Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth


Writer’s Digest always has good information but my favorite from the most recent issue comes from an interview with Emma Donoghue (author of Room) – the interview was written by Jessica Strawser.

Donoghue was asked if she outlines – she said she did in great detail and that she ‘writes down what revelations the reader is getting at each point, so I can see if whether I’m giving away a lot in Chapter 1, and then no new information until Chapter 5. What you’re trying to do is keep up the reader’s energy at every point. You’re looking for spots where things would sag or get lost….’

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In WD they always have a column of cool stuff for writers – this month they showed posters created using the entire text of a novel – see the sample above of Little Women. You can see more at http://www.postertext.com

4 comments:

  1. HI Liz, I loved Writer's Digest and used to subscribe. I havent' read ROOM yet but heard it's great, and I like her advice - always looking for little tricks and learning something new about writing. Thanks!

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  2. Sure thing. Been a long time subscriber - even took one of their courses when I was 19 - LOL

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  3. Interesting post and interesting bit about adding new information. Nice trick to learn.

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  4. Oh - good Janet as I'm always learning something from your blog

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