Lee Rene's Blog, page 12
February 21, 2015
15 Things a Writer Should Never Do
A great post from writer Zachary Petit
Based on interviews with authors over the years, conferences, editing dozens of issues of Writer’s Digest, and my own occasional literary forays and flails, here are some points of consensus and observations: 15 of them, things anyone who lives by the pen (or seeks to) might consider. It is, like most things in the writing world, a list in progress—and if you’ve got your own Dos or Don’ts to add, I’d love to hear them in the Comments.
1. Don’t assume there is any single path or playbook writers need to follow. (Or, for that matter, a definitive superlative list of Dos and Don’ts …) Simply put: You have to do what works best for you. Listen to the voices in your head, and learn to train and trust them. More often than not, they’ll let you know if you’re on the right path. People often bemoan the surplus of contradictory advice in the writing world—but it’s there because there really is no yellow-brick road, and a diversity of perspectives allows you to cherry-pick what uniquely suits you and your abilities.
2. Don’t try to write like your idols. Be yourself. Yeah, it sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true: The one thing you’ve got that no one else does is your own voice, your own style, your own approach. Use it. (If you try to pretend to write like anyone else, your readers will know.) Perhaps author Allegra Goodman said it best: “Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.”
3. Don’t get too swept up in debates about outlining/not outlining, whether or not you should write what you know, whether or not you should edit as you go along or at the end—again, just experiment and do what works best for you. The freedom that comes with embracing this approach is downright cathartic.
4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to pitching something—always be working on your next book or idea while you’re querying. Keeping your creative side in gear while focusing on the business of selling your work prevents bigger stalls in your writing life down the road.
5. Don’t be unnecessarily dishonest, rude, hostile—people in the publishing industry talk, and word spreads about who’s great to work with, and who’s not. Publishing is a big business, but it’s a pretty incestuous business. Keep those family reunions gossip free.
6. Don’t ever hate someone for the feedback they give you. No piece of writing is universally beloved. Nearly every beta reader, editor or agent will have a different opinion of your work, and there’s value in that. Accept what nuggets you believe are valid, recognize the recurring issues you might want/need to address, and toss the edits your gut tells to toss. (Unless the changes are mandatory for a deal—in which case you’ll need to do some deeper soul searching.) Be open to criticism—it will make you a better writer.
7. … But, don’t be susceptible to the barbs of online trolls—you know, those people who post sociopathic comments for the sake of posting sociopathic comments. That’s what trolls do: they troll (on Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, etc.). It’s not personal. Which means the message at the core of their words means as little as the 0s and 1s used to code it. Ignore them heartily.
8. Don’t ever lower you guard when it comes to the basics: Good spelling, healthy mechanics, sound grammar. They are the foundations that keep our writing houses from imploding … and our queries from hitting the recycling bin before our stories can speak for themselves.
9. Don’t ever write something in an attempt to satisfy a market trend and make a quick buck. By the time such a book is ready to go, the trend will likely have passed. The astronomical amount of romantic teenage vampire novels in desk drawers is more than a nuisance—it’s a wildfire hazard. Write the story that gives you insomnia.
10. Don’t be spiteful about another writer’s success. Celebrate it. As author Amy Sue Nathan recalled when detailing her path to publication in the upcoming July/August 2013 issue of WD: “Writers I knew were landing book deals and experiencing other things I was working toward, so I made a decision to learn from them instead of begrudging them. I learned that another author’s success doesn’t infringe on mine.”
11. Don’t ever assume it’s easy. Writers with one book on shelves or one story in print often had to keep stacking up unpublished manuscripts until they could reach the publisher’s doorbell. (The exception being those lucky 19-year-old savants you sometimes hear about, or, say, Snooki. But, hey, success still isn’t guaranteed—after all, Snooki’s Gorilla Beach: A Novel has only sold 3,445 copies.) Success is one of those things that’s often damn near impossible to accurately predict unless you already have it in spades.
12. Don’t forget to get out once in a while. Writing is a reflection of real life. It’s all too easy to sit too long at that desk and forget to live it.
13. Don’t ever discount the sheer teaching power (and therapeutic goodness) of a great read. The makeshift MFA program of countless writers has been a well-stocked bookshelf.
14. Don’t be afraid to give up … on a particular piece. Sometimes, a story just doesn’t work, and you shouldn’t spend years languishing on something you just can’t fix. (After all, you can always come back to it later, right?)
15. But, don’t ever really give up. Writers write. It’s what we do. It’s what we have to do. Sure, we can all say over a half-empty bottle of wine that we’re going to throw the towel in this time, but let’s be honest: Very few of us ever do. And none of us are ever really all that surprised when we find ourselves back at our computers, tapping away, and waiting for that electric, amazing moment when the pebble of a story shakes loose and begins to skitter down that great hill …
Based on interviews with authors over the years, conferences, editing dozens of issues of Writer’s Digest, and my own occasional literary forays and flails, here are some points of consensus and observations: 15 of them, things anyone who lives by the pen (or seeks to) might consider. It is, like most things in the writing world, a list in progress—and if you’ve got your own Dos or Don’ts to add, I’d love to hear them in the Comments.
1. Don’t assume there is any single path or playbook writers need to follow. (Or, for that matter, a definitive superlative list of Dos and Don’ts …) Simply put: You have to do what works best for you. Listen to the voices in your head, and learn to train and trust them. More often than not, they’ll let you know if you’re on the right path. People often bemoan the surplus of contradictory advice in the writing world—but it’s there because there really is no yellow-brick road, and a diversity of perspectives allows you to cherry-pick what uniquely suits you and your abilities.
2. Don’t try to write like your idols. Be yourself. Yeah, it sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true: The one thing you’ve got that no one else does is your own voice, your own style, your own approach. Use it. (If you try to pretend to write like anyone else, your readers will know.) Perhaps author Allegra Goodman said it best: “Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.”
3. Don’t get too swept up in debates about outlining/not outlining, whether or not you should write what you know, whether or not you should edit as you go along or at the end—again, just experiment and do what works best for you. The freedom that comes with embracing this approach is downright cathartic.
4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to pitching something—always be working on your next book or idea while you’re querying. Keeping your creative side in gear while focusing on the business of selling your work prevents bigger stalls in your writing life down the road.
5. Don’t be unnecessarily dishonest, rude, hostile—people in the publishing industry talk, and word spreads about who’s great to work with, and who’s not. Publishing is a big business, but it’s a pretty incestuous business. Keep those family reunions gossip free.
6. Don’t ever hate someone for the feedback they give you. No piece of writing is universally beloved. Nearly every beta reader, editor or agent will have a different opinion of your work, and there’s value in that. Accept what nuggets you believe are valid, recognize the recurring issues you might want/need to address, and toss the edits your gut tells to toss. (Unless the changes are mandatory for a deal—in which case you’ll need to do some deeper soul searching.) Be open to criticism—it will make you a better writer.
7. … But, don’t be susceptible to the barbs of online trolls—you know, those people who post sociopathic comments for the sake of posting sociopathic comments. That’s what trolls do: they troll (on Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, etc.). It’s not personal. Which means the message at the core of their words means as little as the 0s and 1s used to code it. Ignore them heartily.
8. Don’t ever lower you guard when it comes to the basics: Good spelling, healthy mechanics, sound grammar. They are the foundations that keep our writing houses from imploding … and our queries from hitting the recycling bin before our stories can speak for themselves.
9. Don’t ever write something in an attempt to satisfy a market trend and make a quick buck. By the time such a book is ready to go, the trend will likely have passed. The astronomical amount of romantic teenage vampire novels in desk drawers is more than a nuisance—it’s a wildfire hazard. Write the story that gives you insomnia.
10. Don’t be spiteful about another writer’s success. Celebrate it. As author Amy Sue Nathan recalled when detailing her path to publication in the upcoming July/August 2013 issue of WD: “Writers I knew were landing book deals and experiencing other things I was working toward, so I made a decision to learn from them instead of begrudging them. I learned that another author’s success doesn’t infringe on mine.”
11. Don’t ever assume it’s easy. Writers with one book on shelves or one story in print often had to keep stacking up unpublished manuscripts until they could reach the publisher’s doorbell. (The exception being those lucky 19-year-old savants you sometimes hear about, or, say, Snooki. But, hey, success still isn’t guaranteed—after all, Snooki’s Gorilla Beach: A Novel has only sold 3,445 copies.) Success is one of those things that’s often damn near impossible to accurately predict unless you already have it in spades.
12. Don’t forget to get out once in a while. Writing is a reflection of real life. It’s all too easy to sit too long at that desk and forget to live it.
13. Don’t ever discount the sheer teaching power (and therapeutic goodness) of a great read. The makeshift MFA program of countless writers has been a well-stocked bookshelf.
14. Don’t be afraid to give up … on a particular piece. Sometimes, a story just doesn’t work, and you shouldn’t spend years languishing on something you just can’t fix. (After all, you can always come back to it later, right?)
15. But, don’t ever really give up. Writers write. It’s what we do. It’s what we have to do. Sure, we can all say over a half-empty bottle of wine that we’re going to throw the towel in this time, but let’s be honest: Very few of us ever do. And none of us are ever really all that surprised when we find ourselves back at our computers, tapping away, and waiting for that electric, amazing moment when the pebble of a story shakes loose and begins to skitter down that great hill …
February 20, 2015
Ways to fuel your story with suspense
Bestselling author and writing authority Elizabeth Sims, author of seven popular novels in two series, including The Rita Farmer Mysteries and The Lillian Byrd Crime series, shares writing tips.
Occasionally I talk to school children about writing. I begin by asking them how many sheets of paper it takes to write a novel. They guess, and suddenly they very much want to know the answer. No matter what their guesses are, they’re always shocked and horrified when I unveil the foot-high stack of handwritten yellow pages that make up the rough draft of one of my novels. They’ve just experienced suspense and a payoff in its simplest form.
When I ask what you need to write a story of suspense, inevitably one kid yells, “Put in a bad guy!”
Good advice, if obvious. The fact is, stories in all genres need suspense: Readers must stick with you to the end, and suspense is the foremost element that keeps them turning pages. Likewise, when you’re trying to write your way through to that teetering stack of a finished draft, a quick injection of suspense is a great way to keep your story’s engine fueled. Suddenly, you’ll very much want to write on to find the answer. Here some ways to do just that, beyond the excellent suggestion of putting in a bad guy.
1. Point a finger.
Mary Renault’s historical novel The Persian Boy starts with a cataclysm: The death and destruction of the protagonist’s family and home. Before dying, his father screams the name of his betrayer. Well, guess who the Persian boy will meet up with later … much later?
This powerful scenario can work to create and maintain suspense in any genre. Any kind of betrayal will do: financial ruin, a broken heart, a lost opportunity.
2. Pull a false alarm.
“The Boy Who Cried Wolf” is not only an instructive moral fable, it’s a nail-biter. As soon as you learn of the shepherd boy’s plan to get attention by screaming that a wolf is attacking the sheep, you just know a real wolf is bound to show up sooner or later.
You also know that the townspeople won’t like to be made fools of. Nobody does, which is why this technique works, whether in a sleepy town, a Wall Street office or an emergency room.
3. Build an oubliette.
Medieval lords would sometimes construct a simple pit below the castle floor, into which they would throw any captive they’d prefer to just forget. (Oubliette is French for forgotten place.) No screams could penetrate the heavy lid, and the screams were short-lived in any event.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” involves a blood grudge, settled when a man tricks his enemy into joining him in his wine cellar, then bricks him up in a cranny there. The suspense lies in wondering what Montresor has up his sleeve, as he lures Fortunato ever deeper into the catacombs.
4. Plant a hazard, then wait.
Taking the concept of the oubliette a step further, in Charles Portis’s True Grit, outlaw Tom Chaney describes a snake pit into which he threatens to toss our heroine Mattie Ross. Then lots of other stuff happens. Eventually Mattie manages to shoot Chaney, but gets knocked backward by the recoil of her Colt.
The heart-clutching moment comes with the tumbling Mattie’s realization: “I had forgotten about the pit behind me!” The beauty is that the pit has been lurking in the back of readers’ minds all along.
Show us your hazard, then put time (and action) between its introduction and its use.
5. Make panic your friend.
Although causing a character to panic can be a cheap way to gin up suspense—the victim stumbles and falls, letting the killer overtake him—people sometimes do legitimately panic, and you can exploit that.
A believable way is to build a character who is flawed, especially a person who displays flawed judgment early on. Thus a panic move not only will be plausible, but somewhat expected. That anticipation alone can be suspenseful, and then when it happens the reader experiences a payoff—and a craving for more.
6. Water a plant.
Growth can be incredibly suspenseful. Think about it: You plant a seed and you water it. Will it be a stalk of wheat, or a vine of poison ivy? Horror novels from Rosemary’s Baby to The Bad Seed to Carrie and beyond have made use of this simple technique.
Watching a character develop over time can be suspenseful, especially if that character is a child with a pronounced pedigree: a mass murderer’s son conceived during a conjugal visit; a squeaky-clean politician’s daughter. Will this toddler turn out to be a drug-addicted prostitute, or a Nobel laureate?
7. Withhold the right stuff.
Keeping information from the reader can be a cheap trick, but there’s a right way to do it—by playing fair.
In his novella The Valley of Fear, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle keeps the secret of Birdy Edwards’ identity from the other characters and from the reader—but everybody’s given the same information. Characters and readers alike have a chance to interpret the clues, so when you come to the payoff, either you’ve figured it out already and your suspicions are satisfyingly confirmed, or it’s a breathtaking reveal immediately followed by, “Of course! I should have known!”
Withhold substance, but give tantalizing information.
8. Banish someone.
The ancients invented this one, which figures large from the Bible (God throws Satan out of Heaven) to modern tales (troublesome kid gets sent to boarding school, dysfunctional narcissist gets kicked off the island).
What’s so great about banishing a character? We know he’s still out there. The malefactor broods on his punishment, grinds his axe and plans his revenge.
If you use an omniscient narrator or multiple-character POVs, you can flip back and forth from the banished to the peacefully complacent tribe, ratcheting up the tension by contrasting what everybody’s doing and thinking.
9. Rip it from the headlines.
The daily news is a terrific place to get ideas for suspense. Recently at a writing conference session I brought the morning paper (yes, it was a town that still has one) to show how easy it is to get story ideas.
As we worked, I realized that you really can find suspense in practically every section. Will the local skating pair make it to the Olympics? What if one of them is having an affair with the coach? Here’s an ad for a lost camera. A reward is involved. What images might be on that memory card? A happy family picnic? Maybe. Maybe not.
February 16, 2015
9 Things Great Writers Do Every Day by Written by Neil Patel
You’re a writer, a content creator. People expect you to churn out really good, really engaging, and really awesome content.
What they don’t realize is that it takes some serious effort to create great stuff. That article that is so easy for them to read is actually really difficult for you to write.
Thankfully, through the sheer power of habits, you can get to the point where creating awesome content comes naturally. Habits have the uncanny ability to stick with you. They’re a pain to implement, but they flow effortlessly after that. In the interest of making your tough job a little bit easier, here are a few daily habits that will make your content much better.
Remember, these are daily habits. Skip the weekend if you want, but be sure to put these into practice during the days that you’re expected to produce content.
1) Read something really well written.
The next few tips have to do with reading. One of the best ways to become a better writer is to read what others have written. You’re not going to become a solid professional writer if you spend all day reading low-quality content. But if you spend more of your day reading professional-grade content, then you will improve.
The tough thing is, you have to be discerning to find the really good stuff online. To start, here’s a list of places where the content quality stays high:
• Harvard Business Review
• New York Times
• Slate
Don’t be afraid to pay for top-tier content. There’s a reason it costs money, and it’s often well worth it.
2) Read something funny.
Reading humor can help shake up your brain in ways that loosen up the creative portions and help you produce better content. If you need to get your fix of Buzzfeed or The Oatmeal, go ahead. Don’t feel guilty about it.
Sometimes, the best few minutes of your day are spent laughing. You’ll enjoy a lot of benefits besides just the kick you got out of the hilarious content. You’ll enjoy the benefit of writing better content yourself. Your content may not be funny, but it will be good.
3) Read something outside of your niche.
If you want to get better, read broader.
Reading other stuff -- really different stuff -- has a way of cross-pollinating your own writing specialty. For example, maybe you write about conversion rate optimization all day. If that’s the case, then take a few minutes to read a blog about yoga.
Yoga?! Why? Because the style, approach, and nature of content that is outside your niche can help you within your niche.
Good writing, regardless of what it’s about, will help you become a better writer.
4) Read something you wrote in the past.
Great orators spend hours watching their speeches. Professional athletes analyze videos of their moves. Politicians watch themselves on TV.
You’re a writer, so you should read content that you wrote in the past. The goal of reading past content is not to edit it. It’s too late for that. Instead, you want to learn from it.
• What was good about it?
• What things do you write best about?
• What wasn’t so good?
• What sounds awkward?
Ask yourself those questions and spend a few minutes getting a better understanding of how you’re doing as a writer.
5) Write for at least 30 minutes.
The most powerful tip in this whole list is right here: Write for at least 30 minutes every workday. (Skip the weekends; you deserve the break.)
To become a better writer, you have to write. A lot. Every day. There’s no way to improve without actually doing it.
When you get into the habit of writing on a daily basis, your brain begins to anticipate it and prepare for it. This is especially true if you write at the same time each day. Way before you put hands to the keyboard, the brain’s juices are flowing, allowing you to be more creative, more precise, and more skillful during your writing time.
Every 30 minutes that you spend writing is 30 minutes that you’re getting better. Progress may not be huge, but at least it’s progress.
6) Force yourself to talk to someone.
Talking is different from writing. But talking can help you become a better writer, too.
If you want to write better, then talk better. You can’t improve your talking skills by staying silent all day.
If you work by yourself, call up a friend. If you work in an office, shoot the breeze over lunch or coffee. Just pick someone, and be conversational. Using your writing skills to some verbal interchange will actually help your writing become better.
7) Go for a walk.
Science has proven that taking a walk helps us think better. Some even say that it makes us smarter.
Let’s face it. Writing is a mental challenge. You must be in keen mental shape to be able to produce the kind of stuff that you’re producing.
So, if you want to sharpen your mind, then get out of your chair, head for the door, and don’t come back for at least 10 minutes. This isn't a brainstorming walk. You don’t have to think about anything, let alone your subject matter. Instead, you just move your body, and your mind will take care of the rest.
8) Write fast.
It may sound strange, but some of my best content is stuff that I wrote really fast.
Obviously, it had tons of typos and grammar errors, but overall, the content itself was pretty darn good.
I’ve recently discovered the reason for this. The mind can generate thoughts way faster than the hands can type them. If, however, you’re able to type faster, you're able to transcribe more of those thoughts, along with extra nuance and clarity.
Your fingers will never be able to match the speed at which you think, but when you do produce content rapidly, it has a much better chance of aligning with what you’re thinking.
I’ve met people who say “Oh I can’t write. It just comes so slow!” Actually, I bet they could write, if only they type it out faster.
You don’t have to turn on your supersonic speed all the time, but it’s helpful to get in the habit of writing fast.
Write fast. Edit slow.
9) Google any grammar questions.
An important part of writing is the mechanical stuff -- making sure you’re not breaking any grammar laws or violating any rules.
(A few well-intentioned rule breaking is okay, but if you’re being sloppy, that’s just bad form.)
If you come up against a grammar issue while you’re writing, do a quick Google search on it. It will only take a few minutes, but you’ll definitely learn something and possibly avoid an embarrassing mistake. Get into the habit of double-checking your grammar, even if you’re only slightly suspicious of your potential mistake.
Conclusion
Stay positive. Nobody becomes a better writer automatically. It takes months, even years, to form habits. But once those habits are in place, things can flow without any thought and hardly any effort. Before you know it, your writing is improving exponentially.
What they don’t realize is that it takes some serious effort to create great stuff. That article that is so easy for them to read is actually really difficult for you to write.
Thankfully, through the sheer power of habits, you can get to the point where creating awesome content comes naturally. Habits have the uncanny ability to stick with you. They’re a pain to implement, but they flow effortlessly after that. In the interest of making your tough job a little bit easier, here are a few daily habits that will make your content much better.
Remember, these are daily habits. Skip the weekend if you want, but be sure to put these into practice during the days that you’re expected to produce content.
1) Read something really well written.
The next few tips have to do with reading. One of the best ways to become a better writer is to read what others have written. You’re not going to become a solid professional writer if you spend all day reading low-quality content. But if you spend more of your day reading professional-grade content, then you will improve.
The tough thing is, you have to be discerning to find the really good stuff online. To start, here’s a list of places where the content quality stays high:
• Harvard Business Review
• New York Times
• Slate
Don’t be afraid to pay for top-tier content. There’s a reason it costs money, and it’s often well worth it.
2) Read something funny.
Reading humor can help shake up your brain in ways that loosen up the creative portions and help you produce better content. If you need to get your fix of Buzzfeed or The Oatmeal, go ahead. Don’t feel guilty about it.
Sometimes, the best few minutes of your day are spent laughing. You’ll enjoy a lot of benefits besides just the kick you got out of the hilarious content. You’ll enjoy the benefit of writing better content yourself. Your content may not be funny, but it will be good.
3) Read something outside of your niche.
If you want to get better, read broader.
Reading other stuff -- really different stuff -- has a way of cross-pollinating your own writing specialty. For example, maybe you write about conversion rate optimization all day. If that’s the case, then take a few minutes to read a blog about yoga.
Yoga?! Why? Because the style, approach, and nature of content that is outside your niche can help you within your niche.
Good writing, regardless of what it’s about, will help you become a better writer.
4) Read something you wrote in the past.
Great orators spend hours watching their speeches. Professional athletes analyze videos of their moves. Politicians watch themselves on TV.
You’re a writer, so you should read content that you wrote in the past. The goal of reading past content is not to edit it. It’s too late for that. Instead, you want to learn from it.
• What was good about it?
• What things do you write best about?
• What wasn’t so good?
• What sounds awkward?
Ask yourself those questions and spend a few minutes getting a better understanding of how you’re doing as a writer.
5) Write for at least 30 minutes.
The most powerful tip in this whole list is right here: Write for at least 30 minutes every workday. (Skip the weekends; you deserve the break.)
To become a better writer, you have to write. A lot. Every day. There’s no way to improve without actually doing it.
When you get into the habit of writing on a daily basis, your brain begins to anticipate it and prepare for it. This is especially true if you write at the same time each day. Way before you put hands to the keyboard, the brain’s juices are flowing, allowing you to be more creative, more precise, and more skillful during your writing time.
Every 30 minutes that you spend writing is 30 minutes that you’re getting better. Progress may not be huge, but at least it’s progress.
6) Force yourself to talk to someone.
Talking is different from writing. But talking can help you become a better writer, too.
If you want to write better, then talk better. You can’t improve your talking skills by staying silent all day.
If you work by yourself, call up a friend. If you work in an office, shoot the breeze over lunch or coffee. Just pick someone, and be conversational. Using your writing skills to some verbal interchange will actually help your writing become better.
7) Go for a walk.
Science has proven that taking a walk helps us think better. Some even say that it makes us smarter.
Let’s face it. Writing is a mental challenge. You must be in keen mental shape to be able to produce the kind of stuff that you’re producing.
So, if you want to sharpen your mind, then get out of your chair, head for the door, and don’t come back for at least 10 minutes. This isn't a brainstorming walk. You don’t have to think about anything, let alone your subject matter. Instead, you just move your body, and your mind will take care of the rest.
8) Write fast.
It may sound strange, but some of my best content is stuff that I wrote really fast.
Obviously, it had tons of typos and grammar errors, but overall, the content itself was pretty darn good.
I’ve recently discovered the reason for this. The mind can generate thoughts way faster than the hands can type them. If, however, you’re able to type faster, you're able to transcribe more of those thoughts, along with extra nuance and clarity.
Your fingers will never be able to match the speed at which you think, but when you do produce content rapidly, it has a much better chance of aligning with what you’re thinking.
I’ve met people who say “Oh I can’t write. It just comes so slow!” Actually, I bet they could write, if only they type it out faster.
You don’t have to turn on your supersonic speed all the time, but it’s helpful to get in the habit of writing fast.
Write fast. Edit slow.
9) Google any grammar questions.
An important part of writing is the mechanical stuff -- making sure you’re not breaking any grammar laws or violating any rules.
(A few well-intentioned rule breaking is okay, but if you’re being sloppy, that’s just bad form.)
If you come up against a grammar issue while you’re writing, do a quick Google search on it. It will only take a few minutes, but you’ll definitely learn something and possibly avoid an embarrassing mistake. Get into the habit of double-checking your grammar, even if you’re only slightly suspicious of your potential mistake.
Conclusion
Stay positive. Nobody becomes a better writer automatically. It takes months, even years, to form habits. But once those habits are in place, things can flow without any thought and hardly any effort. Before you know it, your writing is improving exponentially.
February 12, 2015
Twitter for Writers: 7 Quick Tips from blogger Belinda Pollard
I usually write long blog posts to explore a topic in depth. But sometimes, I know you just want to get some useful information you can grab quickly, and then get on with your day.
So, here is my first Quick Tips post. Today’s Quick topic is Twitter for Writers.
My disclaimer: These tips are not RULES. There are no RULES for Twitter, except the ones decreed by Twitter in their own Terms of Service.
Feel free to take anything you find helpful from among these tips, and ignore the rest.
This is a distillation of things that I have discovered about Twitter during 3 years on the social platform. Three years in which I have made an extraordinary number of useful and inspiring connections. Connections that have boosted my own writing and publishing career in concrete ways. All because I joined Twitter in 2011 and made that first “not sure what to say here” tweet.
Ready? Let’s go.
1. Use Twitter to connect with other writers, not to sell books.
This probably goes directly against what your publisher told you and what you learned in that Writer Marketing seminar. Nevertheless, you’ll find that the people who try to sell books on Twitter get disillusioned and give up. The writers who love Twitter are using it to connect. Just for starters, I have personally met four of my brilliant beta readers on Twitter. Count ‘em: four. And I learn all the time from the links writers tweet. There’s a lot of other outcomes I could tell you about, but we’re keeping it brief today!
For more on how this connecting thing works, check out my post Twitter for Writers: Two Golden Rules. (Dang. That post title is making a mess of my “no rules” declaration above. Perhaps I’d better change it to Two Golden Suggestions. Haha)
2. Small is beautiful.
I used to think I needed a gazillion followers to do any good on Twitter. I no longer believe that. I’ve noticed that the people who genuinely interact with me often (but not always) have small followings. In fact, I now often make a point of following the small accounts and newbies, because they will actually talk to me. (They probably wonder why I’m stalking them, haha.) I’m not the only one to notice this phenomenon. This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about how big companies are finding that having a small, engaged following is more valuable than a big following.
3a. Following back is polite…
It’s not compulsory to follow back when people follow you, but it IS the generally accepted way to say, “Thanks and hello.” It doesn’t mean you have to read everything they say. Let go of that idea, and it frees you up to follow whoever looks interesting.
3b. …but CHECK first.
Setting up one of those autofollow thingies on your account is a bad idea, and will make you a spam-and-bot target. Plus you’ll end up reading fascinating tweets from a lot of porn stars and people trying to sell you Twitter followers.
4. And while we’re at it, don’t auto-message ANYONE.
Your publisher or that Writer Marketing seminar probably told you to send an auto-Direct Message to every new follower. Go to google search, type in “hate auto dm”, and see why it’s a bad idea. (I got 1.5 million results on that search just now.)
5. Share useful/inspiring stuff.
Some ideas: you can tweet links, pics and thoughts. Not sure what to tweet? Refer to Point 1: what would be useful, inspiring or encouraging to another writer? What might help them? What has helped you?
6. Reply!
Click on that “notifications” tab, and you’ll see who’s talking directly to you, or talking about you. It’s nice if you answer. But it doesn’t have to be instant. The world has lots of timezones, and most of us are happy to wait.
7. Be yourself, relax, and have fun!
If you’re a newbie, don’t stress. All of us were awkward — all knees and elbows — for the first few months on Twitter. Allow time to find your voice… or let it find you. It’ll come.
What do you think? Are you a Twitter fan? Has it helped you? Share your stories and suggestions!
So, here is my first Quick Tips post. Today’s Quick topic is Twitter for Writers.
My disclaimer: These tips are not RULES. There are no RULES for Twitter, except the ones decreed by Twitter in their own Terms of Service.
Feel free to take anything you find helpful from among these tips, and ignore the rest.
This is a distillation of things that I have discovered about Twitter during 3 years on the social platform. Three years in which I have made an extraordinary number of useful and inspiring connections. Connections that have boosted my own writing and publishing career in concrete ways. All because I joined Twitter in 2011 and made that first “not sure what to say here” tweet.
Ready? Let’s go.
1. Use Twitter to connect with other writers, not to sell books.
This probably goes directly against what your publisher told you and what you learned in that Writer Marketing seminar. Nevertheless, you’ll find that the people who try to sell books on Twitter get disillusioned and give up. The writers who love Twitter are using it to connect. Just for starters, I have personally met four of my brilliant beta readers on Twitter. Count ‘em: four. And I learn all the time from the links writers tweet. There’s a lot of other outcomes I could tell you about, but we’re keeping it brief today!
For more on how this connecting thing works, check out my post Twitter for Writers: Two Golden Rules. (Dang. That post title is making a mess of my “no rules” declaration above. Perhaps I’d better change it to Two Golden Suggestions. Haha)
2. Small is beautiful.
I used to think I needed a gazillion followers to do any good on Twitter. I no longer believe that. I’ve noticed that the people who genuinely interact with me often (but not always) have small followings. In fact, I now often make a point of following the small accounts and newbies, because they will actually talk to me. (They probably wonder why I’m stalking them, haha.) I’m not the only one to notice this phenomenon. This article in the Wall Street Journal talks about how big companies are finding that having a small, engaged following is more valuable than a big following.
3a. Following back is polite…
It’s not compulsory to follow back when people follow you, but it IS the generally accepted way to say, “Thanks and hello.” It doesn’t mean you have to read everything they say. Let go of that idea, and it frees you up to follow whoever looks interesting.
3b. …but CHECK first.
Setting up one of those autofollow thingies on your account is a bad idea, and will make you a spam-and-bot target. Plus you’ll end up reading fascinating tweets from a lot of porn stars and people trying to sell you Twitter followers.
4. And while we’re at it, don’t auto-message ANYONE.
Your publisher or that Writer Marketing seminar probably told you to send an auto-Direct Message to every new follower. Go to google search, type in “hate auto dm”, and see why it’s a bad idea. (I got 1.5 million results on that search just now.)
5. Share useful/inspiring stuff.
Some ideas: you can tweet links, pics and thoughts. Not sure what to tweet? Refer to Point 1: what would be useful, inspiring or encouraging to another writer? What might help them? What has helped you?
6. Reply!
Click on that “notifications” tab, and you’ll see who’s talking directly to you, or talking about you. It’s nice if you answer. But it doesn’t have to be instant. The world has lots of timezones, and most of us are happy to wait.
7. Be yourself, relax, and have fun!
If you’re a newbie, don’t stress. All of us were awkward — all knees and elbows — for the first few months on Twitter. Allow time to find your voice… or let it find you. It’ll come.
What do you think? Are you a Twitter fan? Has it helped you? Share your stories and suggestions!
February 6, 2015
Leslie Bennetts, Sex, Lies & Fifty Shades
The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?
Vanity Fair's Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?, wrote an excellent treatise on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon for the February 13th Entertainment Weekly. Fifty Shades of Grey
Bennetts looks beyond the novel's many shortcomings and discusses the dark aspect the female sexual psyche without finger pointing or shaming.
Vanity Fair's Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?, wrote an excellent treatise on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon for the February 13th Entertainment Weekly. Fifty Shades of Grey
Bennetts looks beyond the novel's many shortcomings and discusses the dark aspect the female sexual psyche without finger pointing or shaming.
February 4, 2015
A quote from Raymond Chandler
So true - Every writer I know works best in solitude.
“I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly good. It just has to be mine.”
― Raymond Chandler
“I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly good. It just has to be mine.”
― Raymond Chandler
February 3, 2015
The Adverb Is Not Your Friend
This is a conversation I often have with writers. Adverbs are not our friends.
Stephen King on Simplicity of Style
by Maria Popova
"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.”
“Employ a simple and straightforward style,” Mark Twain instructed in the 18th of his 18 famous literary admonitions. And what greater enemy of simplicity and straightforwardness than the adverb? Or so argues Stephen King in On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft (public library), one of 9 essential books to help you write better.
Though he may have used a handful of well-placed adverbs in his recent eloquent case for gun control, King embarks upon a forceful crusade against this malignant part of speech:
The adverb is not your friend.
Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across.
Consider the sentence, He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you’ll get no argument from me … but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn’t firmly an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?
Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s — GASP!! — too late.
I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception: dialogue attribution. I insist that you use the adverb in dialogue attribution only in the rarest and most special of occasions . . . and not even then, if you can avoid it. Just to make sure we all know what we’re talking about, examine these three sentences:
‘Put it down!’ she shouted.
‘Give it back,’ he pleaded, ‘it’s mine.’
‘Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,’ Utterson said.
In these sentences, shouted, pleaded, and said are verbs of dialogue attribution. Now look at these dubious revisions:
‘Put it down! she shouted menacingly.
‘Give it back,’ he pleaded abjectly, ‘it’s mine.’
‘Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,’ Utterson said contemptuously.
The three latter sentences are all weaker than the three former ones, and most readers will see why immediately.
King uses the admonition against adverbs as a springboard for a wider lens on good and bad writing, exploring the interplay of fear, timidity, and affectation:
I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one’s own pleasure, that fear may be mild — timidity is the word I’ve used here. If, however, one is working under deadline — a school paper, a newspaper article, the SAT writing sample — that fear may be intense. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.
Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad,’ is fearful behavior.
This latter part, touching on the contrast between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, illustrates the critical difference between working for prestige and working for purpose.
Stephen King on Simplicity of Styleby Maria Popova
"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.”
“Employ a simple and straightforward style,” Mark Twain instructed in the 18th of his 18 famous literary admonitions. And what greater enemy of simplicity and straightforwardness than the adverb? Or so argues Stephen King in On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft (public library), one of 9 essential books to help you write better.
Though he may have used a handful of well-placed adverbs in his recent eloquent case for gun control, King embarks upon a forceful crusade against this malignant part of speech:
The adverb is not your friend.
Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across.
Consider the sentence, He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you’ll get no argument from me … but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn’t firmly an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?
Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s — GASP!! — too late.
I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception: dialogue attribution. I insist that you use the adverb in dialogue attribution only in the rarest and most special of occasions . . . and not even then, if you can avoid it. Just to make sure we all know what we’re talking about, examine these three sentences:
‘Put it down!’ she shouted.
‘Give it back,’ he pleaded, ‘it’s mine.’
‘Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,’ Utterson said.
In these sentences, shouted, pleaded, and said are verbs of dialogue attribution. Now look at these dubious revisions:
‘Put it down! she shouted menacingly.
‘Give it back,’ he pleaded abjectly, ‘it’s mine.’
‘Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,’ Utterson said contemptuously.
The three latter sentences are all weaker than the three former ones, and most readers will see why immediately.
King uses the admonition against adverbs as a springboard for a wider lens on good and bad writing, exploring the interplay of fear, timidity, and affectation:
I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. If one is writing for one’s own pleasure, that fear may be mild — timidity is the word I’ve used here. If, however, one is working under deadline — a school paper, a newspaper article, the SAT writing sample — that fear may be intense. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.
Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad,’ is fearful behavior.
This latter part, touching on the contrast between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, illustrates the critical difference between working for prestige and working for purpose.
Harper Lee's second book in 55 years
A post from Alexandra Alter
Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Is to Publish a Second Novel B
Harper Lee, the reclusive author of the beloved best-selling novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will publish a second novel in July, her publisher announced Tuesday.
The recently rediscovered book, “Go Set a Watchman,” was completed in the mid-1950s, in the midst of the civil rights movement. It takes place 20 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Though it’s effectively a sequel, Ms. Lee actually wrote “Go Set a Watchman” first. The 304-page novel takes place in the same fictional town, Maycomb, Ala., and unfolds as Scout Finch, the feisty child heroine of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” returns to visit her father, Atticus.
Ms. Lee said in a statement released by her publisher that her editor at the time was taken with Scout’s childhood flashbacks, and told her to write a different novel from Scout’s perspective.
“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee, 88, a native of Monroeville, Ala., said in the statement.
That book became “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a classic that won the Pulitzer Prize, was adapted into a 1962 film and has sold more than 40 million copies globally since it was published in 1960. It continues to sell more than one million copies a year, and has been translated into more than 40 languages.
The novel, which is considered to be an American masterpiece and became a staple of school curriculums, is set in Alabama during the Depression, as the young Scout and her family get swept up in the trial of a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Scout’s father, who was played by Gregory Peck in the film adaptation, represents the accused man at trial. The novel explores themes of racial prejudice and injustice as well as love and a young girl’s coming of age.
Ms. Lee never published another novel, despite pleas and prodding from readers and the literary establishment. She settled into a reclusive life and has rarely given interviews since the 1960s. She set the earlier book aside, and thought the draft had been lost or destroyed. Then last fall, her friend and lawyer, Tonja Carter, discovered the manuscript of “Go Set a Watchman” in what Ms. Lee said was “a secure location,” attached to an original typescript of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“After much thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years,” Ms. Lee said in a statement.
Scholars have long been aware that Ms. Lee wrote an earlier manuscript, but many thought it was an early version of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” not a separate story that unfolds decades later. Everyone, including, apparently, Ms. Lee herself, believed it was lost.
Charles J. Shields, who wrote a biography of Ms. Lee that was published by Henry Holt in 2006, said he came across references to “Go Set a Watchman” in Ms. Lee’s early correspondence with her literary agent. “’I figured it was an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird’,” Mr. Shields said. He also saw references from Ms. Lee’s editor to repeated revisions of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as she tried telling the story from three different perspectives.
Mr. Shields was skeptical that the new novel would hold up against Ms. Lee’s first book, which was an instant classic when she published it at age 34. The new book won’t be altered from the original manuscript. “We’re going to see what Harper Lee writes like without a strong editor’s hand, when she’s, quite honestly, an amateur,” Mr. Shields said.
The book’s publisher, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, plans to print two million copies of the new book, which is set for a July 14 release. Michael Morrison, president and publisher of HarperCollins U.S. General Books Group and Canada, negotiated the deal alone with Ms. Carter.
“I, along with millions of others around the world, always wished that Harper Lee had written another book,” Mr. Morrison said in a statement. “And what a brilliant book this is. I love ‘Go Set a Watchman,’ and know that this masterpiece will be revered for generations to come.”
Some critics and observers were skeptical of Ms. Lee’s role in approving the deal. All of Harper’s communication with Ms. Lee about the new book came through her lawyer, Ms. Carter, and her literary agent, Andrew Nurnberg, including the statement she gave expressing her delight that the novel would finally be published, according to Jonathan Burnham, senior vice president and publisher of Harper. “We talked to her through her lawyer and friend Tonja Carter,” Mr. Burnham said, adding that he was “completely confident” that Ms. Lee understood and approved of the deal and that speaking directly with Ms. Lee “wasn’t necessary.”
Harper said that Ms. Lee’s lawyer and literary agent weren’t giving interviews. A receptionist at Ms. Carter’s law firm in Monroeville said Ms. Carter was “not taking any calls about the news release.”
Ms. Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 and has been living in an assisted living facility. Her sister, Alice Lee, a lawyer who was her companion and her protector from the prying eyes of the public, died a few months ago.
Marja Mills, who struck up a friendship with the Lee sisters and became their neighbor in 2004, said she wondered about Ms. Lee’s level of involvement. “I have some concerns about statements that have been attributed to her,” Ms. Mills said in an interview. Ms. Mills had her own public standoff with Harper Lee over “The Mockingbird Next Door,” a memoir she published about her friendship with the Lees.
When the book was announced, Harper Lee released a statement through her lawyer saying she had not sanctioned the book or knowingly participated in it. But Alice Lee later wrote to Ms. Mills and said that both she and Harper Lee supported the book. In a letter dated May 12, 2011, which was made public, Alice Lee told Ms. Mills that, “Poor Nelle Harper can’t see and can’t hear and will sign anything put before her by any one in whom she has confidence.”
Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Is to Publish a Second Novel B
Harper Lee, the reclusive author of the beloved best-selling novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will publish a second novel in July, her publisher announced Tuesday.
The recently rediscovered book, “Go Set a Watchman,” was completed in the mid-1950s, in the midst of the civil rights movement. It takes place 20 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Though it’s effectively a sequel, Ms. Lee actually wrote “Go Set a Watchman” first. The 304-page novel takes place in the same fictional town, Maycomb, Ala., and unfolds as Scout Finch, the feisty child heroine of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” returns to visit her father, Atticus.
Ms. Lee said in a statement released by her publisher that her editor at the time was taken with Scout’s childhood flashbacks, and told her to write a different novel from Scout’s perspective.
“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee, 88, a native of Monroeville, Ala., said in the statement.
That book became “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a classic that won the Pulitzer Prize, was adapted into a 1962 film and has sold more than 40 million copies globally since it was published in 1960. It continues to sell more than one million copies a year, and has been translated into more than 40 languages.
The novel, which is considered to be an American masterpiece and became a staple of school curriculums, is set in Alabama during the Depression, as the young Scout and her family get swept up in the trial of a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Scout’s father, who was played by Gregory Peck in the film adaptation, represents the accused man at trial. The novel explores themes of racial prejudice and injustice as well as love and a young girl’s coming of age.
Ms. Lee never published another novel, despite pleas and prodding from readers and the literary establishment. She settled into a reclusive life and has rarely given interviews since the 1960s. She set the earlier book aside, and thought the draft had been lost or destroyed. Then last fall, her friend and lawyer, Tonja Carter, discovered the manuscript of “Go Set a Watchman” in what Ms. Lee said was “a secure location,” attached to an original typescript of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“After much thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years,” Ms. Lee said in a statement.
Scholars have long been aware that Ms. Lee wrote an earlier manuscript, but many thought it was an early version of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” not a separate story that unfolds decades later. Everyone, including, apparently, Ms. Lee herself, believed it was lost.
Charles J. Shields, who wrote a biography of Ms. Lee that was published by Henry Holt in 2006, said he came across references to “Go Set a Watchman” in Ms. Lee’s early correspondence with her literary agent. “’I figured it was an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird’,” Mr. Shields said. He also saw references from Ms. Lee’s editor to repeated revisions of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as she tried telling the story from three different perspectives.
Mr. Shields was skeptical that the new novel would hold up against Ms. Lee’s first book, which was an instant classic when she published it at age 34. The new book won’t be altered from the original manuscript. “We’re going to see what Harper Lee writes like without a strong editor’s hand, when she’s, quite honestly, an amateur,” Mr. Shields said.
The book’s publisher, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, plans to print two million copies of the new book, which is set for a July 14 release. Michael Morrison, president and publisher of HarperCollins U.S. General Books Group and Canada, negotiated the deal alone with Ms. Carter.
“I, along with millions of others around the world, always wished that Harper Lee had written another book,” Mr. Morrison said in a statement. “And what a brilliant book this is. I love ‘Go Set a Watchman,’ and know that this masterpiece will be revered for generations to come.”
Some critics and observers were skeptical of Ms. Lee’s role in approving the deal. All of Harper’s communication with Ms. Lee about the new book came through her lawyer, Ms. Carter, and her literary agent, Andrew Nurnberg, including the statement she gave expressing her delight that the novel would finally be published, according to Jonathan Burnham, senior vice president and publisher of Harper. “We talked to her through her lawyer and friend Tonja Carter,” Mr. Burnham said, adding that he was “completely confident” that Ms. Lee understood and approved of the deal and that speaking directly with Ms. Lee “wasn’t necessary.”
Harper said that Ms. Lee’s lawyer and literary agent weren’t giving interviews. A receptionist at Ms. Carter’s law firm in Monroeville said Ms. Carter was “not taking any calls about the news release.”
Ms. Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 and has been living in an assisted living facility. Her sister, Alice Lee, a lawyer who was her companion and her protector from the prying eyes of the public, died a few months ago.
Marja Mills, who struck up a friendship with the Lee sisters and became their neighbor in 2004, said she wondered about Ms. Lee’s level of involvement. “I have some concerns about statements that have been attributed to her,” Ms. Mills said in an interview. Ms. Mills had her own public standoff with Harper Lee over “The Mockingbird Next Door,” a memoir she published about her friendship with the Lees.
When the book was announced, Harper Lee released a statement through her lawyer saying she had not sanctioned the book or knowingly participated in it. But Alice Lee later wrote to Ms. Mills and said that both she and Harper Lee supported the book. In a letter dated May 12, 2011, which was made public, Alice Lee told Ms. Mills that, “Poor Nelle Harper can’t see and can’t hear and will sign anything put before her by any one in whom she has confidence.”
February 2, 2015
A view on Fantasy by Terry Pratchett
Fantasy doesn't have to be fantastic. American writers in particular find this much harder to grasp. You need to have your feet on the ground as much as your head in the clouds. The cute dragon that sits on your shoulder also craps all down your back, but this makes it more interesting because it gives it an added dimension.
- Terry Pratchett
- Terry Pratchett
February 1, 2015
The writing process by Gillian Flynn
I read this post by Gone Girl author, Gillian Flynn, and wanted to share.
By Gillian Flynn
People often ask me if I have a writing routine. The answer is: kind of.
Let me start with this caveat. I am not the world’s fastest writer. When I started GONE GIRL, I was not pregnant. Then I was. Then I had a son. Then the son became a toddler. As it turns out, 16-month-olds do not understand the phrase: “Mother is not to be disturbed while she channels her muse, my sweet.” I couldn’t write anywhere around the house anymore. I needed a lair.
So my husband created a cozy little office for me on the bottom floor of our old Victorian house. You reach my cozy little office by going through an unfinished basement straight out of The Silence of the Lambs. It’s seriously the scariest 20 square foot of space you’ve ever seen: cracked cement floor, strangely stained stone walls, dripping sinks, a scattering of ancient tools. My husband and I refer to it as “the hell pit.” (So, in answer to the question: Do I ever scare myself when I write? Yes, and you would too if you worked next to a hell pit.)
I drink my coffee and I stare at the computer screen and listen to a little music to wake up. I usually get obsessed with one song. During GONE GIRL, when I had both a newborn and a looming deadline and the writing was going very, very poorly, I went through a panicky stage where—for fortification—I’d dance around to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” each morning. This was exactly as poignant as it sounds.
I write for a long time, and then I stop. I’m a staunch believer in pottering about—I’ve had some of my best writing epiphanies when I’m doing things that have nothing to do with writing. So I may play a round of Ms. Pac-man or Galaga. I rock at both. The high score reads: GIL GIL GIL GIL BXN (my husband) GIL GIL RFN (my husband pretending to be my cat). I should add that I dominate the scoreboard because, while I legitimately rock, I also cheat. After videogames, I may take some time to manage my Netflix queue. I’m the daughter of a film professor; I wrote about movies for Entertainment Weekly for a decade—I give my queue almost as much attention and worry as I do my child. (Next up: The Wages of Fear. Also Gummo, which has been in my queue since 2006, and which at some point I should admit I will never watch.)
I write more. I may eat some chewy Sprees. I write more. I write about dark things, like murder and betrayal and toxic marriages and evil, so I try to be vigilant about shaking off the nastiness before I return to the “upstairs world.” For this, there is nothing more reliable than the “Moses Supposes” number from Singin’ in the Rain. You can’t not be happy while watching Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly tapdance. As they would tell you, and I quote: “A mose is a mose! A rose is a rose! A toes is a toes! Hooptie, doodie doodle.”
Then I run through the hell pit and head home.
By Gillian Flynn
People often ask me if I have a writing routine. The answer is: kind of.
Let me start with this caveat. I am not the world’s fastest writer. When I started GONE GIRL, I was not pregnant. Then I was. Then I had a son. Then the son became a toddler. As it turns out, 16-month-olds do not understand the phrase: “Mother is not to be disturbed while she channels her muse, my sweet.” I couldn’t write anywhere around the house anymore. I needed a lair.
So my husband created a cozy little office for me on the bottom floor of our old Victorian house. You reach my cozy little office by going through an unfinished basement straight out of The Silence of the Lambs. It’s seriously the scariest 20 square foot of space you’ve ever seen: cracked cement floor, strangely stained stone walls, dripping sinks, a scattering of ancient tools. My husband and I refer to it as “the hell pit.” (So, in answer to the question: Do I ever scare myself when I write? Yes, and you would too if you worked next to a hell pit.)
I drink my coffee and I stare at the computer screen and listen to a little music to wake up. I usually get obsessed with one song. During GONE GIRL, when I had both a newborn and a looming deadline and the writing was going very, very poorly, I went through a panicky stage where—for fortification—I’d dance around to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” each morning. This was exactly as poignant as it sounds.
I write for a long time, and then I stop. I’m a staunch believer in pottering about—I’ve had some of my best writing epiphanies when I’m doing things that have nothing to do with writing. So I may play a round of Ms. Pac-man or Galaga. I rock at both. The high score reads: GIL GIL GIL GIL BXN (my husband) GIL GIL RFN (my husband pretending to be my cat). I should add that I dominate the scoreboard because, while I legitimately rock, I also cheat. After videogames, I may take some time to manage my Netflix queue. I’m the daughter of a film professor; I wrote about movies for Entertainment Weekly for a decade—I give my queue almost as much attention and worry as I do my child. (Next up: The Wages of Fear. Also Gummo, which has been in my queue since 2006, and which at some point I should admit I will never watch.)
I write more. I may eat some chewy Sprees. I write more. I write about dark things, like murder and betrayal and toxic marriages and evil, so I try to be vigilant about shaking off the nastiness before I return to the “upstairs world.” For this, there is nothing more reliable than the “Moses Supposes” number from Singin’ in the Rain. You can’t not be happy while watching Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly tapdance. As they would tell you, and I quote: “A mose is a mose! A rose is a rose! A toes is a toes! Hooptie, doodie doodle.”
Then I run through the hell pit and head home.
