Christy Shuler

Inspiration comes in so many forms. Sometimes it strikes when you least expect, in a way that you never would've guessed. For me, I have several tried and true methods of inspiration. Listening to music is a primary one. Sometimes it will come as a feeling I get, inspired by some great lyrics combined with an awesome melody. Other times, a song will convey a story that will get my wheels turning and I'll wonder how it ends or how it could've gone differently. Sometimes I'll allow myself to zone out in the car and just listen. That's usually when the ideas come. I am also an avid lover of dance. My favorite genres are contemporary and ballet. One of my short stories, The Water's Edge , was inspired by a contemporary dance performed on So You Think You Can Dance . Not only was the choreography beautiful, but I felt very personally connected to the theme. I can't reveal the routine, as my short story has a twist that would be ruined if I did so. However, it...

As we all know, rejection is a part of life. A LARGE part of life. Whether hunting for a new job, pitching a story or an agent, we're all bound to face it eventually. Personally, I sometimes wonder if the ever-present possibility of the short, impersonal rejection letter is what makes a writer, well, a writer. Let me explain. Back when I was in school, before any of the creative writing students had put ourselves and work out there for the world to see, we were told that we would need to develop a thick skin. We decided, as a social experiment to poke a little harmless fun at the process. Instead of ripping up our rejection letters and lighting them on fire, we preserved them, kept them in binders. Heck, some of us even framed them and stuck them on the fridge. We wore them like war badges. Once, I decided to pitch a story to Glamour magazine. I knew it was a long shot, I hadn't really seen anything like what I was pitching in the magazine before. But I felt like I s...

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I've only recently discovered the emerging literary genre of new adult fiction. I'm more embarrassed to admit that I've accidentally written one. What is new adult, you ask? Let me go back a couple of years ago to a fiction writing class I'd had in college. We had each just begun outlining our novels and I had grappled with the idea of a protagonist in her later teens just on the cusp of adulthood. Could I do this? Since young adult fiction had been (and still is) so wildly popular to all ages, I knew just how many stories were out there about young girls in high school. But a girl entering college? No one was doing this. Would anyone want to read my story about a girl trying to "figure things out" in the adult world? Would younger audiences relate to her? I didn't think an older demographic would fit my story, but there didn't seem to be an in between. I'll have to change her age,  I thought to myself...

"You learn eventually that, while there are no villains, there are no heroes either. And until you make the final discovery that there are only human beings, who are therefore all the more fascinating, you are liable to miss something."   - Paul Gallico When I was little, I used to watch the villains like Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians or Ursula from The Little Mermaid. I would cringe as they bested the hero and then cheer when they were finally defeated and killed at the end. I was under the impression, as all children are, that villains are bad and the heroes are good. There was never any question; it was black and white. Right was right and wrong was wrong. If you were to ask any writer what the fundamentals of storytelling are, they would most likely say that you have to have two things. You need someone who wants something and you need someone else standing in the way of that person's goals. Basically, you need a villain. That's a simple enough concept....

Today is a writing day and, unfortunately, a rather frustrating one. Having just complete my revision of the first draft of my novel, I have come to the conclusion that it is much too short. I won't tell you how short, because it will embarrass me. But it seems, in my brutal attempt at "trimming the fat" I may have trimmed away about 15,000 words. Though so far, I've never heard of an author coming up short in content, I'm hoping I'm not alone. I feel that my problem is that although I am writing a novel, in my mind I am writing a screenplay. I find myself so concerned with dialogue, that I miss out on the imagery and the inner monologue. This is my struggle. Sigh. So now begins the revision of my revision. In this stage, I will read my revision, analyze what needs to be added and hopefully, end up with enough words that I don't embarrass myself when sending it to a literary agent. Wish me luck!