By Jeanne C. Stein One of the first questions every writer gets is: What inspires you as a writer? My very first response was: everything. But then I realized I was confusing inspiration with the process of taking an idea and developing it into a story. Two different things. The muse that sparks an idea…
Category: General Interest
Nobody Writes Like You
By Mark Stevens Can you write like your favorite writer? I know I can’t. You might have Ursula Le Guin or Patricia Highsmith or Ernest Hemingway in mind when you write something, but somehow it comes out on the page as, well, you. Somewhere in all those choices of words, sentences, characters, images, plots, moods,…
What if You Want to Quit Writing?
By Patricia Stoltey Recently I’ve read quite a few blog posts by discouraged writers, Yahoo! Group posts from writers who are tired of the struggle, social media updates that read like the last whimper from someone who’s given up. Back in the old days, when we took on a job, we were expected to stick…
The Importance of Passion
By Mary Gillgannon One of the mysteries of life is what makes a bestseller. A lot of the list is made up of books by writers who’ve been writing for years and have finally garnered a big enough following to reach that pinnacle. But there are also books written by unknown, and some cases, previously…
TAKING CRITICISM
By Kevin Paul Tracy Some of the most respected classical writers throughout history did literary criticism as either a sideline or as a career before they sold their own novels. From Edgar Allen Poe to Oscar Wilde, then great writers would often decimate their peers in papers and writing journals, eviscerating them in public treatments….