All I want is a place to write. All I want is a place to write and a pot of good coffee. All I want is a place to write and a pot of good coffee until it’s time for a beer. All I want is a place to write with a view. All I…
Tag: reading
Dialects: To Phoneticize or Not To Phoneticize
When writing dialog for a character who speaks with an accent or dialect, the question always comes up – do you spell their quirks of speech phonetically (“Oy, ‘ow loverly that ‘oman be!”) or merely mention the accent and then go on to write their dialog in plain English? For myself, I don’t mind phonetically…
Pregnant Purple Prose
I once called a writer friend and got the following voicemail greeting: “Pardons begged, we are presently truant and prevented from undertaking dialog with callers at present. After the modulation, please recite your sobriquet and cellular digit-string to better enable us an opportunity to reciprocate the honor of this summons.” The title of this article…
Nobody Here But Us Chickens
There’s a lot of noise around a chicken coop. Chickens aren’t quiet birds, especially in groups. Sometimes they squabble among themselves. That’s where we get the phrase “pecking order,” because people – like chickens – like to know who’s better than whom. Ideally the “me” wants to be positioned above the “you.” Some might argue…
One Judge’s Tale
Last year, I judged the Edgar Awards for the Mystery Writers of America. I was on the committee that selected Best Novel. My committee was nine judges to start with, including me. One judge dropped out somewhere around August, perhaps overwhelmed by the number of books or underwhelmed by the stories he was reading. I’ll…