Friday, August 24, 2018
Readers Don't Care Who Publishes Your Book--Really!
Friday, August 17, 2018
How Much Research Is Really Enough? Building Worlds, Bringing Back Worlds
Friday, August 10, 2018
Wounding Event--The Backstory That Drives Your Narrator
A short post this week: I'm just returning from teaching at a writing retreat and wanted to share this article in Fiction Writers Review
by Michelle Hoover, on the wounding event, a pivotal moment of
backstory that drives much of the internal quest of your narrator. If
you have trouble accessing the link, go to www.fictionwritersreview.com and search for "wounding event."
Friday, July 27, 2018
Unlearning How to Write Your Book--What You Need to Forget You Knew
In May, at Grub Street's annual writing conference, The Muse and the Marketplace, I sat in on a lively workshop taught by writer Steve Almond. If you've heard of The Rumpus's "Dear Sugar," you'll know Steve (and his co-writer, Cheryl Strayed). His workshop was about stuff we know that we need to unlearn. Forget. Let go of. Set aside. He focused specifically on a rule that's dear to many writers, "show, don't tell." Steve feels this is a crock and he's not mincing words to tell you why. We ran through examples from published authors who used telling skillfully--and some examples of showing that didn't make the mark at all.
Friday, July 13, 2018
How Close Are You to Your 10,000 Hours? Viewing Writing as Practice
On our fridge we have a New Yorker cartoon. A dog is sitting on a mountain ledge at the feet of his guru. The caption reads: "The bone is not the reward--digging for the bone is the reward." I keep it there to keep me humble. About my writing, and my 10,000 hours.
A past MISA student sent me a great article about this (thanks, Tom!). As a beginner so many times during my life--in writing, in playing a musical instrument, in kayaking, in painting--I know well the impatience we can have to have it all now. To be good enough immediately, to show unexpected genius, to land that incredible deal, because we have such innate skills. We want to not practice writing, we want to just be a great writer. Right?
Moving from Writer to Reader View: Revision Steps to Make Your Book Stand Out
Books enter our lives in distinct stages. First comes the wild idea. It grows gradually in the inner room of your creative self, until you can't ignore it. You have to get it down. This burst of energy propels you through an important starting gate--past ideas ruminating inside to ideas on the page. Maybe they're externalized for the first time, and they generate other ideas. You write for months, years, whatever it takes to shape your vision. This initial timeline is very individual: if it's your first book, you may need a lot of time to dream. Or, if it's been generating inside for years, it may come forth in a mad rush.
It's exciting, this idea to vision stage. And eventually, you have a draft. It's way rough (I love writer Anne Lamott's name for it: shitty first draft), but without it, you ain't got nothing, as they say. So you start here.
Friday, July 6, 2018
Fueled from Within or Without--How Does Your Narrator Move the Story Along?
As I often do when I need a jump start into a new book I'm writing, I signed up for an online class this summer. My class is good, with writers of varied skills and experiences, all exploring new narrators, characters, plots, and other ideas for their next manuscript.
Our instructor assigned us a well-reviewed contemporary novel to read and analyze during the course: Chemistry by Weike Wang. It's generated a lively discussion, because, well, the narrator isn't lively at all.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Backstory--A New Take on Its Usefulness in Memoir and Fiction
I "grew up" as a writer in the era of NO BACKSTORY ALLOWED. I was given examples of stories and books that had zero backstory and engaged readers completely. So I worked hard to eliminate any pesky references to the past--whether summarized as backstory (background of the story) or presented as flashbacks in scene.
I got published, and all was well in my writing life sans backstory for many years. Flash forward to my MFA experience and advisers who began to cure me of my antagonistic attitude towards stalling out scene with flashback or inserting large swaths of the past as summary. These writers hinted that backstory was important, even as an explanation of character motive. Why people do what they do was becoming more interesting to readers than what they did.
Friday, June 22, 2018
100 Things about Writing a Novel--Wisdom from Alexander Chee
I've long admired the novelist Alexander Chee, not just for his writing, but for his approach to writing. It's sensible, it works, and he shares his tips and ideas generously.
I'm taking an online course with Grub Street to kick start my next book, and the instructor, Alison Murphy, shared a wonderful article from the Yale Reviewwhere Chee offers 100 things he's found about writing a novel. The insights are so useful, and not just to novelists but anyone writing a book-length work, that I thought I'd share as this week's writing exercise.
Click here to read the article. (If for any reason the link doesn't work, go to yalereview.yale.edu and search for Alexander Chee. Enjoy!
Friday, June 15, 2018
Querying Too Soon: We've All Done It, Here's How to Avoid the Temptation
You've been working hard on your manuscript and it feels in reasonable shape. Plus, you're reading articles and books about writing the perfect query letter. A sort of urgency, maybe even FOMO (fear of missing out), is growing inside. Is it too soon to begin the query process?
An all-important question. I can almost predict when a writer will ask it. What stage of manuscript, what stage of experience. I've asked it myself many times--because it's almost impossible to know when is too soon, when is too late. I'll share some of what I've learned in my own publishing journey and advice from those who have an inside view.
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