I began writing when I was fourteen years old and, since then, I have been told many times that outlines are the way to go for writing everything but poetry. However, in the twenty-five years since then I have learned that I am the weird one that doesn’t function well with an outline. Instead, I …
People have often asked me how I can write so much. They think there’s some secret – that I’ve found a cure for writer’s block or sold my soul to avoid burnout – but I don’t have a magic potion or anything. The truth is I simply don’t know how to not write. More often …
I kind of think it’s funny when people ask me how I got into writing because, truthfully, I was inspired by Monster High. Moreover, my first ever written novel was a 20 chapter self-insert fanfiction where the characters at Monster High came to get me so I could join them at the aforementioned school. I …
I used to tell people that I read thesauruses as a kid for fun. Truthfully, I can’t really remember if I did that or not. I mean, it certainly sounds like something I would do; I remember stumbling across an online index for literary devices when I was in middle school working on some English …
TW: mentions of death and illness My grandma Sue told me stories of fairies, witches, sword-wielding maidens, mischievous pixies, and wise-cracking toads. Her husband Dennis built fairy houses for her. They were sprinkled throughout their flourishing garden, tangled in twisting tree branches, hoisted atop hand-painted toadstools. Their house was a mystical place filled with love …
On March 15th of 2005, Pixar’s The Incredibles released on DVD. I watched it ad nauseum—sometimes several times a day—and yet, it never failed to entertain. I’d propel my little three-year-old frame across the dingy floor of my parent’s first house with clumsy somersaults, clomp around on all fours and pretend I was the awesome …
When it comes to writing, getting stuck is inevitable. Whether it is creative or formal. Fortunately, there are some tricks you can use and combine to get yourself out of that hole. These are just four of many. Just Keep Writing If you have yet to start writing, then just start putting down whatever comes …
A book that I believe created my passion for creative writing and for my distant future as a creative writing major here at Ball State was one of the first books I ever read as a kid. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. As a kid, my dad chose to bring home a gift for me …
I remember the first time I ever read Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven. I had grown to admire Niven after she released All the Bright Places, and so when I found out that she was releasing a new novel, I was ecstatic. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting at the time, …
When we began our work on the 2022 issue of The Broken Plate, we set out with the goal of examining and understanding the fragility and complexity of the human condition. We were allowed the opportunity to glimpse into the stories of others, to walk around in their minds and look at the world from …
It was a combination of things that led Ashley C Ford to choose Ball State for college. “I chose Ball State partly because I thought it was beautiful, partly because it felt far enough away from my family that I could sort of be whoever I wanted but not so far that I couldn’t get …
At The Broken Plate, the strife that accompanies being human is something we value greatly. Often, themes of fragility and the presence of various inner demons appear in ghost stories. There is strife from things like Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House to shows like The Haunting of Bly Manor, where there is the …
