Lit Lessons on Flight School

“You go to the very end, Jennifer. Which is why I wanted to be here.” — Pamela Combastet, Paris, 8 p.m. Welcome into Flight School and this deep conversation I was lucky to have with Pamela who is the President of WICE , a Paris literary program, a former New York magazine editor, and one smart lady. When we met in Paris, a few years back, she passed me the little book on conscience examination an...

Welcome into Flight School for our Summer of the Finch: We had a full house of writers signed up for this meeting and then, come Go Time, we only had two and then one and then two again. That’s summer for you so I’m delighted to bring you this follow up conversation from our launch. I opened with an exercise. Close your eyes. Imagine your unfinished manuscript — the one that isn’t ready, the one i...

Welcome to Flight School: When Heide Island emailed asking for a blurb on her new book Romp, I almost said no. I’d worked with her briefly, years ago, when I was just starting to build what would eventually become The Blackbird Studio and this fabulous tributary: Blackbird’s Flight School. She was a science writer. I wasn’t sure what I had to offer. But she was insistent. So I read the book. And I...

Welcome into Flight School: Week 1: What your hero fights for (and which level your story actually reaches) Week 2: Which plot you’re actually writing (not the one you wish you were) Week 3: The egoic trap you can’t see yet (but your writing will reveal) Over these three classes we had fifty people sign up. WOW. Unheard of. And yet, as you’ll see from the classes themselves, only four to six showe...

Hi and welcome back to Flight School: Class two of our series was so different from class one. We weren’t just learning framework now, we were applying it to real stories in real time. I opened with a review of Christopher Booker’s Seven Basic Plots and asking them to think about: Which plot best fits what I’m writing? Don’t be fooled, these aren’t old-time templates, they’re living structures for...

Hi and welcome into Flight School: Fourteen writers signed up for this first class and all had one question to ponder: Who is your hero, and what do they want most? The answers came fast: A 19-year-old seeking to assuage existential guilt (Carrie). A 12-year-old girl navigating grief and secrets (Kristen). A medieval midwife fighting for equality in Islamic Spain. An anti-hero chasing unlimited kn...

Welcome to this speedy, but deep, masterclass on the core image that holds your entire story. You’ll be watching an excerpt from an advanced writing workshops at Blackbird, where I share a prologue titled Boxes that opens my new memoir Revert about my three-years in a self-imposed retreat on the wild coast of Oregon escaping not only Covid madness but a long madness of control long imposed on my l...

…you are giving us a unique perspective in class by studying Blackbird . I wonder how many NYT best-selling authors would be so honest about perceived flaws in their work and in so doing give us baby writers some practical knowledge from your experience. Thanks. ~ Richard Peeples, SII Welcome: In this post, I tease back the outer wrappings of my first book and share where I got things right and wh...

“Lauck has constructed a riveting narrative from the awful mess of her life. That she has managed to do so fills me with an admiration for which I cannot find words. The best I can do is to suggest that you read this book.” ~ The London Times Welcome into Flight School: The video is a conversation with an advanced Studio at The Blackbird Studio for Writers on this topic and the questions below. I...

When we were kids, in school, most of had to read Huck Finn by Mark Twain. Book report required, too. But how many of us ingested what this book offered and what it means to the American debate on morality, race, and the original sin of slavery that we contend with in ever-changing degrees? If you are someone unnerved by the race conversation that never seems to resolve itself, it might be time to...

Welcome into Flight School: This is a terrific conversation with a wonderful writer, Richard Peeples, from my Blackbird Studio workshop. Richard’s writing a memoir about a wife who died at the height of their marriage, and explores what it means to love and lose. Here is a piece published in Men’s Health about his journey. Enjoy the Huck Finn teaching (below), Richard and my conversation, and at t...

Hi and welcome: Every teacher dreams of the moment when a student takes a craft lesson and transforms it into something wholly their own. Konrad Nau gave me that moment. A retired family physician with thirty-five years of patient relationships and one memoir under his belt, Konrad had never written fiction before taking my Bones course. When he encountered Flannery O’Connor’s Revelation through F...

Welcome to Flight School and now and again, I’ll repost teachings that are powerful or hit hard. This post, from May, is one of those primarily because a writer here on Flight School responded to the prompt and blew my mind. Konrad and I talked about the story he submitted: Fear in West Texas and I’d like to incorporate it here in the teaching and invite you: 1) Listen/read this post. 2) Read Konr...

Welcome to Flight School: Our third and final mini-class unveiled a key structural secrets behind stories that grip readers versus those that fall flat. 1. You Don't Have One Antagonist—You Have Nine Most writers focus on the obvious villain but Robert McKee's model in Story shows us nine distinct antagonistic forces working against your protagonist: Inner conflicts: Body, emotions, mind Personal...

Welcome: Our second mini-class from my Bones series was a huge success. Our big takeaways, plus next weeks guidelines, are here. Let’s go. Takeaway 1: The tool dilemma every writer faces Plot, like a rototiller, is complex, intimidating, and avoided until absolutely necessary. But when you treat plot as a familiar tool rather than a scary power device, everything changes. Rebecca, a Simon & Schust...

Welcome back to Flight School: Konrad has done extensive research about medieval medicine, Berber-Arab conflicts, and historical context spanning centuries. His what-if exercises walked us through all this fascinating background material. Mary listened, polite, but then leaned in when Konrad mentioned what happens at the end of his book: Dr. S partnering with a historically unwritten midwife at a...

Hi and welcome into Flight School, where good writers become great: The cool kiss of fall in the air. Dry leaves dropping from still green trees. Shorter days. It’s back-to-school time and this fall I'm opening the vaults to three free mini-classes pulled from my core teaching, The Bones of Storytelling which is the ten-year labor of love that's transformed the work of over 500 writers and earned...

Hi and welcome back to Flight School: If you missed our live summer conversation, not to worry. I’ve edited it and present it here. Watch and witness writers discovering their true audience and experiencing real-time breakthroughs. Our central question (thanks to Becky) was deceptively simple: Who do you want to talk to in your own writing? Stories found their direction and writers claimed their h...

Hi and welcome to Flight School: Our first paid-subscriber Studio titled Perils & Promise was a hit. Thanks to everyone who showed up live. REMINDER: The Second Perils and Promise with Becky and me is coming August 14th. If you are a paid-subscriber, you get in free. Look for your code in the footer of the email. ** Remember to add the bird. Two core teachings arose from this first conversation: M...

Welcome into Flight School: Save the dates: July 31st & Aug. 14th at 9:00 a.m. PST (🐦‍⬛Free for subscribers. Find your code in the footer of this email) What: A two-part live conversation with me and my co-teacher, Becky Ellis. We are both memoirists and fiction writers and will share what have we learned about perseverance and success, and discuss how memoir and the novel are the same. Plus, we...

Welcome to Flight School: It’s time to take a deep dive on “ Everything That Rises Must Converge .” If you haven’t read it, click the link, read, and come on back. If you have, let’s continue. “Everything” is one of the last stories Flannery O'Connor completed before her death and emerges from a tumultuous period in American history. The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954...

Welcome to Flight School: Our first live meeting was packed with early risers ready to talk about process and stay inspired through connection and community. The Universal Struggles Time emerged as our collective nemesis and we learned the solution isn't finding more hours—it's claiming the quiet ones. Early mornings from 4:30 to 7:30 are the most fruitful of all. The trick? Set boundaries with te...

"Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it," Flannery O'Connor said and silenced a room of NY intellectuals. This Exclusive Writing Lab explores how a sharp-witted Georgian created literature that still unsettles readers sixty years after her death. Welcome into Flight School: Before we get started, I’d like to announce: The Second Annual Get-it-Done Summer Challenge When: June 1 to July 15. What: S...

Welcome into Flight School: “You would make a wonderful teacher,” she said. She being a spiritual guru in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Gray hair slicked back into a bun, deep red robes worked over a white cotton blouse, and black cotton pants. She was in her late fifties, I think. So exotic. So mysterious. We sat in a meadow, this guru and I, surrounded by tall grasses and wildflowers. Her o...

Welcome into Flight School: When All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr released, the hype drew me in. Like many others, I invested in the hardcover and zoomed through this oh-so-promising book. Near the end, I noticed something that seemed impossible. The story fell apart. What happened? Fast forward many years: * I’m now crafting my own historical novel. * I’ve taught creative writing for...