Lee Allen Howard's Blog, page 5

Limited Third Omniscient POV in The Haunting of Hill House

This post is part of class requirements for a “Readings in the Genre” (RIG) course I’m taking toward my MFA from Seton Hill University. This particular RIG is subtitled “The Haunted,” taught by Scott A. Johnson, MFA. This term at Seton Hill University, I’m concentrating on expanding my knowledge and practice of POV, which I’ve studied for years and will continue to study until I master as many POVs as I can.

So much could be said about Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House,...

I’m Going Back to School to Get “F”ed

I just spent the past five days at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to get “F”ed. Or to start getting “F”ed. Let me explain…

Back in 2006, I completed SHU’s Writing Popular Fiction graduate program to earn a Master of Arts in genre fiction writing. Death Perception (my fourth novel) was my thesis. SHU since upgraded the program to an Master of Fine Arts (a terminal degree), so I applied again last fall and was accepted. So I’m going back for the F.

The extra 27 credits will ce...

Novel-Writing Progress

If you subscribe to my private email newsletter, I’ve kept you posted on my novel-writing progress. (If you’re not subscribed, you can subscribe here.) But here’s the past, present, and future of my writing projects. I’ve also got some short stories in the works not listed here.

TitleNumberStatusAvailable AtWhen the Music Stops1Out of printN/AThe Sixth Seed2Published for Kindle and in paperbackhttps://leeallenhoward.com/book/the-sixth-seed/The Adamson Family3Published for Kindle and in paperb...

The Would-Be Novelist’s Self-Education Plan

Can you teach yourself to write a novel through a reading program? I did. Here’s how.

Back in 2006, I earned a master’s in Writing Popular Fiction, producing Death Perception as my thesis novel. But the greater part of my literary training came from self-education, through which I learned many things I didn’t in school.

For over thirty years, I’ve read and studied hundreds of writing craft books, many pertaining to aspects of novel-writing. Some books were better than others, but most offe...

I Got an Agent!

After thirty years of querying agents, I finally landed one! Here’s the story…

I’ve been working on novel #6, LGBTQ horror/romance, for almost ten years. I submitted it to several dozen agents, none of whom asked for the full manuscript. Last year I submitted it to a dream publisher that took five months to get back to me with a rejection. Sigh. I queried another publisher who quickly declined. (Rejection sucks, but if my work’s going to be rejected, I’d rather know sooner than later.)

A c...

On Writing Ideas Bigger Than You Can Handle Now

What are writers to do when they have an idea and the ambition to write something they’re not yet skilled enough to write or don’t know how to tackle? How do you know if your capabilities are inadequate or you’re simply not working hard enough?

Kyle Winkler posted these questions on Twitter the other day, and they intrigued me enough to write this post.

When your literary reach exceeds your grasp

As readers first, writers can comprehend and appreciate writing at a level they’re not ...

Book Review: The Nothing That Is by Kyle Winkler

I just finished reading Kyle Winkler’s novella, The Nothing That Is, and I wanted to tell you about it. I loved it because it’s: 1) Short. 2) Contains delightful similes. 3) Quirky and weird. 4) Set in the 80s. 5) Darkly funny. 6) Mentions food, eating, and chafing dishes. 7) Actually freaked me out a few times.

About this last point: I read mostly horror, and it no longer scares me. Yet I found myself reeling on the brink of terror from Winkler’s descriptions of cosmic horrors, like I was ...

Website Moving; Join My Email List

Hi. Soon I’ll migrate my WordPress.com site to hosted WordPress, which means I’ll have some nice upgrades but will lose the ability to notify subscribers by email whenever I publish a new post.

If you’re reading this and haven’t signed up for my private email newsletter, you can do so at: https://mailchi.mp/3cf255f994c7/leeallenhowardcom-signup-form

Thanks for signing up, and stay tuned for a website facelift in the coming month!

Novel #7 Finished!

Yesterday, I wrote “The End” on novel #7, a horror mystery set here in my hometown in western New York State.

I began from a #StoryStarter that I originally tweeted on January 21.

I started outlining February 15, did a little research, began writing March 21 and ended April 18 (29 days actual writing).

In a little less than two months, I spent 7% of my time researching, 53% outlining, and 39% writing.

The first draft came out at 40,553 words, my shortest book yet—101% of my prelimin...

Using WordKeeper to Track Fiction Writing Progress

In keeping with my 2021 writing goals and my ramped up writing process, I’ve been using an iPhone app—WordKeeper—to measure my daily fiction writing progress.

You can enter different projects, such as short stories or novels. I’m in the early stages of working on novel number seven: plotting and outlining. My project page is below. WordKeeper displays my daily target word count based on the completion date I set. It shows daily progress as well as total progress toward my projected word count...