Hmm…

Tag: writing

  • When Fantasy is Self-Indulgent

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    by

    harmamae
    in ,

    Note: This should’ve gone up Friday. In fact, it would’ve gone up Friday – was all ready to go up Friday – when my computer experienced internet connectivity issues. So, you get to enjoy it today instead! A major part of writing fantasy is world-building – everyone agrees about that. What’s the point of setting…

  • Rebellion of the Starry-eyed Idealists–Let’s End the Irony!

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    harmamae
    in ,

    The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of “anti-rebels,” born oglers who dare to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse single-entendre values. Who treat old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness…

  • The Gap Between Your Ambition and Your Actual Terrible Writing

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    by

    harmamae
    in

    Everyone who attempts to be creative, and writers not the least, know the feeling of envisioning a super-awesome story or artwork or song. Excitement courses through your veins! This will be a masterpiece! And then… you try to create it. It sounds/looks/is terrible. There’s an enormous gap between what you want to create, and what…

  • My NaNoWriMo Update!

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    harmamae
    in

    I finished my 50 000 novel. Yay! However, I clearly thought I could keep up with my novel and post regularly on this blog as well, and that… didn’t go as smoothly. But here’s a post to remind all you lovely readers that I have not forgotten you. 🙂 I learned quite a few things…

  • Riding the Roller Coaster of Story Plots

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    by

    harmamae
    in ,

    Since I’m plugging along through NaNoWriMo at the moment, I thought it’d be appropriate to share this lovely illustration from the New York Times that a friend shared with me. Let’s hope there’s not too many unresolved subplots and plots holes in this manuscript, but hey – I guess that’s all part of NaNoWriMo, huh?

  • Learn From the Pros – Read Like a Writer (Not A Reader)

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    harmamae
    in

    When I teach literature I always tell them, these would-be writers (we don’t do workshops, we just read great books), I say, “When you read Pride and Prejudice, don’t if you’re a girl identify with Elizabeth Bennet, if you’re a boy with Darcy. Identify with the author, not with the characters.” All good readers do that…

  • Practice Makes Perfect?

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    harmamae
    in

    No–No, It Really Doesn’t This is what we tell our children. Practice makes perfect. In other words–don’t give up. Keep trying, and the world guarantees you’ll get somewhere. It may not be somewhere great, but it will at least be farther along the path to perfection than you were before. That just isn’t true. I…

  • The Book Doesn’t Exist? Then Write It

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    by

    harmamae
    in

    About time for another Quotable, don’t you think? “If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison I once read a book, hated how it ended, and started writing my own sequel. Now, this was when I was in elementary school,…

  • Abusing Punctuation: The Ellipses…

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    by

    harmamae
    in

    I am reminded by my readers that I have been negligent in posting this summer–I blame it on a parade of weddings, the likes of which I have never experienced before–but you all still deserve my sincerest apologies. I hope a post on a Wednesday alleviates some of my blame.  Recently I came across an…

  • Is the Paperback Really Dying?

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    harmamae
    in ,

    Maybe It Isn’t E-books are taking over and traditional publishing is dying, or so the current narrative goes. E-book sales are going by leaps and bounds – apparently 2011’s sales were double that of 2010’s- and this clearly doesn’t bode well for the sales of cheap paperbacks. Readers might shell out for nice hardcovers if…