by Jamie Chavez | Jul 2, 2016 | The Writing Craft
I stumbled on this article—“Understand Character Wounds: A List of Common Themes” at Writers Helping Writers—a few months ago, and I just love the way the writer drills down to character motivation. The protagonist’s path is much like yours or mine–one that will...
by Jamie Chavez | May 16, 2016 | Books You Might Like, The Writing Craft
It’s nearly 500 pages long—and I flew through Helen Simonson’s second novel set in an English village. I never wanted to put it down. Also, it made me angry (on behalf of a character I loved), and it made me cry a couple times. This is a sign that I was fully...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 21, 2016 | Authors & Other Writers, The Writing Craft
Flannery O’Connor wrote in “The Nature and Aim of Fiction” that most people who write “are more interested in being a writer than in writing. They are interested in seeing their names at the top of something printed, it matters not what.” This, I realized once I’d...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 19, 2016 | The Writing Craft
I’ve wondered—here in this blog and elsewhere—about authors who tout themselves as best-selling (generally a gross exaggeration) and about the many, many bad writing habits I see. I’ve told you why I stop reading a book (because of bad writing, duh). I’m not the only...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 17, 2016 | The Writing Craft
Metaphor is analogous to fiction, because it floats a rival reality. It is the entire imaginative process in one move. If I compare the slates on a roof to an armadillo’s back, or—as I did earlier—the bald patch on the top of my head to a crop circle (or on very bad...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 14, 2016 | The Writing Craft
Some months ago I read a manuscript that actually used this line: Little did I know I would come to regret those words. No kidding. Me too. I know, I know: you’re just trying to create a little mystery, a little portent. But when I see a line like this— I had no idea...
