• Legendary Ts…

    5 Comments

    I have a lot of love for the TV show How I Met Your Mother. So you can imagine my delight when I saw a link for T-shirts with sayings from the show.

    I might have to get one of these to go with my A-Team T-shirt. 😉

  • Random question of the day …

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    What are you reading right now?

    I’m working my way through The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. It’s basically an epic fantasy heist book about a group of thieves called the Gentlemen Bastards. Pretty cool, so far.

    In the near future, I plan to read Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas; What A Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty; and Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward, along with a stack of fantasy books that I have.

    What about you guys? What are you reading right now? Share in the comments. And happy reading this weekend! 

  • Busy, busy, busy …

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    Spring is evidently the busy season because I’ve been absolutely slammed with stuff to do these last two weeks.

    I did a Q&A at a library; judged some student communication portfolios at a local college; went to hear another author speak at that same library; started e-mailing folks about potential ads for Spider’s Bite in February; finished up Quiver, my young adult fantasy; and started writing Blackberry Falls, my contemporary romance.

    Oh yeah, and I’ve got a big project at the day job to finish this week.

    Gah! Is it Friday yet? :rolleyes:

    Hope your week is a little calmer than mine!

  • ·

    A different point of view …

    On Saturday, I got the chance to hear novelist Stephen Hunter talk at the Bristol Public Library. Hunter writes action-adventure/thriller types books about a sniper named Bob Lee Swagger, among other colorful characters.

    I always like to go and hear authors talk just because everybody has different inspirations and different processes. It’s always good to listen to a different point of view. And Hunter was very funny, which always helps. I loved the way he described one of his books — as being full of meetings and gun fights. Who doesn’t love a good gun fight? 😉

    One of the most interesting things Hunter talked about were the skills that a writer needs. He talked about how writers need to be able to work with words, to avoid cliches, and to know what words will make a sentence sing — without putting too many words in it and having it fall flat. He also talked about how writers need to be able to see the big picture — how every scene falls in with the overall flow and the story arc(s) of the book.

    These are things that I’m thinking about more and more these days. Is a scene necessary? Does it advance the story the way that I want it to? Is crucial information revealed? Does it pack an emotional punch?

    I don’t necessarily think that every sentence in a book needs to be a great one. Because, let’s face it, that’s just not going to happen. If you want realistic dialogue, you’re going to have to write some ordinary sentences because that’s just how people talk – “Okay,” he said. “I’ll call her right now.” Not the most interesting sentence, but it is what someone might say in a given situation — and it does advance the action.

    But I do think that every overall scene needs to be important and advance the story. It’s kind of like juggling, I suppose. You start out with all these balls in the air, then, one by one, you decide which ones to keep in your act and which ones to throw away.

    Anyway, those are my deep thoughts for Monday. Enjoy the rest of your day!