Writing Process: Research to Feed Your Head
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 Posted in Along Came Spider, the writing process | No Comments »"Talent must be stimulated by facts and ideas." -- Robert McKee, Story For the most part, I don't talk about writing in global terms. It's an individual process, and it's not like I think I'm a master. I mean, sure, I've been ...
Appreciation: The Ending of “The Bad News Bears.”
Friday, September 30th, 2011 Posted in Bystander, Interviews & Appreciations, the writing process | No Comments »To be clear up front, we are talking the 1976 original with Tatum O'Neil, Walter Matthau, etc. By the way, a shout out to the names of these characters: Amanda Whurlitzer, Coach Morris Buttermaker, Ogilvie, Engelberg, Jimmy Feldman, Rudi Stein, Tanner ...
Fan Mail Wednesday #122 (Bystander Sequel)
Friday, August 19th, 2011 Posted in Bystander, bullying, the writing process | 3 Comments »Bryan writes: Can you please make a second book for "Bystander"? I loved the book and wanted to see more about eric and mary, griffin etc. It would probably sell. Thanks for considering. I replied: Bryan, - Thanks for your note. It's funny, I get asked ...
Best Last Lines from Books
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 Posted in Around the Web, the writing process | No Comments »Stylist magazine has put together a list of The Best 100 Closing Lines from Books. Here's a few of my favorites . . . The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Animal ...
Meet Sue Fondrie, 2011 Grand Prize Winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for “Worst Opening Sentence in a Work of Fiction”
Thursday, July 28th, 2011 Posted in Interviews & Appreciations, the writing process | No Comments »On Monday, July 25, Sue Fondrie was announced as the grand prize winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. As a longtime fan (and occasional perpetrator) of spectacularly bad writing, I blogged that sucker up and, to my surprise, Sue dropped ...
Overheard: “-ish.”
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 Posted in Family, the writing process | 2 Comments »It's how Maggie, my 10-year-old daughter, answers certain types of questions these days. For example, "Maggie, are you feeling better now that you've rested?" "-ish," she answers. As in, better-ish. Kind of, sort of, a little, not really. Or perhaps it's spelled "Ish." Hard ...
Bad Words in Books: Censorship, and Self-Censorship, in Children’s Literature
Friday, July 8th, 2011 Posted in Before You Go, Bystander, the writing process | 1 Comment »I recently did an interview -- honestly forget where, but it was with a middle-school reader -- who asked the following question about Bystander: Q. What was the reason you added some questionable or inappropriate words? I replied: I don't understand the question. ...
Fan Mail Wednesday #120: On Reading & Rollercoasters
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 Posted in Fan Mail, Six Innings, the writing process | No Comments »I love hearing from readers of Six Innings, maybe because it's the kind of book that I would have read as a boy that age. I feel a connection to those guys. I replied: Dear Drew, Oh my, time flies. It looks ...
Thinking That I’m Not Thinking . . . Brian Eno, Don Music, and the Nature of Ideas
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 Posted in Around the Web, Music, the writing process | 1 Comment »I've admitted it more than once: I know my work is going well when I have ideas in the shower. That is, those times when I'm thinking that I'm not thinking. By the way, whenever I think about the creative process, ...
Notes to Myself: Writing BYSTANDER
Monday, May 23rd, 2011 Posted in Bystander, bullying, the writing process | No Comments »I'd guess that all writers do it, but I can only speak for myself. During the course of brainstorming for a book, which for me usually involves a composition notebook and random observations, snatches of dialogue, character traits, ideas for ...