First read this article and this post will make more sense. Okay, now that you're back... To ban a book or not ban it shouldn't even be a question. For me, it isn't one I've ever pondered. I've never agreed with banning books. And parents, don'tcha know that as soon as you tell kids they can't do … Continue reading To Ban or Not to Ban … Should Not Even Be a Question
Let's talk characters today. More to the point, let's talk about characters with serious personality flaws. The following text is an excerpt from a review of Condemned on BarnesandNoble.com: "I also have a problem with the heroine making stupid choices especially when it drives apart her marriage. It reminds me of those insipid romance stories with all … Continue reading Polly Perfect … Perfectly Boring?
"I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. " Orson Welles Amen, brother. While I completely understand the necessity of saturating a topic or sub-genre in the traditional publishing world - after all, they have to bank on what is already … Continue reading Out of Step
There's something that has always bothered me: "the rulebook" of do's and don'ts in writing fiction. Prologues, apparently, are out, as are dream sequences, passive voice, antiheroes, and adverbs. *shameless plug here for my unofficial Save the Adverbs campaign* Have a plausible plot, yes; I failed in the regard in the first draft of Office … Continue reading Burning the Rulebook
When I finish writing a book, that is. Well, not so much weeping anymore. I cried when I finished the first two novels (The Wyckham House - as yet unreleased - and Office Politics). I wrote Office Politics right on the heels of finishing The Wyckham House; I'd read that you should put your first … Continue reading There is Weeping & Gnashing of Teeth
I changed my blog theme today. Not that I didn't like the Choco theme (which is awesome), but because I like to change things around sometimes. Women are like that. Fellows, if you come home to find the house rearranged, don't get irritated. I'll let you in on a little secret. Change, even in small … Continue reading Because Women Are Like That
Today I was walking down the hall to the staff bathroom, and I caught a scent on the air that transported me back in time to the early 1970s and the old brick elementary school I attended in northern Maine. At once I could clearly see the polished tile floors in that ever-popular industrial grey-green … Continue reading That Smell Reminds Me Of…
My husband sent me a wonderful quote--not sure why, but probably because he knows I go through phases. First I'll love my work, think it's brilliant, then other days I think it sucks worse than a tornado and want to shred every stinking page. My schizophrenic mood swings about my writing are actually pretty common … Continue reading Wisdom for Artists Like Us
I'm well known amongst my writing brethren for my resistance to writing sex scenes. In a writing world that seems to be increasingly graphic, with great attention to--ah--details, I'm still carefully couching intimacy in innuendo and fading to black. And I don't intend to change. I know that erotica is selling hand-over-fist, but here's the … Continue reading Smut–or Something Like It
I've been asked a lot since the release of my novella, Malakh, how I come up with my characters. It's kind of a funny question to me, because I don't so much come up with them as they come to me and say "This is my story and for some weird, indefinable, probably insanity-related reason, … Continue reading What A Character!
