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You read the winning story and think, “My story was better than that! I should have at least made it into the top five.” This is a sad yet common scenario. Your story might actually have been the best in terms of characterization and dramatic arc, but how are your technical skills?
If you continually find yourself fumbling over verb tense and dialog it is time to brush up on your grammar. What’s that? That isn’t your idea of a good time? Then you haven’t met WOW!’s coolest grammarian!
Karlyn Thayer is a published fiction author with a penchant towards romance. An instructor of story-writing and grammar for over twenty years, Karlyn is now offering a class called The Unwilling Grammarian through WOW! Courses and Classes. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Karlyn:
Hi Karlyn, thank you for taking the time for this interview with WOW!
Tell us a little about your journey to becoming a writer.
Karlyn: My writing journey began when I discovered reading fiction, in the third grade. The first book I read was Billy and Blaze by C.W. Anderson, and it opened my eyes and mind to a new world—the shining and exquisite world of the imagination! Then I made the mental jump from reading to writing. I thought, How cool to get paid for sharing thoughts and ideas!
I think it is great that you had that thought so early on! When did that dream finally came to fruition?
Karlyn: I didn’t really get serious about writing until I was in my forties. For years I worked as a graphic artist and a typesetter. I dabbled with writing and got nowhere. Then my husband gave me a gift subscription to Writer's Digest magazine and I started to read all the articles and apply them to my work. Soon I signed up for a writing class.
That's when my learning curve jumped sky high! With guidance, I grew as a writer. None of us can be totally objective about our own work. That's why classes like the ones WOW! offers are so valuable for beginning and experienced writers. Good teachers show us our strengths and weaknesses.
That is so true! Writing, as a skill and a profession, improves greatly when one has a mentor or instructor.
Karlyn, in addition to your writing you've been teaching for over 20 years. Your students write rave reviews about their experience under your instruction. Who shaped your method of teaching?
Karlyn: My first writing teacher, Judith Toral Davis, became my gold standard for teaching. After my first course of study with her, I signed on for a second round. She died from cancer before the second round could be completed, and I've yet to find an instructor as good as she was. She encouraged in a way that brought out my best work and I sold my first story while studying with her. Naturally, I've patterned my teaching based on her methods.
The Unwilling Grammarian is a title I can relate to. As soon as someone starts talking about dangling modifiers and participle phrases my brain feels like a whirligig. I know I’m not alone in this; why do adult Americ
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