Libre Paley's Blog: Libre Paley - Thoughts on Literary Erotica, page 4

Un-writing the rules

You are probably already aware of novelist Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules for writing. As a reminder, and very much in summary, these are: 1 Never open a book with weather (where it’s used to create atmosphere). 2 Avoid prologues.3 Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue.4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’.5 Keep your … Continue reading Un-writing the rules

Writing is like…?

I have done what I so often do when I feel a need to regain control: baked. One coffee mocha cake and two big batches of vegan cookies (for my plan-based eater son) later, and that feels better. There’s not much that’s imaginative about my cooking. Not these days, at least, in the quotidien monotony … Continue reading Writing is like…?

Letting your characters take control

Reading a biography of author Monica Dickens recently, I was interested to see her quoted as comenting with regard to her writing process: ‘the best characters just write themselves’. ‘Writes itself’. That’s a phrase we see a lot – or variations of it. It broadly refers to, I think, a relative ease in producing writing … Continue reading Letting your characters take control

Twenty from ’20

Twenty lessons I learnt from 2020… Biographies of writers can give valuable insights into their writing – but most of all I am just nosy! Writer’s biography / memoir I have enjoyed this year – Monica: A Life of Dickens, Anne Wellman; Red Comet: The short life and blazing art of Sylvia Plath, Heather Clark; … Continue reading Twenty from ’20

Blogmas reflections

So I did Blogmas this year, the twenty-four-day countdown (or run-up, whichever way you look at it) to Christmas, which entails blogging daily from 1st to 24th December. The primary motive was to ‘cure’ myself of an involuntary three-month hiatus I had fallen into – and, I guess, to check whether I actually wanted to … Continue reading Blogmas reflections

Advent calendar 24: the magic

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” — Norman Vincent Peale Today’s image: the magic Okay, another abstract one. Or at least, more of an essence, a feeling than an image. It’s in the air. It’s a readiness, the tension of expectation; it is anticipation. The … Continue reading Advent calendar 24: the magic

Advent calendar 23: the star

‘But when I lifted up my headFrom shadows shaken on the snow,I saw Orion in the eastBurn steadily as long ago.’– Sarah Teasdale, ‘Winter Stars’ in Flame and Shadow (1920) Today’s image: the star Stars brim with allegory, mystery, possibility and promise; from a distance, they have always intrigued. They symbolise purity and good fortune and, … Continue reading Advent calendar 23: the star

Advent calendar 22: the theatre

‘I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.’– Oscar Wilde Today’s image: the theatreThere is such a close association between the theatre, in all its forms, and this … Continue reading Advent calendar 22: the theatre

Advent calendar 21: the solstice

‘Don’t let the solstice fool you:our lives will always bea stew of contradictions…’Adrienne Rich ‘Contradictions: Tracking Poems,’ in Your Native Land, Your Life (1986) Today’s image: the winter solstice From the Latin sol (‘sun’) and sistere (‘to stay still’), the sun suspended a moment in its path, here in winter, in the south in summer. … Continue reading Advent calendar 21: the solstice

Advent calendar 20: the ideal

“There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions.” – Bill McKibben in Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas (2013) Today’s image: the ideal… Okay, this word is too abstract to have a single ‘image’ attached to it. … Continue reading Advent calendar 20: the ideal