Chapter 7 of Sleep August 30, 2008

Chapter Seven of The Sleep of Reason is a transitional chapter. All of the mechanics of the story have been laid down in the preceding chapters. From this point I am simply telling the tale within the framework that is established. My protagonist, the poor, deluded fool, believes he is reborn, and it is the [...]

Understanding my character without even knowing it August 27, 2008

Okay, you can say that I put the cart before the horse or let the tail wag the dog or whatever expression you’d like to use.
I am perhaps half way through the first draft of The Sleep of Reason, so I’ve gone a long way with my protagonist (whose name remains Charles Frere for the [...]

Chapter Six is put to bed August 25, 2008

After a week or so longer than it should have taken, I finally have Chapter Six of The Sleep of Reason completed in first draft. It’s a busy chapter, but it is also pivotal. The protagonist undergoes a significant transition at this point in the story. I’ll probably need to go back to the closing [...]

In which I almost vented my spleen August 24, 2008

I was all set to vent my spleen here yesterday but then had second thoughts. I had come across a blog post suggesting twenty sure-fire ways to find inspiration, and I thought the list was obvious and redundant. I was ready to tear into it, item by item, and show how insipid it was. From [...]

Sicken and so die August 22, 2008

My iPod brought me the manifold pleasures of the Simon Brett murder mystery novel, Sicken and so die. The title is a line from Shakespeare’s Twefth Night, and the plot swirls around the foibles of a touring production of that play.
Like so many mystery stories, Sicken and so die is really about the characters involved, [...]

I’m putting names on a list August 18, 2008

Someone, perhaps some hapless graduate student somewhere, supposedly counted the number of characters in Don Quixote and came up with 400! Granted, that’s one gigantic novel. My paperback copy comes in at 1050 pages (of that merciless six-point type on tissue thin paper). Cervantes had the advantage, though, of writing the novel in two pieces, [...]

Chapter Six coming along August 17, 2008

I’ve found some writing time (finally) and have made great headway on Chapter Six of The Sleep of Reason. After nearly two weeks of missed opportunities, I’ve had the chance in recent days to write, and I’ve put it to great use. The synopsis pre-writing approach I’ve been using has continued to pay off.
I’d say [...]

Big Words August 16, 2008

I’m scratching my head in puzzlement lately. I keep reading of writers who are trying to simplify the vocabulary in their work. They are quite literally seeking their “big words” and replacing them with simpler, more common words.
Is this writing? It sounds more like piece-work, like assembling. It is as though these writers believe they [...]

The Bestiary August 15, 2008

I thoroughly enjoyed my recent reading of the Nicholas Christopher novel The Bestiary. Like The Shadow of the Wind, it is set in a world recognizable as our own but just a little bit different. Like Possession, in involves a strong protagonist who is obsessed with literature. And like any good bildungsroman, it involves adventure [...]

Muse in a glass August 14, 2008

My muse comes to me in liquid form, in a tall glass with lots of ice. I’m talking about iced tea, of course, and not that foul sweetened iced tea either, but the honest, straightforward kind where you can taste the flavor of the tea itself. My muse is actually caffeine, and the jolt it [...]