We are instructed not to judge a book by its cover, and yet we do all the time. I once had a publisher tell me he initially rejected one of my books because he disliked the US cover, although later he adored the story. And if a publisher falls for what a cover has to…
Read MoreWriting is sometimes compared to other art forms: a novel as a painting (or mural), a short story as a deft watercolor. Personally, I think the closest parallel to writing a novel is designing a house. If I had not been a novelist, I would love to have been an architect. (My friend SJ Rozan…
Read MoreThis Tuesday will be the first Noel King memorial lecture, or in this case, conversation. Noel died two years ago, and we hope to make these events a regular part of life at UC Santa Cruz. Do join us. (Click on poster to enlarge.)
Read MoreWednesdays with Laurie is a series of writing reflections, here on Mutterings, every—yes—Wednesday. Topics are random, although I expect that cumulatively, they will touch on most of what I have to say about the craft. Today: the time line. I haven’t seen the film cliché of the flipping pages of a calendar used for a while,…
Read MoreAs the final pass of Pirate King through my hands comes nearer—the galley proofs will reach me in a couple or three weeks—the next book begins to stir into life. This week I will take the first steps in a book that won’t become a reality for the rest of the world for a year…
Read MoreI’m writing a short story at the moment, and it’s reached the point where I’m looking over the words themselves. Part of the story is narrated by a precise kind of a person, who uses (as per last week’s post) nouns—or nominal phrases—that are specific rather than general: Langstroth boxes, not beehives; Gladstone bag rather…
Read MoreI’m not a big one for anniversaries and birthdays (sorry, kids) but it occurred to me this morning that I started this blog in February, and indeed, when I went looking, I found that last Thursday, Mutterings turned six. Interestingly, my first post (here) was about the lack of women in book awards (based on…
Read MoreMy mind being on the how-to of writing at present, I thought I’d post some reflections on various aspects of the craft. I’ll try to put them up Wednesdays, so as to add some structure to all our busy lives, as well as to give myself the deadline I seem to require to get anything…
Read MoreWith the upsurge of e-readers, there has been an accompanying growth in the impulse to self-publish. I really have no problems with self-publishing. If I had any out-of-print titles, I’d probably put them for sale online. A lot of people love their direct, author-to-reader book sales. J. A. Konrath is one of the more fervent…
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