writing fiction | writing fiction
May.09.2013
I’m not ready for my close up. I have to confess a few things first. Enumerating them, I count four but they twist together like strings of holiday lights, so…you know…I quit counting. I’ve had a few beers so please excuse me if this isn’t the epitome of coherence.
I didn’t have a...
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Oct.29.2012
Is there a difference between visionary, spiritual and metaphysical fiction?
Ever since I appeared as a co-host on Meet the Author (link at end of post), in an episode discussing author Pat Sheehy’s spiritual and metaphysical novels, I’ve received a few emails posing the above, and related,...
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Aug.16.2012
Nancy Au (whose own writing and art can be found at peascarrots), has done some terrific interviews for the Why There Are Words reading series. I’m reproducing our interview here.
Nancy Au: You wrote the wonderful craft book Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers...
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Apr.17.2012
Back when I started writing short stories (in grade school), I felt my biggest problem was producing credible dialogue - and that problem never really ends, does it?
I am very fortunate in having been raised among the works of classical English and French writers, so I went on a hunt. How did my...
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Jan.15.2012
“To see and hear people lie,” said Ivan Ivanych, turning over on the other side, “and to be called a fool yourself for putting up with the lie; to endure insults, humiliations, not daring to say openly that you’re on the side...
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Dec.29.2011
At a fourth grade play the other day, my daughter was by far the best whistler. I’m bragging. Which isn’t like me. But there’s a reason why: by being the best whistler, my fourth-grader effectively blew away the small rather arrogant boy standing near her who frequently calls her “milk...
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Oct.23.2011
“You’re writing a book?” A young woman at the coffee shop nearly swoons. “Oh, I would love to write a book!”
“Love has nothing to do with it.” I scowl into my mocha.
Back home at my computer, I fight the invisible ropes that are winching me toward the vacuum cleaner, the garden, the...
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Jun.29.2011
WHERE MY IDEAS COME FROM
Before I grow old and forget, I thought it might be cool to keep a record of where some of my bigger ideas originally came from.
My first full length feature screenplay "Cat's Game" I came up with as a result of an assignment in one of my first screenwriting...
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Nov.13.2010
Today Mike Larsen, a literary agent and author of How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, offers another post on how to write a successful query letter--one that can gain the attention of an agent or acquisitions editor. He and his partner Elizabeth Pomada run the Larsen-...
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Sep.15.2010
In the universal story, every quest involves a separation; the initiate leaves what is comfortable and familiar and ordinary and enters the unknown. Thresholds symbolize the space between leaving and before beginning something new. All beings on earth cross this line at pre-determined stages...
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