Oct 3
Ian McEwan, who wrote Atonement and Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize, describes in this 3-minute video how he develops ideas and finds inspiration for his writing, including a technique he uses to “force ideas.”
McEwan’s most recent book Sweet Tooth: A Novel
If you’re looking for a writing topic, do what poet and short story writer Raymond Carver did.
Carver wrote about people and situations that made a lasting emotional impression on him.
In an interview with Nicholas O’Connell for the book, At the Field’s End: Interviews With 22 Pacific Northwest Writers, published in 1987, Carver said the stories and poems he’d written were not autobiographical but have a starting point in the real world.
“Stories don’t just come out of thin air; they come from someplace, a wedding of imagination and reality, a little autobiography and a lot of imagination,” Carver said in the interview. Read more
If you’ve finished a fantasy or science fiction novel but don’t have an agent, you’re in luck.
Harper Voyager, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, is accepting unsolicited submissions to find new authors with fresh voices, strong storytelling abilities, original ideas, and compelling storylines.
Harper Voyager is accepting manuscripts for a two week period: Oct. 1 – 14, 2012.
Harper Voyager is looking for full-length manuscripts only. A full-length manuscript should be more than 70,000 words, and ideally 80,000–120,000 words. Read more
In a Scripts & Scribes interview with literary magazine Tin House editor Rob Spillman, he said one thing that influences him to publish a submission is an author who writes with authority.
Writing with authority means ensuring that the tone, details and language of your story are confidently written so that readers are willing to live in the world you’ve created.
Writing with authority covers so many aspects of writing that — done well — you’re more likely to attract the attention of editors and agents. Here are some tips:
Be believable. Believable isn’t the same as boring or predictable. But characters and plot need to be realistic in the realm of the story you’re writing about. You’ll knock your reader right out of the story world you’ve created if you present a story line that doesn’t ring true.
“Nix stereotypes and the dreaded deus ex machina, in which a critical problem is suddenly solved with a contrived addition of a new event, superpower, object, or character.” Read more
Sending out a query letter, sharing our writing with a critique group, or even sending a finished manuscript can be scary. The stakes are high: What if we receive negative feedback or are rejected?
It’s easy to get stuck. But doing nothing just breeds more fear, doubt and regret.
What you should know is that for every bad thing that can happen, so can something good. If you’re in a respectful critique group, you’ll hear what’s good about your work, as well as ideas to enhance it. If an agent declines to represent you, you’ll likely receive some bit of feedback that can help you target your proposal differently the next time. Ultimately, you have more information to work with. Read more
You’ve heard it before. Always have a notebook in your pocket or purse to jot down those brilliant ideas that don’t conveniently come to you when you’re sitting in your official writing place.
But do you have a notebook in the kitchen? Just like I always seem to think of a perfect new line for a poem or a great name for a character when I’m in the shower, cooking has a way of revealing ideas that have been simmering in my subconscious.
Life has a way of happening in the kitchen. Whenever I have guests over for dinner, it seems like everyone wants to congregate in the kitchen. Some of the most memorable and emotional discussions I’ve had with family have been in the kitchen, while cooking or sitting at the kitchen table eating a meal. All these bits of life are a good source of writing material. Read more
Have you ever been in a funk with your writing? Maybe you don’t know where to take your story next. The sentences aren’t clicking into place, and you’re stuck.
Take a break and try this: Read.
I was hooked on reading at a young age, which led to my desire to write.
Reading a good book helps you remember why you wanted to write in the first place. As I read, I often think of solutions to problems in my own writing. I’m inspired by techniques other writers use. Read more
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