Narrative Braid — The Teller And The Tale

The other day in the Sharpening the Quill Writers’ Workshop I lead every month, I talked about what’s known as the Universal Story in narrative — the common structure beneath all kinds of narrative.  It has a triune form (as do most fairy tales and religious imagery, but that’s something for another day) and consists…

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Mini Workshop — Conflict in Narrative

Today’s blog is a mini-workshop for writers, on the subject of conflict in narrative. For emerging writers, one of the most important aspects of story-telling is conflict.  Something has to happen in a narrative, and what happens has to matter.  By which I mean that whatever your protagonist wants has to be IMPORTANT — it…

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What To Do? What To Do?

I had a phone chat recently with a writer friend of mine.  We both have books coming out this spring and are both dealing with the pre-publication jitters.  His editor called him to say a blurb for the book had come in and it was a really nice blurb, but the ‘blurbist’ had suggested “a…

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The Next Big Thing: Find Out What I'm Working On

Writers are tagging writers in this new questionnaire going around the web. What’s the next big thing we’re working on? Thanks to historical novelist Sandra Gulland for tagging me!   What is your working title of your book? “The Empty Room”  — it’s the final title. Where did the idea come from for the book?…

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We Remain Faithful

“Talent is long patience.” — Gustave Flaubert A few years ago I lay on the couch in my living room, curled up into a fetal position, intermittently groaning and blinking back tears. I felt as though everything I had worked for had been ripped away from me, as though I had arrived at the party…

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Music Of The Spheres (cerebrally speaking)

Students often ask me how I manage to get to the page.  They want to know if I light candles, do yoga, drink coffee, read poetry . . . I answer yes to pretty much everything, although I do none of those things consistently.  (And besides, I’m not sure any such advice is helpful to…

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At The Mercy Of Our Perceptions . . .

Well, OUR DAILY BREAD is out in Canada now, and I’m delighted with the Canadian edition.  Beautiful new cover, deckle edges, French flaps.  I think Harper Collins has done a terrific job, and so far the response from readers has been good. Which means, of course, I have to start thinking about what I’m going…

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10 Truths for Emerging Writers (hint: think slow)

I heard from an emerging writer recently who said she’d been crushed, devastated, destroyed by the feedback she’s received on her book, which she recently self-published, and by the lack of sales.  She was so convinced it was brilliant. Now she feels as though readers are idiots or else she’s utterly deluded.  Either way, she’s…

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Shooting the Crow

I lead a monthly writing workshop called SHARPENING THE QUILL, details of which you can find elsewhere on this website.  I named the workshops that because a long time ago I heard an anecdote about John Ruskin (at least I think it was John Ruskin) (NOTE — as you can see from the comments below,…

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Chair Glue for Writers

Lawrence Hill, a good friend and hugely successful writer, wrote to me recently to congratulate me on the success of my recent novel, OUR DAILY BREAD, which has been named to the Boston Globe and and The Globe & Mail as one of the best books of the year.  (Yea!) Published by Wordcraft of Oregon,…

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