How to create compelling characters
An interesting take on developing fictional characters that are believable, engaging and compelling. In my opinion, great character-driven fiction requires empathy and curiosity.
Mass, Energy, and How Literature Transforms the Dead Weight of Being: Jeanette Winterson on Why We Read
Here’s a nice piece on Why we Read from Maria Popova (Brain Pickings). I hope you enjoy it. “Books read us back to ourselves… The escape into another story reminds us that we too are another story. Not caught, not confined, not predestined.”
What We Get Wrong About Joan Didion
“…style is just the baseline of good writing. Didion’s innovation was something else.” Those who know me well know that I have been a fan of Joan Didion for years. This is a worthy read by Nathan Heller in The New Yorker.
The high-stakes world of pirate publishing
An interesting piece on pirate publishing by Andrew Pettegree, Professor of Modern History at the University of St. Andrews.
Mrs. Dalloway and Head-Hopping
Michael Cunningham is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his 1998 Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Hours. The December 23, 2020 issue of The New York Times ran a wonderful essay