Tag Archives: writing

5/10/2016. INTERVIEW WITH JAMES SCOTT, AUTHOR OF THE KEPT

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5/10/2016. INTERVIEW WITH JAMES SCOTT, AUTHOR OF THE KEPT 

Only a brave author would create his debut novel with characters whoJames Scott are different from him in almost every way. James Scott, author of The Kept, took on that challenge and compounded it with a harsh setting and even harsher themes. But as I said in my review of The Kept last month, Scott gives his characters multi-dimensional personalities that shine against the turmoil of the story. I was eager to ask him how he combined those elements so well. He shares some of his thoughts on process and inspiration below.

Scott’s previous work has been short listed for the Pushcart Prize and nominated for the Best New American Voices.

You’ve fallen in love with your protagonist, but will your readers?

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Many, if not most, authors love their main characters because to some extent they are a more perfect version of themselves. Your protagonist may be the person you wish you were, particularly if you made him or her brave, resolute, compassionate, and clear-headed. However, after sharing your hero’s story with the public, have you been surprised when readers don’t love your character as much as you do?

Have readers said they liked your plot, but were not sold on your protagonist? There’s a reason this happens and there are things you can do in your next book or short story to create characters your readers will love––perhaps even more than you.

What makes a good book series?

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7 MARCH 2016 What makes a good book series?

3/7/2016   What makes a good book series?  And why do readers love them?

Check the best seller list on any given week and you’re bound to find lots of familiar authors writing about familiar characters. The heroes of mysteries and thrillers often lead the pack (Jack Reacher, Alex Cross, Lucas Davenport), but series characters also dominate in fantasy and even  appear in literary fiction (John Updike’s brilliant Rabbit series). That’s no surprise. Picking a book to read can be difficult and sometimes it’s easier (and safer) to spend a few hours with a character you know in the hands of an author you trust.

A JOLT OF VERTIGO

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1 NOVEMBER 2015 A JOLT OF VERTIGO

11/1/2015 – A Jolt of Vertigo

”The best way to think about reality is to get as far away from it as possible.” – Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

I have never been interested in magical realism, or so I’d thought. One Hundred Years of Solitude has sat in my pile of to-read books for almost a decade now, and although I enjoyed Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore and his collection of short stories, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, I thought his use of magical realism as metaphor could be a bit gimmicky. I have always written fiction that concentrate on domestic lives, those quiet intersections of reality that ignite into disaster. In his article “Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki,” Matthew Strecher defines 

Nov. 1 Guest Blogger Jen Michalski

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Coming up Nov. 1 – Guest Blogger Jen Michalski writes about the use of magical realism in fiction in her upcoming blog, “A Jolt of Vertigo.” Her fiction has always focused on domestic lives that ignite into disaster. Surprisingly, her first two novels rely heavily on magical realism. Jen Michalski is the author of the novels The Tide King and The Summer She Was Under Wajen michaelskiter, two collections of fiction, and a collection of novellas. Find her at jenmichalski.com.

Women’s Fiction vs. Romance: What’s the Difference?

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10/1/15 — Women’s Fiction and Romance: Mutually Exclusive or Mutually Confusing?

Genres exist for a reason. Readers like to know what to expect, at least in general terms, when they pick out a book. And publishers want to accommodate them. As many budding writers learn during the querying process, the way they characterize a novel can be key to finding the right agent or publisher.

But what if a book doesn’t quite fit into one of the standard categories, or if it fits into too many? Or what if, to complicate matters even further, those categories aren’t all that different to begin with?

Borrowing from Non-Fiction

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7/17/2015 – Borrowing from Nonfiction.

I came across a book called Yes! last week that is full of inspirational and motivational quotes. The quotes struck a chord with this agent-seeking writer. All of us creatives need to carry around a book like that. I keep a list of inspirational quotes in front of me like this one from Serena Williams: “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does.” Or this one from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.” Or this familiar one from

2/1/2015 GUEST BLOGGER CLIFFORD GARSTANG

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MORE THAN MERE SETTING

When we first study creative writing, we’re told that the principal elements of fiction are plot, character, and setting. My sense is that teachers of writing spend a good deal more time on plot and character than they do on setting. Perhaps that’s justified. After all, the plot of a novel or short story is essential, whether it’s an action-packed thriller or a psychological drama. Without the plot there is no story. And it is widely recognized that plot and character are inextricable. Plot—a convincing plot, anyway—arises from character, and the reader learns about the characters in a work of fiction from observing how those characters react to the complications that develop in the plot.

But what about setting?

From Fact to Fiction

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10/17/2014 – From Fact to Fiction

I’ve been working on my latest novel, tentatively entitled In the Rembrandt’s Shadow, which alternates chapters set in 1999 with chapters following a painting’s provenance from 1616 to 1930. I feel as though I’m walking in a mine field of anachronisms on every page.

For instance, when were cell phones invented? My characters use them in 1999, and, yes, they were available then, but expensive. In fact, the first cell phones were released to the public in 1983 by Motorola and cost about $4,000. By 1999, they’d become smaller and somewhat more affordable, so it’s reasonable to suppose my characters had them.

10/1/2014 GUEST BLOGGER HARRISON DEMCHICK

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10/1/2014 GUEST BLOGGER HARRISON DEMCHICKHarrison Demchick

FOR LOVE AND MAGIC.

There was a time when I determined, with absolute certainty, that I would never seek publication for my novel, The Listeners.

It wasn’t always that way. I was still in eighth grade when it clicked with me that writing is something one can do for a living, and from that moment on it was more than anything else what I wanted to do.

9-30-14 OUR OCTOBER 1, 2014, GUEST BLOGGER, IS HARRISON DEMCHICK.

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30 SEPTEMBER 2014 9-30-14 OUR OCTOBER 1, 2014, GUEST BLOGGER, IS HARRISON DEMCHICK.

9-30-14 OUR OCTOBER 1, 2014, GUEST BLOGGER, IS HARRISON DEMCHICK.


Harrison Demchick

Read what Harrison says about the romance of being a writer versus the reality. He knows what he’s talking about. Harrison is an award-winning, twice-optioned screenwriter, and the author of literary horror novel The Listeners (Bancroft Press, 2012), and the editor of novels as diverse as Purple Jesus and Hume’s Fork by Ron Cooper, The Trials of the Core by Michael E. Thies, Renhala by Amy Joy Lutchen, The Understory and The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes, the Young Inventors Guild novels by Eden Unger Bowditch, The Goddess Letters by Vicki Matthews, and a couple dozen more.

LEE SMITH—DISTINCTIVE VOICE OF SOUTHERN DIGNITY

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9/10/2014  LEE SMITH—DISTINCTIVE VOICE OF SOUTHERN DIGNITY

Last month, in my review of Lee Smith’s novel Guests on Earth, I talked about the Lee_headshot_2013 (2)dignity and respect that Smith gives to her characters, not just in her latest novel, but in all her novels. This month I want to tell you more about that particular writing skill and about another of Smith’s strengths, a detailed attention to setting. I also promised to tell you about Smith’s personal connection to Guests on Earth, which is tied to her deep sense of place.

Over the years, Smith has published 13 novels and four collections of short stories. She’s won numerous writing awards, including the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the North Carolina Award for Literature, and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award.

A Team Effort Tougher Than Football

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12/17/13 — A TEAM EFFORT TOUGHER THAN FOOTBALL

After giving a talk recently about self-publishing, I received a series of plaintive emails from one of the participants who wanted to know why her book had been on Amazon.com for a year without one sale. I asked her if she belonged to the Maryland Writers’ Association, MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association or any association that might provide the help she needed.  “No,” she said, “they all want money for dues.”

Well, yes, but for a fledgling writer, the money is nominal and well spent.  

Who Says So? Roger Ackroyd and the Unreliable Narrator

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My first encounter with an unreliable narrator—that I recognized, that is—was years ago when I first read Agatha Christie’s notorious The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, first published in 1926. The ending stunned me as it has many other readers through the years. It also gave rise to a list of rules for writing mysteries formulated by mystery author John Dickson Carr, rebuttals to that list from other authors, and an essay by the well-known literary critic Edmund Wilson entitled “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?”