If you’re as big a fan of Literary Rejections on Display as I am, you’ve probably been following with some excitement the unfolding good news for our anonymous blogger: Over the last several weeks, he/she has been getting not just a nibble but a hard tug on the line for a novel she/he has beenContinue reading “Accruing the karma”
Category Archives: writers
A Writer’s Notebook: Character details
This story I’m writing about the character named Ford is ballooning, but in the best way–each week I find new ways to build it, expand it, let it breathe. But more on that below. Right now, five quick questions to help flesh out the character of Ford: a) What are the character’s physical attributes, fromContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Character details”
99 literary agents on the wall….
99 literary agents!…. Come on, sing it with me now! Over the past several months, I’ve become a big fan of the blog Literary Rejections on Display, partly because the rejections all look so familiar (it’s nice to know we’re not alone in the long, good fight to share great literature, isn’t it?) but alsoContinue reading “99 literary agents on the wall….”
A Writer’s Notebook: Descriptive outlines
Recently, I had the idea to write a new short story in a particular style, a genre I have practiced before but a long time ago. I’m out of practice. So I dug up some old examples and some new ones, and I started analyzing them for clues as to how to proceed. And thenContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Descriptive outlines”
Music & Literature Part I: Experimentation
a guest blog by Ryan Werner A while back, I wrote a post about how music influences my writing, which led to not one but two Writer’s Notebook exercises about writing from music. But I said in that initial post that my relationship with music is purely as a listener–I don’t have any experience withContinue reading “Music & Literature Part I: Experimentation”
How to know when the writing is done
I started writing about good writing yesterday simply because it was on my mind — I’m neck-deep in three different stories right now, with two more on the sidelines, as I try to finish a story collection. But as soon as I posted it, I started thinking of a related discussion: How to know whenContinue reading “How to know when the writing is done”
How to know when the writing is good (or good enough)
When I was in grad school working on my doctorate, I took a class on the form and theory of poetry, with poet Bruce Bond. It was a fascinating course that taught me a lot, not only about poetry but also about my own approach to fiction. Bond has a way of asking provocative questionsContinue reading “How to know when the writing is good (or good enough)”
A Writer’s Notebook: Music and flash fiction
In the wake of last week’s Writer’s Notebook, my friend Ryan Werner sent me an e-mail with a challenge: Do it again. And this time, make it complete — in other words, write a piece of flash fiction. The actual exercise was more complicated than that (as usual, I’ll explain it below), but it wasContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Music and flash fiction”
A Writer’s Notebook: Collaborative fiction
My friend Ryan Werner and I are involved in a work of collaborative fiction, the old Round Robin exercise. I’ll describe the general rules and what we’re up to below, but you probably already know something about this sort of exercise as it is. It’s been my turn to contribute for longer than I canContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Collaborative fiction”
The Netherlands: Days 10.1 & 10.2 (the Great Volcano Standstill, 2010)
Day 10.1 Friday, April 16, 2010 Stranded still. The volcano continues to spew, the European authorities in charge of their respective airspaces continue to freak out, many of our fellow passengers are growing irrationally angry, and it’s looking more and more like we’re in this for a longer haul than anyone would like. We wokeContinue reading “The Netherlands: Days 10.1 & 10.2 (the Great Volcano Standstill, 2010)”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 