voice

Lessons from Julia Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine

I’m a slow reader. I sometimes pluck a book from the shelf based not on whether its subject matter appeals to me, but whether or not it’s skinny or fat. So when I recently read Julia Otsaka’s 144-page When the Emperor Was Divine, I got the pleasure of not only finishing a book in a weekend,…

Memoir and Essay / Storytelling

Story Voice: The One Thing You Must Nail on the First Page

I was watching an episode of The Voice last night and I was thinking how the job of those singers and the job of a writer is pretty much the same. You’ve got a hot minute—less than a minute—to create some sort of experience your audience wants. Contestants on The Voice start out by auditioning…

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