It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done. This week: An Interview with Jennifer Fawcett, award-winning playwright, on writing a Novel. Continue reading “From Playwright To Thriller Writer: Is It Easier to Write a Play or a Novel?”
Tag: writing process
A Novel Workshop in the Sun (Behind the Scenes #7)
It’s News Squib Saturday, but I am combining today’s Squib with my website feature, Behind the Scenes/Book3 to tell you all about a great author experience I enjoyed in St. Augustine, Florida this week: I Discover the Algonkian Author-Mentor Novel Workshop.
There were nine of us: authors from the two Beaches, Pebble and Palm, and all points in between. Two men, seven women (until the second day when one of the women writers dropped out.) More to the point, the faculty we met on the first day, Michael Neff, author and founder/director of the Algonkian Writer Conferences, and Paula Munier, author and agent were joined over the next couple of days by a Pulitzer prize-winning author (Robert Olen Butler) , a bestselling suspense novelist (Hallie Ephron), and executive editors from two of the top five traditional publishing houses (Brendan Deneen of MacMillan Entertainment, and Lyssa Keusch of William Morrow/Harper Collins.)
Eight authors, six mentors. Yep! We all got the individual attention we were craving! Continue reading “A Novel Workshop in the Sun (Behind the Scenes #7)”
Location! Location! Location! (Behind the Scenes#6)
It’s News Squib Saturday, but I’m going Behind the Scenes today because Book3 is very much on my mind. Thank goodness, I am getting back on track after a few disconcerting weeks which I wrote about a couple of Saturdays ago. Looking over some photos I took last year when I was researching locations reminded me of the work I’ve already done on the book.
It also helped to have a bit of a nudge from bestselling author James Patterson. He delivers a MasterClass (a series of 22 instructional videos) which any aspiring author or even a well-established author can download for a mere $90. The class looks at all aspects of writing a bestseller including how to find ideas, how to plot, write outlines and so on.
One of the tutorials focuses on researching locations like I did one day last Summer on the North Fork of Long Island. Part of Book3 takes place on the North Fork which is more secluded and remote (so far) and more rugged than the South Fork (better known as the Hamptons.) As Patterson says, ” It’s really useful to walk around a location and make notes about whatever catches your eye.” Continue reading “Location! Location! Location! (Behind the Scenes#6)”
News Squib: For Writers Who Procrastinate (And That’s Most of Us)
It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week: How to Stop Procrastinating by Going To Lunch
If there is one thing writers love it’s to listen to advice on how to stop procrastinating long enough to finish their novels or screenplays. Give them the opportunity to listen to such advice over a long, leisurely lunch, and most writers will leap at it. I certainly did when I got an invitation to attend the Palm Beach Writers Group talk and lunch at the Chesterfield Hotel’s Pavilion Room this week. The subject of the talk by PBAU English professor and writer, Dr. Gene Fant? How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating and Love Deadlines. Continue reading “News Squib: For Writers Who Procrastinate (And That’s Most of Us)”
News Squib: Language Rules: Why You Are A Silly Old Fool & Not An Old Silly Fool?
It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week: The Language Rules We All Know But Don’t Know We Know
I came across an English language rule (actually two of them) this week that I had never learned in more than 60 years of studying and using the language. The information came to me courtesy of my brother Michael in Prague. He sent me a link to a story that appeared in BBC Magazine last year about a tweet that went viral from BBC Culture editor (@MattAndersonBBC) who copied a paragraph from a book titled The Elements of Eloquence. Continue reading “News Squib: Language Rules: Why You Are A Silly Old Fool & Not An Old Silly Fool?”