A lot of the books I read end up adding to what I write. Characters, words, worlds, even just that mix of tones (a little darkness, a dash of magic and a small smidge of humor); it all affects how I write. There are authors who energize; who help me get off of my ass … Continue reading A Little of This, a Little of That
Tag: Writing
The Death of a Year
Let's see if I can remember how to do this. We'll start with an opening sentence and take it from there. Oh hi! I don't really know if there are people who still read this. It's been about, oh, two months since I last updated. I'll make the assumption that everyone who reads my blog … Continue reading The Death of a Year
Writer’s Commiseration
Writing has never been a group thing to me. I don't track down other writers to talk to them about the process. I don't go to forums and chat about plotting and character development. I don't hang out in coffee houses with other writers and discuss the finer points of the gerund. That's just not … Continue reading Writer’s Commiseration
NANOWRIMO
This year I've decided to write a novel for NANOWRIMO. I'm so out of touch with writing fiction that I figured the best way to get back into shape is to try and write 50,000 words in less than a month. It's like if you decided you wanted to start running every day and figured … Continue reading NANOWRIMO
Distraction
I have this blog entry to write. I also have a story to write. And a review. I should also be editing my second book. But Instead I ended up watching X-Men: First Class. And looking at cute cat pictures on CuteOverload. And playing tower defense games. I've never been good at avoiding distractions. Instead, … Continue reading Distraction
The Process
In order to get myself hyped about writing reviews again, I'm going to let ya'll in on a behind-the-scenes look at the process I use when writing reviews. It's also a good way to get two blog entries out of one movie. 1. First, I pick the movie. This involves going through the collection of … Continue reading The Process
The Detective
I've been reading a lot of detective fiction lately: Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Aside from the fact that they're all about mysteries and detecting the solution to aforementioned mysteries, they're also some of the more depressing books I've read. These writers have crafted worlds populated with brainless thugs, shallow women and men … Continue reading The Detective
The Newest Book
Since it's been a while, let's talk about the book. No, not that book. The newest one. The one that hasn't been written yet. I'm...extremely tentative about this one. I want this one to be perfect. I want the table of contents to work properly. I want the formatting to sparkle. I don't want there to … Continue reading The Newest Book
Suspension of DisBelief
Lately, I've become more and more obsessed with the idea of bringing my stories into the real world. By that, I mean to blend reality and fiction. I want to smudge the boundaries between my fiction and the world we live in. I have one or two ideas on how to do this. I want … Continue reading Suspension of DisBelief
Looking for Pickman
I was reading Pickman's Model, one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, and I realized I recognized most of the places he was talking about in the story. There was the studio on Newbury Street and South Station and there was the North End. In fact, Lovecraft placed Pickman's studio of horrors right smack dab in … Continue reading Looking for Pickman
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