I want to quickly introduce you to Ellen Smith, author of a terrific and well-received book from earlier this year called Reluctant Cassandra — she describes it as Southern Fiction, which could interest a number of you — and the curator of a cool little blog at ellensmithwrites.com, where she does much of what I do here … talk about what motivates us to write, our challenges, share a little something from behind the scenes with those of you watching this whole crazy process from the outside. [Read more…] about The Interview with Ellen
Archives for November 2016
Why Momentum is Important in Writing
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had to overcome with this second novel I’m working on now has been maintaining the momentum I had with the first one, along with the three shorter stories I wrote earlier this year. [Read more…] about Why Momentum is Important in Writing
Is Using Dialogue a Writing Crutch?
In a recent critique I received of “Killing the Immortals,” a couple of people mentioned that they thought there was too much dialogue, particularly in the early going. It’s an interesting criticism that I hadn’t heard before. The first 2-1/2 chapters are pretty dialogue heavy, while the second half of the third chapter is completely devoid of dialogue at all. [Read more…] about Is Using Dialogue a Writing Crutch?