May 2012
23 posts
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“Two-Typewriter Homes: Famous Literary Roommates”
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Between 1940 and 1942, W.H. Auden acted as “house mother” to a series of writers, artists and performers, who shared a house on Middagh Street in Brooklyn. Carson McCullers, having escaped from her husband, lived on the top floor, where she wrote and drank in more or less equal measure. The...
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10 (Good) Rules for Writers from Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard describes these rules as those he’s “picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story.” I’m a firm believer that some stories simply need the writer to get out of the way, so I’m a big fan of Elmore’s rules. They have helped me a great deal in...
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Follow my blog with Bloglovin
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“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.”
– Anne Lamott
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Agent says: 5 factors required for a successful... →
As I research agents to query my memoir, I keep seeing the same vague comments, something like “memoirs are hard sell” or “I rarely take on memoirs” or “memoirs have to be ‘just right’ for me to consider representation.” Okay. And I know that publishing is subjective and agents (and editors) must be passionate about a project for it to have any hopes...
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“A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it...”
– Flannery O’Connor
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The Critic as Memoirist: Jonathan Lethem’s new... →
thetinhouse:
If you’re interested in the burgeoning form of criticism as memoir, check out J.C. Hallman’s anthology, The Story About The Story.
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Eight new reads: best mother memoirs
Flavorwire lists 10 of the best memoirs about mothers and I was surprised that I’ve only read two of the eight. I thought I’d read every mother-related memoir I could find. With that, I have to point out a few memoirs Flavorwire should have listed:
Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg. This one is a favorite because it doesn’t build up to a cathartic scene of forgiveness....
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On the contrary: your darlings don't have to die
One of the most popular writing rules I’ve heard (and practiced) is “kill your darlings.” When a very trusted editor commented that a favorite line of mine had pulled him out of the story, I first started to justify how it fit in the book. Then I realized that I was trying to save the line because I loved it. It was pretty, but it didn’t work.
But here’s perspective...
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