Author Archive: Women Writers Women Books
Dutch by birth and serial emigrant, Barbara currently lives with her husband and daughter in a tiny village in Galicia, Spain, as basic and simple as can be. W Barbara's website.
Liz Flaherty: On Author Friendship
Years and years ago, I wrote a fangirl letter to Harlequin author Muriel Jensen. I sent her a blank stamped envelope in case she cared to respond. If she didn’t have time to answer or if she just didn’t want to, I wanted her to feel free to pay her light bill with the envelope. […]
On Writing Eve Bites Back: An Alternative History of English Literature
Eve Bites Back, in essence, explores what it takes to create literature if you are a woman – and is rooted in my belief that we can and should consider lives as well as works. Not everybody agrees, arguing that the ‘biographical turn’ leads inexorably to sexism, salacious anecdotes displacing serious textual analysis. I have […]
How Dogs Led to my Emergence As a Novelist
How Dogs Led to my Emergence As a Novelist Unless you are totally outside of the mainstream of popular culture, you know that these days, much is made of being In the Moment. Like many humans, I have found this hard to do. But I started my quest to get better at it long before […]
INHABITING YOUR CHARACTERS
INHABITING YOUR CHARACTERS Many years ago, when I first set out to be a writer, I took a fiction workshop with the late Carol Emshwiller, a writer of short stories. There were about six of us in the class. I had no idea how to write fiction at the time; I only knew I wanted […]
Writing Historical Crime – Bringing your Characters to Life
Writing historical crime – bringing your characters to life One of the joys of writing historical crime is that you have centuries of fascinating characters to bring into your writing, but also the potential for inserting imagined characters who add to your story. In The Conjuror’s Apprentice, I use real people in history – John […]
Five Myths about Story Revision by Lynne Reeves Griffin
Five Myths about Story Revision Lynne Reeves Griffin There’s consensus among writers that while completing a first draft is a monumental accomplishment, it is by way of rigorous revision that the depth and heart of a story is revealed. Every writer struggles with the complexities of the process. It’s daunting to rewrite or add scenes. It […]
In the End, Most Genres Turn to Love
Conventional wisdom dictates that writers should stick to one genre. Agents traditionally advise their clients to stick to a single genre to build a reader base and strengthen their reader brand. When writers want to deviate from their established category, they are either discouraged or told to write under a pseudonym if they want to […]
Life Dust: Writing Through a Nursing Lens
Life Dust: Writing Through a Nursing Lens What do John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Katherine Neville, and Pam Webber have in common? We all write novels that include aspects of our previous or current professions. In other words, we write what we know. Not just for the ease and added insight, but because we can demystify, […]
The Naughtiest Word in Writing…
The Naughtiest Word in Writing… There’s a word commonly uttered in writing circles, a word that often strikes fear even in the most seasoned of novelists. Revision. Yep, revision. I know it’s scary, but I promise, it’s going to be okay. I can say that now, but when I first learned about the art of […]
On Writing Chingona: Owning your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice
When I first started writing Chingona: Owning your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice, I was still on my own healing journey. I knew I wanted to share my experiences to help other Latina and POC women heal from intergenerational trauma. I was healing and practicing survivance, which Gerald Vizenor says is “an active resistance.” […]
Recent Comments