Category: The Writing Life
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Don’t Kill Your Darlings. Exile Them.
I don’t believe in writer’s block, but man was I stuck on this novel. I say that in passing, but I’m forgetting that some of you don’t know I finished the third draft my fourth novel (my first publishable novel). See the update bars < if you’re looking at this on a laptop. Mobile will have them below /. So that…
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50 Reads for Writers
Often I get questions like: If you didn’t go to school for writing, how did you learn? How do I improve as an editor? Are there any good books out there for writers? What’s wrong with this story? …among others. A long while back I shared twenty-three books. I’ve since expanded that list to a nice, round fifty. If…
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A Note on Dilemmas
Rarely in life do any of us have to pick between the lesser of two evils. Rare enough that I considered saying, “never.” Instead, dilemmas show up that force us to choose the greater of two goods. We must pick between what is right and what is cool, or between what is beautiful and what…
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Story Q&A: When should budget limit my film’s genre?
One of the questions that has come up in Free Lance Friday was posed by a screenwriter and filmmaker: when should my budget limit my story? The answer is either always or never, but not both. First, “never.” Your budget, as a screenwriter, should never limit your story when you write to sell your screenplay.…
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Storyssentials: Dialect
“De man ain’t asleep — he’s dead. You hold still — I’ll go en see.” He went, and bent down and looked, and says: “It’s a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He’s ben shot in de back. I reck’n he’s ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan’ look at his face —…
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Why Nonfiction Writers Need Style Editors
Let’s face it: most nonfiction sucks. And let’s face it, this seldom comes from bad content. If you hope to publish in the nonfiction world, they keep a not-so-best-kept secret called “the book proposal.” I write proposals for nonfiction writers and the gist goes: “if you have a nonfiction book idea, never write the manuscript.…
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Kinnaston: A Serial Story at the Hub of the World…
You guys know that I reblog about as often as politicians tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God. However, I find it VERY important to shamelessly plug writers I invest in, especially when I consider them close friends. That said, were I searching for an entertaining serial story by…
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On Good Catastrophes
Pneumonia. Turns out, something does beat the shingles and it comes in the form of a needle thick as an IV and full of muscle-maddening antibiotic. That was last week, who knows what adventures this one will behold? Anyways, sorry to hide under a wet, cold dishrag all week but I’m back in the space-saddle editing…
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Guest Post: “Cheese” by G.K. Chesterton
Today I’m happy to welcome G.K. Chesterton to speak to us on Cheese. Take it away, G.K.! Cheers, Lancelot. My forthcoming work in five volumes, The Neglect of Cheese in European Literature,’ is a work of such unprecedented and laborious detail that it is doubtful whether I shall live to finish it. Some overflowings from…
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Rabid and Danse Macbre
Over break, I started Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus and I must say it’s one of the most brutal pieces of nonfiction to cross my desk. Wasik and Murphy headed up a research team for years, digging into the origins of the disease that took down Old Yeller. (Sorry to…
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Partnerships
Hey gang, Made a quick update to the Published Works and Projects page by adding the logos of former and current partnerships:
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Free Lance Friday & Discounts!
Freelance ain’t free [except when it is]. It’s that time again–time for you shy or procrastinating or wary people to send your stories, poems, articles, research papers, opening novel chapters, book proposals, etc. and I send them back to you, line-edited, critiqued or written free of charge. It’s only this Friday, and it’s first-come-first-serve. Two…