Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy KressMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Beginnings, Middles & Ends, by Nancy Kress is one of the best writing how-to’s that I’ve read, yet. The book is targeted at both novelists and short story writers of any experience. Kress assumes little writing theory on the part of the reader…
This week marks 1 year since I hosted the first #Storycraft chat! As I explained in a thank you post I wrote for the #storycraft community, a chat like #storycraft, which has no commercial connections or funding, only works because the people who comprise its community are genuine in their desire to learn and are…
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón My rating: 3 of 5 stars First let me say that I enjoyed this book well enough and was, again and again, willing to forgive technical issues that leapt off the page because, yes, Zafon has a lovely turn of phrase and, yes, the opening of…
How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich My rating: 2 of 5 stars If you love Evanovich, you will love this book. She is generous with her process and uses lots of examples from own work, so it is certainly a glimpse into the writing life of this author. As a…
This week’s #Storycraft chat topic was “Why do we want to publish our work? Do we have an omni-premise?” Omni-premise is a term coined by Kim @Last_Lines Koning in a blog post she was inspired to write after last week’s “Premise” topic. The omni-premise is a premise which we find drives much, if not all,…
I haven’t written much for a few weeks, partly because I’ve been reading a lot (I’m really enjoying reading “The Shadow of the Wind” for the local book club,) but also because I’d been having terrible RSI, particularly during/after #storycraft, which can move at a blistering pace. I’ve had a curved keyboard for a…
On Tuesday, I posted a piece about this week’s #Storycraft chat and invited any readers interested to join us. I realise, now that I’ve only discussed #storycraft in passing, on this blog, having kept the two blogs quite separate for almost a year, so I thought a very little more explanation might be in order….
This week’s #Storycraft was a doozie! We discussed the very precise and hugely important topic of the Premise (a la Lajos Egri) and the #storycrafters got stuck right in (and stuck it out, when it got tough.) I think we all learned a lot. If you’re interested, the transcript of the chat can be found…
The Lie That Tells a Truth: A Guide to Writing Fiction by John Dufresne My rating: 3 of 5 stars Dufresne’s The Lie That Tells a Truth is an excellent guide to the craft, I enjoyed the philosophy, but I would suggest that it is more for those who are theory novices (as distinct from…
I hit 50,000 words yesterday evening and verified my word count today, so I have officially joined the ranks of NaNoWriMo winners! Shortly after midnight, when the scene that brought me to the magic number was done, this is what my NaNo Stats looked like: Such a lovely shade of green, don’t you think? …
