Archive for May 2009
The good and the bad
I think it’s essential for writers to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Awareness allows writers to take advantage of their strengths while mitigating their weaknesses. In this spirit, here are my three most prominent strengths and weaknesses as a writer as I see them. Unfortunately, it was much easier for me to come up with…
Read MoreFiction set in real life
I read a piece in The Guardian about Project Bookmark Canada. Its mission is to “place permanent markers displaying text from stories and poems in the locations where they take place.” What a novel idea (pardon the pun). Though I am a fiction writer, my first two novels are set in the real world, with…
Read MoreOld man
In her latest series of notes on Unexpectedly, Milo, Taryn indicated that I use the phrase old man quite a lot. Scoffing at the suggestion, I used the Find feature in Word to count the number of times I used this phrase in the book. Forty-six times later, I was no longer scoffing.
Read MoreIn good company
A while ago, I wrote about Timequake, the last novel by Kurt Vonnegut that I have yet to finish. I’ve been purposely reading the book at a snail’s pace for the past few years, in fear that I might one day finish and not have anything new to read by my favorite author. Regarding this…
Read MoreI pity the publisher…
My agent, Taryn, informed me that after my fourth New York Times bestselling book, I’m allowed to write an entirely character-driven novel without any thought or concern for the plot. This makes Taryn the perfect person to negotiate my next book deal since it’s clear that she drives a ridiculously hard bargain.
Read MoreCharacters and their names
Last week, a student asked me for a lesson on creating strong characters for his fiction, including tips on how to generate the names of characters as well. I tried my best to answer some of his questions and share the process by which I develop characters, but honestly, I had little to say to…
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