There’s been some discussion today about a new app called Clean Reader, which will allow you to read your favorite ebooks with the profanity edited out. Not surprisingly, some authors are vehemently against the idea, seeing it as, at best, censorship of their work, and at worst, unlawful editing of a copyrighted text. Others pointContinue reading “See You Next Tuesday”
Tag Archives: on writing
Talent is a myth
Late last week, an article on The Stranger made the rounds on Twitter, shared among furious writers of all kinds. The article, “Things I Can Say About MFA Writing Programs Now That I No Longer Teach In One” purported to have advice for aspiring writers, by a former professor who had seen it all. ItContinue reading “Talent is a myth”
Nanowrimo Now What?: The Synopsis
In the second part of my “Nanowrimo Now What?” posts, I’m going to talk about writing a synopsis. This might seem like jumping the gun; after all, you’re not going to be querying agents for this monstrosity you’ve written just yet. But a synopsis can be used for more than just getting an agent interestedContinue reading “Nanowrimo Now What?: The Synopsis”
A fresh start
I survived the end of December, although just barely. I got ridiculously sick on Christmas Eve and decided to spread the cheer by giving the cold to all of my friends and family. My New Year’s resolutions are, like every year, about writing. This time I’m being a little more concrete with my goals. TheContinue reading “A fresh start”
Nanowrimo Now What?: How to Critique and Be Critiqued
I got my laptop back from the Genius Bar 10 days ago, and the graphics card has just started to go again, so I probably only have another week or two before the whole computer dies a third time. In the meantime: the post-Nanowrimo entry that I promised! Writing groups are invaluable for authors. TheContinue reading “Nanowrimo Now What?: How to Critique and Be Critiqued”
Nanowrimo prep: Point of View
We’re coming up to the wire now: Nanowrimo starts in less than 3 hours for me (on Eastern Daylight Time) and has already started in most of the world. So here’s my final post in the Nanowrimo prep series. I hope to do a couple posts during the month of November if I can tearContinue reading “Nanowrimo prep: Point of View”
Nanowrimo prep: Themes
I remember in high school, reading books like Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Steinbeck’s The Red Pony and having to identify the Christ metaphors and color symbolism. I knew without a doubt that no author would ever actually put this crappy symbolism stuff in their novel intentionally. Unless you were doing itContinue reading “Nanowrimo prep: Themes”
Nanowrimo prep: Setting
A lot of story planning can start with setting. Depending on the genre, you could come up with a whole series worth of plots, just from making a map and figuring out what kind of people live in the world you’ve created. The setting can (and should!) be a character in itself. It can helpContinue reading “Nanowrimo prep: Setting”
Nanowrimo prep: Making characters
We found out this really simple rule… We can take these beats, which are basically the beats of your outline, and if the words ‘and then’ belong between those beats, you’re fucked, basically. You’ve got something pretty boring. What should happen between every beat that you’ve written down is either the word ‘therefore’ or ‘but.’Continue reading “Nanowrimo prep: Making characters”
Nanowrimo prep: Outlining your novel
Nanowrimo is a month and a half away, and while technically the rules state that you can only start planning a week in advance, I say fuck the rules. If you want to end November with a novel you can actually do something with, you need a plan. Nanowrimo calls them planners and pantsers (asContinue reading “Nanowrimo prep: Outlining your novel”
Bennett North 