Browsing All posts tagged under »writing«

The Beautiful Part of Writing is That You Don’t Have to Get it Right the First Time Unlike, Say, Brain Surgery.*

December 14, 2012 by

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I have been working on the same chapter for like two weeks. Well, sort of. The problem is, this chapter is the lead in to the latter part of the book and I keep staring down the line at the end and changing my mind about the approach. I mean, I know where I’m starting, […]

This. This is What I’m Writing About

December 13, 2012 by

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People keep asking me what the book is about. There are lots of different answers to that, but the core of the story — it’s about the friendship between these two guys.* Friendship, swearing, and alcohol. It’s at least remotely possible this book is not YA.   * Just so we’re clear. The two guys […]

Not All Feedback is Helpful

December 12, 2012 by

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I Need a Conspiracy

December 11, 2012 by

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I have spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how the last third of the book goes. My original outline for that part of the book was all of seventy words long, so you’ll understand it needed some expansion. I mean, my outlines at the best of times are usually a couple of […]

I Have Assembled the Tree and Am Gazing Morosely at the Decorations

December 7, 2012 by

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I have been having a minor failure in sleep lately. I am working on it… If you accept ‘working on it’ as ‘grumbling about it, occasionally drugging myself, and contemplating in a not particularly directional way talking to my doctor about the headaches that have still not gone away’. It has a sort of interesting […]

How Many Beta Readers Do You Need?

December 6, 2012 by

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Someone asked me the other day how many beta readers I usually have for a book. I thought I’d share my answer since it’s a question I get fairly often and it’s a bit complicated. Fundamentally, it’s a fight between wanting as many people as is humanly possible to give feedback and the opportunity cost […]

Wild Coincidence or Dastardly Plot?

December 3, 2012 by

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While writing Wizards I keep looking back at Path trying to find similarities, differences, to see where my writing has improved or just changed. Some of those are very clear, and then other things I see and haven’t the faintest idea what it means. Like — my opening paragraphs are getting shorter. The first paragraph […]

And Then She Threw Her Drink in My Face

November 30, 2012 by

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Every now and then I remember that you really shouldn’t start a book with the words ‘And then’. But I did. And I wonder if this is one of those ‘know the rules so you can break them’ kind of things or if I’m just being pigheaded because I believe that all stories begin in […]

What She Was Wearing

November 28, 2012 by

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this is my suicide dress she told him I only wear it on days when I’m afraid I might kill myself if I don’t wear it you’ve been wearing it every day since we met he said and these are my arson gloves so you don’t set fire to something? he asked exactly and this […]

Why You Shouldn’t Ask What a Writer is Thinking About

November 27, 2012 by

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Not that you can’t of course. They may tell you delightedly. It’s just that some people find it disturbing when a person looks up and tells you distractedly that they’re wondering how much pressure you have to put on a circular saw to make it through a thigh bone.