Deep Dives
Sometimes, a deeper dive on a certain topic, idea, or aspect of writing craft can help us improve as writers. In addition to the base interviews we conducted with the authors, editors, and experts below, we “charted” these conversations to expand on their educational potential.
What does it mean to be “charted?”
You’ll notice that some of these interviews are marked by the blue compass symbol above. This means that these interviews have had an educational module attached to them, created by a qualified educator. We like to think of these discussion questions and writing exercises as inspired by the Khan Academy but for creative writing. Our current modules are designed for roughly college-aged students and writers, both in an out of the classroom.
Each module is based on a clip from our featured interviews with masters of the field and concerns a specific aspect of the writers’ craft (plot, character-building, establishing a setting, how to get published, copyrighting, and so on). Right now we’re focused on posting individual modules, but as we continue to build this project we plan to create syllabi, study guides, and assignments for specific course structures (such as eco-literature for a science classroom, or a seminar on feminist dystopian fiction).
Nalo Hopkinson, Andrea Hairston, and Sheree Renee Thomas on community, publishing, and Dark Matter
