December’s mania is the Season of Giving. Thank you to Susan Johnston of The Urban Muse for promoting the Writers’ Emergency Assistance Fund. This fund is a 501(c)(3) charitable trust made up of donations from writers like you to help freelance nonfiction writers in times of acute financial distress. As… Read more“Linking to the Writers’ Emergency Assistance Fund”
Category: Writing
Pulp Rag: Getting the ghost tiger by the tail
A friend and I decided this morning that I should write a ghost story for the holiday season, a sort of Christmas Carol where Scrooge turns out to be right. Let’s talk today about premise. We were going on and on about how much we just love converting our living… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Getting the ghost tiger by the tail”
Pulp Rag: Explicating the gnat
Let’s explicate that piece of Carson McCullers dialog. There’s tons to learn from it, but today we’ll just focus on conflicting agendas and how she rings such a realistic, poignant note by keeping her characters firmly and clearly grounded in their separate agendas. Doctor Copeland: “I will not be hurried…. Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Explicating the gnat”
Pulp Rag: Weighing point-of-view techniques
So let’s talk some more about Point-Of-View. Because this is quite a sticky widget. The simplest, commonest, most straight-forward POV is third-person limited. And there’s a really good reason for this. Because it WORKS. Once upon a time it was first-person limited. However, first-person got kind of beat to death… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Weighing point-of-view techniques”
Pulp Rag: Hunting the lonely heart with Carson McCullers
The actual writing is what you live for. —Raymond Chandler Let’s talk about plotting and Point-Of-View. Carson McCullers was only twenty-three when she published The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, her classic story of the fragility of human connection—nearly a child prodigy. Within the amorphous struggle to understand life, as… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Hunting the lonely heart with Carson McCullers”
Pulp Rag: Messing with each other’s head: dialog in action
Shall we see if I can get through a whole post about dialog talking about. . .dialog? I follow Twitter. Not enough, apparently, to see everything that goes by, because lots of people use it as a mirror they glance into constantly throughout the day assuming—I guess—the rest of us… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Messing with each other’s head: dialog in action”
Pulp Rag: Celebrating Chaos Day
I’m starting a children’s book from scratch today. And, in spite of what I said about NaNoWriMo, I have about three weeks to write it. Am I MAD? It sounds even worse when I elaborate: I do this every year. . . Read the full essay on Pulp Rag.
Pulp Rag: Typing a novel
Let’s talk about NaNoWriMo today. Because lots of people are confused about what it’s for. NaNoWriMo is not about getting you a novel to sell. It’s not. . . Read the full essay on Pulp Rag.
Launching head-first into NaNoWriMo
“Knock me down, pick me up, knock me down again. Break my heart, steal my gold, slander my good name.” —Gordon Lightfoot, “Sixteen Miles” You’re alone in a room with your keyboard. It’s 11:55 on Halloween. You’re about to start NaNoWriMo. Your fingers are poised. Your heart is racing. You’ve… Read more“Launching head-first into NaNoWriMo”
Pulp Rag: Unmasking the world
I’m Europe, baby. I sent you Dutch Elm Disease, German Measles, and Russian Roulette. You sent me World Wind Vacation Tour #225. Now we’re even. —Suzanne Pleschette movie from 1969, If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Hey! If it’s Tuesday, this must be Pulp Rag day! You know what… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Unmasking the world”