The crime is elusive. Despite the clues — a character transformation not quite earned, too hasty of a consequence — most of us are quick to dismiss the evidence. A writer is often the last person to realize that a…
I am an expert at cleaning out my closet. I have been pushed by circumstance to get rid of many of my possessions again and again. But when it comes to my words—I’m not as talented. I have been thinking…
Every fiction writer, it’s safe to say, has had the experience of writing something, then asking: “Where the hell did that come from?” Sometimes our next act is to delete it and try again, but on occasion we’re lucky, and…
The novel discussed in this October, 2017, post was recently selected by Golden Antelope Press for publication this October, 2019. Instead of writing what you know, have you ever written who you know? My as yet unpublished novel, You Can…
I recently returned from living as my protagonist. To match my novel of historical fiction about queer pirates, I sailed for a week on a wooden tall ship from Boston to New York City. It was my 30th birthday gift…
People used to ask, “When is your next book due?” and I would laugh, self-consciously, because I didn’t have deadlines. I wasn’t a writer who had contracts or editors waiting for me to produce anything. In those bygone days, I…