HeyJaredNo Failure, Only Practice
Fiction writing exercises, craft essays, and reading recommendations from Matt Bell, author of APPLESEED and REFUSE TO BE DONE. Publishes monthly.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 4
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- Sep 17, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest issues
#63: The Sequence Approach to Novel Structure (opens the original)
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Hello friends! I hope your fall is off to a good start. (If you’re somewhere that “fall” happens: it’s still awful hot here in Phoenix but hopefully we’ll start seeing some cooler days soon.) This fall, I’m having a great time teaching my course on Worldbuilding for Science Fiction and Fantasy again. We just finished discussing Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and are now beginning N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, two books I admire deeply and am glad to be rereading with new students.Two qui
Recording of Craft Lecture: "The Sequence Approach to Novel Writing" (opens the original)
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Hello friends! Thanks so much to everyone who attended this week’s craft lecture! As promised, here’s the recording from the talk: Read more
Paid Subscriber Benefit: Live Craft Lecture Today! (opens the original)
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Hello friends! This quarter’s lecture for paid subscribers of No Failure, Only Practice is tonight! As promised, my talk will cover how to apply the “sequence approach” from screenwriting to writing novels, including how I use it when generating outlines. I used this strategy to structure Penitent, my forthcoming novel, and I’m using it again right now as I’m plotting a rewrite of what will hopefully be the next one. I’ll give an overview of the theory itself, including how it might work differe
#62: The Stories Characters Tell Themselves (opens the original)
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Hello friends! I hope you’re having a good summer so far. I’ve got a couple of quick pieces of housekeeping before we get to this month’s craft essay:First, thanks to everyone who already sent in your typo stories and anecdotes for my next nonfiction book, Typo. I haven’t had a chance to reply to everyone yet, so if I haven’t gotten to you, my thanks is incoming. So many great stories, so many fantastic errors! If you’d like to hear more about that book or send in your own contri
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