How Do I Really Love Thee?

What a paean to love this is, for better or for worse, from the inimitable Elizabeth Gilbert in “Committed.”* So tender--and so funny...

I love this man. I love him for countless ridiculous reasons. I love his square, sturdy, Hobbit-like feet. I love the way he always sings “La Vie en Rose” when he’s cooking dinner. (Needless to say, I love that he cooks dinner.) I love how he speaks almost perfect English but still, even after all these years with the language, sometimes manages to invent marvelous words. (“Smoothfully” is a personal favorite of mine, though I’m also fond of “lulu-bell,” which is Felipe’s own lovely translation for the word “lullaby.”)

I love that he’s never quite mastered the exact wording or pacing of certain English-language idioms either. (“Don’t count your eggs while they’re still up inside the chicken’s ass,” is a terrific example, though I’m also a big fan of “Nobody sings till the fat lady sings.”) I love that Felipe can never—not for the life him—keep straight the names of American celebrities. (“George Cruise” and “Tom Pitt” are two prime examples.)

*P. 121

#exposition #author

If exposition is on the menu,

you had better serve it right and make it tasty.

-C.Wendig

A Conundrum

#fiction #characters

Finishing the Nth book in a thriller series (yes, I confess, that is how I escape), I was bemused. I still liked the hero despite all of his flaws apparent in the unfolding of the plot, but I found I felt annoyed with the author for some plot details that I found overly sordid. What? Feeling pro the fictitious protagonist and annoyed with the author? How ironic. What does that mean? It clearly means a tour de force by the author in creating his character. Kudos.

Beyond Craft

#tuesdays #writing #wordcraft #wordmagic

On writing: "We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style...but...you'd do well to remember we are also talking about magic."  --Stephen King

Writers in 2015

#write  #writemore  #in-your-write-mind

A 100 Best Websites list.

My Best Days

#writing  #inspiration

The days you work are the best days.

--Georgia O'Keefe

Creative Insight

#creativemind  @tracynovinger  #imagination  #imagine-thebook

British writer Rupert Thomson is called prolific. Thomson says the reason he is prolific is because he writes all the time, going to bed late and rising early. He also comments that he always finds that the work he produces an hour or two after waking is more valuable than what he writes at any other time. I like this comment because insight often comes to me in that early morning dawn of the mind between sleep and waking. I think the book “Imagine” explains well the origin of these valuable nuggets our creative mind hands to us.

“To write Fiction at All Is a Moral Act” - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jason-holmes/rupert-thomson-interview-_b_5837914.html

19-09-2014

Publishing Today

#tracynovinger  #publishing  #novel  #debutnovel

Rupert Thomson, a prolific British writer, lived through a golden age, he says, when he was paid according to the perceived value of his books rather than according to the number of books he was selling. When economic jitters hit London in early 2009, publishers knew things had to change but they weren’t sure how. Thomson thinks since that time there seems to be concern about investing where there is risk and innovation--but for him that comprises all the writing going on that is really interesting. Another change, ironic he states, is that publishers are now are signing many first-time writers. One can’t have an unacceptable (read risky) track record if one doesn't have any track record at all.

There Is No Substitute for Good Writing

John Lahr: “I’m often drawn by tone and by the slant of the language. The way the sentences pop. A few well-angled sentences announce to me if this is a voice whose command I can trust or whose quirkiness intrigues. Style, after all, is metabolism. Even if it’s nonfiction, the writing has to have a pulse, something I can feel beneath the facts.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/books/review/john-lahr-by-the-book.html?emc=edit_bk_20140919&nl=books&nlid=53957551