“Sometimes in a nervous frenzy I just fling words as if I were flinging mud at a wall,” says Pulitzer Prize winner John McPhee. “Blurt out, heave out, babble out something – anything – as a first draft,” he says in an article called Draft No. 4 now in The New Yorker magazine where he’s [...]
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Writing a memoir: Intersecting memory and story
Writing a memoir is one of the most stimulating but difficult literary challenges an author can undertake. Nevertheless, it’s a hugely popular genre. Five of the top ten hardcover nonfiction books on the NY Times bestseller list this week are memoirs. Aspiring memoir writers can find help in books and by searching online, but there’s [...]
From spark to story: How books get started
Where do stories come from? Are writers inspired from deep within the unconscious psyche by forces beyond their control? Or are they compelled by external cues that resonate without invitation – unexpected and accidental? As an editor, I’ve seen the muse arrive in surprising and mysterious ways. The creative spark, a blessed event to be sure, can [...]
Walking in your character’s shoes: Writing with authenticity
Bestselling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell inhabits and writes from inside the mind of her lead sleuth, Dr.Kay Scarpetta, the medical examiner in a blockbuster series of 20 forensic thrillers and counting. To get the details exactly right, Cornwell has hung out in a coroner’s morgue to study forensic corpse dissection and body decomposition. She’s recreated [...]
Ask the Editor: Can I become a better writer?
Q: Every rejection letter I get says there’s something wrong with my writing. Can I really get better at this? A: Yes, you can! Having edited hundreds of writers, I know for a fact that even the most seasoned, successful writers read, study, revise and rewrite, use a professional developmental editor, and continue to polish [...]
Ask the editor: An agent said my novel needs emotional glue. Help!
Q. An agent said my novel is missing emotional glue. Like it doesn’t stick together. What is emotional glue and how do I get it into my story? A. Emotional glue reveals a character’s internal reactions, ruminations, and anticipated responses to the dialogue and action of the story. It’s the unspoken ideas and feelings that [...]
What should you expect from a developmental editor?
As a longtime developmental editor, I often get questions from authors about the editor-writer relationship. How exactly do developmental editors work? How can I tell if I’ve found a good one? And will you correct my typos? I can tell you that virtually all successful writers – from Ernest Hemingway to Kathryn Stockett – have [...]
What writers can learn from Barry Eisler
It’s inspiring when a successful author goes out of his way to help others in the craft of writing. Barry Eisler is one of those good guys. Though he’d probably rather be known as one baaad dude. He’s a one-time CIA operative, a judo black belt and an intellectual property attorney, who’s also a bestselling [...]
It’s the details, writers!
An author builds a narrative with thousands of tiny details. Even before a reader knows what the book is really about, it’s through the gradual accumulation of these crucial moments, objects, movements, sounds, smells and touches that the power and meaning of the story emerges. As an editor working with authors on novels, memoirs, short [...]
Creating a compelling narrative voice
How does an author of memoir or personal narrative transform a naked self into a compelling voice that tells a story readers can’t put down? This question arises frequently in my work as a developmental editor. One of best books on this technique is The Situation and the Story: the Art of Personal Narrative by [...]
