In my writing class, we have finished studying Wired for Story. We have gone on to Catherine Brady’s Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction. Revision is always a topic in class and as I read Brady’s Chapter 4, p.68, I appreciated her statement: “Revision is not engine repair; it’s not possible to lift out […]
Interview with Carole MacLean
Carole MacLean wrote an essay tor my anthology, Written Across the Genres. It’s titled “A New Season”. The first line is “Every Super Bowl season reminds me of what I miss most about my parents.” She goes on to tell about loyalty to their hometown teams after they moved to California and their loyalty […]
Quotes for Writers
“The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.” —Raymond Chandler “When I graduated from high school I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library 3 days a week for 10 years.” —Ray Bradbury “Good writers define reality. Bad ones, merely restate it.” –Edward Albee
What is Anacoluthon?
Anacoluthon is beginning a sentence in one syntax, but ending it in another, usually with an unexpected shift in subject. For example: “I told you not to play by the river–where did you get those coins?” Or, “Drive carefully. There’s a bump in the–I’ve said enough.” Anacoluthon is not a non-sequitur (Latin for “it does […]
Value of Researching your Novel
Research isn’t only for writers of historical fiction or non-fiction. All writing can benefit from research. Non-fiction writers usually rely on finding facts, but if one thinks that fiction stories don’t need research since the story is made up, misses an opportunity to enhance the story. Doing the research earlier than later in the writing […]
Presenters at CWC Tri-Valley Branch Writers Conference
In my last post, I told about the California Writers Club Tri-Valley Branch Writers Conference in April and the due date for attendees to submit an entry to the contest before the end of this month, January 31st. Four days left to submit one poem and one piece of prose at only $5.00 an entry. […]
Tri-Valley Writers Conference Contest
California Writers Club, Tri-Valley Branch, has a writers conference scheduled for April 18, 2015. Attendees can enter the conference writing contest before January 31st. Here is the link to register: Tri-Valley Writers Conference 2015 It is open to the public, but there’s a limit of 100 spaces. April may seem a long way away, but […]