grin and bare it
A blog by Matthew Dicks
Source material
I was speaking to a friend who said that his head is full of stories, but he lacks the chops to get them down on paper, lamenting his lack of writing skill. He wondered aloud…
Read MoreDream sequences suck
Here’s a pet peeve of mine: Dream sequences in books, films, or television. I can’t stand it when I am forced to suffer through a character’s dream, particularly when it occurs in a novel. Though…
Read MoreTournament of Books
The fifth annual Tournament of Books began a couple of weeks ago, pitting the sixteen best novels of the year against one another in order to determine a champion. The first-round match-ups were thus: 2666…
Read MoreAcknowledgements page
In the American Spectator, Jonathan Black wrote a piece about the Acknowledgements page (or pages) in novels, declaring that “The Acknowledgments page cannot make a bad book better, but it can ruin a good one.”…
Read MoreTrade paper
The decision has been made to publish Something Missing as a trade paperback original rather than a hardback. Doubleday’s marketing department believes that the book will do better in trade paper. My agent explained it…
Read MoreLoving the Germans
More news from my German editor: The major publishing magazine, Boersenblatt, published their first announcement (not quite a review, but a kind of “best of upcoming novels preview”), and Something Missing (Der Gute Died in…
Read MoreDo you like writing?
The Guardian published a story asking various authors if they thought writing was a joy or a chore in response to Colm Toibin’s recent warning that he does not like writing despite his enormous success.…
Read MoreLunacy or brilliance?
A new idea for a book has lodged itself in my head, and it’s now competing for space with the idea that I am already pursuing. Is it crazy to consider writing two books simultaneously?
Read MoreNews from the German front
My German editor was kind enough to contact me after seeing this website in order to cast some light on the reasons why the name of SOMETHING MISSING was changed in Germany. I’m posting a…
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