Be Afraid

We all live in fear. Some of us more than others, but we all have secret dreads lurking in the corners of our mind. Fear of growing old, or letting our children come to harm, or not making the grade, or perhaps a ghostly presence we sense late at night.

Look for the fears in your stories, and bring them to life in ways so we, too, feel that fear.

Fear can play a role in any kind of story, but it’s especially prominent in those stories with a touch of horror. A really scary story—one that scares Stephen King and Neil Gaiman—is Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (now adapted into a TV series). Continue reading “Be Afraid”

Great New Things At Gotham

Seriously, folks, here’s some stuff you need to know about.

Gotham Writers Conference 
We launch the first ever Gotham Writers Conference on October 25 and 26, in NYC. This is the place to be if you’re interested in publishing a book.

Day 1 — A peek behind the publishing curtain with five eye-opening and entertaining panels and presentations. Plus, a free happy hour.

Day 2 — Pitching roundtables. Each table will have two agents and a group of pre-selected writers with book projects. You spend the day with your table—pitching, reading pages, and discussing your work. Some of these people will land agents.  Continue reading “Great New Things At Gotham”

Dog Day Advice

As we enter the lazy days of August, I’m going to (lazily) borrow some advice from two writers.

Ann Patchett recently published an essay in the Washington Post about how Snoopy influenced her as a writer. Not Snoopy’s actual writing, which wasn’t that stellar. (He began almost every story with: It was a dark and stormy night.) But Patchett drew inspiration from the bravado with which Snoopy approached writing, perched atop his doghouse with a typewriter, reminiscent of the bravado he displayed perched atop his doghouse as a World War I flying ace.  Continue reading “Dog Day Advice”