Kelly Chastain - The Rogue MFA

Kelly ChastainJune 4, 2026

The Oldest Visual Storytelling Tool is Also the Best One. Maps.

They do way more work than simply look cool

If you write any genre of historical fiction, and that can include romance, fantasy, etc… you already know the power of a great map. Maps aren’t the only visual elements that you can add to your story, but they make it…

Way more visually appealing and/or interesting
Easier to write

We’re heading back to A Gentleman in Moscow, because of course we are. By the time I’m through with all this teachin’, you’ll know that book up one side and down the other. Just like the structural breakdown, this book does a ton of great work when it comes to adding visual elements to a story.

Load Bearing Imagery

I love maps so much that I have a giant book of rare and antique maps that I have to pack in a special box every time I move because of its gigantic irregular size. Worth it.

Yes, maps are cool and loads of fun to look at, but they do more for your story than simply give your reader the lay of the land. They can help us to visually understand distance and scale, the separation of class or social hierarchies, and see what’s important to the society. Open spaces, town wells, and alleys all give us a sense of what this place is like.

This is the opening page to AGIM. Most people would argue that the first page is the court transcript that immediately follows the map. Don’t be fooled. Because the first words we read in this story are right at the top of the map.

And just like that, we’ve established the Time and Place. It will be confirmed in the court transcript on the following pages, but right here, a ton of your work has just been done for you.

Visual Way Marking & Prioritization

While maps can tell us a lot about the society we’re about to immerse ourselves in, your novel’s map can also prime your readers for what’s to come. Notice the handful of places that are marked and named. Only the ones that are mentioned in the story and have relevance to Count Rostov, The Gentleman’s, life get a mention.

By marking these places, you familiarize your reader with your character’s world before they’ve stepped one foot into it. This is done remarkably well with the expanded inset map. We can see where the Count will spend damn near every single page of this book, and how so many amazing places are right there in the neighborhood.

Sourcing and Making Maps

You don’t have to be a cartographer, or lug around a giant volume of antique maps, in order to have a map of your own. Now if you’re writing historical fantasy, making the map is half the fun. However, we focus on historical fiction and romance here.

Sourcing

The David Rumsey Map Collection contains over 200,000 maps from the 16th-20th centuries. Mostly of places in North and South America, but there are also maps from all over the world in this set, and that were created outside that timeframe. It’s worth a search.
Don’t sleep on Wikimedia Commons and searching within their collection. They have millions of free images for use, including some maps.

Creating

You can also create your own map like AGIM’s.

MapChart online helps you create custom maps for your project
Canva also has a map generator
I’ve taken a map of Vienna from 1830, pulled it into ProCreate on my iPad, and traced an outline of the parts of the city that I needed. I even made an inset map.

If you’re attempting traditional publishing, having some semblance of a map is helpful. It will probably be redrawn by an artist or graphic designer. If you’re wanting to self-publish, you’ll need to provide the map yourself.

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Kelly ChastainMay 28, 2026

How To Give Written Feedback on Creative Writing Without Ruining The Friendship

The full roadmap from your fav English teacher

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I suppose we should get this part out of the way first. The more tenderhearted among us will always think you’re a dick, even when they’ve asked for your honest feedback. Even when you’re being helpful and kind, and not at all using “just being honest” as a weapon.

After giving feedback on hundreds and hunnnnnnndreds of pieces of fiction, there are some strategies that help more than others. Hopefully, you’re working with someone who’s given you some guidelines for what they want. And if they haven’t, send them here and you’ll save yourselves a whole lotta heartache.

Now, if they’ve given you a document with guidelines, good. And one more time for the folks in the back – If they haven’t send them here. For the love of God, do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 until they’ve done it. Now that that’s settled…

Copy Their List of Questions

And paste them at the end of their draft. DO NOT read them before you read their work. Didn’t I just tell you to make them fill out this document so you’d know what you were up against before you started? Yes, I sure did. But here’s why pasting their questions into the end of their document works in everyone’s favor, and makes you a more honest reviewer.

We’re biased bitches. The moment we know the writer’s concern, we start looking for ways for the work to make sense, because we’ve just been told us it’s supposed to make sense, or they’re trying like hell to make it make sense.
- Even when it’s worded like – I tried to differentiate the men in the train car by giving one a mustache and the other a midwestern accent. Was it enough?
- So instead of just reading it and allowing yourself to be honestly confused or not, you end up scrutinizing the scene as you go, looking for evidence and theorizing if it’s working or not. That’s not honest feedback. It’s a crime scene investigation.
Sometimes a question is – Does my plot twist work, where the woman tries robbing the ticket agent and he ends up robbing her instead?
- Shit. A great plot twist is supposed to take you unawares. Only now you’re 100% aware of what’s coming and you’re suddenly back to theorizing if it worked.

In Text Notes

These aren’t line edits, but places where you’ll make a comment because you loved something, were confused, have a question, or want to remark on the work. Please, if you loved a part, say so. Writers will sometimes edit out the best parts because they didn’t know they were working. Feedback isn’t reduced to only telling the writer what’s giving you heartburn.

Here are actual notes I gave to a student on her short story during lockdown. Let’s go through them.

In her work, I highlighted particular lines of text and each comment corresponds to those lines. Instead of being vague with your writer, show them in the moment what you’re talking about by flagging the text. Here’s what works in these comments.

Providing context
- I had to read this a few times.
- I’m super invested and want to know more.
- I’d like to know X right here because I think that would help me, as the reader, understand Y better.
Start every comment with something positive or reassuring. Taking the rest of the feedback is so much easier and it increases camaraderie.
- I love this element because it gives an “everything is rotting vibe.”
- “I have a habit of doing this too.”

In this case, I was the prof. So adding suggestions on how she might go about revising the work made sense. We were learning craft techniques in class. So here, you’ll see me say things like, “This is a great place to compare/contrast…”

BUT, I also add things like, “How would you feel about chopping this line?” Because at the end of the day, it’s not my story. The best written feedback asks questions of the writer instead of giving directives or getting prescriptive.

End Notes

First, answer their list of questions that you’ve copied and pasted here. Use the same tactics as the in-text notes if you need to.

After that, it’s a great idea to write a few paragraphs for the author. This is where you can explain your overall take and add comments about theme or elements of the story that unfolded over time and wouldn’t make sense line for line. These are the section headers I always use and that tend to give writers truly useful info.

This is what I read
- Give a short summary of the story. This is the most direct way for the writer to understand what stood out to you, what you think their story is really about, and how the work was perceived overall. It’s massively illuminating.
- Plus it’s great practice for writing your own synopsis.
Here’s what worked
- This is pretty straightforward. You load the hell out of this with praise. And if you can’t find something to praise, you’re not reading hard enough. There’s always something good. Pacing, structure, word choice, the character’s epic neon green hair. Pan for gold in sewage if you have to, but find the nugget and put it on display.
Here’s where I struggled
- Never: Here’s what’s completely fucked up about your story.
- Always: Point to your struggle as the reader. This is the paragraph where you give overarching context around the places didn’t make sense for you. Where you might not have fully bought a character’s motivation, the underlying power dynamics, or a plot point.
Suggestions if you want them
- And that’s exactly what you name that section. Do. Not. Deviate.
- The first sentence is always something along the lines of – In case you’re stumped on how to rework the plot point/unbelievable power dynamics/character motivation/etc… I WONDER IF YOU MIGHT TRY…
  - Never: DO X to dig yourself out of this godforsaken hole you’ve dug yourself into.
  - Always: Have you thought about? OR, you know how in (Insert a book they know) character so-in-so did (the big plot point), I wonder if using a similar strategy might make your character’s motivation clearer BECAUSE…
    - Then you tell them why you think this suggestion might be something worth considering. And if you can’t tell them why it’s worth considering, then take it as a sign that it’s probably not.

I hope that helps you navigate the next time you’re asked to read someone’s work, and gives you a roadmap for giving written feedback that will actually help your fellow writer. All without being a jerk in the process.

Kelly ChastainMay 7, 2026

How To Ask for Feedback on Your Writing and Get Notes That Actually Help

You have more control over this than you think

In all my years teaching creative writing, I utilized a writing workshop model in my class that was a mash up Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process and the philosophy of Felicia Rose Chavez’s The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop. If you lead creative writing sessions with a feedback component, I can’t recommend Chavez’s work enough.

If you’re in a writing group, looking to form one, or if you’re asking beta readers for feedback and don’t know how to direct them, this is for you. Guidelines aren’t just helpful. They establish expectations and set the tone. So, along with your creative work, you’re going to create a document that will consist of four parts.

What I’d Like You To Focus On

In this section, you’ll tell your readers what you’re having the biggest issues with, or what you perceive as trouble. For example, if you’ve been working on deepening your MCs characterization by including more interiority, you can ask your reader to note where it is and isn’t working. Where it’s too much or not enough. Where it starts to feel like we’re living in their head more than in the world you’ve created.

This also helps your readers understand what’s important to you as the writer. I read a lot of submissions in genres that aren’t my preferred genre. That’s how it works when you’re teaching, and having my students tell me what to focus on has taught me a ton about how they see their genre, some of the conventions that I may have missed, and what’s truly important to them in their story.

It’s too easy to get caught up in what we want the story to be, but when the writer tells us precisely what they’re going for, and asks if we can look out here and see if they’ve hit it? It takes us off the hook, and they get better feedback.

If this is a rough draft and you’re just trying to see if the idea has teeth, you can say something like, I’m just looking for your general impression. Let me know what’s standing out to you good and bad. You don’t have to have 15 bullet points and a manifesto here. A few way markers can make all the difference.

What I Already Know Isn’t Working

This is where you tell your reader what you’re working through, and that can take a variety of forms. For example:

This is the first time I’m trying this in third person, and I know I’ve probably missed some of the pronouns and verb conjugations after I flipped it from first person. I also know this POV switch isn’t fully landing.

This can range from a few sentences to a few paragraphs so your readers understand the context of your thinking, and the other elements of the story that you’re grappling with as you’re making decisions.

If this is a rough draft and you already know that most of it isn’t working, this is the place to let your readers know where you are in the larger process. Flagging it as a shitty first draft is massively helpful for your readers because they’ll know not to flag every typo. We’ll all assume that most of this is going to be rewritten, and the feedback can focus on the broader points of the narrative.

My List of Questions

The magic of this section is where you ask for help specific help if you want it. It’s also a great place to add more context to your questions to help your readers give you more considered feedback.

I know the train station scene is a real mess, and when this was in first person the reader knew what the character was thinking and her motivation. Any suggestions on how to let the reader know that she’s planning to rob the ticket agent? I want the reader to still have sympathy for her.
When the porters are emptying the baggage car, they drop and trunk and everything spills out of it. Did that seem like a reasonable enough distraction for her to be able to rob the ticket agent? Is there something even more obnoxious that would make more people turn to look, and make her get away more believable?
I tried to differentiate the men in the train car by giving one a mustache and the other a midwestern accent. Was it enough?

This is what I call the developmental editing section of the document because usually looking for help to patch a hole in your plot, or make a scene really sing. This tells your reader that they can get creative and that you’re open to their interpretations. That brainstorming is welcome. You also don’t have to put anything in this section. It’s entirely optional.

This is How I Want To Receive Your Feedback

This is the most important part of this document. Even if you don’t put anything in the other three sections, don’t sleep on this one. This is where you tell folks the best way to give you feedback. It’s perfectly reasonable to say something like:

Please only tell me the positives when we meet, and I’ll go over the page notes to see the critiques of what isn’t working in writing. It’s easier for me to digest the feedback that way.

You might be the kind of writer who wants your readers to tear your piece to shreds and give it to you straight. I had a ton of students who were like that, but I also had a ton who thrived with a gentler approach. And I wanted to honor them all. Because the whole point of having a writing community, and giving each other feedback, is to help each other become the writers we want to be.

And we can’t do that if half the room feels like they’ve been flogged or handled like blown glass. Whether you’re anxious about feedback, gung-ho to hear it, or somewhere in between, this model gives guidelines for everyone. Readers included. Phew!

We’ve made a fillable template if that makes your life easier. You can grab it here.

“Read” this post as a YouTube video instead