Article Archives — Author

Author Interview: David Vann

with Norelle Done

Fiction writing requires a balance of storytelling, personal experience, and realistic portrayals of characters’ emotions and actions. It is a challenge to avoid tipping too far in one direction, especially when the author’s personal experiences can weigh so heavily.

David Vann is an author that has successfully accomplished a balance in telling stories from a depth that can only be reached through personal experience, but without turning fiction into a thinly disguised memoir. Not that writing a memoir is negative, by any means.

Norelle DoneMarch 14, 2011Comment

How to Show Character Through Dialogue

by Jason Black

Many moons ago, I wrote a pair of articles on dialogue, one on writing more realistic dialogue and one on making your different characters’ dialogue sound different. Those are both important, but dialogue is also a key tool of characterization.

Dialogue is all about nuance. There are almost limitless ways to say any particular thing you want to say, but each carries its own flavor.

Jason BlackMarch 14, 2011Comment

Creating Your Own Publicity

by Erin Brown

As I’ve discussed before, authors must play a very large role in publicizing their own book. Well, unless you’ve sold a gazillion copies already (I’m sure Janet Evanovich can afford to buy homes in every state). And no, the books that publishers choose to sink tons of money into aren’t necessarily the best books out there; however, those authors do bring in cold, hard cash. And publishing is a business, after all. These bestsellers are the authors whose sales allow the publisher to buy smaller, sometimes better books.

Erin BrownMarch 14, 2011Comment

The Writing Process

by Laura Yeager

A famous myth is that novels and stories just appear one day in finished form. The reality is that they take time. Most writers go through a process of pre-writing, writing and revising to produce wonderful products. Let's look at the WRITING PROCESS.

Laura YeagerFebruary 14, 2011 Comment

Rules, Consequences, and What’s the Point

by Jennifer Paros

My youngest son walked out of his school the other day. He’d had a rough time earlier. He didn’t go far; just milled around and came back in. His teacher spoke to him about it and he said, “I know, I know, you’ve told me before about the rule. I don’t care!”

She suggested he experience a consequence: lunch detention. That night, he bemoaned rules and told me she had shown him a Rule and Consequence visual:

Jennifer ParosFebruary 14, 2011Comment

Are You Talking to I?

by Cherie Tucker

Oh, pronouns. They’ve confounded the best of us lately. And it’s not just the who/whom problem anymore. Is it me or I? She or her? And how can you tell? And what’s a pronoun anyway?

A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun (the name of something) when you don’t want to repeat the noun endlessly. (Jim will drive his own car when he gets off work. rather than Jim will drive Jim’s own car when Jim gets off work.) Unlike nouns, however, which don’t change depending on how they are used in sentences, pronouns change all the time.

Cherie TuckerFebruary 14, 2011Comment

Author Interview: Christine Feehan

with Norelle Done

Storytelling is all about sharing the reality of a story and its characters - complete with their motivations, reactions, and mistakes. Crafting those personalities realistically can be quite the task, according to New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan. “I try to know my characters from the time they were born, and know what motivates them.

Norelle DoneFebruary 14, 2011Comment

Make Your Characters’ Flaws Work on More Than One Level

by Jason Black

We’ve all heard the warning that characters who are too perfect—who have “Superman syndrome”—are difficult for readers to believe in and are boring to read. Thus, we are well advised to give our characters some flaws. Still, while it’s all well and good to have a character who is afraid of the color yellow or who simply cannot remember anybody’s name until the third time he hears it, does that really help your story? If that’s all the flaw is, probably not.

Jason BlackFebruary 14, 2011Comment

The ABCs of Publishing

by Erin Brown

My twenty-month-old son is obsessed—and I mean, reallyobsessed with his ABCs. The little man falls asleep, singing in his soft, sweet voice, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G! Giant Rock! H, I, J….” You get the idea. In fact, the haunting melody of Cookie Monster’s “C is for Cookie” has been on auto-repeat in my brain for the past week. So after the gazillionth rendition of Ernie and Bert’s “L is for Linoleum,” a lightbulb (also starting with L) clicked on in my head.

Erin BrownFebruary 14, 2011Comment

Boozing the Muse

by Laura Munson

Fitzgerald. Hemingway. Steinbeck. Faulkner. O’Neil. Poe. Kerouac. Bukowski. Capote. Dorothy Parker. Katherine Anne Porter. And so many many others. Why is the muse so thirsty? I want to know the answer. Allow me then, to muse upon the muse.

For the sake of this pursuit, I’m going to make some assumptions/projections about writers as a woman who’s been writing for half her life.

Laura MunsonJanuary 14, 2011Comment

The Art of Being Lost

by Jennifer Paros

When I was a child, the writing process never confused me. I would produce such short classics as Sally Hamburger and Harry French Fries, and then go and make something else. There was no judgment on my own choices or the turns I took. In all of my ramblings, I never saw myself as lost, just making stuff up. I had no idea, at the time, how liberating this approach could be for a grown-up.

Jennifer ParosJanuary 14, 2011Comment

Give me an Adjective

by Cherie Tucker

In case someone asks you to play Mad Libs, we’d better review the eight parts of speech. Remember, words can act as many different parts of speech. The designation depends on the function a word plays in a sentence. You can watch a play, or play ball, or have a play day. So get out your memories from sixth grade:

Cherie TuckerJanuary 14, 2011Comment

Surefire Success Strategies for Your Writing Life

by Sage Cohen

Creating a successful writing life depends as much on our attitudes, strategies and systems as it does on great writing. Follow the steps below to create your own productivity blueprint, and make 2011 your best writing and publishing year yet.

Sage CohenJanuary 14, 2011Comment

Understanding Inner vs. Outer Character Arcs

by Jason Black

We all know what a character arc is, right? It’s when a character ends the novel wiser, more mature--somehow better--than before. But did you know there are two basic kinds of arcs, which you can mix-and-match into four distinct character arc strategies to employ across your whole book?

The first kind is the typical “inner character arc.” This is what we most often think of when we think of character arcs. It’s when the character learns to overcome, through the experiences he has during the novel, some kind of flaw.

Jason BlackJanuary 14, 2011 Comment

Agent Query: Emmanuelle Morgen

with Brian Mercer

Tell me about your path to becoming a literary agent.

I always wanted to work with writers. Books brought me enormous pleasure as a kid. I think many people who come to publishing have a huge respect for authors and the people who create the books that give us so much joy growing up. It was the same for me. For a while, before I knew the kinds of jobs available in publishing, I thought I wanted to be a writer. I took some creative writing classes in college but quickly realized I preferred offering notes and edits to the other students.

Brian MercerJanuary 14, 2011Comment

How a Book Becomes a Book

by Erin Brown

Ever wonder how a little ol’ manuscript by a little ol’ debut author goes from a pile of paper that keeps getting jammed in the damn printer to a beautifully bound book on the shelves of your local bookstore? Well, even if you haven’t, I’m going to tell you anyway. I think it’s a fascinating (if exhausting) process that I love sharing with others. Most people I encounter honestly have no idea what’s involved from acquisition to press. So to start the new year off right, I’m going to let you peek behind the curtain of the much-revered and reviled publishing houses.

Erin BrownJanuary 14, 2011Comment

One Writer’s Humble Place in the Publishing Universe...

by Laura Yeager

When people think of the results or effects of writing a manuscript, they often think of million dollar book contracts, movie deals and writing studios in the mountains. While some of us do reap these things from the words we sow, most of us don't.

So what can the average writer expect from publishing his or her writing? In my experience, there are essentially four things that happen after one becomes a published author. They are as follows:

Laura YeagerDecember 14, 2010Comment

Pie

by Laura Munson

Mostly, I’ve been a back door sort of submitter. I didn’t used to be. I used to march straight through the front door and send my stuff out shotgun. In fact, the very first story I wrote, I sent, wait for it…to the New Yorker. And when I got that first form rejection, I was stunned. I was twenty. I was a dreamer, not really a writer. And dreamers are a bit delusional. So I kept sending out that short story—Harpers, Esquire, every magazine I could think of, every literary review I found in the Harvard Square kiosk (we didn’t have the internet yet). Still rejection after rejection. After rejection. I had a bulletin board over my desk with a chart full of all my submissions written on butcher block paper.

Laura MunsonDecember 14, 2010Comment

Agent Query: Jennifer Rofé

with Brian Mercer

Jen, tell me about your path to becoming a literary agent.

I read something recently about how, when you're looking through the windshield of your career, it's hard to see where you're going, but when you look in the rear view mirror it's so clear. I like to say that I fell into being an agent, but I'm not so convinced by that anymore.

My aunt writes and produces kids' cartoons. My uncle married her when I was twelve and she would occasionally ask me to read some of her projects.

Brian MercerDecember 14, 2010Comment

Find Yourself in Everything

by Jennifer Paros

Years ago, I had just put my youngest son to bed when I heard tell tale sounds, ran in, and found him throwing up. Excepting the desk and the walls, there was much to be tidied. A bit rattled over where to start, I cleaned the child first and set him out of the fray while I stripped the bed of everything. Awkwardly scooping up bedding and clothing, I headed for the laundry room, still fueled by my emergency mentality. But while crossing the living room, I stopped – perhaps to reconfigure my load – and something happened.

Jennifer ParosDecember 14, 2010Comment