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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Emilie-Noelle Provost atop Mount Adams in the White Mountains of New Hampshire It is such a joy today to share this interview with Emilie-Noelle Provost . A new guest columnist on the blog, she’s also an established editor and writer. Her latest book, The River Is Everywhere, is the coming-of-age story of a Franco-America teenager and will be released on March 14, 2023. In her spare time she hikes and can often be found in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When she’s not outside, you can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Liz Michalski: I’m so excited for you and this novel. You are coming at it from a long stretch as a nonfiction writer and editor. How …
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It might be a surprise to some of you that, when it comes to magic in story, WU’s resident fantasy geek (yours truly) is not the most ardent proponent. This is the case in regard to both my reading taste and my storytelling. A simple internet search of the essential elements of a fantasy story reveals how odd this is. Most every list contains the existence of magic, and the majority have magic at the top. Seems like a skillful marketer of epic fantasy would lean in to an element like that, doesn’t it? Setting aside my lack of marketing skill, it’s not that I always dislike magic in stories. I am very fussy about it, though. There’s a lot of talk in SFF communities about …
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After the excitement of a “yes” from a publisher comes the job of assessing your publishing contract. Facing down ten pages of dense legalese can be a daunting task, especially for new and inexperienced writers, who may not have the resources to hire a literary lawyer, or have access to a knowledgeable person who can help de-mystify the offer terms. And it is really, really important to assess and understand those terms, because publishing contracts are written to the advantage of publishers. While a good contract should strike a reasonable balance between the publisher’s interests and the writer’s benefit, a bad contract…not so much. In this article, I’m going to focu…
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Most of us are busy humans, living busy lives, filling up the time with SO.MANY.THINGS. Child-rearing, elder care, building our careers and riding the waves that come with it, maintaining our homes, our relationships. For me, the last several years I let those things expand until I’d squeezed out my hobbies and squeezed out my self-care—and squeezed out my health. I hit major burn-out mode with writing and major physical and mental exhaustion. Finally one morning last fall, I woke up as tired as if I hadn’t gone to bed and said, why am I doing this to myself? What’s it all for anyway? ENOUGH. It was time for an about-face, a change, a rejuvenation of sorts. I decided I ne…
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Far more than an art and a genre, true literary fiction is a field of scholarly exploration and debate. Who better to lead such a discussion than an author who honed his craft as a professor of literature? Today I’m pleased to introduce former Harvard literature professor and Guggenheim fellow Thomas Richards, whose second novel, Mrs. Sinden, was published last month by Global Collective Publishers. With the keen, analytical perspective of a (reformed) academic, Thomas is here to talk about a whole new way of looking at, and writing, characters—one that earned him this praise for Mrs. Sinden’s main character, Jessica, from Pulitzer and National Book Award winner Jeffre…
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Last month, we looked at what prologues can accomplish. This month, let’s look at how they go off the rails. As often happens, the comments section last month raised enough issues to make up another column, and I’ll be drawing from those comments extensively. Think of this article as being crowdsourced. And thank you Don, Barbara, Joyce, David and all the rest for sharing your experience as readers, agents, and editors. Ironically, the reasons prologues fail are the flip side of why they succeed. For instance, I’d mentioned that you can use a prologue to give your readers background that’s tricky to work into the main story, either because it involves something t…
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Image: Getty iStockphoto: Ipopba In Touch With the Machine As you’ll recall, author Erma Clare and Therese on February 11 wrote here at Writer Unboxed about what some call “language artificial intelligence (AI)” and about possible implications for authors and other creative writers. As it turns out, the cool exchange that Therese recorded is what Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times, since then has identified as the Dr. Jekyll of a two-sided context with which he has had a very different close encounter. On February 16, Roose–the author of Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation (Penguin Random House, March 2021)–wrote for the Time…
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Have you ever wished that you could attend your own private writing workshop that would teach you exactly what you need to know, at the right pace for you, and respond to your questions, problems, and needs in extensive one-on-one sessions? That’s what Your Personal Odyssey is. Choose your pace with sessions starting June 5 (6 weeks) August 14 (12 weeks) November 27 (18 weeks) Choose the topics you want to study, in the order you want to study them Learn from the Advanced, In-Depth Odyssey Lectures including guest lectures by Nancy Kress, P. Djélì Clark, Melissa Scott, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Meagan Spooner, Stephen Graham Jones,…
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A dear friend of mine is having her name changed today. After her 20-year marriage ended in divorce a year ago, she decided to go back to using her maiden name, and today is her day in court, where she’s making the change both legal and official. It is a powerful gesture, in multiple ways. It excises the ex-husband’s name from her life, but it does even more. My friend’s maiden name happens to be a beautiful and poetic word, literally a word that many people love and even celebrate. Her ex-husband’s surname? Spoken aloud, it sounds more like a cross between a rare skin disease and a Taco Bell appetizer. (Okay, I might be a little biased on that front; I was never fond of…
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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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We’re passionate about writing, and that passion makes us want to grow, to get better and better at our craft. Fortunately—or maybe not—there are whole industries devoted to helping us do that. There are workshops, webinars, courses, programs. Craft books, editing services, conferences, support groups. Some, like the craft essays here on Writer Unboxed, are free. Others can have price tags of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It seems reasonable to ask which, if any, of these classes and services actually help people improve their writing. To put it another way: is it “worth” signing up for all those programs and buying all those books? Or, in the end, is it a com…
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I probably shouldn’t reveal this as it’s something close to me and my partner, but since it’s Valentine’s day, so maybe the spirit of romance will forgive me. It’s nothing very intimate anyway, and I mentioned to her that I was writing this article and she seemed OK about it. So I guess it’s all right if I tell you. Just you. So, here goes: I write letters to her. Not a huge revelation, I know, but no one else knew about this until now. And now you know too. They’re not really what you’d describe as love letters. I don’t think I’ve ever used the L word in them (I’m sticking to that “show don’t tell” advice). Without giving you too many details, the letters are more abo…
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Last week I sent out a few extra emails. Emails that read: -I’ve been meaning to congratulate you on xxx. -How are you holding up – I know you’ve had a rough go and I just want you to know I’m thinking of you. -I just want to say thanks for your referrals and your wisdom. -You’ve been in my head and I just wanted to say hi. The weeks go by so quickly. The days are filled with meetings, deliverables, and requests. Sometimes, we just can’t help but put etiquette aside. But it’s never too late to show gratitude and kindness. Now, let’s answer some PR and Marketing questions… So you’re interested in hiring a publicist? Here are some of the common questions I get asked …
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Therese here to introduce today’s guest post by author Erma Clare. Erma, who recently attended our own WU OnConference, reached out a couple of weeks ago with an idea to write a piece for WU about Language AI, which has writers intrigued, unnerved, and filled with questions. She shared that her graduate degree was in AI modeling, and that her thesis was in fact about the topic of “AI to text” and how that could be applied in practice. So I perked up, and I said yes. More about Erma from her bio: Erma’s childhood dream of writing fell away during a long career in finance. When a late career twist landed her back in school, learning about Language AIs revived her childhoo…
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“Studying outside Gleeson” by danisabella is licensed under CC BY 2.0. That was a big detour. I haven’t been here for a while—for several years, actually. I’ve been away from most creative writing, too; since 2017, my time and my focus have been directed elsewhere. Given an existential crisis in American democracy and my professional background in policy and politics, I felt obligated to do what I could for that cause. So I’ve spent these past years strategizing, planning, writing, editing, teaching, organizing, listening, advocating, witnessing, testifying, leading, going to meetings (goodness, did I go to meetings), and many other things. But I didn’t write anythi…
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photo adapted / Horia Varlan From the moment a reader opens the cover of your book, she is looking for a protagonist to latch onto, a setting to sink into, and some clues as to the nature of the journey ahead. And whether or not this reader realizes it, knowing whose perspective will deliver the story will boost her ability to grasp its significance. For writers hoping to explore many facets of a complex story, employing multiple third-person perspectives is a popular choice. By allowing the reader direct access to the inner thoughts of multiple characters, the author can clue the reader in on the train wreck to come while characters keep secrets, broker deals, and s…
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Like most of us, I have my quirks. I can’t sleep at night unless all the closet doors are closed in my bedroom. I hate elevators and will walk up many flights of stairs to avoid them. Condiments—especially mayonnaise—send shivers down my spine. If there is Motown music playing anywhere, I am dancing. Even in the grocery store. We all have our peculiarities; the habits and superstitions and likes and dislikes and fears and fondnesses that make us unique. So too, with the characters we create. Quirks are one of the most essential aspects of creating characters who feel real and relatable. From Don Quixote to Dickens’ Mr. Micawber to Phoebe Buffay of “Friends” fame, fiction…
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How does an author of “literary crime” fiction make the transition to a straight-up crime thriller? I put that question and more to today’s guest, Damyanti Biswas. Damyanti’s Indian debut literary crime novel You Beneath Your Skin was an Amazon bestseller, and it was optioned for the screen by Endemol Shine. Her second novel, The Blue Bar, was published in January 2023 via Thomas & Mercer. Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review, described it as an “exceptional crime thriller,” adding: “Meticulous local color matches sensitive characterizations, including of brave Mumbai police who try to overcome the deadly hazards of the corrupt system they have to work in. This s…
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I’ve been messing up for years now. I mean, we all make mistakes, obviously. Big ones and small ones, writing-related and otherwise. But the mistake I’ve recently realized is very much related to my publishing career. And now that I’ve vowed to turn over this leaf for myself, I want to shout from the rooftops–to help others, let’s say, turn over their own leaves. Here’s the thing: it’s an easy mistake to make. If you’ve been lucky–and hard-working and persistent and stubborn and talented and about 83 other things, but especially lucky–enough to write and publish more than one book, your newest book is pretty much always the one topmost in your mind. After all, in some s…
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While we all want to stay on top of what’s current about craft, be alerted to the latest conferences, and connect with fellow writers on social media, staying informed about the business side of writing and publishing is some (or many) might say, a necessary evil. To save you from spending hours scrolling through websites to find insights into the business side of writing, we’ve curated a list of recent posts for you to dig into or peruse at your leisure. We hope you’ll find value in these and share the links with anyone else who might want to keep up with the latest. Well, 2023 has started off with a publishing bang. Lots of news, everything from AI’s increasing presenc…
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During my prolific writing days, and even during my not prolific writing days, when I’d hear the term “writer’s block,” I believed it to be a self-indulgent myth. Either you were writing or you were not. You sit your ass in your chair and you write or you get up from your chair and decide you will not write. I could give you a lot of reasons, excuses, lamentations for why I haven’t completed my next novel. I bet some of you know a lot of these reasons, excuses, lamentations, too, and likely 89.999% of them are valid. We can talk about how others may say that giving up writing for any length of time is for those who really aren’t dedicated to the craft, but that’s bull-ta…
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Rachel Toalson is an especially prolific poet, essayist, and award-winning author of picture books and of middle grade and young adult fiction. Lest you think writing books for young humans means toning down reality, Rachel has mastered the art of hard topics — how to convey them, how to guide a young mind through them — in a way that helps to instill hope and to set young people on a path of functional thinking. “Toalson handles difficult, complex subjects with nuance and care, never losing sight of who her readers are, and striking the delicate balance between honesty and hope.” —Jordan Leigh Zwick, The Book Seller (Grass Valley, CA) Her next work of middle grade fic…
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Here’s what I Iike the least about superhero movies: In order for the hero to be affirmed as heroic, and for justice to prevail and the plot to resolve, in the end there must be a fight. Not just any fight, mind you, but a gigantic, loud and massively destructive battle. You’re not truly a hero until you prove it, not with weapons but with your fists. (Or perhaps energy bolts shooting from your upraised palms.) That’s what a hero is. Violent. A fighter. Same goes for female superheroes. Is that what it takes to elevate a mere protagonist or main character to the level of hero? Is that what makes heroes super? No fists, no hero? I’ve posted in this space before …
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If writing ever makes you feel lonely, consider Cecile Pineda’s work. You won’t find solace there. You will find a model of courage, of an artist living “at the edge of Being,” the phrase she uses in a 2004 interview with Jeff Biggers in The Bloomsbury Review. Pineda never offers readers the comfort of genre, of managed expectations. She never feigns a coherent, well-organized world or self. For her, the world is mutilated and nonsensical, and the self is shattered. She writes as she lives, balancing between life and death, always a soldier at the tip of the spear, never a general safe at the back of a fray. Didion could point to a center that wasn’t holding. Pineda would…
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My wife and I recently found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. Our seemingly simple mission was to sync the buttons in a new car to our garage door opener. She sat in the car just outside, reading and calling out the instructions, while I got on a mini-stepladder to access the opener’s motor unit, hanging over the car bay. The operation had to be performed in a sequence, with some precise timing. Our first problem: I didn’t have any glasses on or with me. Next, due to my sketchy hearing, I kept mishearing her instructions (alas, it seems my lifelong love of well-amplified music has caught up with me). After about five failed attempts we agreed on a new tactic. Once she…
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