In the Book Writing World, we have learned this about story structure: “The CRISIS is when the choice is made and the CLIMAX is when the choice is acted on.” That sounds good. Now, to the difficult question: What are your chracter’s choices? What happens after your character makes the first set of choices? How […]
Every writer has voices inside his or head, angels counseling us what to write, what details to include, what generalities to omit. Most of us don’t actually hear these voices…but we aware of them as we grapple with character and plot development, and try to finish writing our books. In the Book Writing World, Elizabeth
Governing by Committee Read More »
Our “job” as writers is to describe, describe, describe. This means that we as writers have to take what we are imagining and place it on the written page – share it with our readers. Sounds easy enough. But writing is hard and often we leave out something that could turn an otherwise okay description
Sum of our opportunities Read More »
First Loves Most of us get writers’ block. A lot. Then, inexplicably, the urge to clean the kitchen or watch bad TV takes over and before you can blink twice, the sun has set and another day has disappeared… The key to overcoming the experience of not being able to write is to keep the
Today is the “ides” of January, 2012. A good a day as any to start my new job as “Blog Editor” at the BWW. Elizabeth asked me recently, during our BWW workshop class, to go back to my favorite books, as a way of solving a problem that I’m having with plot in my novel-in-progress.
Back to the Future, BWW style Read More »
Meredith Maran is an accomplished journalist and author whose daring, personal and controversial memoir is out TODAY!
Meredith Maran’s New Book Read More »
This is going to be a chatty, informal blog. I’ve been promising some great links to my Book Writing World members and I thought I’d post them here for everyone.
Great Links on Publishing and Writing Plus Some Chattiness Read More »
Lucy Jane Bledsoe, in our soon-to-be-released video interview, talks about how in fiction, people are stressed by something. Often, in America at least, we turn to violence for this stress. In her engaging new novel, The Big-Bang Symphony, Bledsoe uses, among other things, the harsh and beautiful setting–Antarctica–to stress her characters. This comment inspired me
Stress: How to Create Problems for Your Characters Read More »
One course the Book Writing World offers members is “Trading Trade Secrets.” Here, we peer at sharp passages of writing to tease apart the techniques that make great prose sing. I’ve already covered openings, dialog, voice and point of view, character in conflict, symbol, desire and escalation and the crisis choice. Each month, when the
Serving Verbs: Trade Secrets from Kate Moses Read More »
I just spent the morning with Kate Moses on the official publication day of her compelling new memoir, Cakewalk. We filmed our interview in the sunny kitchen, glass door open onto a backyard, three white cats circling and purring. I read Cakewalk in the days before our meeting, laughing out loud and also sobbing. Yes,
KateWalk: A Delicious Memoir of Cakes, Writing and One Heck of a Life Read More »
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