...s not a bad trope, but need it be the only trope?) - David Coe asks why male strength so often has to manifest in violence. nancyboflood and debbyedwardson have a series on thru_the_booth on writing Native American characters: - Get the Indians Out of the Cupboard - Indians In The Cupboard? What Were You Thinking? Let Them Out! - Warriors Caught in the Crossfire...
Yesterday, I was doing all these home type things because I was in a home type mood. I had just made fudge.... And then I had moved on to pouring cleaning stuff in the toilet. Yuck, I know! I thought that if I was ever super rich I would hire someone to clean my toilets for me but then I realized that I could never make someone do something so nasty. I'd be all like, "Clean the whole ...
...4. Have you been following the fun of the Exquisite Corpse Adventure? You might be surprised to see which top tier kidlit authors are a part of this online writing project. 5. Over at thru_the_booth you can read about Author Debby Dahl Edwardson and her approach to writing with sensory details. Debby's new book, Blessing's Bead, an artic tale that will take your breath ...
This week we’ve been talking about sensory detail in the Tollbooth. We’ve looked at language and craft; we’ve rolled lots of ideas around. Today we’re going to the source- a writer who’s a master of sensory detail, Debby Dahl Edwardson- to learn how she approaches the subject. Some of you may not be familiar with Debby or her work--- but you will be soon. Farrar, Straus and Giroux ...
Yesterday I convinced you (I hope!) that sensory detail can be useful in your novel. Today we'll talk about which details you should include and which you might ignore. In Writing Fiction , Janet Burroway said "No amount of concrete detail will move us unless it also implicitly suggests meaning and value." Lots of times we talk about narrative like a movie camera, panning in and out. ...
Norma Fox Mazer died of brain cancer last week. This is the letter I wrote to her and posted on a craft blog of Vermont College of Fine Arts alum on Tuesday. Norma was an amazing teacher, writer and person. Dear Norma, When I first saw you at Vermont College , fellow student Emily Wing Smith grabbed my arm and whispered frantically, “That’s Norma Fox Mazer.” I thought ...
Norma (on left) with her sister Adele (from NormaFoxMazer.com) Norma Fox Mazer was my teacher and that's a lot. Enormous. But she was more than that. In every life there are a tiny handful of people, maybe two or three, who genuinely touch your soul. Norma was one of mine. I've written briefly about how we read together , sharing our impressions of novels and memoirs. We also exchanged ...
I am still horribly behind in answering emails. I am so sorry. I will get it done, I swear! I am not ignoring you! Also, I am posting on THROUGH THE TOLLBOOTH this week. Random picture of the day. That is a real dog I am holding. Can you see Grover passed out? He had a rough night. My stuffed animals were partiers. Note: Almost all of those were hand-me-down stuffed animals from my ...
zuvincent interviewed me about voice at thru_the_booth this past week. ( Part 1 | Part 2 ) The New Jersey Newsroom reprints the Internet Review of Books' article on summer reading. The Book Cave also put Bones of Faerie on her list of Tantalizing Beach Reads More thoughts of all sorts from Fuzzy Cricket , CornucopiaofReviews , Wondrous Reads , The UnLibrarian , ...
1. First off, I am posting at THROUGH THE TOLLBOOTH this week about why I write stuff. Come visit! If you comment I'll give you a double entry in this week's contest. 2. The random winner of last week's contest was: GAYLEEN!!! Gayleen I need your Oklahoma mailing address, baby. Gayleen's caption was: Don't move, Charlie. My earring is tangled up with your hearing aide. 3. Every ...
