I’ve noticed a weird thing about acting. If I’m a bit nervous before I go onstage, then when I get out there, I’m calm and fine. I’ve prepared for not being able to predict exactly what’s going to happen, and I’ve accepted that each performance has surprise moments. However, if…
Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought to yourself in disgust, “The book was better.” Okay, now that your hands are all up in the air, wave them around like you just don’t care. And — wait, what was I talking about? Oh, right: and then settle in for that…
Conventional wisdom has it that writers make poor household pets, but once you have the opportunity to observe these delightful creatures as close range, you’ll find their care offers the enterprising pet lover a rewarding experience. Recent legislation has made the importation of writers for private ownership illegal in most…
Hello, and welcome to this week’s column of “Ask the Writing Gods.” As usual, we, the deities in charge of writing, revising, inspiration, ideas, and all things authorial, will answer callers’ questions about their works-in-progress and — oh god, not you again. ME: Hi!
So you’ve decided to write a novel! Or a play! Or a screenplay! Or a short story! Or a fanfic with OCs! Congratulations! But unless you are like artsy, and I mean, super-duper artsy, your characters will need names. What to do? Every writer knows that names are important. They’re…
Often, when white writers like me consider how we write about race, we discuss how we write about racialized people. We seldom (with some exceptions) discuss how we think and write about the experience we know most about: that of being white. This is not about the ludicrous idea that white…
As I work on my current MS, I’ve learned one of my weaknesses: dialogue.
From past blog entries you may have hypothesized that I have little experience writing sexual scenes. And you’d be right. But “little” experience is not “no” experience, and I think I’ve come to terms with the potentially embarrassing part about writing about sex in fiction that real!people!I know! might read. What…
After an unfortunate screen-shattering incident around American Thanksgiving last year, I got a new phone. On Cyber Monday, I splurged on HabitBull, a habit tracker. I use the app to record my progress in habits I’d like to improve or just have a record of, like eating enough fruits and…
Fellow writers, we’ve all been here, yeah? You’re in the middle of a piece. You were fast out of the gates starting it off: you’ve established the hook or got the characters yelling at each other or provoked your reader’s curiosity. You’re cruising along. And then… pppht. The car runs…