I sent out my finished draft of The Observer to my writing group! Now, to await their ever useful feedback! It took a lot longer than I imagined to send it out, because every time I thought about doing it I would realize some other thing I wanted to change. I still have more things …
Strange points of view
I'm listening to My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, and so far there has been a chapter narrated by a dead man at the bottom of a well, and one narrated by a stray dog. These attention-grabbing narrators are fun to read, and I think they might be fun to write, too, so I …
An opening I’m tired of
John Smith did something as another thing happened. "Unexpected statement that sets the tone of the story," he said. Stories that open this way somehow lose my interest in an instant, no matter how interesting the things John is doing or saying are. Why? Because the structure of the opening is so familiar it induces …
How is Nabokov not everyone’s favorite author?
Just curious...
What inspires you to write?
A certain feeling, or idea? A shade, or color? A memory, or a dream? Grab every little thing that sparks your imagination, and use it. The bobbing head of a black bird, the way a leaf twists in the chill wind, the boiling shape of a cloud. The twirl of your gut while falling from …
Jonas David 