Pinched from Virus Comix, I want to have this illustration blown up and used as wallpaper… Click to embiggen. http://www.viruscomix.com/page523.html
In 1971 the Booker switched from being a retrospective of the previous year’s pile of letters to the cutting edge taking of the literary pulse it aspires to be. So, while the prize was still run in 1970 and 1971 – the books that were shortlisted came from 1969 and 1971. A year was missed [...]
Literary Agent Janet Reid posts an annual breakdown of the reasons why she rejected incoming manuscripts from wannabe authors in the previous year. Though her populist roster may not be pertinent to many (or any) reading this – it makes interesting reading: Statistics to torture yourself with in 2010 Some of her older posts are [...]
People (tutors, writers, other students) have told me the same thing in different configurations: “Characters drive the narrative!” I nod. I agree. I go back to quietly and tightly plotting and planning every aspect of the novel I’m writing – because, actually, I don’t really believe it. I read interviews with writers who say they [...]
How do you break into the literary world? In an interview with Wired, Paolo Bacigalupi, tells us it’s 85% graft, 5% inspiration, and 10% reading lots of fantasy and SF magazines… sort of. Here’s the relevant bit: “Pocketful of Dharma” was the first story that I sold, and that was really my first attempt at writing [...]