Rachel X Russell interviewed me ages ago—in fact, it’s one of my favorite interviews ever—but for some reason I can’t find the blog post where I told you all about it. It’s probably somewhere on my site, called something like “How Not to Be a Pirate, or Why Ninjas Make… Read more“Being Interviewed by Rachell X Russell”
Author: Victoria
The Strangest-Ever Metaphor for Inevitability in Fiction
Today’s story is even stranger than the one about how gardening is like writing or how dancing makes the Internet humane or even me spattering glue all over myself. But it is utterly brilliant, and I never get over watching this woman doodle: DOODLING IN MATH This is someone named… Read more“The Strangest-Ever Metaphor for Inevitability in Fiction”
Remember: We’re All Lost Together
Remember, we’re all lost together, everywhere the same. —Garry Schyman, Alicia Lemke, & Matt Harding, “We’re Going to Trip the Light” Here’s another story for you all today about how life works and who we are. There’s this guy named Matt. You might know about him. He’s a perfectly ordinary… Read more“Remember: We’re All Lost <em>Together</em>”
3 Famous Authors & the Secret Unpublished Memoir of the Decade:
The Absolute Elsewhere, by Millicent Dillon
This is another of my really long posts, but if you want you can just skim the famous names in bold and go straight to the big, bold title centered at the bottom. That’s the unpublished memoir of the decade. It’s an unbelievable story. Paul Bowles In the first part… Read more“3 Famous Authors & the Secret Unpublished Memoir of the Decade: <br><em>The Absolute Elsewhere</em>, by Millicent Dillon”
Being interviewed on The Meta Game
Hey, everyone—I’ve been interviewed on a new blog and community forum called the Meta Game, owned by Cody Barrus. He’s kicking off his blog with a special category called Interview with an Expert, and he’s very kindly asked me to be his first expert. You’ll notice he also lists me… Read more“Being interviewed on The Meta Game”
Beginning a story with a dream—is it a cliche?
Victoria—A question for your advice column: is it true that opening a story with the character coming out of a dream is a cliche and should be avoided?—Mark Salter Short answer? Yes. Lewis Carroll really ruined the whole dream thing for everyone. However. . .Somerset Maugham did say there are… Read more“Beginning a story with a dream—is it a cliche?”
6 Steps to Spattering Writing Like Glue All Over Yourself
Here’s my story for you guys for this week. Because I’m a storyteller: Start innocently Yesterday I was at the kitchen table while my husband baked a complicated type of Italian bread (in between bouts of gardening—the man’s a miracle to live with). I was doing our monthly household bookkeeping,… Read more“6 Steps to Spattering Writing Like Glue All Over Yourself”
I love Alan Rickman
Have you seen Alan Rickman drink tea? Intense subtlety combined with perfectly-timed drama. I love that maniac. This musical version is from Jason Kottke’s blog.
“It Sounds Like Your Stuff”—guest post on Writer Unboxed
Today I’m guest posting over on Writer Unboxed, talking about that wonderful, horrible moment when you re-read your first draft and discover you’ve written complete gibberish. I’m pretty sure you all know what I’m talking about. It’s a heck of a sobering day—even for those of us soused to the… Read more““It Sounds Like Your Stuff”—guest post on Writer Unboxed”
4 Reasons My Cat Can’t Be a Writer
I’m gone again. (I’m actually perennially off in my own little world, but that’s not what I mean.) We’ve headed to the San Francisco Bay Area this past weekend for O’Reilly Publishing‘s Maker Faire, which if you don’t know about it you should. Maker Faire is based on O’Reilly’s Make… Read more“4 Reasons My Cat Can’t Be a Writer”