Tweet I’ve got a nephew with Sensory Deprivation Disorder. It’s an uncommon phenomenon, and a strange one at that. Basically (as I understand it), his body has trouble recognizing the physical impact of his environment. That kinda sounds like the making of a sci-fi novel, or like some dreadful problem. It’s really not that bad. […]
Tweet Yesterday I talked about some of the things I learned about reader expectations in my Category Fiction class. By way of example, I mentioned some techniques for building suspense in Thriller novels. There was more, though. To my horror, I realized after six months of promoting my suspense series as a Thriller that it’s […]
Tweet Last week I started reviewing some of the novels we read in my Category Fiction class with a pretty brutal panning of our Women’s Fiction samples. Along the way, I mentioned a startling similarity in their plots — not just in those two books, but in all Women’s Fiction novels. I was genuinely surprised […]
Tweet This month we’re talking about a Category Fiction class I took last fall, and some of the things I learned from reading eleven novels along the way. The novels, I should mention, were hand-picked by our professor. She said she wanted us to see published books — successful books, many of them books with […]
Tweet I started this week with a brief description of the Category Fiction class I took last fall. One of the big surprises in that story was how much I enjoyed the class. The class’s merit wasn’t the only thing that caught me off-guard. I’d spent some time dreading all the driving I’d have to […]
Tweet In the fall of 2010, by decree of my graduate advisor and in support of my pursuit of the Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma, I was required to take the “elective” course Category Fiction. I was less than thrilled. From the course description it was clearly a lecture-based, informational […]
I’m a quitter. I’ll admit it. I’ve decided that I don’t have time to finish books I’m not enjoying. Over the last month, I have picked up and almost immediately set down again two novels in particular…
Tweet I’ve got to make an admission before I get too far into this topic, because there are just too many of you who know me in real life. I don’t really read a lot. Well…not a lot of books, anyway. I’m sure I spend 80% of my waking hours reading, but it’s far more […]
Tweet It’s time for another post about my dad. Before we dive in, let’s have a brief review: He’s an accomplished debater, and wins every fight with sheer Dadness He’s always been a natural storyteller He spent a long time wanting to write a book, and I spent a long time telling him he should […]
Tweet When my daughter was born, everyone told me she was adorable. When she started smiling, everyone said she was charming. When she started crawling (early for her age), everyone said she was so smart! I kept waiting. She was a wonderful baby, and I was awfully proud of her when she fell off the […]
