Sometimes I'm reading and I think 'I could stand you forever', and other times I want to toss the book aside from waiting for the character to change. But each character, and narrator, should have their own unique voice. Because, the narrator isn't 'you'. You are an actor playing the part of the narrator--and the characters--when …
Tomorrow is always one more day away
"Ever read The Brothers Karamazov?" I asked. "Once, a long time ago." "Well, toward the end, Alyosha is speaking to a young student named Kolya Krasotkin. And he says, Kolya, you're going to have a miserable future. But overall, you'll have a happy life." Two beers down, I hesitated before opening my third. "When I …
A job?
Is it just a fantasy? Could writing ever make ends meet? Sometimes I feel like money's got me crawling on the floor. The things we love rarely pay the rent, but we do them nonetheless. Don't quit your day dream. You should love what you do, not do what you love--bullshit. Can we manufacture passion? …
Finishing things
I feel as if I have a new super power, ever since finishing a draft of a novel. I can finish anything! Short story? Cake. Novella? Pie. Another novel? Doable. All it takes.. is starting. It's like I blinked and the sky moved ever so slightly, and now I can do things I couldn't before. Required …
Transitions? Forget about them
The obsession with transition negates a basic truth about writing, a magical truth. You can get anywhere from anywhere, always and almost instantly. - Verlyn Klinkenborg We've all been there: cold moon, dark sky, watching our minds disappear as we try to figure out how to get our character from point A to B. She's …
Jonas David 