I had been 21 for a month when my aunts, who I barely knew, had to take me to the hospital to get my mother's things. When someone collapses at work and dies, this is what happens--they get taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and personal belongings are taken away from them and put …
Continue reading A whole life fits in a ziploc bag shoved in a desk drawer.
Perhaps frustration is starting to set in. Okay. There are these things called letters. There is this stuff called paper. Somewhere back in time somebody decided to put these two things together. Well, maybe scratches and stone came first and...we generally know how that turned out. Anyway. Here we are, beyond burnt sticks and cave …
Continue reading The Still Can’t Rewrite Chronicles: Cavemen Are to Blame
Rewriting is too damn hard. Fuck.
The word. The sound of the word. The connotation and implication. The character. Amazing all the is contained in a word. So, when writing dialogue you must consider her vocabulary and style. You must think about what he should reveal and has said before. Don't be repetitive unless repetition brings a point home. Don't, however, …
Here we go again, people! Go write! Are you sick of me yet? Wouldn't blame you because I get sick of myself plenty, but all the same, here I am, and there you are, and what's left of your novel? There's no way I'm going to make to Halloween without repeating myself, but that's okay …
Three is a magic number. All good things come in threes--and bad things too. There are three wise men in the bible and three witches in Macbeth. Genie's give us three wishes and the Christianity gives us unity in three. There is birth, living, and death. Heaven, earth, and hell. Youth, adulthood, and old age. …
Continue reading Three strikes you’re out, but third time’s a charm.
Found over at Write Fantastic, and I had to share the pain. But this lovely video started with Dennis Cass. Check him out and buy his book.
Too many ideas and desires for stories, and time simply isn't there. I can stay up later and later and still not find those extra hours. No matter what happens my hope refuses to stop believing in time--as in lost time, making up time, and the witching hour. Somewhere these magic minutes are hiding, and …
Three weeks vacation. Unpaid, but vacation nonetheless. Of these three weeks, I'll get two days to spend writing. Before vacation I had visions of an entire week spent intensely focused on getting this novel done. But life goes how it goes, and I get two days. While I know that if I looked on the …
Story writers may not be able to find the path to enlightenment. Not knowing every writer in the world, I can't be sure of this, of course, but I do know that I'm disinclined to ditch the baggage if it means leaving my characters on the side of the road. Where would art come from …
Marta Bacon 