Writer’s life
Let's Talk About Writing Dialogue
…Or, Let’s Talk About Writing About Talking. Snort. You know what I mean. Writing good dialogue isn’t easy, and bad dialogue is one of the things that immediately reveals the author as an amateur, not to be trusted by the reader. One of the things that can help you write better dialogue is knowing when…
Read MoreSo Ends The Silence
A month ago I posted that I was going to be off social media for a month, and so I was. It was WONDERFUL. And yes, it took a little getting used to at first. One of the reasons I wanted to wean myself off it was that I found myself far too inclined towards…
Read MoreMy Month Of Social Media Silence.
Back in 1995, when My Best Beloved and I were living in France, we bought our first at-home computer, and hooked up email. I still remember the ambivalence I felt. It’s just another way for someone to get into my house, I said. You have to understand, I’m the woman who once answered the question, What…
Read MoreAdvice to Writers
Here’s a wee bit from the opening of my interview: How did you become a writer? A deceptively complicated question. Does one ‘become’ a writer, or is one born a writer? I’ve written ever since I was a kid, a great deal of bad poetry in my twenties, which was wisely refused by all the best…
Read MoreWriter's Notebook: Creating Emotion in the Reader
It’s that time of the month — by which I mean it’s the time of the month I spend editing my students’ work. I enjoy this. They’re good writers and always striving to be better. It’s wonderful to be part of that process. One thing I notice emerging writers struggling with is how to create…
Read MoreJust Go To Meetings?
A couple of months ago I experienced my first heckler. I was doing a reading from my new novel, The Empty Room, at a library in Toronto. The Empty Room is a speculative look at what a day in my life might look like, had I not quit drinking 18+ years ago. I figured there’d be a…
Read MoreThis Will Probably Get Me Into Hot Water
Jared Bland, the editor at the Globe & Mail, recently asked what I thought was the biggest danger to emerging writers. Without hesitation I said, “Self-publishing.” He threw back his head and laughed and said it was the best answer he’d heard to date. And, just as quickly, I thought — oh dear, here come…
Read MoreProust Questionnaire for Open Book Toronto
The lovely people at Open Book Toronto asked me to answer their “Proust” questionnaire. On their site they say: Lauren B. Davis is following strong on the heels of her hit book Our Daily Bread with The Empty Room (HarperCollins Canada) hitting the shelves just one year later. Though The Empty Room tackles a different…
Read MoreWhy Write About THEM?
Every now and then someone asks me, why do you write about people like that? I ask, people like what? Well, these folks say, you seem like a pretty happy person, more or less, and you have a great marriage and you like where you live and you love your dog and you don’t worry…
Read MoreA Great Day At The Prison
Some days are just wonderful. It’s My Best Beloved’s birthday, and it’s Bailey’s birthday (our dog, known asThe Rescuepoo), and the hot-off-the-presses copy of my new novel arrived in the mail, which just makes me giddy with grinning . . . . but. . . the most wonderful thing about today happened in a prison.…
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