I'm not talking here about the mechanics of writing, though craftsmanship is important. Like a clock, a novel has many moving parts--pace, momentum, tension, plot, characterization, story arc, character arcs--and they all need to work perfectly together.
When a key character in a novel is passive and/or modest, that spells trouble for the book -- right? Not necessarily. A seemingly boring protagonist ...
I knew Le Carré had a fondness for fox hunting and so I rented an authentic Lady's Victorian riding costume. Then I drove to St. Buryan a small village in Cornwall and stopping by the local stables, I arranged to hire a horse for the hunt.
Certainly, poetry demands a different kind of attention than our other everyday pursuits. To get something meaningful out of a well-written poem, whether from the Renaissance or by one of today's many thought-provoking poets, one must be willing to linger over it, word by word and sentence by sentence.
I love historical fiction. A writer takes what is known about a place in time or a character from the past, and then transports the reader further and deeper into what are the blood and guts of the past.
Although the novel is perfect for women 40 and over in the dating pool, The Last Place She'd Look is filled with humor, insight, pain, defeat and sex that will be familiar and appealing to anyone who is in, has ever been in, or would like to be in the world of dating.
We've not chosen books from best-seller lists. Such books may be quirky, sometimes challenging, often beautifully printed. This year, we turned to Correction of Drift by Pamela Ryder.
What do you think? Are you working on a real project that gratifies you at this moment in time? Are you offended by the phrase "fake it till you make it?"
I hear this complaint a lot, and it's just been repeated on Salon.com. Is it true?
In the first year after posting the short of Diary of a Sex Addict, I was thrilled to see the film got 10,000 hits on Vimeo and resulted in some nice media coverage for the novel.
Pay attention to the signs. Both the physical ones that keep you out of the motor vehicle line meant for folks who have seven forms of identification when you only have two, and the subtle ones that help you remember your loved ones, tell you to slow down or beg you to follow your dreams.
Arai is a little like Miss Marple -- an unlikely crime-solver in the guise of a senior citizen. But he's unlike everyone else I've read, because he's a 70-something Nisei, or second generation Japanese American who was born in California but spent his childhood in Japan.
Here's an excerpt from Episode 157, my conversation with Ayana Mathis, author of the bestselling novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. It was hand-selected by Oprah Winfrey as an official pick of Oprah's Book Club 2.0.
Author James Markert grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and was intrigued by the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a tuberculosis hospital with the highest rate of TB in the country, at a very young age.
Here's an excerpt from Episode 155, my conversation with Lenore Zion, an author who also works as a sex therapist.
Over 11,000 writers, editors, and publishers turned out this year for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' Conference, making it one of the biggest literary hootenannies for anyone with a passion for putting words on the page.
By Writer's Relief staff: At some point, everyone’s the new kid on the block. For writers, this situation can be extremely daunting. You may be w...
This awards season, several movies that contended for Best Picture prizes came in for an unusual degree of scrutiny regarding their historical accuracy -- or lack of it. But playing fast and loose with history is nothing new.
Readers -- many of whom have been "fish out of water" themselves during vacations or after moving to new towns (or countries) -- can compare their own real-life experiences with the fictional ones depicted by authors.
One big reason why people read fiction is to feel strong emotions -- joy, surprise, anger, etc. And when it comes to anger, few literary experiences make our blood boil more than observing the actions of hypocritical protagonists.
The Conduct of Saints captures the time and the place; it is a profoundly atmospheric novel. More important, it presents an unforgettable cast of characters. Once again, Davis' work commands our attention.
You know that dreaded nine-letter word describing certain novels. The word that makes literature students run screaming from classrooms and older readers tremble even when dressed warmly. Yes, the word is (gasp) "difficult"!
What began as an experiment in shouting out each other's books into the vast blinding blizzard of social media, has become a virtual world of tight friendships and support--and proof that, among some authors, cooperation trumps competition.
People who love both fiction and music might waffle Hamlet-like about whether to enjoy a book or some tunes in their free time. But there's a way to combine both!
Terrific follow-up to day one's stellar start. For me, the star of the day was Columbia University professor Gary Shteyngart, the author of Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story.
