This week, we begin with the topic of “Difficult Fiction,” books that challenge the reader’s perceptions and often require a careful reading. Over here at Dead Darlings, we like “difficult,” “easy,” fast-paced, lyrical, and big ole, juicy reads. There’s room…
“Writer’s Block” is a lot like climate change: despite mounting evidence that it does, in fact, exist, some of us are still deep in denial. Until recently, I believed that provided a writer shows up to the desk every day,…
Hurray it’s Wednesday! You got through Monday and Tuesday. But if, like Wednesday Addams, you’re full of woe, because Friday still seems sooooooooo far away, no worries. To make the week go faster, Dead Darlings is introducing YA Wednesday. We’ll…
As happens often, I found another parallel between training a dog and writing a novel. This time it had to do with arousal states in dogs and writing zones for writers. Essentially, there is an optimum state for a dog…
If there’s one constant in publishing and reader habits, it’s that taste is subjective and there are many layers to what leads one book to the drawer and one to a bookstore. What’s an author to do? Write another novel,…
Helen Phillips is the author of the novel The Beautiful Bureaucrat (Henry Holt, August 2015). Her collection And Yet They Were Happy (Leapfrog Press, 2011) was named a notable collection by The Story Prize. She wrote the children’s adventure book Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green (Delacorte…