Tag: writer
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Questions
Every novel seeks to answer a question. The question could arise from the premise, What if______meets_____, to which the plot of your story delivers the answer in showing what ensues when X meets Y. On another level your novel could raise a question that plumbs the depths of human personality and consciousness. Why is it…
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Writing and Cyberspace
As the economy languishes in limbo and many of us wonder what comes next, I have made several observations as an author, one of which is that the Internet has become an important meeting ground for both industry and consumers. That I am an author makes me part of the publishing industry. The Internet offers…
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A Writer’s Voice
Hearing the words you’ve written and read in your own voice develops voice. It also awakens you, the writer, to your style of putting words together. You hear when your words fall away from that established cadence and rhythm, and when they come together. You come to see the endless possibilities of music your words…
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The Insight of a Coach
Asking questions is part of Elizabeth Stark‘s job as a writing coach. A primary question she addresses for her clients is, “What’s the experience of reading this work?” The experience of reading a work cannot be easily, if at all, accessed by the writer or author of the work. And if so, the writer must…
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The Treasure of Reading for Discovery
“Responding to the writing, first at a reader.” That is what author and writing coach, Elizabeth Stark provides the writers, and published authors she coaches. Having earned a MFA in Writing, and seen her novel, “Shy Girl,” published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in addition to having taught creative writing at Hobart and William Smith…
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The Path to Writing
Novelist, Thrity Umrigar, whom I recently interviewed, states that she grew up in a middle-class home in Bombay, India that was not necessarily overflowing with books. Her father owned a business and while she encouraged to read and develop proper use of language, stating that she wanted to become a writer would not have been…
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So You Want to Write a Novel: Obstacles
Every good story needs an interesting and compelling character, centered in a riveting set of events that force her or him to reveal their best, and worst qualities. What do we call these set of events that push and prod the major character to show her or his mettle, their tenacious and persevering personality? Obstacles.