“It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.” —Virginia Woolf Writers invite criticism. We share our work with other writers and seek their advice; we submit our writing to editors for feedback; and we send our precious creations out into the world hoping they’ll be accepted for publication or win an award. There we risk receiving … Read More »

Fellow novelists out there, sweating away at your fictional plots and characters, have you ever stopped and asked yourself “Why bother?” The world is on fire. People are starving. Wars are ripping through whole countries. And we write stories that aren’t true, which large numbers of people read avidly. Are we helping at all—or are we downright hurting by distraacting from real life’s stakes? Considering that fiction has been around since the time of the Egyptians at least, I suspect … Read More »

Interviewers have frequently asked me, “Where do you get your ideas?” — as if there were some mysterious wellspring from which imagination bubbles that spews out a whole plotted book. We can call this inspiration. Where does it come from? In fact, in the deeper sense, that’s not an easy question to answer. I certainly don’t understand the workings of my own brain well enough to say what childhood encounter might have spawned a certain character. But since I write … Read More »

It’s bound to happen. The story you were so eager to write is going nowhere. Or it’s going in too many directions. It doesn’t make sense anymore and bears no resemblance whatsoever to that exciting, glittering tale your mind conjured up. What’s your next move? Tempting as it may be, DO NOT hit the delete button and relegate your writing to the cyber cemetery for all eternity! There are less drastic steps that will eliminate any regret down the road. … Read More »

It’s that time of year again, and if you’re like me you’re a last-minute shopper. Either that, or someone in your immediate gift-giving circle is desperately pleading with you for gift ideas. Do them a favor—print out this list and others from past holiday seasons on the FWA blog. Put your concerned gift-givers out of their misery. A short list of some favorites Duotrope At the top of my list is a gift subscription to Duotrope. This software indexes over … Read More »

When I was in high school, I missed a lot of questions on a lot of tests. But there’s one question I’ll never forget. It was pretty simple. The image displayed a slice of the earth’s interior, with a question: What is the name of the stuff in the middle? I thought of two answers. One was “the core of the earth,” because that IS the middle (and was the correct answer). But I tried to outsmart the question, and … Read More »