The willing suspension of disbelief was Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s description of the interaction between readers and writing. In general, readers have to suspend their knowledge that they’re reading fiction. They have to enter into a kind of agreement with the writer to withhold any innate skepticism and allow the author to make her case. It’s […]
So I just finished reading a book about a serial killer. Sigh. There are a lot of books about serial killers out there. In fact, there may be more books about serial killers than there are actual serial killers. The attraction of these villains is obvious—they give an author license to come up with particularly […]
Female anger is a powerful thing. Think of all the social strictures that argue against it. Think of all the Facebook memes about it. Consider that there are actually expletives in English to describe an angry woman—shrew and bitch come immediately to mind. Given the wildly conflicting emotions female anger inspires, it’s an emotion that […]
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place each November. The idea is for participants to write a fifty-thousand-word novel by the end of the month, posting their totals every day and perhaps taking part in events such as online writing “sprints” in which they write nonstop for short periods. I’d never taken part in NaNoWriMo […]
When you’re writing a series, book 2 is often easier than book 1. In book 1, you’re getting used to the place and its people. The process is full of interesting discoveries, but it’s also time consuming. You’re constantly asking yourself if you want to go there or if you want to go there. People […]
I’m illustrating this post with one of my favorite Facebook memes—the caption, in case you can’t see it, reads “I don’t know how to act my age. I’ve never been this old before.” To me, that sums up an ongoing struggle for a lot of us. Once upon a time, particular ages came with instructions. When […]
