If you missed Part 1 of this post, you can see it HERE or HERE. Hey Folks, To continue briefly with the discussion I started re traditional publishers, I have two motivating factors: One is the possibility that lightning will strike in the form of a large paycheck. Yeah, that would be nice. Two, at the moment I’m not wanting to expend the effort to publish my own paperback version of my books. Nor do I … Read more
Hi Folks, At 66 years old, with 40-some novels and almost 200 short stories under my belt, I’ve decided to go hybrid. I’m announcing it here, publicly, because it’s a major personal policy shift for me and because it might be something for others to think about. To be clear, this isn’t something I recommend, but it’s something I recommend looking into. Part 1: Statement, History and Rationale My work has been traditionally published before. I’ve … Read more
Hi Folks, From Reedsy’s Writing Prompts newsletter (as I write this back in early March), “You’re a professional cleaner and the beginning of spring is always your busiest time.” This is for their current short story contest, but it could also easily be a premise for a novel. Here’s what sprang to mind for me: First, define “cleaner.” It might be a person who cleans houses and businesses for a living (as intended). It might also … Read more
Hi Folks, What is a scene? I think it was Bradbury who said a new scene occurs each time there’s a new camera angle. I’m fortunate in that I “see” every new setting and scene in that way (camera angle, in my head). For that reason, for me, every new setting holds a scene. But how we see a scene isn’t important. What matters is that we can see (hear, smell, taste, feel) a scene through … Read more
Hi Folks, Despite what most of us heard in school (from non-writers, ahem), you don’t have to keep everything about a particular topic in one massive paragraph. Especially in fiction. And blog posts. In fiction, you should begin a new paragraph every time a different character speaks. Most everybody knows that. You should also begin a new paragraph when the scene or setting changes (even in the same setting, even a little). The primary benefit of … Read more
Hi Folks, The initial image many of us conjure of Ernest Hemingway is that of a writer writing. That’s the first image I see too. But the image I most often conjure is of a man’s man. Living, by which I mean adventuring, continually seeking adversity and attacking it where it lives. Of course, that’s larger than life, but so was he. Wasn’t he? To feel truly alive, we all need an antagonist. Don’t we? I … Read more
Hey Folks, When my young son came home from school quietly wiping tears from his eyes one day, I asked what was wrong. Turns out some of the other kids at school in our gang-infested town had called him a “bastard” as he was walking home. Not for any particular reason, but just to be jerks. Kids do that sometimes. That word carries an unfortunate and untrue stigma, that a person born out of wedlock is … Read more
Hey folks, Characters have a great deal to teach us. A thought struck me this morning as I considered a character, a genderless writer whose once often-professed passion was writing. The character-writer’s productivity used to bear that out. Now, though, not so much. At first, s/he was turning out new work at an alarming pace. Then s/he listened to some outside comments and decided to pull down and rework some of the stories s/he’d published. S/he … Read more
Hi Folks, My first two nonfiction titles were traditionally published. The best royalty rate I received was 10%. So every time my book sold for $12, I eventually pocketed $1.20. That was pure profit, if you don’t count the cost of gasoline and hotels and all the other costs associated with traveling to writers conferences to promote those books. I know whereof I speak. And the way traditional publishing contracts are written today, I will never … Read more
Hey Folks, Awhile back, I received an email from a long-time friend who’s also a professional writer. In his email, he wondered whether sometimes (maybe) it’s all right for writers to assign human traits to human parts: e.g., “His nose pressed up against the window” or “Her legs raced down the street” or “His eyes flew around the document.” Things like that. The short answer is, No, it isn’t. I mean, you’re the writer and the … Read more