Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · 23d

Ohh, thanks! Didn't know about that one.

Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · 25d

The German Emigration Center is maybe the most incredible museum I've ever visited. Interactive stations bring the history of emigration to life. Moving, effective, eye-opening.
#WritingCommunity #Germany

Museum mockup of people from the 1900s waiting to board a ship to America.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · 25d

Bremerhaven! What an unexpectedly wonderful little town in Northern Germany. Highly recommend! Plus, it's amazing to finally see in person a place you've been writing about.
#WritingCommunity #Germany

Row of tugboats docked in the ocean with grass in the forefront

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · 27d

Officially this is Day 2 of my German research adventure, but I was too tired to post yesterday. Insight so far: DO NOT trust ChatGPT for directions in a foreign country. The ones it gave me were stunningly wrong, right down to the "landmarks."
#WritingCommunity #Germany

a man in a suit is standing in front of a building with a sign that says guinness

ALT: a man in a suit is standing in front of a building with a sign that says guinness

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 25

#WritingCommunity
#BookSky
Love the classics!

Quote overlaying a photo of the ocean with a rocky beach and a ship in the distance, blue sky.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 25

Sadly true

Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 25

Good one!

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 25

Haha don't worry, I was describing myself.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 25

Here you go :-) My coauthor and I deconstructed 21 classic novels to reveal the method behind the magic. It's a master class in narrative structure for authors.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 22

Just finished reading Hitler's People by Richard J. Evans. Great book. One thing that struck me was the number of high-ranking Nazis who were talented musicians. Like, a lot of them. Music didn't have the power to redeem them. I'm trying to figure out why.
#WritingCommunity #BookSky #History

Cover of Hitler's People by Richard J. Evans, mostly black with red in the middle

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 22

#Writers, what's the best writing advice you've ever gotten? One that's been on my mind lately is: a problem that your character can walk away from is a book the reader can walk away from.
#WritingCommunity

a cat is laying on the floor in front of a robotic vacuum cleaner .

ALT: a cat is laying on the floor in front of a robotic vacuum cleaner .

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 20

#MysteryWriters don't neglect your setting! Here is a post all about how setting can work for you in your mystery novel.
#WritingCommunity
writershelpingwriters.net/2025/08/how-...

Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom: How Setting Shapes Mystery

Setting is important in any genre, but especially mysteries where it can limit suspects, suggest motives, provide clues, and shape the crime.

writershelpingwriters.net

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 19

Ha, yes.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 19

True or false: a #writer is someone who sits in their pyjamas all morning staring out the window and calls it work.
#WritingCommunity

a poster for the la guarimba film festival

ALT: a poster for the la guarimba film festival

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 19

Easy, right?
#WritingCommunity

Person sitting at a desk by a window that looks out onto the ocean. Caption: Just sit down and write.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 19

Congratulations!

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

#Writers, are you using the weather in your fiction to its full potential? Winter means snow, which means leaving footprints behind. Summer heat can amplify tension. Rain can create delays, reflect mood. Choose your setting with intention.
#WritingCommunity

pouring rain on a wooden porch with grass and trees in the background

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

What's the difference between omniscient POV, deep third, and head hopping? It all comes down to control. Ask yourself who's holding the camera? If it's being tossed around indiscriminately, you've got a problem.
#WritingCommunity
darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/p...

POV: Who’s Holding the Camera?

Intentionality is how you earn readers’ trust.

darlingaxe.com

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

Couldn't agree more. I try to encourage my editing clients to be patient with the process but more often than not I'm also talking to myself 😅

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

Ha, this looks about right.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

Sounds fascinating!

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

I agree, poetry by hand. I write some fiction by hand as well, but it gets so messy with all the crossing out, arrows... and my terrible handwriting 😳

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 18

Ha, sometimes I'm not sure.

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 17

Would love to hear from #writers who do some (or any, or all?) of their work by longhand. Not many do anymore, and I feel like when I make the effort, the work comes out differently. Agree?
#WritingCommunity

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Michelle Barker @michellebark.bsky.social · Aug 17

#Writers, tell me a little about your current work in progress. I'm working my way through the second draft of a historical novel set in Berlin 1938. Filling some research holes, just generally doing it better. Time away from it made me see what it needed.
#WritingCommunity

a person is writing in a notebook with a pen on top of it

ALT: a person is writing in a notebook with a pen on top of it

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