Writer Unboxed - The "Connect Kitty" Approves
AAC can't help but deliver the best bloggish content that will inspire writers to new leaps of imagination. This one is mostly new releases, bestsellers, literary fiction historical fiction, mysteries, popular non-fiction, memoirs and biographies.
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When stories reach across time and still speak to us, something important is happening. We are connecting. No matter how different the era, place or events are from our own we nevertheless recognize that the story that we’re reading is our story too. It is the story of our fears, hopes and dreams. It’s the story of us. As we’ve discussed in the first two parts of this series, simply put the universal element that creates story timelessness is human experience. That’s what makes the connection. Whether it is a princess locked in a castle tower, a social climbing bootlegger trying to win a woman above his station, or an airman trapped in a war impossible to escape, w…
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Hello, my partners in pedantry, my picayune peers. Welcome to another installment of morphological minutiae, aka “Wait, that means what?” (If we’re going to keep meeting like this for these etymological explorations, these terminology tête-à-têtes, these bacchanalias of linguistic douchebaggery, we should probably come up with a better title for this series—I welcome suggestions.) For those just joining us, over my early career years as a copyeditor I worked on literally hundreds of manuscripts and spent countless hours with my nitpicking little nose buried in resource books at the library (yes, actual books, because that’s how long ago this was, kids: pre-internet). An…
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I know I’m not alone in this: I love a good metaphor. Finding a comparison (metaphor, simile, analogy, call it what you will) that perfectly suits the narrator’s voice is one of my favorite things in fiction. However, there’s one thing out there that I’ve heard compared to just about everything under the sun, yet none of the metaphors I’ve heard quite fit. I’m talking, of course, about the shape of a person’s writing career. Here are the three metaphors I hear most often and why they fall a bit short of helping you figure out your own way forward. Your writing career is a ladder. Yep, this is the one I hear most often. And I see why it’s tempting. Especially in tradit…
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We’re delighted to bring you a closer look at WU contributor Matthew Norman’s newest release, Charm City Rocks. If you’ve read anything from Matt, you already know that he’ll swiftly have you nodding, laughing, and ultimately moved, which makes us so excited for this one. What’s the pitch? “When a single dad meets the former rock-star crush of his youth, everything they thought they knew about happiness and love is thrown into chaos in this hopeful, heartwarming romantic comedy.” “Bursting with heart and chock-full of pitch-perfect dialog and disarmingly wonderful characters.”–Allison Winn Scotch If you aren’t sold yet, just read on. Q1: What’s the premise of your new …
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Stories about AI led the news in May, both the pros and cons, mostly cons. More sad news about book bans, with a highly regarded poem thrown out for good measure, but there are also signs of a growing push back. So, dig in! AI We’d all better be paying closer attention to how AI is going to play out in the future, both as writers and as humans. It’s making headlines as the potential for pluses and problems appear to be infinite. Google’s new editor helping to perfect fakery Is AI paving the path to email hell? Do we need an AI manifesto? Scribd changes its terms in response to AI The best AI-powered apps—if you’re so inclined UK is launching a review of AI’s impac…
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From the Flickr of briantvogt, INFphoto.com.Ref: infusmi-20/21|sp My last article, in March, addressed the process of finding and hiring a professional editor for a novel manuscript, comparing the insecurity this sparked as akin to entering one’s dolled-up toddler in a baby beauty contest. There might be harsh criticism and unflattering light. My metaphor was similar to one I’ve used to describe the sensation of having a novel launch into the world: It’s like pushing one’s naked toddler out into traffic to cross a busy intersection alone, while one can only watch what happens from the curb (and one is also naked). So, yeah. Anxiety is involved. I promised an update in t…
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Therese stepping in for a moment to offer a hearty congratulations to David Corbett on publication day for his latest novel, THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD! If you missed David’s Take 5 interview about the book, please click HERE to read all about it. Congratulations, David! Right around three years ago, the debate as to whether to capitalize “black” and “white” as ethnic-racial-cultural descriptions was circulating among a variety of sources, including the American Psychological Association (which had long argued for the capitalization of both), the Atlantic and Washington Post (which now decided to agree with the APA guidelines), and the Associated Press (which recommend…
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Therese stepping in for a moment to introduce our newest regular contributor, multi-published author Rachel Toalson! You may remember Rachel from the interview our own Grace Wynter did with her several months back. (If you missed the interview, it’s worth your time — just click HERE.) Rachel’s generosity of spirit made it seem like she was a WU’er already, and happily for us she was interested in making it official. Welcome, Rachel! Very few writers I know would consider a book easy to write. Most books require considerable commitment, time, and dedication—which, some days, translates to complete enthusiasm and love for the very best job in the world and some days trans…
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When I turned in the final proofs for the last book of my Nena Knight series, IT ENDS WITH KNIGHT, the deep sense of foreboding I’d been feeling while writing it became a paralyzing fear and self-doubt. My mind betrayed me, suddenly devoid of the multitude of ideas snatches of dialogue, and hellos from new voices that incessantly flittered throughout. Gone was the stability of the series I’d been writing for the last four years. Gone was the security having characters I knew inside and out, who I’d in I’d cultivated and nourished like I do Delphine, my rubber tree plant that flourishes in my house. I had no idea what should be next. The nothingness took root deep within …
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We’re thrilled to bring you a Take Five interview with our esteemed contributor, David Corbett. For those who aren’t aware, David is the author of seven novels, which have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar. His short fiction has twice been selected for Best American Mystery Stories, and a collaborative novel for which he contributed a chapter-Culprits-was adapted for TV by the producers of Killing Eve for Disney+ in the U.K. His new thriller, The Truth Against the World, sounds incredibly enticing: In the near future, as America breaks apart into factional violence, a young artist named Georgina O’Halloran creates an illustrated book of old Celtic t…
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Cuddesdon road, early morning mist by Christian Guthier “…And sometimes you come out of the fog into clarity, and you can see just what you’re doing and where you’re going, and you couldn’t see or know any of that five minutes before. And that’s magic.” ― Neil Gaiman Do you know what you are doing when you’re writing? I’m not talking about plotting versus pantsing. I’m talking about the deep, core knowledge that speaks to what your book is truly about. Because I’ll tell you, most times I have no clue. My first book was for all intents and purposes a ghostly love story, but after the first draft was completed I realized (thanks to an astute friend’s comment) that it …
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It’s been a rough year in publishing. (Isn’t it always, though?) We keep getting hit with articles about sales and consolidations and literary agencies folding or firing people. Then there’s the AI problem—don’t get me started. I’ve been on the road to various events and writing retreats in the last six months, and I’ve spoken with a good number of author friends and I keep hearing about “soft sales” and fear of what’s next. It’s all too much doom and gloom for my taste, because you know what? There is something next. Storytelling is fundamental to our existence, so we will find a way to deliver those stories, even if things have to change a little bit… Speaking of chang…
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No matter how many times I’ve tackled it, written about it, and even given workshops on it, backstory always trips me up. Unless we begin a story from the protagonist’s birth, backstory seems inevitable (although Ann Napolitano did, in fact, write Hello Beautiful from William’s birth, but that’s rare in a contemporary novel). And that means we face the question of how much backstory to offer, and when. Most of us tend to err on the side of too much, too soon. Surely, we think, the reader needs to know all about the character’s past—especially those Important Wounds, and quickly—in order understand motive, conflict, and goal! Maybe. First, let’s map the terrain a littl…
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This past weekend, I went home to visit my parents for Mother’s Day. Other than the rocks and shells and sea glass my mother collects, and which I bring her from whichever locale, near or far, I happen to visit over the course of a year, she is determined to get rid of pretty much everything else in the house. Which is how I found myself in the garage, going through boxes of things, looking to see what could be tossed or sold. In doing so, I came across a box of old notebooks and a folder, inside of which was the four-page handwritten story I wrote in fourth or fifth grade, the first complete story I ever wrote. I have vague recollections of writing it for a school assig…
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Spring has finally arrived here in the Mighty Mitten. Well, on most days. As I type this, it’s 53°F under gunmetal gray clouds, with brisk winds stirring the big lake to a distant roar. But you know what? I’m sort of relieved. At this point, my weedy-but-otherwise-empty garden beds and planters are basically mocking me. Warm sunshine only makes the mockery more hurtful. Something about spring’s arrival this year has left me… well, I guess the most fitting word is exhausted. Around here, spring brings a crop of seasonal chores. So far I have: washed the windows and screens; washed and set up two of our three porches; washed and set up our patio and its furnishings; and cl…
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A few weeks ago, my dear friend (and brilliant writer) Jocosa Wade texted me, raving about a new show she was watching. She knew I’d be interested, because the show was created by one of my absolute favorite screenwriters, the marvelous Debora Cahn, about whom I have waxed rhapsodic here in an unabashed WU love letter two years ago. A powerhouse writer with credits on shows including The West Wing, Grey’s Anatomy, Homeland and more, Ms. Cahn has now launched a series of her own on Netflix. It’s called The Diplomat. And damn, it’s good. I binged the first season in a matter of days. Admittedly that was not hard to do, since it was only eight episodes, but the good news i…
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Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often<em? make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page. Here’s the question: Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents. So, before you read the excerpt, take 30 cents from your pocket or purse. When you’re done, decide what to do with those three dimes or the quarter and a nickel. It’s not much, but think of pay…
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Welcome to a new edition of Desmond’s Drops! This month, enjoy three drops focused on one topic–RESOURCES for writers that Des has found particularly helpful. NOVEL INCUBATOR SAVE THE CAT ROBERT MCKEE’S STORY Email subscribers, please click directly to writerunboxed.com to view or visit all of Demond’s Drops on YouTube. Look for more of Desmond’s Drops in July! Have your own bit of wisdom to share? Drop it in comments. [url={url}]View the full article[/url]
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Our “blue” tray Not long ago, Ruth asked me to bring her something, I forget what. I asked if she wanted me to use our blue tray. She said we don’t have a blue tray. What we have is a turquoise tray. The details we notice from day to day are rooted in our interests, our histories, our sense of what’s important in the world. Ruth grew up with the 64-crayon Crayola box. I was more the basic, eight-crayon set, so she can see colors I’m blind to. To me, puce, magenta, crimson, and terra cotta are all red. And we have a blue tray. When you’re imagining your characters to life, you’ve got to stay aware of just how much other people see the world differently than you d…
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At London’s Southwark Cathedral. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Purple Images ‘So You Can Tell the Truth’ London Book Fair week, while full of many good things, rarely includes contemplation, reverence, and quiet commemoration among them. A bustling industry-facing trade show (not a public book fair), the event is about the sales of rights, displays of prosperity, and meetings among publishing houses’ rights directors, literary agents, publishing-supply vendors, and more. But on the final day of the fair this year, in the afternoon the 20th of April, all that changed for those of us invited to Southwark Cathedral. HarperCollins UK’s CEO Charlie Redmayne hosted a special mem…
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Last month’s post on book bans opened with a quote from historian Thomas Zimmer, which I’ll repeat here for reference: There is indeed something going on in America, and it does make a lot of people…really uncomfortable. We are in the midst of a profound renegotiation of speech norms and of who gets to define them. And that can be a messy process at times. But it’s not “cancel culture.” From a democratic perspective, it is necessary, and it is progress. I believe this is an accurate statement of where we are culturally, and that one of the most apparent arenas undergoing renegotiation is publishing. One specific example of that is the increasing role of sensitivity read…
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photo adapted / Horia Varlan Thwump-thwump-thwump. The state police helicopter hovered low overhead. Its pilot radioed below that my husband, known to be drunk and armed, was nowhere in sight; the officer standing in the basement beside me was cleared to pick up my eight-year-old son and rush him down the hill to a waiting police car. My son was wearing shorts and the sight of his pale thigh pressed against the officer’s holstered handgun ended all denial: the peaceful farm life I’d thought I was leading had been swapped out for a surreal, high-stakes plot that would forever change me. Even at this fraught moment, I was aware I’d become a character within the unfolding …
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Here in the southern hemisphere the season is turning. A baking hot Australian summer—now even hotter thanks to climate change—gives way to cooler and damper conditions where I live, but not before a period of dramatic rises and dips in temperature from day to day. Inside, dogs are snuggling close to heaters. Outside, leaves have been falling for months, or so it seems. I wish I could understand the mind of a tree, with the climate under such stress, and the ancient, steady pattern of the seasons replaced by wild extremes. Instead, I rake up the leaves. I greet the magpies, regular visitors to my garden. I check on plants that are in trouble for one reason or another, and…
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Like many of you here, I wanted to be a writer from a very young age. I wrote stories as a kid and, in my 20s, I persisted and became a journalist and wrote radio dramas. I was being paid to be a writer. Ambition achieved! Except journalism, and even scripted dramas, is not the same as creating your own story from conception to completion. So I did that. I wrote a novel and sent it out there. Within two weeks, an agent asked for the full book. I was so excited. I was such a great writer! My next piece of writing would be my resignation letter. Then the rejection slip came. I collected about 120 in total. I still have them. I clearly had more to learn. So I did. I read …
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Every week, a writer friend and I meet over Discord to discuss our writing progress and to set new goals for the week ahead. And for about 12 weeks at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, our check-ins began with one question: “So, how has Julia Cameron personally victimized you this week?” Julia Cameron isn’t anyone either of us know personally, nor is she trying to specifically victimize us (probably). She is the author of The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, a self-guided course that’s been a classic among creatives since it first came out in 1992. A lot of you have probably done the course or parts of it, or at least heard of the …
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