Reading Novels to Find Writing Tips

I posted last week about reading through A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and also wrote about what Anthony Burgess had to say about writing and publishing.  Today I want to tell you why I’m reading his book even though I’ve read it numerous times.  I have taught it at least twice in my teaching career.

A Pattern Found In the Work of Philip K. Dick

I have, and always shall be, a fan of Phillip K. Dick.  I know that there were some questionable practices in his life, namely drug use, but his writing stands out as some of the most amazing and unique prose in the genre of science-fiction.  I don’t believe that he wrote his novels while in

Cut Out All the Unnecessary Bits

As stated before, I really like Blake Crouch’s first book in the Wayward Pines series, simply titled Pines.  It is a science-fiction mystery-thriller packed with twists and turns and strange and wonderful plot developments.  I felt that Crouch does a fantastic job of dropping little clues here and there to keep a reader guessing while never once

Question for the Writer: Who Are You?

We will begin today’s post with a simple quote from the late great Kurt Cobain:   Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. I have been writing something whether it be short stories, poems or now mostly novels for the better part of my life.  I can remember as

2 A-Z Posts in 1: Plagiarism and “The Fantasy Novelist’s Quiz”

Yesterday I came home to post my new blog post only to find that our DSL service was out of order.  Apparently, a couple of local bumpkins had decided to build a fence and while digging post holes cut directly through the line.  I was bummed because since we live in such a remote location