As we continue our discussion about self-marketing, I want to talk a bit (well, more than a bit) about discussion, activity, and teaching guides. Should you have one? And how can a guide help you market your book? To give us a bit of insight, I welcome to the Tollbooth today Debbie Gonzales. Debbie is [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Ask most published authors how much their publishing house did to market their books and they’ll probably say, “Not much.” And it’s true: Unless you’ve established that you will make your publishing house bazillions of dollars, or they’re willing to bet that you will (first-time authors with huge advances, anyone?), you’ll probably get a standard [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week we’re talking about theme, a concept not talked about nearly enough in writing, I think. In term papers (ugh) and literary criticism (double ugh), it’s discussed quite a bit. But among writers, not enough. On Monday I defined theme as the answer to the following question: What is your story’s truth? The answer [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week I’d like to talk about theme. Like most of you, I spend a lot of time writing, thinking about writing, and discussing writing, which means I’ve had countless conversations about plot, character development, suspense. There was even one very long—and surprisingly tense—conversation about the appeal of says Teresa vs. Teresa says. Well, Teresa [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
As we begin our weekend, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite quotes about writing, uttered by some of the authors who inspired us, of course. It’s good to be in the same company as Mark Twain, no? Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow Substitute [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week, I’ve been talking about beginnings, a subject as worn as any welcome mat. But is a moment of staring down a blank computer screen or piece of paper ever really welcome? As far as I’m concerned, no. First, there’s this: You to you: I can’t do this! I can’t do this! Then there’s [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week I want to talk about beginnings. Why, you ask? Because I’ve recently had to (cue the melodramatic music) START OVER. I was working on my second novel, faithfully saving every word on my flash drive and for some reason completely unknown, even to me, not on my hard drive. This past August we [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
So, if you read yesterday’s post, you know I recently took an entire novel I wrote in first person and changed it to third-person limited. It was a tough decision. In fact, I think I may have put as much thought into this as deciding what college to attend ten years ago. But once I [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Five years ago as an MFA student at Vermont College of Fine Arts, I started my first ever middle-grade novel, Love, Treasure. I, began the first sentence, and it was I throughout. Never did I think to write this or any novel any other way. Until recently. I sold the first-person version in 2008 and [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I recently read Tuck Everlasting for the first time—blasphemous for an author of books for children, I know—and let me tell you, I was absolutely blown away by Natalie Babbitt’s gift for description in each and every scene. And almost instantly depressed at my inability to do the same, as evidenced by my use seconds [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
