Could you take your work in progress, change every single word—and still tell the same story? Is it possible to write a novel without one familiar, cliché phrase? Or description? Or scene? How do you guard against overusing tried and true verbiage? Stale descriptions? How do you turn a stereotype on its head? Do you…
Do you have a meter in your head when you evaluate your work? George Saunders does. I can’t recommend enough the entire recent podcast interview between Saunders and Ezra Klein. Do yourself a favor and listen here. If you don’t have a writing guru, you can’t do much better than Saunders, who is easy-going, smart,…
Story One: A writer pal is an established mystery writer. Established, award-winning mystery writer. Established, award-winning, and hard-working mystery writer. She recently finished a new mystery with a new character. She invested lots and lots of time writing this book, based on a highly original character (and job function). My friend is having a very…
If you maintain an online presence that’s all about your writing career—website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blog page, Amazon author page—check your core material every now and then. Your bio. The kinds of books you write. Make sure all your info is accurate and up to date. Check that all your links work. Google yourself. Check…
Is Twitter: A flippant smarmy cesspool? Source of endless inspiration? Giant time suck? All of the above? I would never recommend doing anything that doesn’t suit your style or float your boat, but I need my daily (um, er, hourly) Twitter fix. There are 1.5 zillion writing and writing-related accounts on Twitter, but I’m here…