transfigurations of Popular Notions of Death” by Ruth Mayer

Edgar A. Poe by Kenneth Silverman

“Analysis of Poe’s Death Theme in the Short Stories” by Lin Xiabon

Categories: Creative Writing, Research, Writing, Writing InspirationTags: creative writing, creative writing inspiration, Fascinating elements of Poe’s short stories, researching Edgar Allan Poe, writing, writing inspiration, writing tips