For this final day of NaNoWriMo, here are some words of wisdom from one of the most prolific and best known American authors. “if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or […]
Ray Bradbury on Writing Read More »
Steph Cha starts her day by reading and writing Yelp reviews. “That’s where I get my junky habitual writing done, which has been really helpful to me. I’ve been doing it my whole career. I’ve Yelped every restaurant I’ve ever been to. I also Yelped an eye doctor today. It’s just a habit I’ve always
Steph Cha on Writing Process Read More »
With a nod to NaNoWriMo, this month’s quotations focus on how novelists approach the process of creating a novel. Last week featured two quotations from writers who don’t outline their novels, so it’s only fair to include a representative from the other side of the issue here: “I do a very concise outline. Part of
Quotation: On Outlining a Novel Read More »
Related Post: Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser? “Like many writers I know, I do not (so far) outline my work in advance. I begin a novel with a destination in mind but the route is vague. Any attempt to map the journey will, I worry, render the unwritten pages artificial and ridiculous.”
Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser (Again)? Read More »
Those of you participating in NaNoWriMo will know what that question means: Do you plot out your novel beforehand, or do you compose by the seat of your pants? As a nonfiction writer, I’m way over on the plotter side of this spectrum. However, I have had the experience of writing in flow, during which
Quotation: Are You a Plotter or a Pantser? Read More »
Because it’s NaNoWriMo, all this month’s quotations will swirl around the general topic of writing fiction. Here’s a suggestion on how to get started. “Once you create the character — if the character is really well done, complex enough and interesting enough — the character is going to create the story for you. . .
Quotation: On Characters Read More »
Why do we read scary books? “We’re a peculiar lot, when you think about it: we work so hard to make our world, our environment safer… and then we actively seek out things that will make us afraid. Horror movies, urban legends, ghost stories. We hunt down the darkness and we revel in it. Why?
“Mental illness is less a disease of the mind and more of a societal blindness. Reading fiction opens our eyes to other people’s way of viewing the world. As a reader, there have been magical moments that I have felt the soul of someone I’ve never met has seen me. As a writer, it is
Quotation: “How We Write Mental Illness in Fiction” Read More »
“We think of the writer as being the person who writes the book and the book as an object, solid and unchanging. But the book is a mutable object. I can write a book and you can read it, and in doing that, we’ve engaged in a process of cocreation. The book that you read
Quotation: Ruth Ozeki on Reading Read More »
“But reading is actually the opposite of escape. No story can live without the reader’s emotional participation. The writer’s words are but directions to a place within the reader where sadness and joy and grief and curiosity and boredom and hope and despair reside. The words alone are a skeleton; the reader’s felt responses to
Quotation: “Life Matters” Read More »
