Karen Stevens's collection of essays offers practical advice and inspiration for those embarking on the long, lonely journey of writing a novelAccording to Karen Stevens, "writing a novel is the longest and loneliest journey a writer can embark upon". Her collection of essays by established and new writers splits that journey into four stages: inspiration, research, voice and form. There is also practical advice from a literary agent and an editor who notes honestly that "chance does play a part" in getting published. Lionel Shriver is equally frank about what comes after the acceptance of your first novel: "struggle and disappointment". Although Hanif Kureishi candidly admits, in an excellent piece from 2002, that "most writers do not entirely understand what they are doing", these essays are both perceptive and inspiring. Alison MacLeod writes beautifully on the voice of a novel: "It is the unknown quantity every novel needs." Kishwar Desai admits to being driven by "the demons of insecurity" to over-research, and Jane Feaver, writing about form, advises authors to develop "an alertness to the collective materiality of words". But all agree with Wena Poon: the process of writing a novel is a "strange and wondrous journey".PublishingPaperbacksEssaysPD Smiththeguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
In the memoir North to Paradise, Ousman Umar tells the story of his migration from rural Ghana to urban Europe, a five-year journey that took him across 11 countries. These years are so eventful and rife with suffering that just one could be a book unto itself: Ousman is exploited in Accra;... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-10 09:50:30 UTC ]
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In Amy Bloom's memoir, she writes of her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis and all that followed. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-08 13:00:45 UTC ]
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The novelist Kathryn Davis' memoir, 'Aurelia, Aurélia," is a Virginia Woolf-inspired whoosh of experiences in the aftermath of her husband's death. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-03-01 18:31:42 UTC ]
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In her new book, Amy Bloom writes about loving her husband and helping him to end his life after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-03-01 10:59:23 UTC ]
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Until I was five years old, my mother and I lived with her parents in Flatbush, Brooklyn. We never talked about my father. We never said his name, which meant that we never said my full name, Sherry Zimmerman. I first saw my full name written out in an inscription in a children’s alphabet book […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-28 09:49:55 UTC ]
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The author’s new middle grade novel, Solimar, follows the adventures of a soon-to-be 15-year-old Mexican royal who can predict the future and must work to protect her country’s fragile natural world. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-28 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Of the many February books we reviewed, these are the titles our critics liked best. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-02-27 12:00:33 UTC ]
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The following first appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. It is from Story Club with George Saunders, a Substack publication and literary community where Saunders offers weekly discussions of the craft of the short story. Both free and paid subscriptions are... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-25 09:51:07 UTC ]
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George Miller, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy look back at the making of an epic in Kyle Buchanan's "Blood, Sweat & Chrome." Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-02-22 14:23:52 UTC ]
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An unspoken tradition hints that going to the source is good for the story you want to write. The trouble often is that we have no idea what that source may be. Sometimes we think it is sheer research and we spend time in libraries. Often, we think it’s where the action of the proposed […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-22 09:52:32 UTC ]
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After previous seminars showcased work from Scotland and Wales, this year the focus is on writing from Northern Ireland. Chaired by novelist and non-fiction writer Glenn Patterson, director at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast – a familiar and popular name for British... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 12:14:57 UTC ]
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'Moon Witch, Spider King,' the second in Marlon James' incantatory Dark Star trilogy, flips the script on his first novel to tell a woman's side. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-15 14:00:10 UTC ]
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This is Underreported with Nicholas Lemann, from the publishing imprint Columbia Global Reports. We don’t just publish books; we use books to start conversations about topics that weren’t getting the attention they deserved. At least, until we took them on. This podcast is your audio connection... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-11 09:55:06 UTC ]
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The Steam Deck, Valve’s take on a Switch-style portable PC gaming machine, is perhaps the most anticipated piece of portable hardware since…well, since the Nintendo Switch. So it’s understandable that the technology press is champing at the bit to devour every detail about it, even well before... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-02-09 18:09:04 UTC ]
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In 'Home/Land: A Memoir of Departure and Return,' Rebecca Mead, who returned to England after decades as an expat, asks what it means to be home. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-09 14:00:23 UTC ]
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“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” –Arthur Ashe * Years ago, when I was still a budding fiction writer, I published an essay about how hard skateboarding is to write about. I focused on a few novelists who had skater characters in their books but who clearly didn’t skate […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-09 09:55:45 UTC ]
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The Steam Deck, Valve’s take on a Switch-style portable PC gaming machine, is perhaps the most anticipated piece of portable hardware since…well, since the Nintendo Switch. So it’s understandable that the technology press is champing at the bit to devour every detail about it, even well before... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2022-02-08 14:47:24 UTC ]
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Vera, a cello player and Scrabble devotee, has been a New York Times subscriber for the past 75 years, developing her print habit somewhere around the Truman administration. These days, she's reading stories about Eugene O'Neill, TV dinners, book publishing and "getting older without getting... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2022-02-07 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Coco Mellors' 'Cleopatra and Frankenstein' evokes a rich universe in multiple senses, but it feels engineered for a Netflix adaptation. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-04 14:00:54 UTC ]
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Julia May Jonas' "Vladimir" is a thrilling "Lolita" update in which the deliciously wicked narrator is not the male abuser but his wife. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-01 14:00:41 UTC ]
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