Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 53
June 22, 2017
Is the tone of your prose in tune with your novel? A simple exercise with Pharrell Williams and Yellow Magic Orchestra
Today’s re-blog has Roz Morris expanding on “The prose is like a soundtrack for a movie, the lighting, the mood.”
A moment of uncharacteristic levity in the lives of J Watson and S Holmes
Your prose does more than simply describe what happens. It creates the experience in the reader’s mind – the atmosphere, the themes, the lighting, the mood. Imagine the book has a soundtrack, like a movie. In fact it does, because the ‘music’ is created by the shape of the words and the ima...
June 21, 2017
10 Sites with #Free #Ebooks
Before I share the sites with free ebooks, a few words about the site that let me know about them — No Shelf Required.
[image error]Image Courtesy of Flavio Takemoto ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/flaivoloka-50905
Here’s what they say about themselves:
“Portal on all aspects of ebooks and digital content and for all creating, reading, publishing, managing, curating, and distributing the written word and other content in digital format, including publishers, writers, editors, content developers,...
June 20, 2017
On Writing, Mothering, and Slouching Towards Fulfillment
Much to ponder in today’s re-blog; even if you’re not a mother…
Sarah Curtis Graziano
By Sarah Curtis Graziano
Recently, I was talking with a writer who told me that she’d enrolled in an MFA program years ago, when her teenage son was very small. The experience taught her a simple lesson, she said, one still applies to her life today: that she is a better mother when she writes.
“Because you’re fulfilled,” I said, nodding in solidarity. It seems like a no-brainer —...
June 19, 2017
What Is a Novel?
The question that forms the title of this post may seem simple to answer; yet, is it?
[image error]Image Courtesy of Julia Freeman-Woolpert ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/juliaf-55850
I can imagine a few answers from certain folks:
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“A thick book with a story in it.”
“A continuous narrative of at least 50,000 words.”
“What a dumb question—everybody knows what a novel is.”
~~~
The only problem is that many novelists would disagree with those answers; and, many other answers to the question.
June 18, 2017
Writing (in) the Moment Plus Shareworthy Reading and Writing Links
Very Worthy re-blog today…
An unexpectedly lovely flowering burr that Daisy and I discovered on the river trail.
This has been the busiest summer I’ve had in a long while, and not in the fun, vacationing, reading, hitting-the-beach-and-hiking-with-my-daughter kind of way, but in the racing-to-meet-crazy-deadlines, working-seven-days-a-week, at-my-desk-’til-midnight kind of way that puts me in very real danger of total burn out. Despite moments of bitterness (Wh...
June 17, 2017
10 More Incorrect Assumptions About Writers
The first 10 Incorrect Assumptions are just below this re-blog :-)
This post is a somewhat snarky continuation of last month’s 10 Incorrect Assumptions About Writers article.
#11 Writers don’t actually work that muchGrab a notebook and a pencil and people admire your dedication. Crack open a laptop and everyone assumes you’re playing games. Granted, all the Netflix jokes we make don’t help our case, but still. We writers take our work pretty seriously.
I’ve had people watch...
10 Incorrect Assumptions About Writers
10 More Incorrect Assumptions just before this re-blog :-)
Let’s face it, we writers have built something of a reputation for ourselves. I won’t deny my own…unique characteristics, and I know you lot are in the same boat. But that doesn’t mean everything non-writers think about us is necessarily true. In fact, here are some common misconceptions people tend to have about writers that are usually false:
#1 Writers depend on inspirationIn this scenario, I define inspiration a...
June 15, 2017
Friday Story Bazaar ~ Tale Forty-Eight
The Goal
by
Alexander M Zoltai
~~~~~~~~~
It seemed like a boundless Jungle; yet, he liked the coolness much better than the seemingly endless Desert he’d just been wandering in—he’d find a landmark and have it be a mirage, top a large sand dune and have it collapse under him.
Yes, he thought. He might get back on track somewhere in this Jungle…
~~~
Years later, he thought he saw a way out of the Jungle—a large Hill that rose above the creature-infested, dark and chill vegetative snarl…
He rea...
Everyday chaos. Just another day in the genesis of a book
Can an author who’s written books about the process of writing have “chaos” working on a new book?
Absolutely — even if they know, quite well, how to deal with it…
It’s Roz Morris again in today’s re-blog — adding insight about The Process…
I had been intending to bring you a craft post this week as I’ve written a guide to suspense for Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman’s Writers Helping Writers blog. But I mistook the date because I’ve been immersed in my current book, but it...
June 14, 2017
“These are scary and uncertain times…” ~ “What’s a writer’s calling…”
Image courtesy of Antonio Jiménez Alonso ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/Capgros-58778
One week ago, I published a post called “Words Are My Matter” ~ Ursula K. Le Guin.
I’ve been reading the book and can recommend it to all Readers, Writers, and Publishers…
The other day, I got to a particular essay that had these words:
“Where am I to find strength and hope in this world? In my work, in trying to write well. What’s a writer’s calling, now or at any time? To write, to try to write w...
