Category Archives: writing

Compassion in action

My friend Lori Ann Bloomfield, over on her blog First Line, has posted an excellent comment on how writers can help not only Haitians but all human beings, simply through the act of writing.  By writing more human characters, she says, we come to understand our fellow human beings better, and it’s a very smallContinue reading “Compassion in action”

I’m moving the blog

Just a heads-up:  I plan to migrate this blog over to WordPress next week.  I like Blogger a lot and I’ve enjoyed posting here, but I’m moving for the website-like functionality of WordPress.  I’ll keep this blog up through the rest of the month, and I’ll keep posting here for a while even after I’veContinue reading “I’m moving the blog”

Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  (UPDATED with new links!) As I said in the first post of this series, there’s a lot of advice out there. I’ve just hit some highlights that have intrigued me over the years, but if you want to push further and see whatContinue reading “Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)”

Research tip #6: Marbling

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  So now you have all your research done and you’re ready to get back to the writing. But you’re writing fiction here, not a research paper—so how do you use this research you’ve done? Sometimes the answer is easy: you were looking forContinue reading “Research tip #6: Marbling”

Research tip #5: Shop the catalogue

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  I’ve written about this before, but just to recap: Tom Franklin hates doing research. Yet his first two novels were historical fiction, which stuck Franklin doing the very thing he hates. Still, Franklin prefers to focus on the writing, to let the fictionContinue reading “Research tip #5: Shop the catalogue”

Research tip #4: Shoot the bullet

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  A few years ago, I was at the big national conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and a friend of mine, Tom Franklin, was on a panel discussing research in fiction. Franklin joined the panel by virtue of his historicalContinue reading “Research tip #4: Shoot the bullet”

Research tip #3: Go to the source

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  A lot of great writers started out as journalists, and critics have offered a lot of reasons for that shared background. Journalists know how to work under deadline, they have an instinct for finding a story, they’ve learned how to find an angleContinue reading “Research tip #3: Go to the source”

Research tip #2: Know your limits

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  Sing it with me now: “To everything there is a season . . . A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to research, andContinue reading “Research tip #2: Know your limits”