I Love Outlines, But I Can’t Write Them For Peanuts
One of the things non-fiction is good for is cultivating voice. Because NF has no characters to hide behind, it forces us to write as ourselves in a way regular fiction (as opposed to fictive or inspired-by memoir) doesn’t. The voice I’ve spent so long honing in my NF work has helped me a lot over recent months–it’s easier for me to get into a character’s head without mapping or noting or any of the other techniques I used to use. But the other NF stalwart...
Read MoreAlternate Version Blogfest Entry!
Today, in honor of April Fool’s Day, I’m participating in the Alternate Version Blogfest being run by my friend and critique partner, Livia. You can check out the rest of the entries over at Livia’s blog, here. This is a small section from the second chapter of my work in progress, Listen (you can see another excerpt from Listen here). The kitchen smells seven kinds of bad. Singed turkey bacon mingles with eggs, toast, old coffee, kitchen sink compost, and damp newsprint....
Read MoreNew Adult Fiction – Beyond the Limits of YA, or Just New Packaging?
Earlier this week, I asked about the limits in YA literature. Is there a line? And if so, where is it? St. Martins’ Press may have the answer. Late last year, they ran a contest in conjunction with #YAlitchat founder, Georgia McBride, to find some New Adult, or NA, titles. From McBride’s blog: We are actively looking for great, new, cutting edge fiction with protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience. Since twenty-somethings are devouring YA, St....
Read MoreCandor review over at SFWP.org
My first review for the Santa Fe Writers Project is up! If I were pitching Pam Bachorz’ Candor at an editorial meeting, I’d call it “dystopian contemporary YA meets The Stepford Wives with a dash of Wisteria Lane from a male perspective”. Oscar Banks is cookie-cutter perfect. He’s a straight A student, is dating the prettiest, smartest girl in Candor High, and has more friends than a parrot at a pirate convention…[more] Read it at SFWP.org, then check out some of their excellent...
Read MoreGetting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part IV
Although I’m sure I haven’t covered everything in Tim Crouch’s workshop–workshops are like that, full so much information that it’s impossible to grasp it all–this is my last post about it. Until I think of something else, anyway. According to Crouch, one way to get the creativity flowing is to impose restrictions. “Form and restriction can be the most liberating thing,” he says. Here are a couple of his. Bob from Bogota Pick a letter Write a...
Read MoreWriting Challenge: 1000 words a day
Ever since Baby, I’ve had trouble fitting in time to write. Time was, I could write several thousand words a day – this is how I have a novel to revise in the first place. Now, I manage between 1000 and 3000 words at Burdicks’ every Friday morning. Much as I love Burdicks’, that’s not enough. Not if I ever want to finish the novel! So I’ve come up with a plan. Starting today, I will write 1000 words a day. It sounds ambitious, I know, but I have a plan for my...
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