Posts Tagged ‘author’
What comes after THE END?
I’ve been absent. At the end of writing a book, when my creative energy is focused on climactic scenes and tying up loose ends, it’s hard to think about writing anything else. So my blog takes a hit. I apologize. But Sweet Salt Air is now done – at least, the heavy-duty, mind-drain part of…
Read MoreDo you talk to yourself?
Do you? I mean, out loud? I didn’t used to. Only deranged people talk aloud to themselves, right? But there are certain circumstances now when I find myself doing it. Like when I carry two super-heavy bags of groceries in from the car and heave them onto the kitchen counter. Okay, I grunt in relief…
Read MoreThe pre-reqs of public speaking
What makes a good public speaker? A strong voice? Lotsa guts? The gift of gab? If you guessed any of these, you’d be right, but they’re the tip of the iceberg – literally, only the part you see. When I talk before a group, there’s much more involved, and since I’m flying across the country…
Read MoreWhat, me? Preorder?
Well, I don’t do it all the time, but here I am, asking you to preorder the paperback of Escape, which goes on sale Tuesday. So let’s take a minute to discuss the pros and cons of preordering. Pro. You don’t risk forgetting; the book is on your doorstep the day it goes on sale.…
Read MoreWhen characters are name-callers
Here’s another thought for those of you who are interested in the kinds of things a writer has to consider. In a single stretch of dialogue, how often should the characters call each other by name? I’ve been hypersensitive about this lately, because I just read another book that, IMHO, did it very wrong. Here’s…
Read MoreNovelist as shrink
So I’m re-reading Sweet Salt Air and seeing remarks about my characters’ emotional baggage. Take this brief excerpt. Charlotte, the main voice in Sweet Salt Air, is trying to explain to her BFF Nicole why she has never married. “What terrifies me,” Charlotte said in a measured way, speaking from the heart as she couldn’t…
Read MoreA watershed moment for SWEET SALT AIR
I do try to blog several times a week, but it’s been ten days since my last post, and you loyal readers have Sweet Salt Air to blame. I’ve reached a critical point in the book – three hundred pages done, with the final climactic hundred ready to go. But … but … but ……
Read MoreWhy do I blog?
Let me make one thing clear. I don’t blog to express a political opinion. As a novelist, my taking a stand on anything political or religious is disastrous. When I talked here last week about civil discourse, it was to vent not about what we say but how we say it. So there you go…
Read MoreWhat is a BFF?
Do you have a BFF? Nicole and Charlotte, of Sweet Salt Air, are that – at least until Charlotte confesses to having wronged Nicole in a totally reprehensible way. Nicole is devasted. “I thought you were my BFF,” she cries in the scene I just wrote, and goes on to say, “A BFF is supposed…
Read MoreHow emotional am I writing my characters’ emotions?
I’m on a Sweet Salt Air roll, so this blog won’t be long. But I’m asked this question often. Do I feel what I write? If my characters are shocked, do I feel the shock? If they’re heartsick, do I cry? And yes – someone recently asked this in a blog comment – if they’re…
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