Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
I’ve just completed a new project and something’s been niggling at me. It’s set in The Hamptons, a well-known playground for the rich and famous. Specifically, the town of East Hampton, generally considered to be the “Best Hampton” (Sorry, Southampton) as opposed to where I used to live, Westhampton, described on the TV show, Royal …
Continue reading “Libelous Liabilities”
Gothic literature is delicious and deadly and lately I’ve been thinking a lot about it. It’s a literary form most people either love or hate. I fall in the love-it camp and I’m always hunting for great examples. I enjoy the old masters and finding new writers who rework the old tropes in fresh ways. …
Continue reading “Tips for Releasing Your Inner Poe”
UnderCovers Part I: Alyx The old adage goes: Write what you know, and this is particularly pertinent in regard to location. There was a good deal of criticism about E.L James’ depiction of Seattle, WA, many saying she had some of the roads incorrect and the time it took to get her characters around was inaccurate. …
Continue reading “Friday Inspiration: Research Your Setting”
I’ve always felt the call of the wild, that deep magnetic draw to be outside. The feeling stuck with me even after bad times, days when Mother Nature let me know she held all the cards. Like when I lost my footing while backpacking and tumbled down an embankment, or when a Tarantula Hawk sting …
Continue reading “The Call of the Wild and How Writers Respond.”
For urban dwellers, nature sits apart. Most of us only see the spare, diminished nature of city parks and backyard gardens. Even these natural settings we relegate to the rear of our consciousness as we focus on the conditions around us, the cars in the street, our work cubical, a much-needed trip to the grocery …
Continue reading “Into the Wild: Creating Nature Settings”
I happen to love architecture, I always have. I’m one of those strange people who measures time by my landmark acquisitions. However, I believe anyone can learn to write about structures (from castles, to space stations, to huts) by asking themselves a few simple questions about how they want to use the building in the …
Continue reading “Navigating Architectural Spaces in your Fiction: From Apse to Ziggurat:”
The principles of choosing and researching a real world location for your fictional setting follows the same rules regardless of the genre. So contemporary writers listen up, someone out there knows more about the downtrodden civic center you’ve picked as the setting for your new novel than you do. So if you don’t want the …
Continue reading “Misty Moors and Bloody Battlements: The Rules of Setting”