Aimee Liu on the Craft of Creative Writing, Publishing & Book Reviews

Indexed stories

Aimee Liu

4 min readJun 20, 2021

About craft

My Last Proposal Led to a Six-Figure Book Deal

Here are the book proposal basics that helped clinch the sale

writingcooperative.com

Storytellers, Was the Debate the “Negation of the Negation” of President Biden’s Narrative?

Campaigns have much to teach — and learn — about plot and character

medium.com

Every Tale is a Tale of Two Stories

How Maegan Houang embedded the macro story of China’s history with the U.S. inside her micro film about the first…

medium.com

Opening & Closing as a Writer

Two schools of thought, or two halves of a whole?

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Expose Your Characters With Revelatory Dialogue

Talk on the page must be concentrated, layered, and stealthy

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

The End of Goddard College Signals a Bleak Shift in Society

We lose more than education when progressive schools close

aninjusticemag.com

Why John Steinbeck Dared To Empathize With ‘The Vigilante’

Hint: It’s the same reason his best-selling books have been banned for nearly a century

baos.pub

Can You Map Your Story’s Subliminal Coordinates?

Let Nabokov show you the way

writingcooperative.com

Creative Training Tips to Help Jump Start Your Novel

Imaginative fitness involves more than writing

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

The Sound of Silence That Tells You Your Work Is Finished

How to know when to submit, when to keep editing, and when to press pause

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Is Your Writing Worth More Than Chump Change?

What it really takes to write for a living

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Activate Your Protagonist!

A passive POV character is NOT your narrative friend

writingcooperative.com

The Benefits of Writing in Layers

Prep your scenes like a painter for added depth

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

The Benefits of Writing in Layers

Prep your scenes like a painter for added depth

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Unpacking Narrative Purpose

From MFA Lore’s Write On! Roundup #3

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

To Fictionalize, Or Not to Fictionalize?

A key question for every memoir writer

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

To Fictionalize, Or Not to Fictionalize?

A key question for every memoir writer

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Focus Your Writing Like a Camera

Narrative perspective involves more than POV

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

What’s Your Story?

Tips from the MFA Archive

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

When Does Nonfiction Become Fiction, and Why Does It Matter?

If I’m making up the framework, does that fictionalize the facts?

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

The Most Useful Word Tool You’ve Probably Never Used

Why don’t more people know about the Navigation Pane?

writingcooperative.com

“Burn This Manuscript”

My agent told me to destroy my first novel — and propelled my writing career

medium.com

The Primal Power of Stories That Evoke Yearning and Dread

What family separation can teach writers about the emotional core of literature

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Storytellers, Deepen Your Dialogue With Mixed Messages

Ambiguity can enhance your plot’s complexity

writingcooperative.com

Must Obituaries Sugarcoat the Dead?

Confronting the eulogy effect of loss

medium.com

When Memoir is Bedeviled by the Begats

How do we honor our ancestors without boring our readers?

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Why Does “Front Matter” Matter?

Finding a memoir’s touchstone in its opening pages

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Innovating ‘Legacy & Lore’ — an author’s newsletter on Substack

Join in the hunt for my father’s mysterious treasure box

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Aren’t We All “Just Rearranging the Deckchairs” in Our Writing?

Whether your work deserves to sink or sail will depend on your creative perspective

writingcooperative.com

How to Write a Memoir That’s More Than a Memoir

When one story’s not enough to tell the whole story

writingcooperative.com

The Magic of a Low-Residency MFA — at Any Age

Going back to school in my 50s was the best decision of my writing life

medium.com

Why I’m Grateful That Eavesdropping Is Back

When social distance closes, we get to remember that we’re all in this mess of life together

humanparts.medium.com

Here’s to Accidents in Life, Work, and Art

Healthy discoveries lie in imperfection and surprise

medium.com

Culture Shock Can Wake Up Your Fiction

Harness the power of a fresh perspective

writingcooperative.com

How to Manage Research Rapture

When facts threaten to overwhelm your fiction

writingcooperative.com

Pathos and Bathos in “The Crown”

Discovering the royal keys to addictive drama

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Writing Through Emergency

Essential lessons for writers from Amanda Gorman and Eugene Goodman

medium.com

How to Conduct and Write Better Interviews with Document Sharing

Turning author interviews into a game of tag

writingcooperative.com

About publishing

My Last Proposal Led to a Six-Figure Book Deal

Here are the book proposal basics that helped clinch the sale

writingcooperative.com

Both Substack and Medium Can Benefit Authors

But they’re not interchangeable

writingcooperative.com

We Need a Plan B for Overlooked Books

Catastrophic release dates are increasing, so what are we going to do about them?

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Your Voice Could Help Save the Book Industry, Even if You Never Write Your Own Book

The pandemic has made your reader reviews more essential than ever

medium.com

Crowdsourcing the Book Club connection

How one group of Lockdown Authors expanded their reach to readers

baos.pub

From & about my novel Glorious Boy

SPEECHLESS

Portrait of a Child with Einstein Syndrome

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

The Most Magical Father I Never Met

An accidental correspondence revealed how one doting father’s life ended in a tragic crime that took decades to uncover

humanparts.medium.com

The Nerve

Excerpt from the novel Glorious Boy

authoraimeeliu.medium.com

Orchids of the Andamans

How a writer with a black thumb can write about medicinal botany in the Far East

authoraimeeliu.medium.com