The Reader's Experience

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Art is a medium of communication. Every art form is a language. Each language has its possibilities and limitations.Novelists work with words. In some ways this art form is least limited in the type of information it can convey. For example, though the visual arts (like photography, sculpture, and painting) give us access to the subject's inner person, only words can take you right into her head.

comments | | Read More...

Wanna Be an Editor?

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Has some small print publication flattered you by asking you to be an editor? Well, when you see the pay, you see why.Even editors who know what they’re doing get their behinds chewed by authors. Editors who don’t know what they’re doing have a short life expectancy.Wanna be an editor? Then learn the trade.No, straight A’s through four years of an Ivy League major in English doesn’t qualify you.

comments | | Read More...

The Fictive Dream

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Though a novel is a commercial product, like a drug or the performance of a stage play, it provides a service. So, the writer should think of novel writing as a performing art and a service industry. The key to success in any service business is a keen sense of what the customer wants. What he really wants — which isn't necessarily what he says he wants. For example, a tennis pro knows that

comments | | Read More...