Tag: women writers
10 Ways To Kick Start Your Writing
Joanne Harris, @Joannechocolat, is one of our favorite authors on twitter. If you do not follow her yet, you should! 1. If you’re at a creative loose end, read. If you’re not at a loose end, read. Basically, read. #TenWaysToKickstartYourWriting — Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) November 28, 2015 2. Leave your reading comfort zone. Read […]
Crafting a Passion into Writing
Someone asked me recently how I am able to come up with ideas for books to be published. At the time, I answered the question flippantly, saying that I am just very creative; a storyteller at heart. Nonetheless, this question did make me reflect on where an author gets their inspiration. With billions of books […]
Libraries: Still All About the Story
I love libraries. I love the way they smell. The quiet hum of florescent lights and shuffling pages. I love walking up and down the stacks trailing my fingers over the spines looking for the perfect story for my current mood. I love that every book, dvd, and cd has an exact place where I […]
Being a Neurologist and Writer
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, so I became a neurologist. In case this isn’t intuitive, let me explain. For years, I struggled with the decision to become a doctor or a writer. (Well, when I was six, I wanted to be a professional jump roper, but soon found out this wasn’t a viable […]
Plot-driven or Character-driven?
I love reading books about writing. It is my number one displacement activity when I should be working on my novel. However, it bugs me how some how-to books split plot and character. Some books even divide genres into plot-driven and character-driven and say that the plot-driven novels are more likely to be ‘commercial fiction’ […]
Interview with Linda Gray Sexton
Linda Gray Sexton is a novelist and memoirist who lives and writes in San Francisco. In 1994, she published her first memoir, Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton, in which chronicled her experience growing up as the daughter of poet Anne Sexton. In her second memoir, Half in Love: […]
What is it that makes an idea great?
Where do ideas for novels come from? What is it that makes an idea great? Whatever an author decides to write must be rich enough and thrilling enough to compel their reader through 300-plus pages, to trap them wholeheartedly inside a story, leaving them unable and unwilling to climb out. It must be rich enough […]
From Print to Re-publication
Then… When the intermittent electricity failed in a remote village in rural Bangladesh, I lit a candle stub to continue writing the daily instalment of my journal. I had no idea it would become a book. It was 2002, and my first visit to South East Asia. Back home, my head and heart remained full […]
Writing Advice
Having just turned in my eighth novel in five years, one would hope that I had some writing advice to share with new writers. Giving advice on a process that is a little like witchcraft and a little like playing roulette is tricky, but I think I have learned some tricks and strategies along the […]
Lessons Learned From Writing a Memoir or Two
“Who would read a book about your life?” That question came from a former friend, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who in 1995 aimed to convince me writing a memoir was pure folly and would likely ruin my career as a serious journalist. After selling nearly 100,000 copies in seven languages of I Closed My Eyes […]
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