Note: A version of the following post was written for Ireland Writer Tours. The week I had been invited to spend in Ireland leading discussions for a group of writers, in September, has been canceled. Ireland is still struggling with variants of the COVID-19 virus; there weren’t enough participants booked to make the week work….
I’ve touted the Scriptnotes podcast before. Yes, it’s focused on screenwriting. (I do not write screenplays.) But I enjoy listening to John August and Craig Mazin talk about stories, storytelling, and all things related. A recent episode (#501) was titled “Patterns of Success.” John and Craig talked about a variety of factors and traits and…
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…