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News! The Rumpus just put up my piece on their series The Last Book I Loved – Nice Work by David Lodge, if you’re wondering. Lodge is a wonderful comic writer introduced to me by the brilliant Rob Roberge. I learned a lot (and was inspired by) reading and annotating comic novels by Lodge as well as Richard…
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What are some of the reasons for stopping? In his book (which I recommend) on writing, IMMEDIATE FICTION, Jerry Cleaver makes the case for conflict and continually raising the stakes: “Happy lives make lousy novels…. If the characters are having a good time, the reader is not.” What if, on the other hand, it’s about you…
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Great post on how different writers write – routine or lack of it, setting deadlines, using page count vs. word count. I use word count, setting a rough goal (for the next novel, it will likely be in the 90,000 range) and then daily and weekly targets. It helps. What do Cormac McCarthy and Flannery…
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I am a lucky writer. I am fortunate to have a great network of talented writers. Some of us check in weekly, I have coffee or lunch with others now and then and we compare notes, cheer each other on or offer consolation. It helps tremendously. Forget the lonely garret. No one is successful by…
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Mingle, people, mingle! Go write with others. That’s where I’m headed – a cafe to meet a couple of fellow writers…
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A hand, a foot, a leg, a head, Stood for the whole to be imaginèd. (Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, ll. 1427-8) What if you write a scene of sex, violence, or intense emotion and focus only on one of the character’s body parts? Oh stop, not the obvious ones either. And yeah, I’m being silly…
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Congratulations to Howard Jacobson who won the Man Booker prize for THE FINKLER QUESTION. Haven’t read it yet, but since I just finished writing a comic novel, I’m looking forward to it.
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Dovetailing continues. Or perhaps it’s serendipity. In any case, I rediscovered the Harvard Business Review. It contains a surprising number of articles that are helpful to novelists. If you haven’t thought about your purpose, read this. It is the key to discovering your personal fuel that will keep you going when things get rough on…
Diane Sherlock 
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