II. Backstories: Creative Reimagining
Reimagining. That’s what we fiction writers do. We take the stuff of our lives and reimagine it as fictional people, places…
Read more
I. Backstories: The Boy with Sad Eyes
I stopped by the frame rental house to invite him to an event planned for kids in his inner city…
Are You Maggie?
I’ve been asked this question a number of times about the protagonist in my novel Absolution. I doubt this is…
V. Publishing a Novel: Self-Publishing
Once upon a time, they called this “vanity” publishing. The implication, of course, was that self-publishing was for people who…
IV. Publishing a Novel: Part 2. Going It Alone
Now that you’ve worked your way through part or all of a guidebook and listed potential publishers (see my previous…
III. Publishing a Novel: Part 1. Going it Alone
No, I’m not talking about self-publishing here. I’ll leave that for another post. Instead, I’ll describe a process that’s worked…
II. Publishing a Novel: Getting an Agent
In my last post I talked about the value of an agent. Now here’s the grim reality: the odds for an…
I. Publishing a Novel: The Value of an Agent
The first time I submitted a novel manuscript to an agent, I received a phone call a few weeks…
Dialogue that Speaks
I once critiqued a fictional story based on the writer’s own life experiences. When I noted that his dialogue…
So You Want to be a Writer
“If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re…
Butt In, Distractions Out
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form…
Necessary Arrogance
Writing is a tough business. Gratification (publishing) can be long in coming. If and when it does, royalties are…
Why We Write
But isn’t it really about personal fulfillment? If you’re a struggling writer, you’ve probably had someone say this…
Two Daisies
Recently, the New York Times Book Review featured two writers asked to comment on the question, “Do critics make good…
The White Room
I heard Twyla Tharp say that to begin a new work of choreography, she enters a “white room.” Certainly, this…