Notebook Versus Laptop
I work in a tech company where most of the employees hover around the age of thirty. They grew up with computers. They are experts in Apple devices. They live and die by technology. I come in as the oldster…
Category: Craft Discussion
YA Wednesday: YA Version of The Da Vinci Code, Bookish Moments From The Gilmore Girls, YA Writing Tips, YA Character Generator
Lately I’ve been trying to decide whether to write another young adult novel or an adult one. I have a YA novel in progress, but I worry that it doesn’t sound YA enough (whatever that means). Recently though, I decided…
How to Write a Page-Turner: Pacing Essays & Novels
The Da Vinci Code is fast paced, a “page-turner.” Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is not. We don’t need Writer’s Digest to define narrative pace as how quickly or slowly the writer takes a reader through the story. And…
Craft on Draft: Writing Fiction from Real Life
At last month’s Craft on Draft event Michelle Hoover, Emily Ross, and Dawn Tripp shared how truth inspired their fiction. In addition to reading excerpts from their novels and revealing what was influenced by fact, the authors selected the event’s…
Turning Music into Narrative
It’s no secret that 2016 has been a rough year for pop musicians. Did someone set off a slow-acting neutron bomb that kills platinum-sellers? Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Merle Haggard, David Bowie, Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), and Prince,…
YA Wednesday: How to Up Your Word Count, Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a YA Author, Stay True to Yourself, Slaying Dragons, and Game of Thrones
As a writer, I sometimes worry so much about pleasing the marketplace that I become afraid to try new things and lose faith in that little voice that is my muse. This past weekend at Grub Street’s Muse and the…