FROM OUR ARCHIVES: It seems a fitting time to declare that there is nothing out there as potent as black comedy to capture the absurdity of life in our time.
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How many times in a day do you say “when this is over, I’ll…?” How many plans have you put on hold since the pandemic zapped the world like a ...
The pandemic has fundamentally reconfigured the shape of our lives – both public and personal. Masks in place, we navigate the pandemic-hit world tentatively, alternating between panic and hope, despair ...
About surviving chaos, reading, and writing.
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If we were to be honest, most of us could fit this description: XYZ is a cranky perfectionist. Obsessively revises everything she/he writes. Agonizes over every damn word. Is a ...
She is right; research can be a double-edged sword. Too little of it and you are left with sketchy facts and errors that weaken your plot’s credibility.
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Every writer dreams of reaching out to readers across cultures. We write in the hope that stories seeped in universal human emotions – love, hate, anger, joy, sadness – will ...
In order to write well, in order to create stories or poetry or music or art, the artist must make an effort to live consciously. Finding the time to get ...
New Mexico proudly calls itself a tri-cultural state where people from all three cultures try their best to understand and respect differences. Even if there are occasional moments of discord… ...
Women who defy conventional definitions of “likeability” have a certain unforgettable quality. In literature as in life, they are far more memorable than their bland counterparts.
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Refugees and their stories have featured in literature from time immemorial. They are cast in heroic roles in the Bible and the Koran.
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Whether you pound away at the keys with an imaginary reader in mind or not, the stories you write will eventually find their way in the world. For every book, ...
…the movie adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel – got me thinking about the tricky leap the printed word makes to the silver screen.
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Fiction is not a repository of answers to our problems. You simply set out to tell a good story and hope that it speaks to people no matter who they ...
Who lays down the law about that which can and cannot be said in public? Who decides what a writer can speak/write about?
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Grief, while hard to bear in life, often makes better fodder for fiction than happiness.
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On a residency, perspective dawns. The work is all that matters, you realize. The rest is noise.
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One of the pleasures of writing fiction is the freedom you have to play around with time.
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How hard can it be to find the right title for your novel? You’ve done so much heavy lifting – sweated over several drafts, weaved together complicated plot lines, fleshed ...
Magic can happen when a fiction writer splits open a fact and leads the reader deep into its heart. History becomes human and relatable.
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