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“Just the facts, ma’am”: the private eye and religion
I just read Jerry Coyne’s Faith vs. Fact about the incompatibility of religion and science. The arguments will be familiar to anyone who frequents Coyne’s website Why Evolution Is True. The book is a...
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Second draft: Did I write THAT?
The one downside of working on a second draft is that you’re sort of obliged to read your first draft. My first draft is always better in recollection than on the page. Now that I know where I’m...
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Writing olde-time dialog
My brother passed along this article from the New York Times about writing dialog in a historical novel. The writer puts her finger on the central issue: The problem for a writer who has seized upon a...
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How did I become so darn creative?
The blog The Passive Voice points me to some guy I’ve never heard of who offers six ways to boost your creativity: Wake up early Exercise frequently Stick to a strict schedule Keep your day job Learn...
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What makes a plot “arthritic”?
In my post on Ann Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread I quoted the Washington Post’s assessment (at the beginning of a rave review) that its plot was “arthritic” I don’t know what that means. Presumably...
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My second draft is starting to feel like an alternative universe
My novel The Portal takes its inspiration from the idea of the multiverse, in which there are an infinite number of alternative universes, each slightly different from one another. In the sequel to...
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Is writing fiction like solving a crossword puzzle?
That’s the thesis of this New York Times op-ed — the last, we are told, in its “Drafts” series about the craft of writing. Not a great ending for the series. It’s not that there aren’t parallels...
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My Elin Hilderbrand app
My lovely wife is a big Elin Hilderbrand fan. She writers novels of life and love on Nantucket — lately two a year, a summer one with a beach cover and a Christmas one with a homey cover of a...
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Stephen King on being prolific
Stephen King has always struck me as being a humane and generous writer. In today’s New York Times he has a piece entitled “Can a Novelist Be Too Productive?” He points out: No one in his or her...
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My ePublisher weighs in on the state of ebooks
Every once in a while my ePublisher sends out an email giving their thoughts on the state of ebook publishing. The latest one is pretty interesting. In a section titled “Reality Sets In” they talk...
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Eulogies and the wit of the staircase
I was attending a memorial service at Mount Auburn Cemetery the other day, and I was asked to say a few words about my wonderful cousin Bob, who died recently from the effects of Alzheimer’s. I said...
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Does everyone know I have an Amazon author page?
You can find it here. Notice the exciting Follow button beneath my photo. Click it, and apparently Amazon keeps you updated on my new releases and maybe other cool stuff. (For those keeping track,...
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Writers on TV: Hannah Horvath
Every one of the main characters in the HBO series “Girls” is so irritating that you want to shake them–or worse. (My wife said she just wanted to stab Hannah Horvath after one episode.) But all the...
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I’m going to figure my plot out next Saturday at noon
I was listening to an interview with the prolific British historical novelist Bernard Cornwell (who, oddly, lives on Cape Cod, not that far from my little South Shore town). In it, he said that he...
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“So, have you finished that novel of yours yet?”
Shut up. Really, just shut up. The plan was to get the sequel to The Portal done in 2015, but 2016 finds me about three-quarters of the way through the second draft. This isn’t like a George R.R....
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Second draft is done!
Well, that took a while, during which posting here was light to nonexistent. The second draft comes out at about 80,000 words, which is about where I expected it to end up. Much has changed throughout...
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Third draft
I’ve begun the third draft of my novel, which so far has mainly involved fiddling with the second draft. I love fiddling! This means that I’m pretty close to where I want to end up, and I just need...
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“The Year of Lear”
Every time I read a Shakespeare play or read a good book about him, I wonder why I waste my time doing anything else. Here’s one: The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 is James Shapiro’s followup to...
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Did I really write that sentence?
I have finished the third draft of my novel. It’s now five thousand words longer and considerably better. I think I’m pretty close to being done. Here is how this works, in my experience: First...
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Did I finish my novel? I think I did.
I guess I’ll have to read it again to be sure. But it sure feels done at the moment. My favorite quote about finishing a story goes something like: “You know you’re done when you go through it and...
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