Vivian Gornick on Situation and Story

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  In her short book called The Situation and the Story, Vivian Gornick describes one of the most useful and…

Henry James’ Weak Specification–eek!

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I live in fear of weak specification.  I consider it the eighth deadly sin: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy,…

Russell Banks’ Descriptions and “Try Harder”

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I’m reading the new Russell Banks’ novel, Lost Memory of Skin, and I’m pretty enthralled with it. I’ll review it…

Louise DeSalvo’s Stages of the Writing Process

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In an earlier post (July 24, 2011) I mentioned Louise DeSalvo’s excellent writing book, Writing as a Way of Healing, and…

William Sloane on Density in Writing

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to discuss because it is not a separate element like plot or even characterization.  Rather it is a part of…

Shape in Writing: What is it and How do you achieve it?

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• Paulette

Sometimes when I’m critiquing a piece of writing, I find myself trying to describe the indescribable. There are certain concepts…

Elizabeth Bowen’s Brilliant, Impossible Notes on Writing Dialogue

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I had intended this piece to be about how brilliant Elizabeth Bowen’s notes on dialogue are, from her essay “Notes…

“Brainey” Ways to Write a Novel

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I wish one (or more!) of you would tell me how to write a novel. I’m trying to write a…

Show AND Tell

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• Paulette

“Show, don’t tell” is probably the most well-worn saw in teaching creative writing, supposedly originating with Aristophanes.  It’s not bad…

Writing a Book-length Memoir

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For starters, you’re going to be overwhelmed. We might as well get that up front. Writing--or trying to write a…

The Empty Cell ChainofIslands/OneBook Selection

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Greenville native pens novel based on Willie Earle lynching

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Greenville author explores city’s past racial injustice with new novel, The Empty Cell

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A Writer Learns about Creative Process from Two Artists: Hopper and O’Keeffe

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“So much of every art is an expression of the subconscious, that it seems to me most of all the…

Examining a Passage from The Goldfinch

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• Paulette

I posted earlier on the brilliant, beautiful novel The Goldfinch.  I had to do so in broad swaths, given how…

The Goldfinch: A Brilliant, Beautiful Novel

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• Paulette

A friend and I were talking about hyperbole in book blurbs and reviews the other day (I confess I don’t…

The Silent Wife: A Fascinating Novel Both Psychologically and Technically

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I first became interested in The Silent Wife in when I read an August 4th, 2013  piece in The New…

A Hologram for the King: a Terrific Novel by David Eggers

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• Paulette

I read a terrific novel while I was on vacation: Dave Eggers’s Hologram for the King.  Since I bought the paperback…

Geoff Dyer’s Out of Sheer Rage: Writing Our Own Non-Studies of D. H. Lawrence

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• Paulette

Geoff Dyer’s Out of Sheer Rage [Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence] is just about the best non-study of D.H. Lawrence that…

Darin Strauss’s Memoir Half a Life: What Did He Owe the Zilkes?

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• Paulette

This week in the online memoir course I’m teaching, the students are working on characterization, both their own and that…