Archive for the “Writing” Category

Looking forward to the latest reading of Dispensing Justice at AAAWG tonight. It’s been a couple of weeks vacation from writing (more or less), and it feels good to be making progress again.

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This week I made my thirteenth reading of Dispensing Justice at my Tuesday night writer’s group. Read the rest of this entry »

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I received an email from my friend Patrick this morning about the Avatar movie and some links to critiques thereof.  This sent me into rant mode.  So I thought I would inflict my rant on the rest of the world… (links are at the end) Read the rest of this entry »

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My short-story-now-novel Nova Genesis: Dispensing Justice passed through the third-of-the-way mark this week Read the rest of this entry »

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On my home to (hopefully) commit a 1000+ words of mayhem to Nova Genesis:Dispensing Justice in preparation for my 11th reading of my current novel in progress.

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My latest short-story-no-its-really-a-novel young-adult SF-superhero action-adventure story just broke 10,000 words. Only another 25,000 (or is it 60,000?) words to go.

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Looking forward to another AAAWG reading tonight. Read the rest of this entry »

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So there I was, writing the opening lines to “Dispensing Justice”.  I had the main character Michael, Read the rest of this entry »

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The turnout for yesterday’s AAAWG meeting at Borders in Arborland was relatively light.   Read the rest of this entry »

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There have a been a number of good blog posts about writing rules recently which lead to me to have the following thought in the shower (where else?) this morning.  (Note and caveat: I am not a published author so take my thoughts on writing for what they are.  Speculative.)

As a pre-published writer you are always hearing about this or that rule of writing.  Some of my favorite rules are: show, don't tell and kill your darlings.  On the face of it, these are good rules.  Or should I say, good advice.  I find the term “rule” implies failure to follow said “rule” means you will have done something wrong.  There is no such thing as a “writing rule”.  Or, at least, I can’t easily identify a “writing rule” that some author hasn’t broken to good effect.  Which brings me to my shower thought.

Writing rules are context sensitive.  You can’t possibly know the entire context, because some of the context necessarily resides with the reader.

One of the things that this implies is that good writers are good readers.  They know, explicitly or implicitly, what rules to apply and when.  They know when to show and when to tell.  They know when to kill their darlings and when not to.  A good writer does these things because they grok how their work will be read.

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The slush pile, that place that all entry level writers dread.  When I come across advice about how to get out of the slush pile I sit up and listen.  And 21 Tips to Get Out of the Slush Pile by James Plath is just such advice.  Go ahead and read it.  I’ll wait (so to speak).

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My book order arrived yesterday and I am wallowing in writing book goodness.  A week ago or so I broke down and ordered a number of books on writing and criticism that I have been lusting after.  They are:

Now I just have to find time to read them all

Have any notable books arrived in your life recently?  Or just books that you are reading now and want to comment on?

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Last night I pulled out a copy Fredric Brown's Angels & Spaceships that I  Read the rest of this entry »

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Patrick recently solicited advice from the rest of the AAAWG members on giving characters a unique voice in dialogue. He received much excellent advice that I will attempt to summarize here. Read the rest of this entry »

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At a recent meeting of our writers group, a new-comer read two essays. The first one was on the importance of writing and writers to our civilization. Read the rest of this entry »

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Pelly and Winters bring you the AAAWG notes

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Xkcd has what I can only say is a brilliant rendition of  Read the rest of this entry »

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First, congratulations goes out to Stephanie Feldstein for landing an agent this last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Tuesday meeting of AAAWG Read the rest of this entry »

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If you are a writer you may have heard of the admonition “kill your darlings“. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Tuesday meeting of AAAWG Read the rest of this entry »

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Patrick handed out the following list of recommended books at yesterday evening’s AAAWG meeting.

In descending Amazon.com users’ 5-star ranking percentage.

  1. On Writing: Memoirs of the Craft by Stephen King (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 94% (638/682)
  2. Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye by Katharine Sands (Amazon) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 88% (21/24)
  3. Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 85% (76/89)
  4. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 83% (105/127)
  5. Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 80% (37/46)
  6. Creating Poetry by John Drury (Amazon) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 80% (8/10)
  7. The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 79% (312/394)
  8. Stein on Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies by Sol Stein (Amazon) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 78% (49/63)
  9. On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinseer (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 76% (135/178)
  10. Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 75% (15/20)
  11. Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Cynthia Laufenber (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 73% (11/15)
  12. How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 72% (71/98)
  13. Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 72% (43/60)
  14. How to Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them by Sol Stein (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 65% (20/31)
  15. Give ‘Em What They Want by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook (Amazon) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 63% (5/8)
  16. The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman (Amazon search) — Amazon.com 5-star rating: 58% (81/140)

Note: Amazon.com title searchs are used when there are multiple editions.

Date: 2009/10/06 AAAWG Tuesday night meeting at Borders Books, Arborland, Ann Arbor

Wiki version: 16 well-regarded books on the craft of writing compiled by Patrick

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The Tuesday meeting of AAAWG Read the rest of this entry »

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The Tuesday meeting of AAAWG Read the rest of this entry »

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The Tuesday meeting of AAAWG Read the rest of this entry »

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