Diverse forfattere samlet

New Year's thoughts on writing

Writing Fiction — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:53:06 GMT

This afternoon, I visited the list of Amazon.ca Bestsellers. Out of the top 25, seven were books by Stephenie Meyer in the Twilight series.While I'm delighted for her success, I'm a bit discouraged for the rest of us. It's impressive......(read more)

The simple joys of dishwashing

Writing Fiction — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:00:17 GMT

This evening, after a good dinner, I did the dishes and came upstairs to find this story on Slate: Barack Obama's life will be somewhat normal for exactly 64 more days. So why not wash the dishes? Excerpt: In Barack......(read more)

War Fiction

Writing Fiction — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:04:38 GMT

It's Remembrance Day here in Canada, and Veterans' Day in the US. Today The Tyee published my essay War and How We Told It, discussing the early Canadian novels about what they called the Great War....(read more)

Farewell, Michael Crichton

Writing Fiction — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:00:05 GMT

Via The New York Times: An Appraisal - Michael Crichton - Builder of Realms That Thrillingly Run Amok. Excerpt: Michael Crichton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 66, was like a character in a Michael Crichton novel. He......(read more)

Fan mail for Elmore Leonard

Writing Fiction — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:28:10 GMT

The Tyee has published my article In Praise of Elmore Leonard . If you haven't discovered the old master yet, you have many, many great stories to look forward to...and to learn from....(read more)

George Orwell blogs the 1930s

Writing Fiction — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:58:58 GMT

This is the best news of the week: the Orwell Diaries are a day-by-day journal of George Orwell's life, published 70 years to the day after he wrote them. The chance to get inside Orwell's head and see the world......(read more)

The Length of a Chapter

Writing Fiction — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:31:26 GMT

Monique posted a comment asking: How Long is a Chapter? It's a frequently asked question. The link will take you to my post on this subject from May 2007. You may also want to check my online course Write a......(read more)

Farewell to Rust Hills

Writing Fiction — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:52:09 GMT

Via The New York Times: L. Rust Hills, Fiction Editor at Esquire, Dies at 83. Excerpt: L. Rust Hills, a staunch advocate of contemporary American literature who, as Esquire’s curmudgeonly fiction editor in three separate stints from the 1950s through.....(read more)

Choosing a Manuscript Font

Writing Fiction — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:24:53 GMT

Mary posted a comment asking about creating a memoir in a font resembling that of her grandmother's typewriter. It's a good question, because many of us choose a particular font for equally personal reasons. (I still fondly recall my mother's......(read more)

Getting Published

Writing Fiction — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:21:35 GMT

A couple of days ago, Juliana posted a comment asking about how to go about finding a publisher for her almost-finished novel. The best advice I can offer is on my Write a Novel website, which is a self-guided online......(read more)

Some bad news about the Golden Compass trilogy

Writing Fiction — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:39:53 GMT

Via The Independent in the UK: Christian protests may leave Philip Pullman's trilogy as one of a kind. Excerpt: Perhaps it has disappeared through a window into another universe, like its characters. It looked increasingly unlikely yesterday that cinema...(read more)

A film about Dalton Trumbo

Writing Fiction — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:45:32 GMT

Dalton Trumbo was one of my first mentors when I was teenager with ambitions for a writing career. So I'm happy to see this New York Times review of the movie his son Christopher has written about him: When an......(read more)

A highly unlikely story

Writing Fiction — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:59:15 GMT

Via The Globe and Mail: Young authors turn online collaboration into book deal. Excerpt: Two 21-year-old women have landed a book deal after writing a book together online in only 18 days. Danielle Bennett, from Victoria, and Jaida Jones, from......(read more)

Gore Vidal: The Old Lion Can Still Growl

Writing Fiction — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:50:29 GMT

I must have been 13 or 14 when I read my first Gore Vidal novel, an SF tale called Messiah. It was about a death cult that arises in the US and takes over the word. Since then I've read......(read more)

What do publishers want?

Writing Fiction — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:12:30 GMT

Several young writers have recently posted comments asking about whether their novels are the right length for young-adult publishers. I'm delighted to see so many ambitious writers, and I wish them all every success. But they shouldn't ask me—they should.....(read more)