Coffee Break No. 6 – John Irving: How I Work
Wrap your hands around a warm mug of coffee and then wrap your mind around this: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2mId99XQYg] [tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly]
Missing Pages
A couple of weekends ago we had a yard sale. My Mom hauled her stuff to our house to join in the fun. In clearing out some of her stuff, she came across a book called The Short Story and Its Writer edited by Ann Charters and published by St. Martin’s Press and asked if …
Coffee Break No. 5 – In the Right Place
A little pick-me-up for all y’all. I hope you find it as apropos of what you’re doing on this day as I do of what I’m doing. If you’re feeling a little low, bust out the pen and paper, the word processor, the typewriter or the clay tablets and get some words, any words, down. …
The Windup Girl
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] — I had never read any of Paolo Bacigalupi’s short stories before I delved into The Windup Girl. I want to now. I’d seen The Windup Girl on all kinds of lists last fall, but never really looked at the cover. The title didn’t appeal to me overly much. This spring, …
Coffee Break No. 4 – Mieville
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] “We are all the mucky aggregates of all our influences.” China Mieville discussing reading while writing. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFJr-oy50w] Enjoy! Update 4/28/10: China Miéville’s The City and the City has won Miéville the UK’s most prestigious SF prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, making him the first author ever to win three times.
Coffee Break No. 3: Literature in Song
There are thousands of songs out there, but here are a few of my faves. Feel free to chip in in the comments with your own. Hamlet – The Band – Ophelia [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8] Animal Farm – Pink Floyd Animals The Grapes of Wrath – Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost of Tom Joad [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKKpmbcSe5E] The Story …
Deep Cover
I’m hanging out with Laurence Fishburne these days, busting my hump to get my notes in shape for my third draft of Shadow of the Black City. I suppose if I must sacrifice something, it will be some blogging and tweeting long before it will be the writing, especially since I’d like to be getting …
Coffee Break No. 2
Been listening to Bonnie Prince Billy while writing lately, courtesy of my brother. Turn the lights down and the hi-fi up. Sip your java and just listen. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2PL2zO034] And just to show that Bonnie Prince Billy has an upbeat side: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxQuH910xc4] For what it’s worth, this guy (real name Will Oldham) played a young preacher …
Writing from an Outline (or summary, if you will. And I know you will.)
Way back in the beginning of the new decade (Jan. 15 to be precise), I was reading Albert Zuckerman’s Writing the Blockbuster Novel. Although there were some useful bits in there, it was Ken Follett”s successive outlines for The Man From St. Petersburg that caught my eye. When people talked about outlines and writing I …
Writing from an Outline (or summary, if you will. And I know you will.) Read More »
Listening
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ow.ly] Have you ever come away from a conversation discombobulated, wondering what happened? Listen to how people talk and you’ll know why that happens. You’ll find this advice in so many books about writing. But what happens when you actually do that? What happens when you listen in on your own coversations? …