The Necessity of 'Willful Blindness' in Writing
theatlantic.com – Wednesday February 14, 2018
There’s nothing conventional about Heart Berries, Terese Marie Mailhot’s debut. A little over 100 pages, it’s far short of the 80,000 words most memoirs need to be deemed viable. There’s barely any exposition: Major characters enter the narrative intimately and without fanfare, almost as though we know them already. A crucial scene might be just three lines of unsparing poetry. In short, the book does everything it technically shouldn’t, brushing off the familiar regimen prescribed by MFA programs, and slipping the strictures of commercial publishing. The thrilling part is, it works. Heart Berries is a reminder that, in the right hands, literature can do anything it wants.
8 Short Story Writing Tips from a Dean of Creative Writing
snhu.edu – Tuesday February 13, 2018
I love stories. It's safe to assume that applies to all fiction writers. Novels allow us to weave complex narratives that evoke authentic worlds and intriguing characters. The benefit of a novel is that it gives a writer the time and space to build a fictional, yet believable, world. It can also be argued that it gives writers too much time and space.
Short stories can also contain rich settings and compelling characters, but they force efficiency upon a writer. While this might seem frightening at first, I find that the confines of a short story often boil the work down to its most important, and compelling, parts.
So, where do you start? There is no magic formula, and each writer follows his or her own unique process, but I hold to eight general guidelines when sitting down to draft a short story.
John McPhee's writing advice, why you should go to a writing workshop and David Bowie's reading list
abc.net.au – Tuesday February 6, 2018
We sit down for a writing class with Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed non-fiction author John McPhee.
The New Yorker writer is best-known for his meticulously-researched and wonderfully evocative pieces about everything from conservation, to basketball, to one book all about oranges!
His latest book, Draft No. 4, details his writing process – including the strange maps and one-of-a-kind computer system that are integral to his process.
Romance fiction authors reveal their secrets to writing about love and sex
perthnow.com.au – Saturday February 3, 2018
THE age of the alpha hole — the brooding, brutish alpha male that would set hearts aflutter in the bodice-rippers of yore — is over. The nice guys have won.
These days, the men steaming up the pages of romantic fiction are single dads, emotionally vulnerable Regency lords and bikies yearning to swap guns for groceries.
Dear younger writer self, can I give you some advice?
irishtimes.com – Thursday January 25, 2018
Joan Brady on taking the scenic route to write her novel, missing her deadline to go from journalist to author by a mere 20 years.
I often reward writing a thousand words with a latte and eight jammie dodgers
irishtimes.com – Wednesday January 24, 2018
Louise Beech: Writing without a deal, agent or audience means you can be the most honest you’ll probably ever be
Adversity is a great place for inspiration. It lends a sort of desperation, a need to create and make something good when the world seems against us. It’s not a great place to permanently live, but without experiencing it for at least a good period of time we don’t grow, survive, or scream to be heard. During adversity, we write hungry. I mean this in a spiritual way, not literally, though it can help to be physically hungry too. I often reward writing a thousand words with a latte and eight Jammie Dodgers.
Want to Succeed at Self-Publishing? Join a Writers' Group: Tips from an Indie Author
publishersweekly.com – Monday December 11, 2017
Writing a book about living with areata—a condition in which the immune system attacks hair follicles, leading to baldness—was a way for Deeann Callis Graham to “find some peace with what was happening to [her] physically and emotionally.” The book, Head-On, was praised by Publishers Weekly as “heartwarming” and “a powerful compilation of profiles with a sincere and encouraging message.”
Before self-publishing Head-On, Graham went to writing workshops, met other indie authors, and read widely about publishing. Although she was ready to tackle the writing and design of the book, she was caught off-guard by the demands of marketing. “Marketing is a long and arduous process that I wish I would have known more about in the beginning…Most of the marketing I do is within the alopecia areata community. My biggest surprise has been the challenge of reaching that niche audience. I thought it would be easier.”
How to get published if you’re not in the know
irishtimes.com – Wednesday December 6, 2017
Everyone who works in publishing will be familiar with the phone call in which you are asked to advise a friend or friend-of-a-friend about a book they have just written. Some people might pretend to roll their eyes or grumble a little, but it is, to be honest, one of the most gratifying of moments. We all know it. Finally, you can be of some actual use to all the people with real jobs who were always happy to offer you practical help over the years when you were reading things.
Writing a bestselling book
independent.co.uk – Friday November 24, 2017
Every author hopes their novel will earn that elusive but much-desired tag of bestseller – can there possibly be any better branding to have on your paperback, one that will open more doors, attract more readers, and set the writer on the path to fame, riches and a warm glow every time they check Amazon?
But is it possible to actually set out to write a bestseller? We could all write a novel, given enough time, inspiration, and ink and paper. It might not necessarily be a very good novel, but we can be taught the mechanics. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of would-be novelists have been trying their hand at doing just that this past month as part of National Novel Writing Month.
Romance and the bloke — Aussie male romance writers tap into billion-dollar industry
abc.net.au – Thursday November 23, 2017
The romance novel is mainly written by and for women, but there are a few men like Jeff Kenneally willing to tackle the billion-dollar industry.
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