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Private Notes
Salman introduces himself and shares his hopes to teach you the shortcuts and lessons he’s learned through decades of writing.
Salman explains his philosophy: A big story should drive your writing. Learn the essential questions he asks himself about a new story before sitting down to write.
Build the framework of your story through a well-planned plot with Salman’s techniques to help you avoid setbacks.
Salman discusses the unique value of opening sentences and shares successful examples from literature as well as his own work.
Explore influential forms of traditional storytelling, including the “Frame Story” represented in Arabian Nights, global mythology, and India’s rich history of oral storytelling.
Salman discusses the “write what you know” dictum in relation to character and encourages you to embrace characters whose realities differ from your own.
Think of your characters as real, dynamic people and work to understand the internal motivations that drive them.
Learn the elements that help you reveal more about your characters than adjectives alone can.
Learn how to approach place with the same depth and description as you would for any of your characters.
Examine your personal perspective, values, and experience to understand one of your strongest assets as a writer: your unmistakably unique worldview.
Salman shares practical tips for observing sights and soundscapes to gather material for rich descriptions.
Salman teaches techniques to translate your personal voice into your own unique style of prose.
Salman encourages you to take advantage of surrealism as a device and “let the carpet fly.”
Go beyond the internet when conducting research for fiction. Salman shares ideas for where and how to look.
Discover Salman’s approaches to rewriting and learn how his work habits have changed over time.
Get practical advice for working with an editor and discover the power of working past your inhibitions to receive feedback from an objective person.
Salman discusses his approach to finding motivation, the value of experimentation, and his tips for working through writer’s block.
Salman makes the case for a new global canon and discusses works of fiction that have inspired him personally.
Take away seven practical tips for becoming a stronger writer.
