Advice to writers: Skip the scenery - Laura Miller
Recently, I was asked to speak to a class of writing students on what critics look for in debut novels. After canvassing my colleagues, I had a few answers — a distinctive voice, an interesting perspective, strong writing and so on — but they didn’t seem especially helpful. Presumably, every writer already starts out with the most distinctive voice and interesting perspective he or she can conjure. How about telling them what to avoid instead? By far the most common gripe from readers was too much description, particularly environmental description — that is, of landscape, weather and interiors. This complaint struck me as especially pertinent because at that very moment I was trying to decide whether or not to recommend Tea Obreht’s “The Tiger’s Wife” in our weekly book column, What to Read. This is a fine, ambitious premise for a novel, and certainly nothing that Obreht writes could be called flowery. Further reading: Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules for writing well
25 Things Every Writer Should Know
An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Absorb them into your body. Let your colonic flora digest them and feed them through your bloodstream to the little goblin-man that pilots you. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. 4. I have been writing professionally for a lucky-despite-the-number 13 years. 5. Luck matters. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
10 Unfilmable Books That Would Make Great Films
The sheer amount of Hollywood films which started life as books or short stories is absolutely staggering. Even the onset of CGI, HD and Jason Statham has done nothing to alter the extent of cross-medium borrowing, basing and plain old adapting. Indeed, Some of Hollywood’s most memorable offerings ;-Gone with the Wind, Jaws, The Godfather, The English Patient, The Shining, Schindler’s List- are actually great improvement upon the original novels. But is there a certain type of book which lends itself to adaptation? What of those books so firmly rooted in their medium that any adaptation would feel reckless, heretical even? In short, the challenges of adaptation are just as numerous as those any original, new screenplay provide. For film adaptation’s detractors, a central issue is often raised; how can a film evoke the atmosphere or the sheer reading experience of the book? And given the recent ambitions of Hollywood, is any novel safe to be considered unfilmable anymore?
I Dreamed of Africa - Magazine
Who are your biggest personal influences? In terms of writers, I definitely have to say I am greatly influenced by writing that I love. Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita), Gabriel García Márquez, and Hemingway. In terms of people that I know, my grandmother and my mother are huge influences on my writing life because they are both massively supportive and always have been of my career. What do you want to explore with your writing? I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters. What is your relationship to Africa in particular? I grew up in Egypt, but I had never been to sub-Saharan Africa. Do you have any rituals related to your writing? When I hit a block, regardless of what I am writing, what the subject matter is, or what’s going on in the plot, I go back and I read Pablo Neruda’s poetry. I also have Dali’s print The Ghost of Vermeer. If you were not a writer, what would you do? I would definitely teach. I will say two writers. — Cotton Codinha
Max Barry | Fifteen Ways to Write a Novel
Every year I get asked what I think about NaNoWriMo, and I don’t know how to answer, because I don’t want to say, “I think it makes you write a bad novel.” This is kind of the point. You’re supposed to churn out 50,000 words in one month, and by the end you have a goddamn novel, one you wouldn’t have otherwise. If it’s not Shakespeare, it’s still a goddamn novel. The NaNoWriMo FAQ says: “Aiming low is the best way to succeed,” where “succeed” means “write a goddamn novel.” I find it hard to write a goddamn novel. Some of these methods I use a lot, some only when I’m stuck. The Word TargetWhat: You don’t let yourself leave the keyboard each day until you’ve hit 2,000 words.
LPT: When writing, studying, or reading, listen to music with no vocals : LifeProTips
The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home (9780061995033): Dan Ariely
Quotations: Writers on Writing | Writer's Remorse
I absolutely love it when writers write (or talk about) writing. Depending on what stage a writer is in the writing process, the writer’s quotes range from the devoted, to the confused, to the alcohol-dependent, and to the ultimately creative. In this short list of some of my favorite writer’s quotations about writing, I tried to leave out the mundane quotes and instead tried to include some of the more flavorful quotations about writing and the writing process. Stephen King: I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.Ernest Hemingway: Write drunk, edit sober. Hunter S. Elmore Leonard: I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Isaac Asimov: If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. Moliere: A writer is congenitally unable to tell the truth and that is why we call what he writes fiction. William Faulkner: Writing is like prostitution. Robert Frost: Poets need not go to Niagara to write about the force of falling water. William S.
Famous Advice on Writing: The Collected Wisdom of Great Writers
By Maria Popova By popular demand, I’ve put together a periodically updated reading list of all the famous advice on writing presented here over the years, featuring words of wisdom from such masters of the craft as Kurt Vonnegut, Susan Sontag, Henry Miller, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Susan Orlean, Ernest Hemingway, Zadie Smith, and more. Please enjoy. Jennifer Egan on Writing, the Trap of Approval, and the Most Important Discipline for Aspiring Writers “You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly… Accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.”
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (9780061353246): Dan Ariely
In the Beginning: How to Draw in Your Reader
Today’s post is written by regular contributor Susan Bearman. A story either leaps off the page or it doesn’t. Beatriz Badikian-Gartler once told our writing group that “Titles are a kind of promise you make to the reader.” In the beginning, we establish our voice, invite the reader into our world, and tempt them to come along for the ride. And, attention spans being what they are today, we don’t have much time to get them hooked. We can all think of famous first lines in literature, lines that continue to resonate long after the novel has been put back on the shelf. It lets the reader know that a story is at hand.It eases the way for suspending disbelief.It sets the story in a different place and time.It awakens curiosity and raises questions. These are the kinds of things you want your own beginnings to accomplish. Change of Pace It used to be that the writer had loads of time to get a story started, but in today’s fast-paced world, some celebrated opening pages might not hold up.
