“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.” -William James First, I love what the James brothers contributed to the world. Henry James as a writer; fantastic and William with his work in psychology, fascinating. The thing about beginning now what you will be is that you must have some idea of what thatContinue reading “Living”
Tag Archives: fiction
Writing Rules I Live By
“I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, whatContinue reading “Writing Rules I Live By”
Trust Your Gut
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” – E. L. Doctorow Writing a novel is like this. Writing a poem is more like feeling your way through your house in the dark before your eyesContinue reading “Trust Your Gut”
Write it for Children
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” — Madeleine L’Engle I love that I have my girls to read books with. I love a good children’s book. I like a good book, period. It doesn’tContinue reading “Write it for Children”
Experimental Fiction
“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” ― Samuel Johnson Experimental fiction, what is it? It is a way to defy traditional writing formats. It is fun. It does come with challenges. You have to understand traditional literature in order to intentionally defy the rules. I like that over lifespans we haveContinue reading “Experimental Fiction”
You Must Be an Artist
“An artist is someone who can hold two opposing viewpoints and still remain fully functional.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald I don’t find artists to be more or less human than anyone else who answers the call, but I do appreciate this quote. As a writer, it’s required for me to shift to and fro fromContinue reading “You Must Be an Artist”
My Novel is Experimental Fiction
There’s a misunderstanding of what experimental fiction really is. Experimental fiction is often confused with Sci-Fi. That is not what it is. Experimental fiction is playing with traditional writing styles and formats. It’s using innovation and creativity to push against the boundaries of traditional storytelling. There are so many ways we learn and absorb theContinue reading “My Novel is Experimental Fiction”
World Building -For Beginners
In the past I’ve mentioned that I prefer to write Character Led but I do want to develop my world building skills. I think the best way for me to do it, is to set my world up and work on it everyday until I know every nook and cranny by memory. Then allow myContinue reading “World Building -For Beginners”
Novelist Outlines
Do you outline before you start writing your novel? I didn’t think I did but I just learned today that there’s different types of outlining. Here’s the list Gemini (Google AI) gave me. Choose Your Outline Style When I begin planning my novel the first thing I do is find ways to understand my characters.Continue reading “Novelist Outlines”
Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is my current read. I’m enjoying it very much so far. I’m just under a quarter of the way into the book. I like the tone of the book so far. I like the matter-of-fact-ness about it. Here’s a summary of it “Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) is an ordinary WorldContinue reading “Kurt Vonnegut”
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