Alyssa Hollingsworth

About Alyssa

Alyssa was born in small town Milton, Florida, but life as a roving military kid soon mellowed her (unintelligibly strong) Southern accent. Wanderlust is in her blood, and she’s always waiting for the wind to change. Stories remain her constant. Alyssa received her bachelor’s in English/Creative Writing from Berry College and her master's in Creative Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University. Alyssa is represented by Amber Caraveo at Skylark Literary. Her debut The Eleventh Trade – "a powerful story of love, loss, friendship and hope, centered around Sami, a young refugee from Afghanistan now building a new life with his grandfather in Boston" – will be published Fall 2018 by Macmillan (U.S.) and HotKey (U.K.).

10 Writing Resources: Characters

Oct 13, 2014

From the basics to the very in-depth, these are some of the resources I go to when I’m developing new characters. Have a look at my favorites, and add your own in the comments! 1. 25 Things About Creating Characters As a writer, creating characters is probably the most important thing you do. Get it wrong, and the story will be wrong no matter how well plotted. 2. Lessons From James Scott Bell: Characters That Jump Off The Page Readers are engaged by characters who do not always act in a predictable way. Think of how to have your character...

My Top 10 Most Inspirational Places in the World

Oct 10, 2014

10. Mont St Michel, France Before dawn, when the tourist buses haven’t arrived and cats rove the alleys with bleary-eyed delivery men—that is when Mont St Michel is alive. You stumble half-asleep through its medieval streets, and in the cold and the dark it’s not a tourist trap, it’s timetravel. You stand on the old walls, look out at the treacherous marshes and watch the tide come in. At first the water hardly seems to stir, but then you look away, look back, and the ground’s vanished. When the monastery opens, and you elbow past the late-comers to an empty nave, echoing...

5 Questions to Ask Before You Get a Master’s in Creative Writing

Oct 6, 2014

I’ve just completed my master’s degree in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, and MAWYP has also just celebrated its 10th birthday. Yay! Below are some of the questions I asked myself when I first started thinking about getting my master’s, and some of the questions (now that I’m at the end) I wish I would’ve asked. I hope this post isn’t a running advertisement for BSU, but I am biased. Master’s programs are very different depending on where you go and who you’re with and what you want, so I only have my own (and my classmates’) experience to...

The Madwoman’s Revision Technique

Sep 20, 2014

As with all things writing, there are about 10000 different ways to do anything. But my WIP is on a tight deadline, so I developed this technique to revise thoroughly and quickly. If you want, you can check out my outlining technique to see what I did on the front end to reduce revision. Then follow me down the rabbit hole of madness! Step 1: Get Input While Drafting. I had a workshop group for my WIP, but you can also do this with a critique partner. There are a lot of forums/blogs that offer CP services, but a particular favorite of...

How to Write Arguments with Maximum Punch

Sep 5, 2014

Arguments are both exciting and difficult to write. It’s challenging to strike a balance, to make sure both sides are winning, and to avoid repetition. A well-written argument goes through plenty of revising before it can inflict Falcon-punch levels of pain. Below are the steps I take to ensure my arguments as tight and terrible as possible. 1. Take sides. Before you draft, ask yourself: What is this argument really about? What does Character A think it’s about? What does Character B think it’s about? Spend some time getting into their heads. In a good argument scene, both sides are a little right and...

Things That Have Been Up and Stuff

Sep 3, 2014

This is a general update blog post, so it’s going to be a bit random and short. Yay? My friend Katherine came for a visit! We had many adventures, including but not limited to: Catching a train only because the staff held their car door open for us, performing period dances on the lawn at Chatsworth (Pemberley), exploring a plague village, and a bit of waltzing in the Assembly Rooms! (Katherine is my dance buddy and we took full advantage of this.) I have been editing like a mad person. This will probably result in some revision-themed posts soon. I...

How to Brainstorm with Word Art

Aug 27, 2014

I recently finished my first draft of Illuminate, which was very exciting! Don’t get me wrong—there is still a ton that needs to happen before it goes to agents in the spring. But there’s a thing that happens when you finish your draft: You have to start thinking about the next story. The way I write is by focusing my creative energies on one story at a time (“time” can be exclusive, or “per day” if I am drafting and revising two different projects). This means I don’t usually have a pocketful of future-stories I’m eagerly waiting to work on. As a result, whenever I...

LTAUS: The Sunset 100 Years Later

Aug 10, 2014

Originally recorded on August 4, transcribed below. (Note: The recording cuts off because a lady came by walking her dog so I had to stop talking to myself.) https://alyssahollingsworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/4-August.m4a Where do I begin? How do I begin here, at your beginning? Your country is beautiful. I’m watching it now—green and lush. The sun is setting, the grass golden and the flowers are white in the field. Crows and pigeons call to each other and fly from tree to tree. The cows graze. The whole neighborhood smells of manure, homely and thick. This is your country, and it’s beautiful. Is this...

Letter to an Unknown Soldier: A Sampling of the Letters

Aug 8, 2014

Some of you may be aware that Letter to an Unknown Soldier made it on Buzzfeed. I thought I might take a stab at my own sort of Buzzfeed-style feature. You can read it below the cut. (more…)

Friends and Family: Featured Letters

Aug 7, 2014

I worked with Letter to an Unknown Soldier to create a digital memorial for WWI by asking people to write letters to the unknown soldier in Paddington Station. We had an astounding result–over 21,000 letters. And several of those were by my classmates, friends and family! Similar to the daily featured letters on the website, I’ve gathered these letters together so that you can read them side by side. One of the fabulous things about this project is how the letters talk to each other—how they enter a dialogue together. I hope that by reading the very different entries below, you’ll be encourage to think...

About Alyssa

Popular Posts