Category: The Writing Life
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Bad Thinking: “Wait Until You Have Something to Say”
There’s a rotten thought running around lecture halls, councils and writing groups these days. That idea goes like this: “You’ve nothing to say when you’re young. Wait until you’ve lived a little, then you’ll have something to say.” People tell themselves this while staring into the mirror or preach this to others all the time. I…
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Write the Breakout Novel
Thanks to Ellie for another great rec to write the Breakout Novel. For one, Maass promises no short cut. Hard work pays. For another, he shifts the blame for bad book revenue from the editors, agents, publishers and publicists to where it should be–on the author. If your story does not sell, you have no…
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“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
Recent Work Miscellany The following articles by yours truly will come out next month, this month or next year at this time: “To Prevail or ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Flak’” in Hollywood and Vine (article, May/June 2012) “Poker in the Pokey” in Poker Pro (article, June 2012)* “Stamping the Name” in Encounter (article, May 2012)…
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Storyssentials: Sentence
Brevity and depth–that’s what you can expect from this post if you reflect. It would seem trivial to call “sentences” essential bits of story. Part of this comes from people who assume that writers toil for words. Photographers use photoshop, but they toil for photos. Graphic designers use illustrator, but they toil for graphics. Writers…
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Automate Second Drafts
If you’ve ever written a paper, story or speech, you’ll want to learn how to do this. Elsewhere I’ve ranted about the benefits of reading your words aloud or having someone read them back to you. Things sound different when spoken into the air, when you hear words exist as they were intended – audible…
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Rejection Letter Fail
Therapeutic to watch a writer tweak this rejection email sent CC: by mistake from agent to 238 of us:#amwriting #fail pic.twitter.com/MRF2qhFf (This email thread went on for hours as we all bantered back and forth about it. They call themselves “The 238”).
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Kvothe’s Sex Life Part 2: Felurian & The Adem
Well, gang, here we go again. Last time, I talked on Kvothe’s Sex Life, I had only finished NOTW and started WMF. Having finished WMF, I got a flurry of questions about sex and literature. Spoilers below. After a romp through the rainy tent-sheets, Kvothe comes out the other side of the enemy encampment saying…
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Antagonists: Unknown Forces & Changing Flesh
Which is scarier? The bad guy you never see or the bad guy you think you know that changes into something awful? These two categories make up all the thriller/horror genre, according to Stephen King, and all the “fear” category of antagonists. So, then, which terrified you more when it all came down to it?…