grin and bare it
A blog by Matthew Dicks
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Read MoreNot acting my age
One added benefit of my recent mention in USA Today was the printing of my age, 38. Many of my friends and colleagues thought that this was a misprint, assuming that I was much closer…
Read MoreStorytelling on Twitter
For those of you on Twitter, you may be aware of the recent explosion of Twitter stories or novels, sometimes called Twisters, that people are now writing. They are essentially 140-character, self-contained stories, usually amounting…
Read MoreExperience counts
My good friend often said that no one can write a decent book before the age of forty. Life experience, he believes, is required to write well. I sold my book at the age of…
Read MoreUSA Today! Today!
An article appeared in USA Today by Carol Memmott on publishing in trade paperback instead of hardcover, and Something Missing was featured prominently in the piece. Very exciting! My initial instinct was to run out…
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