Adventures in Titling: Part Two
When I last left you, I’d imparted some good advice: always have a back up title for your novel. So when your publisher wants to change it, you have more than a sense of desperation at your disposal. When I…
Category: Writing Advice
Thank You, Junior High
All my favorite books come from a “deep place of junior high trauma.”* From Harriet the Spy to The Outsiders, right on up through Rick Moody’s Purple America and Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. Picture Olive at eleven. She has huge feet….
Happy Indie Story, Part Three: Smells Like Team Spirit
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about teams. This is partly because Lorde’s song “Team” has been on repeat in my head. But it’s also because I was recently asked why I chose to work with an editor before sending…
Useful Metaphors
‘Kill your darlings,’ the writing teacher’s commandment for which this site is named, is a most useful and robust metaphor. It doesn’t just tell writers to mistrust themselves when they become especially enamored of a bit of their writing, but…
Rejection Rituals
There are writers out there who wax elegantly about the subject of rejection, such as my lovely Novel Incubator instructor, Lisa Borders, in her wonderful post. Elegance is not my forte. And positivity quotes are positively the least helpful thing in…
The Perfect Murder: Killing Alice
Shh. Please be quiet. I am killing someone right now and I need to concentrate. This is most definitely pre-meditated – I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. I love her, I really do, but I can’t be around her…