Writing Rural With Alley
“Writing Rural With Alley” helps fiction writers bring rural lifestyles to life! Here you will learn to craft more realistic scenes and settings of rural life and lifestyles, new ways to show, not tell, helping to drive your story forward, discover obstacles and challenges for your characters to overcome. You’ll learn skills and techniques from the stone age to post-apocalyptic, including but not limited to, homesteading, living off the grid, bushcrafting, survival skills and more. And of course, we’ll explore all the ways things could possibly go wrong.
Episodes
91 episodes
Storycrafting: Top 5 Gardening Uses For Wool
Do your characters need to keep their plants safe at night from frost? How can your character deal with water retention issues in their garden? Do you want to write about weed free walkways? Does your story have raised bed gardens? Find out abo...
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10:15
Storycrafting: 5 Home Uses For Wool
Do your characters need something to help fight a fire when there is no firefighter? What can wool do for your character’s pets? Do you need something that is not technology to entertain the children in your story? Learn all this and more on to...
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9:14
Storycrafting: 5 More Historical Uses For Wool
How can wool insulate your character’s home? Who uses it in boot lining? Are wool blankets good for everyone? Does your character want to make toys for their child? Learn about all this and more on today’s episode.
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7:06
Storycrafting: Top 5 Historical Uses For Wool
What types of clothing can your character make with wool? What is the earliest era you can write wool into your story? How can wool help a horse? What about Christmas ornaments? Learn about all this and more on today’s episode.
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9:23
Storycrafting: Wool 101
How can you keep your character warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Does your character own sheep, goats, or alpacas? How do these animals help your character if they need seasonal work? What about a princess? Find out on this episode.&n...
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12:02
Storycrafting: 5 No Waste Household Uses For Coffee Grounds
What can your characters dye brown with coffee grounds? Could coffee ground fire logs cause a chimney fire? Is this safe to use in the winter around livestock? How can it make your character’s home smell good? Find out on this episode.
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9:32
Storycrafting: 5 Innovative Beauty Uses For Coffee Grounds
How can coffee grounds be used with skin scraping? Can coffee grounds help dark circles under the eyes? Will coffee grounds be able to help your character change their appearance? Find out on this episode.
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13:24
Storycrafting: Miniesode -EF Scale
What will your character learn about a tornado by looking at the damage the tornado left behind? Are brick homes safe from tornados? Why were wind engineers consulted? Find out on this episode.
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3:45
Storycrafting: 5 Creative Kitchen Uses For Coffee Grounds
How can coffee grounds help keep your character’s refrigerator smelling good? Want a creative way for your character to tenderize meat? How can coffee grounds be used to help change a character’s appearance? Who drank 12 pots of coffee per day?...
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12:15
Storycrafting: 5 Ways to Turn Coffee Grounds Into Gardening Magic
Does your character want to use everything to its full potential? How can coffee grounds help indoor plants? What bugs hate coffee grounds, and which love them? What do mushrooms have to do with this? Find out on this episode!
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10:47
Storycrafting: Survival Water Filtration
What micro-organisms can be found in contaminated water and how can your character get rid of them? Want to know what man-kind has used to filter water since 2,000 BC, and will likely be used long after an apocalypse? Can this protect your char...
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12:36
Storycrafting: 5 Wood Ash Uses (Part 5)
How can your character use wood ash to alter their appearance? Will wood ash really help heartburn? How can wood ash really be used for toothpaste and hair dye? Why would someone lick ash? Find out on this episode.
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10:18
Storycrafting: 5 Wood Ash Uses (Part 4)
How can wood ash help your character if they are sprayed by a skunk? Want to know how characters can get rid of fleas, roaches, chiggers, and chicken mites? Why are chicken mites so horrible for chickens? What will characters use that looks lik...
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10:45
Storycrafting: 10 Generationally Passed Skills (Part 4)
What are some of the ways your character can make clothing? What skill do most hunters use that has nothing to do with weapons? What can give your character both food and something to sell? What can your character do when they have needs, but n...
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19:38
Storycrafting: 10 Generationally Passed Skills (Part 3)
What kind of large-scale jobs have historically been passed down in families? Do you know how your characters will make clothing if they do not have a way to buy them? What skills do modern people use in rural life? What can leave a giant splin...
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22:48
Storycrafting: 10 Generationally Passed Skills (Part 2)
What cooking skills could your character learn? How should your character care for cast iron? What experiences might your characters bond over? What kind of advice can an adult ask a child for that would make them thrilled? What tastes awful? F...
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18:10
Storycrafting: 10 Generationally Passed Skills (Part 1)
Where did your characters learn their skill sets? Do you want to learn natural ways for your characters to interact with your other characters? Do you need inspiration to show the tight bonds of a family? What do axes and seeds have to do with ...
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15:34
Storycrafting: Practical Dandelion Uses
What parts of dandelions can your character eat? What disease might dandelions help sailors with? When were dandelions used as a food source in history? How could dandelion tea help your female characters? What do restaurants have to do with da...
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14:41
Storycrafting: Fire Starting 101
Want to learn what your character needs for making a fire? Would you like to learn some new words that could potentially whittle down your word count in editing? Do you know what a flue is, and why it is important to all fireplaces and woodstov...
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12:42
Storycrafting: Gardening Overview
How important should gardening be to the survival of your character? What preparation will your character do to prepare for their garden? Want to learn how to weave gardening into any season of your story? What about dead fish? Find out on this...
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14:38
Storycrafting: Hail
What damage can hail do to your character or their property? Does hail mean a tornado is coming? How can hail impact a garden? How can your character protect their garden and home from hail? What will your character need to do if they are outsi...
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12:35
Storycrafting: Self-Sufficient Mindset (Part 2)
What will help your character to hold to their mental fortitude when others laugh about their lifestyle? What about cloth toilet paper? Does my character really need to deal with failure? Who’s getting shocked? Find out on this episode!
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14:01
Storycrafting: Self-Sufficient Mindset (Part 1)
What exactly is self sufficiency, anyway? Why might community be important? What products can your character make at home? What will your character need to ask themself? Find out on this episode.
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10:34