I’ve heard folk say work novels won’t sell because no one wants to read about the thing they’re trying to escape. Personally, I love to read about workplaces. The crazier the better. Without working lives depicted in narratives, I assume…
Today, I awake at the ungodly hour of 5a.m. A cool breeze whisks away last night’s rain front, and I decide to take a short walk before I start writing. This place is a writer’s fantasy, just me, the page,…
“I just want to understand what the character is feeling.” If you’re playing writing workshop bingo, this statement should be the center square, guaranteed to come up in every class when discussing a work’s emotional apex. Sometimes off-base, yes, but…
It’s no secret that 2016 has been a rough year for pop musicians. Did someone set off a slow-acting neutron bomb that kills platinum-sellers? Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Merle Haggard, David Bowie, Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), and Prince,…
Meet Captain Happen—troublemaker, narrative enabler, change agent. The novelist, essayist, and poet, Charles Baxter talks about Captain Happen as one of several ways to increase urgency and momentum in fiction. Male or female, this kind of character shakes things up….
I’m back from a whirlwind trip to Buffalo for Dyngus Day, a post-Lenten holiday that involves pussy willows and polka. But really, it’s about drinking and eating lots of pierogies and kielbasa. Much as I enjoy spending all my free time with…