Alison Acheson

1 week ago | unschoolforwriters.substack.com | Alison Acheson

photo taken June 7, 2023, on a hike in Kootenay Park, Alberta — an image of “going deep”After almost six months of dedicated work, I’m nearing the end of a 300 page novel for young people. I’ve never written this much in this number of months. Along with those pages is another 30k of process journal. I posted about how I worked quickly through to the end to have a skinny first draft. Since then I’ve added the climax, and worked with the crises of the three viewpoint characters.

2 weeks ago | unschoolforwriters.substack.com | Alison Acheson

It’s one thing to write. It’s another to shape a work to completion. These two are different parts of the same thing. No judgement here. I write this piece to try to determine the role of saying “it is done,” and what that is in your life. To look squarely, and know whether or not it’s a piece that you want or need or are happy to dance around. And maybe none of this matters if you are fine with writing and not wrapping up a project before moving on to the next.

2 weeks ago | unschoolforwriters.substack.com | Alison Acheson

A reminder not to share this WORKSHOP post in any way—thank you!If you have any work—short nonfiction, flash fiction, poetry, picturebook work, that you would like to share for feedback, please email it to: [email protected]. ~~~by Bach5gPolitical Riff (A Nod to Niemoller)First they came for the immigrants. Legal or il…Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Unschool for Writers to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

2 weeks ago | unschoolforwriters.substack.com | Alison Acheson

page 30 from The Rain Heron, by Australian author, Robbie ArnottNote: I’ve taken this piece, first posted only a few months after I started The Unschool, and have added and re-shaped. Dialogue was one of the elements of fiction I most struggled with when I began to write stories. I suspect that my struggle was the result of keeping a journal for years; there’s not a lot of dialogue in journals.

3 weeks ago | unschoolforwriters.substack.com | Alison Acheson

Yes! Unschooler Bach 5G has submitted a piece of flash fiction for feedback. It would be so good to kickstart a group of those intersted in this form! Please leave feedback/discussion on this story, and email me any other submissions. [email protected] usual: NO sharing outside of those who want to take part in…Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Unschool for Writers to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.