Time, Time, Time: What Have I Done?
In real life, I am generally good with time. I meet deadlines. I show up Canadian punctual (ten minutes early) to events. And I am usually aware of the date and time thanks to that job I have at MIT,…
Category: Genre
Pitching for a Happy Ending
I’ve often felt a need to fit in. Even though I think outsiders are cooler than insiders and people who don’t fit the mold are way more interesting. In book publishing, there’s a similar need for books to fit in…
An Interview with Leni Zumas, Author of Red Clocks
Leni Zumas’ new novel, Red Clocks (Little, Brown, 2018) was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, an Indie Next pick, and one of Esquire’s Most Anticipated Books of 2018. It is electric and brilliant. If you haven’t…
How to Tell if Your Writing Deserves Praise – A Cosmo Quiz
Not too long ago, my good friend Julie Carrick Dalton sent me this comic from Chuck Draws Things:
By the time you read this…
By the time you read this post, I’ll have visited my protagonist’s hometown, Leipzig, Germany. I expect the city will be strange to both of us—I’ve never been there and he, Viktor, left home in 1942 to join Hitler’s army….
3 Reasons Why I Set My Novel in an Alternative World
The question I get the most about my novel-in-progress is, “Why is it set in an alternative world?” My story takes place in the country of Silmara, not to be found on any map except ones I’ve drawn (alas, cartography…