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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I grew up racing small boats on Long Island Sound. If you are a sailor on the north shore of Long Island or along the Connecticut coastline, then you know what that means. In summer, light winds. At times, no wind. The Sound is basically a big bathtub. Being becalmed, though, doesn’t mean that your boat isn’t moving. It is. Always. It’s drifting, sometimes quickly. Why? Because hidden in the water are currents. Tides. Temperature differentials in the water. They push your boat in the direction they are going even if your sails are slack. You can see the movement of your boat relative to landmarks on the shore. It’s like you are sitting still in the sea and …
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You may know me as Greer Macallister, bestselling author of historical fiction, but lately, I’ve taken on another identity. I have a new book out (you may have heard of it) and as the author of Scorpica, my identity has shifted in two key respects: my name on the book jacket is G.R. Macallister, and it’s not historical fiction, but epic fantasy. All in all, the genre shift has been a pleasure. I wrote something ambitious, complex, and satisfying, proving to myself I was capable of something entirely new. As to the less-pleasant aspects, I went in with my eyes open. I knew that putting out a new book in a new genre, different from the one in which I’ve established myself,…
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I’m noticing a new trend among writers, and I think it’s a hopeful sign. I see it popping up in my own groups, in Writer Unboxed posts and, interestingly, at the recent AWP Conference I attended in Philadephia. Scurrying from panel to panel and listening to writers confer at booths on the book fair floor, I kept writing down one phrase that emerged as the focus of everyone’s conversation and writing practice: “Find the fun.” People said it in panels about struggling to write their next work after having had some success. But more and more writers, no matter what their stage, were talking about the necessity of reclaiming a sense of play; forgetting about publication, ag…
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Recently, multi-published author and long-time Writer Unboxed reader Leslie Budewitz reached out to share her experience after reading one of David Corbett’s posts here at WU. David’s words inspired an opening for her, which led to a breakthrough in her process. Could she share what she’d written? Of course, yes. After reading Leslie’s wonderful essay, how could we resist publishing it here? I think you’ll agree it is generous and empowering. Our thanks to Leslie for sharing! More about Leslie from her bio: Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop mysteries set in Seattle’s Pike Place Mark…
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When writing a new novel, the idea usually finds its way to me through a historical tidbit or unexplored emotion that sticks like a pin in my psyche. If I find myself searching the internet on the topic instead of doing whatever is clearly on my To Do list, then I know… maybe this could be something. I’m sure many of you have found yourself in a similar situation. We creative types love the first sip of fresh story water. It’s what keeps us coming back to the well! But it’s the effort of cranking down the bucket in the seemingly bottomless dark that can leave me frustrated. I often pull up my rope, drop my chin to my chest, and proclaim: “It’s dry, the well is dry! I’m n…
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To say that I am a pantser is not to say that I dislike organization, or that I don’t have an idea of where my story is going. I am a pantser in part because I have never found a tool that lets me effectively organize all the story elements—characters, locations, events, story arcs, and narrative scene sequence. In essence, I start writing by the seat of my pants when all my half-blown attempts at organizing the story fall short. Then I give up and just start getting the scenes down before they leave me. I have tried many tools and strategies, including: Excel spreadsheets – with separate worksheets for characters, scenes, timelines, and locations. Post-it notes attach…
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We are thrilled to introduce you to WU’s newest contributor today, author Yasmin Angoe! Yasmin’s debut novel, HER NAME IS KNIGHT, is a powerhouse novel about a woman stolen as a child from a village in Ghana, who goes on to become an elite assassin determined to avenge her family and put an end to a human trafficking ring. Sound fantastic? It is! It received a starred review from Library Journal, became an Amazon ‘best book of the month,’ and earned Yasmin the Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color. It also came with some pressures, and that’s what Yasmin is going to talk with us about today–how she handled all of that in order to write…
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No, you’re not wrong—that title definitely seems off. We’re only a few weeks into spring, after all. I blame Bob Seger. Well, perhaps it’s more accurate to blame XM Radio’s 70s soft rock channel, The Bridge. Regarding Seger, I was never the biggest fan of my fellow Michigander. Heck, until recently I was never any sort of fan of 70s soft rock. There’s a certain irony to my discovery of The Bridge, and finding that the songs featured there soothe me. It might be the simple balm of nostalgia. Or maybe it’s my punishment for making it to 60, that I’m actually appreciating a type of music that I so ardently disdained as a teenager. Whatever the reason for my new musical penc…
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Planet Word Museum, housed in the historic Franklin School of Washington, DC – Spring 2022 Some days we need a little inspiration. And, truth be told, sometimes we need a lot. The current times fall into the latter, at least for me and likely for many of you as well. But when individuals and families a continent away are calling out for food, shelter and salvation during a brutal new war, it can feel selfish to seek amusement or simple joys. And even when we do, it can be hard to immerse yourself, to truly benefit from the experience. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon a magical place in downtown DC that somehow evaded my stifling instincts. That place is Plane…
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Please welcome WU’s newest contributor–author of the best-selling novel My Oxford Year, screenwriter, award-winning audiobook narrator (of over 500 titles), and actor, Julia Whelan! She is also (stealing from her bio) “a Grammy-nominated audiobook director, a former writing tutor, a half-decent amateur baker, and a certified tea sommelier.” Her forthcoming book, Thank You for Listening–about a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator who has lost sight of her dreams, and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel–releases in August, 2022. You can learn more about Julia on her website, and by following…
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The infodump: one of the Four Horsemen of the Writerly Apocalypse (the others being Passive Voice, Too Many Adverbs, and Telling Not Showing). When authors infodump, they interrupt the flow of their story to drop a chunk of exposition onto readers’ laps. You’re happily reading along, following, say, the protagonist as she goes to board an abandoned spaceship, when—bam!—you smack your head against two full pages of how exactly this class of spaceship creates artificial gravity. (Probably because some nerd complained about how their immersion was ruined if the author didn’t explain how artificial gravity worked.) Regardless of the reason, the interruption takes the reader o…
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“I work everywhere, but I work best here.” – Tennessee Williams (of his time in Key West) Something mysterious happens to writers when they visit Key West. They tend to fall in love with the place and never want to leave. Take novelist Ernest Hemingway. He and his wife, Pauline, arrived on an ocean liner from Paris, by way of Cuba, in 1928. As the story goes, they had been planning to pick up a new car they’d ordered and drive North. But when the car was delayed for several weeks, stranding them in paradise, they rented a room at the Trev-Mor Hotel and soon fell captive to the island’s charms, making Key West their home for over a decade. Eventually they purchased the…
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Like many people around the world, I’ve been watching Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Notice I said, “I’ve been,” as in, “I have been,” as in…well, I haven’t finished the thing yet. Immediately upon starting the first of the documentary’s three installments, I decided that I was going to take my time with it. As easy as it’d be to succumb to my pandemic-era urge to binge straight through, I’m very much aware that this is a one-shot deal. More than fifty years have gone by since the documentary’s footage was originally filmed. Two of the Beatles are no longer with us. The two who are are 81 and 79 years old respectively. In other words: I doubt there wi…
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One of the main reasons people drag their feet on writing a book is that it feels like a giant commitment to make before you know if your book idea is any good. For some writers, the thought of writing 250 pages that go nowhere is terrifying. It’s like pouring time, energy, and money into a black hole. Wouldn’t it be so much better to KNOW that you had an idea worth pursuing and that you were on the right track? That’s what the Blueprint for a Book method is meant to do. Designed by six-figure author, book coach, and Author Accelerator CEO Jennie Nash, the Blueprint for a Book framework provides authors with a 14-step roadmap for your book so you exactly how to write fo…
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A statue in Lviv (in western Ukraine) is shrouded in protective material against the advance of Russian troops, March 13, 2022. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Ruslan Lytvyn Writing the Darkness In France, Bernard-Henri Lévy is known as BHL, like a latter-day George Bernard Shaw (who we could use about now). Bernard-Henri Lévy Lévy’s standing among the “New Philosophers” and as a humanist intellectual essayist and author, not always without controversy–which is good–makes almost anything he writes worth picking up. His The Virus in the Age of Madness, at only 128 pages–or just over two hours in the sane, soothing audiobook narration by Shridhar Solanki–is the one to pick u…
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Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often 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 paying 30 …
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With rare exceptions, the world of a novel has more inhabitants than just the protagonist and an opponent or two. Other characters move in and out of the story, appearing at different intervals and lingering for different periods of time. We call them secondary characters because they serve the primary character’s journey—as tempter, mentor, paragon, sidekick, confidante, and so on. They’re not the hub of the plot, yet they’re just as essential—and need to be just as alive and convincing—as the primary characters. Think of the “best supporting actor” category in the Academy Awards. Those roles are no less demanding and powerful than the leading roles—in fact, they’re oft…
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Purple prose, it’s the bane of a writer’s existence. Like a noisome stench pulled from the depths of perdition, it infects their prose, tearing at the very fiber of literary excellence, rending joint from sinew — Um . . . sorry. Purple prose, meaning writing so overblown that it interferes with the storytelling, has evidently been a problem for a long time. We first heard the term in Horace’s Poetic Arts, written more than 2000 years ago. Weighty openings and grand declarations often Have one or two purple patches tacked on, that gleam Far and wide, when Diana’s grove and her altar, The winding stream hastening through lovely fields, Or the river Rhine, or the ra…
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Newspaper articles, extracts from books, diary entries, audio transcripts, records of phone calls, email chains, text messages, social media posts: all of these and more can be and are used in novels to advance, enhance and extend the story. Supporting the ‘traditional’ narrative, these other forms can allow authors to embed information in a way that doesn’t burden the main narrative, which is especially useful when the novel is based on factual events. They can also provide a way to run parallel narratives or to provide alternative points of view on what is going on. Most of all they allow authors to create a richly-textured story-world with many varied strands to its n…
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I basically live in a tree house, where I’m tucked in a cove on the side of a mountain with more trees on my lot that probably anyone else in the Cove. There’s a lot of wildlife that lives in and around trees and I certainly have my share, which I love and appreciate and respect. Except. There’s this one squirrel. Squirrel and I have been doing a dance for months in its relentless quest for what it desires. Squirrel wants something from me, and it will not tire in its pursuit to convince me I should give it what it wants because Squirrel is tenacious—and tenacity and never giving up always wins, right? We’ll see about that. Now, I’m not a squirrel hater in general. Mos…
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Last month (“Explanation vs. Fascination—And a Woman in the Corner Opposite“) we explored how to use moments of helplessness to “look behind the curtain” of your characters. The context of that exploration was the need to make our characters fascinating by resisting the temptation to explain them. But simply exploring moments in the past won’t by itself overcome the temptation to narrate those events in some form of flashback or backstory reveal. We need to take our exploration a step further by showing how those moments generate behavior. Before we begin, though, take a moment to reflect on how you yourself deal with stress or conflict. Do you drink a bit too much wh…
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photo adapted / Horia Varlan People who change are a menace to the stability of their relationships. In real life, even the positive change we might desire for our loved ones can be fraught, if we aren’t up for accommodating it. When your sister, post-makeover, is now so popular she’s never available for bowling league, or your fiancé meets the real Jesus, shaves off his beautiful hair, and runs away to join a cult, it can be disorienting, to say the least. We no longer know who we can count on. In story, on the other hand, causing instability in your protagonist is great. Your job as novelist is to show how your cast of secondary characters will be trying to figure…
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Let’s talk about heroes. I’m not talking sporting heroes or comic book superheroes. I’m using the term hero to mean a person of any gender who demonstrates extraordinary courage and acts in a way that makes change for good in the world. Some people, through birth or other circumstances, seem destined to live heroic lives. An unlikely hero, on the other hand, is someone whose heroism comes as a surprise to us – it simply isn’t what we expected of such a person. Such individuals appear in the oldest stories of many cultures: folklore, legends, fairy tales. From time to time they appear in our literary works. And they exist in real life, though we don’t always witness their …
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I’m sure we’d all agree that the books we buy should be good quality products, just like anything else we buy. For me, that means a book should have an attractive cover that tells you something about the story; the text should have a presentable layout that makes it easy to read; the words on the page should also flow well and have acceptable standards of punctuation, spelling and grammar; and a novel should have a compelling story, something that’s going to make us stick with it to the end. The author, however, cannot be expected to be responsible for every aspect of these qualities. It takes a different kind of talent to produce an attractive cover and to design a lay…
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If you’re trying to figure out how to do something you’ve never done, you seek advice, right? Some of that advice is bound to come from the internet. And if you’ve ever sought advice on the internet, you know some of that advice is bound to be terrible. For writers, that’s a big danger. But you have to start somewhere. When I put out a call for topics on Twitter recently, I got more requests than I would have guessed for advice on how to write scenes of labor and childbirth. Curious, I then went in search of existing advice on the topic: and wow, is there some pretty bad stuff out there. “Start with the first contraction.” Well, you could, but how long is that scene g…
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