Inevitably I’ll get to a point in my story where things are boring me, the events aren’t logical in the greater context of the story, or something seemed like a good idea at the time but is no longer working (or all three!). Or I’ll be doing a read-through of my latest draft and there …
Studies show it’s true. Look, I get it. You dearly want a neat, multi-step process for getting from idea to finished novel. Maybe there are people out there who are able to go step by glorious well-defined step and end up with a work that pleases them (and, ideally, others). Most of us are not …
I read books on writing in waves, gleaning what I can and moving on to get to the business of actually writing. I’ve been reading fewer of these kinds of books as of late, which I suppose is inevitable as you see the same advice and methods recycled in different ways. I’m definitely the kind …
Our neighbors down the street were moving out from a house they’d been in for 35 years. Apparently the wife had been holding onto her parents’ typewriters over the years and finally decided to get rid of this one, leaving it in a box by the roadside. My awesome spouse spied the treasure and I …
Until I finish this latest draft of my novel (I’m close. So very close), I’ll be posting videos of writerly and other artistic things. At least as I perceive them. Hope you enjoy them until regularly scheduled programming resumes. To kick things off, here is Neal Stephenson talking about SF/Fantasy Actors. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AwUWO0pYL0]
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=ht.ly] A noir thriller/visionary fantasy set in the failed state of Ambergris, 100 years after Shriek: An Afterword. The gray caps, mysterious underground inhabitants, have re-conquered Ambergris and put the city under martial law, disbanding House Hoegbotton, and controlling the human inhabitants with strange addictive drugs, internment in camps, and random acts …
I’ve been working on developing a concise blurb for the novel I’m writing. I’ve gone through no less than four iterations of a back-of-the novel blurb in hopes of distilling the story in my mind. And as of last night, I reduced it further to a one sentence blurb that I’m not embarrassed to put …
Maps is a different thing altogether. Published by Trinity University Press, I had this book on my wish list based on a recommendation from VanderMeer (not personal, mind you, but from his book, Booklife). I’m excited about this one.
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 …
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. …