Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i The Writer

I FIRST THOUGHT ABOUT WRITING a novel back in high school. It’s decades later, and although I’ve written plenty of nonfiction in my career as a magazine editor, I haven’t written a single paragraph of a novel. If you and I, fellow writers, were having coffee or a beer together, I’d reveal why. Fear. Like Frank Herbert wrote in Dune: “Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.” I’ve let fear obliterate any action on my part to write a novel. Obliterate might not be the right word. The image that comes to mind is being bound in a straitjacket. Not long ago, I gained some insight into this problem when I interviewed Eric Potterat, Ph.D., for a magazine article. Dr. Potterat is a clinical psychologist who specializes in performance.…

TONIGHT, I FOUND MY FATHER’S dog tags. I’d stolen a dusty keepsake box from my mother’s house. The tags lay tangled beneath yellowed newspaper clippings, forgotten tie-tacks, and a large-caliber bullet. What surprised me was that I did not cry. Hewn from the coal mining mountains of Kentucky, Dad had boarded a bus to Tuskegee with $3 in his pocket to become a colored flyer. “We had a job to do, so we did it. We called ourselves The 100 Percenters.” Hollywood and presidents have extolled the deeds of these extraordinary men. But my memories are in the quiet things. Dad shaved with a straight-edged razor from Daddy John, who, covered with coal dust, cut hair on the side. I loved to watch Dad lather his face, cut around the…

1. Thornfield Sweatshirt Thornfield, home of Edward Fairfax Rochester in Jane Eyre, proudly displayed on this machine-washable sweatshirt. $31.99, amazon.com 2. Made to Order Jewelry Captured from Jane Eyre in 925 silver, Brontë’s words, “I am no bird, and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.” $49 and up, etsy.com 3. Pajama Set For lounging or sleeping, pre-shrunk 100-percent cotton literary pajamas. $46.79, cafepress.com 4. Blanket of Words For your bed, your couch, or you, a throw blanket designed with a book cover. $61.45, redbubble.com 5. Cocktail Glasses Perfect for a toast to the completion of a writing project. A set of two 11-ounce glasses. One includes text from Jane Eyre, the second (bonus!) text from…

Important tools in a writer’s toolbox. A writer writes, always. By that I mean, I don’t have to be at my keyboard or scribbling in a journal to write. It means that being curious and paying attention to details are among my greatest tools. As a writer of biography and historical fiction, I enjoy research. My dad, Eddie Lee Young, was a decorated, triple-rated Tuskegee Airman who fought in three conflicts. In my mother’s house are many of his artifacts. Dad made a habit of keeping precious things hidden in his sock drawer. Among the treasures I found were his dog tags. I was astonished that I had not noticed them before. They now dangle from a Tiffany lamp on my writer’s desk, and I feel his spirit every day.…

Heidi Rabinowitz is host of the long-running The Book of Life podcast, which discusses Jewish children’s literature, and she is the children’s librarian at B’nai Israel Synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida. Rabinowitz provided us with books that are appropriate throughout a reader’s childhood all the way up through adulthood, and even in our brief conversation, I learn more about the Jewish people than I had ever known before. I ask Rabinowitz why it was important for a synagogue to have a librarian. “They have several hundred preschoolers who spend morning, noon, and night there,” she says. “I don’t have to tell you how important reading is and how important modeling a love of reading is. Then, of course, in a synagogue, it also brings in the element of Jewish learning…

Although demanding, creative nonfiction is rich territory for writers. It’s attractive to journalists and fiction writers alike, a place to exercise strengths – like the research skills of a reporter or the dramatic technique of a novelist – and build skills you don’t currently have. Or, if you’re willing to do the work, you just make creative nonfiction your thing from the start by taking classes, attending workshops, or pursuing an appropriate MFA. Creative nonfiction is a broad category, chock full of an array of subcategories. Memoir and essays, of course, but also (it’s a long list) writing about things like food, travel, crime, music, and history. A subgenre can be broken down further. For example, under travel/adventure, you can find disaster nonfiction: think Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer’s terrifyingly…

“I love the idea that every character you ever write has a secret they’re whispering to you. Sometimes those secrets are revealed to the reader.”—Sherrie Flick CHARACTERIZATION PRESENTS A challenge in writing flash fiction, especially if you’re the sort of writer who likes to delve into a character’s background, assemble lists of character traits, and put your character through personality tests. E. M. Forster laid out the conventional ground rules for such characterization in his famous book Aspects of the Novel. “Round characters” are fully dimensional, nuanced, and capable of surprise, he said, whereas “flat characters” are two-dimensional and relatively uncomplicated. “Round characters” are deemed necessary in a novel, in particular, because the reader wants to have the full sense of a character, to know their inner and outer lives.…

Science fiction transports readers through time to outer space, introducing new societies. Authors like Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne paved the way for this genre that centers around science and technology. Readers love being taken on these futuristic adventures, but there are certain conventions and expectations to remember when writing sci-fi. Defining science fiction First, it’s important to understand what science fiction is and what makes it unique. This genre is defined as an area of fiction that creatively depicts real or imaginary science and technology as part of its plot, setting, or theme. Many times you will see sci-fi and fantasy lumped together, and although there can be some overlap, there are distinct differences between the two. Fantasy has magic and elements outside the realm of possibility.…

“What advice do you have for an aspiring writer?” is a question that any person who has been published fields inevitably at some point, not because of any particular success but because the field can seem so nebulous and impenetrable from the outside that those looking to get started are understandably often left grasping for any shred of concrete, useful information. Maybe this person, they imagine, will turn up a first step that is unequivocally right and will open up some imagined self-explanatory path. As a person who has attempted to respond to this question, I find it hard to feel like my answers are very satisfying. Even more so than in the past, there is no particular path to follow or ladder to climb – a reality that is…

April 1 The We Are ALL Readers annual book festival will be held in North Kingstown, RI, celebrating diverse children’s literature. weareallreaders.com April 8 Freelance writer and Demon Copperhead author Barbara Kingsolver was born on this day in 1955. April 13 The Monterey Writers Retreat starts today. Hang out with veteran authors and agents while taking breaks to visit the majestic coastline. montereywritersretreat.com April 13 National Scrabble Day. Rainy out? Break out the Scrabble. Not that rainy? Get outside for a while. Then break out the Scrabble. April 15 Now in its fourth decade, the Rally of Writers – held in Lansing, MI – features more than 15 sessions with Michigan writers, poets, teachers, publishers, and editors. arallyofwriters.wordpress.com April 18 National Tax Day in 2023. Use the following Albert Einstein…