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Fowler Is in the House
If you don’t know Fowler, let me introduce you: Henry Watson Fowler published Dictionary of Modern English Usage in 1926, a reference book that I was advised to purchase in grad school. In one of my purge-and-move adventures, I lost my copy and recently decided it was long overdue to return to my personal library. The third edition has been…
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How Do I Revise?
I’m not sure anymore what revise means, but what I am doing with the novel ms is rewriting. Yes, I am retyping every chapter, sentence by sentence, sometimes word by word. In this time of cut/copy/paste, people often look at me as if I were hopelessly stupid. But this is actually my third pass at the…
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BETA READERS APPLY HERE
I’ve been on a mini sabbatical, letting the ms in progress marinate in its own juices. Tomorrow I’ll do a blitz read through to mark the places that need attention. I think there’s plenty of work left to do. Then I’ll put the book into readable form and start looking for beta readers. If you’re…
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A New Year’s Wish for Writers
May we all find in 2016: “the best words in the best order” a horde of readers, all satisfied, challenged or entertained freedom for writers everywhere HAPPY NEW YEAR
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How to Build a Novel
A novel is a house you invite the reader to rent or to buy. How many rooms does it have, and is it welcoming? Are there clear passageways from room to room? How big is the garden? My six-book study shows me drastically different buildings by various contractors/builders/designers. I think of Neverhome as a vast open-air…
Karen Douglass, Author 