I get some of my best ideas from my twice-monthly critique group meetings. Last night, I was commenting on the manuscript presented by one of our members and noted that the main character remained unnamed for the first 45 pages. The author responded, “why do you need to know that?” It’s a damn good question, and took me a moment to answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Technically, this isn’t a quirk of English, but of English speakers misunderstanding a Spanish phrase. “Let’s settle this right now, pardner, mano a mano.” You can see the tumbleweeds, hear the keening of the vultures circling overhead. An empty street, save for two gunfighters, hands poised at the ready… Read the rest of this entry »

I had in mind several writing topics on which to blog today, but I put them all aside. Tomorrow, more talk of writing. Today, it’s fitting to pause and ponder the words of an inspirational leader on the 4oth anniversary of his death. The message is just as clear and relevant now as it was then.

I was browsing my favorite grammar news sites this morning, when I came across a breaking story that made me quiver with happiness. As anyone who has ever had to learn English knows, it’s not exactly the most compact or logical of tongues. My heart goes out to anyone trying to pick it up as a second (or third, or fourth) language. Seriously. I mean, what’s up with some of our spellings? They’re all over the map! Which brings me to today’s news… Read the rest of this entry »

How’s that title for blatant hyperbole? It raises a question worth discussing, however; exactly what role does description play in fiction? This morning, I read a post on Writer Unboxed that discusses descriptive passages and their use in genre fiction. As I read, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Before I could even get to the end of the article, I was sputtering with outrage. (Note to self: cut back on the caffeine.) “Of course description is important!” I yelled to the dog. But is it? Read the rest of this entry »

Bruce Holland Rogers writes short stories. I’m not talking novella here, nor even a few pages. Think shorter. He cranks out three works of flash fiction per month, firing them directly into the email inboxes of his subscribers. Read the rest of this entry »

I can hear your eyes rolling. “Manuscript formatting? Great, here he goes again…” Dinking around with MS Word styles is like watching paint dry, I get it. So rather than foam at the mouth yet again about how to properly format and structure your Word doc, I’m going to hand you a shiny golden Easter egg — a pre-formatted Word template that you can download and start using right away. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a scene in my current novel that’s bedeviled me from the start. Twice now, I’ve started to write it, and twice it’s gone nowhere. It’s not a complicated scene; there are two characters (three if you count the dog - my stories always seem to have a dog) meeting in a run-down office. The younger character has brought the older one a donut as a peace offering, and is wheedling to get his job back, even though he hates the work. Though the scene is brief, it feels important to the overall story, which is why I’ve been so frustrated that it hasn’t materialized. This morning, while free-writing, the solution came to me like a bolt from the blue. Read the rest of this entry »

I love a neatly-pressed, crisp shirt about as much as anything. For years, I’ve found myself lapsing into a fantasy that there’s a machine into which I can insert one of my old wrinkled shirts, press a button, and in a cloud of steam it would open to reveal those razor-line sleeves and a perfectly smooth placket; kind of like a pants press.

But here’s the problem—unlike simple pants, shirts are complex creations. They have lines that go every which-a-way, seams that zip off in all directions, buttons that pop up in most inopportune places. The shape that makes them so appealing when ironed is the very thing that makes them so hard to press in the first place. A novel is a lot like that. Read the rest of this entry »

Let me preface this by saying that I’m a pragmatist when it comes to the creative process. Often, I hear friends talk about characters who want to do this, or refuse to do that, as if those fictional beings held the reins. I might give a knowing smile or nod, but down deep I’m thinking whack job. A writer writes. Characters are just that, figments of that writer’s imagination. They do what the writer tells them to do; no more, no less. After this morning, however, I might have to slightly revise that stance. Read the rest of this entry »