I’m fascinated by beginnings. That is, the first words that fall into a reader’s brain when she opens up a book. Not all stories have evocative openings. I was bemused to find that some of my favorite novelists do not, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: the craft of writing
I’ve got a writing exercise for ya.’ I’m hopeful it will put ideas into your head. It requires reverse engineering something, in this case, greeting cards. Those new any occasion cards with blank interiors are the best for this. Here’s … Continue reading
In editing a piece of promotional work for someone this morning, I was reminded again of the many similarities between writers, who tell fantastic stories for a living and have no intention that they be taken as fact, and “truthers” … Continue reading
Some writers are just—more. More everything. More brilliant. More talented. More challenging, and more wickedly subversive. Ursula was all of those things, but even more than that, she was loved. I was her colleague in genre and here at Book … Continue reading
One of the things I love about the way the fantasy genre has evolved in the new millennium is how it plays with its tropes. Every genre has them, and cherishes them. Tropes are what make a genre what it … Continue reading
Today I offer the Author’s Note from the first book I wrote as Anne Rutherford, “The Opening Night Murder, ” where I address the issue of dramatic license in historical fiction. In my associations with other authors, often I’m drawn … Continue reading
The last Horseblog attracted a great deal of commentary from the horse community, and as always happens when people are talking about scary things, the horror stories waxed horrific. Amid all this, author Pamela Dean commented, I had a question … Continue reading
Actually not the horse kind. The human kind. This week, I asked fellow writers to ask questions about what they want or need to know about handling and living with horses. Writer and artist M.C.A. Hogarth responded with a great … Continue reading
L is for Luck. I’m not going to mince words here. Sometimes, you can follow every rule, you can do every single thing right, and your writing career isn’t going to go the way you want it to go. Publishers … Continue reading
K is for Kryptonite. I’m sure you’ve brushed up on your superhero lore. There are a couple dozen types of Kryptonite, but they all mean disaster for the Man of Steel—he loses his powers when he’s confronted with the stuff. … Continue reading