Start a story, they said, with the words "We are the granddaughters of the witches you failed to burn."
Tag: English
Remon
In Japanese, you can actually compliment a lady by telling her that she reminds you of "remons".
Why Best Selling Authors are Your Best Friends
Don't hate E. L. James and James Patterson, they are the aspiring writer's best friends.
Styling Sentences
When you write your novel, do you style your sentences? Do you believe it is necessary?
POV and the Emotions of the Narrator
The emotions of your narrator, your POV, is something you have to be conscious about.
Do you have to understand every word?
When Joseph Conrad's Nostromo was first published in 1904, many of the words used in the text must have been unfamiliar to the general public. The common folk of the neighborhood, peons of the estancias, vaqueros of the seaboard plains, tame Indians coming miles to market with a bundle of sugar-cane or a basket of maize worth … Continue reading Do you have to understand every word?
Write Not What You Are Not
An intriguing story by Susan Barker appeared on the pages of The Los Angeles Review of Books titled "Should Ethnicity Limit What a Fiction Writer Can Write?". The article relates the authors experiences of a recent book tour she made in China after publishing her book The Incarnations set in modern China. The author is … Continue reading Write Not What You Are Not
Joyce Maynard vs James Patterson
In the cult movie The Decline of the American Empire, a young intellectual confesses he has sexual fantasies about sleeping with Susan Sontag. The movie was released in 1986, so Susan Sontag was about 53 years young. Times were different then. Men in their early twenties having fantasies about sex with fifty-something writers was considered … Continue reading Joyce Maynard vs James Patterson
To NaNoWriMo or Not to NaNoWriMo?
I have learned the existence of the National Novel Writing Month only recently. When I was a young man in my mid-twenties with aspirations of being a published novelist, an institution like NaNoWriMo was unthinkable. It is pretty much unthinkable today, even though it exists. Who would have imagined? NaNoWriMo is a strange institution for … Continue reading To NaNoWriMo or Not to NaNoWriMo?
Reading in a Second Language
I am a born story teller. I love to tell stories. That alone, sadly, does not make me a publishable writer. Before I write, I must read. Before I read, I must learn to read. I moved to Scotland when I was eight years old, soon moved to the US, then returned to Japan in … Continue reading Reading in a Second Language
Samurai Novelist 