writing-style

Welcome to the truth: Dostoevsky

 We used to believe that Dostoevsky had always been the beacon of Russian literature. How else could it be? He’s always belonged to the pantheon of great Russian writers: Tolstoy, Gogol, and Chekhov. Well, not everything is as it seems. Great recognition only came to Dostoyevsky and his books after a delay of a hundred years. However, the beginning of...

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Writing Advice From Famous (Beautiful) Authors

famous writers writing advice

I just finished reading the book, Beautiful Writers by Linda Sivertsen. She runs the Book Mama website and the Beautiful Writers Podcast. In the book, she shares her writing journey and sparks each page with remarkable and honest advice from famous authors we admire. As a young writer in Los Angeles, Linda Sivertsen was hungry to be more like her literary...

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Andrei Platonov and The Soul of The World

Andrei Platonov once said, “From our ugliness will grow the soul of the world.” He was right. He knew the hardships of life better than anyone else… Yes, this world is ugly. Almost 1 billion people are illiterate. More than 800 million people don’t have access to clean water or a reliable food supply. Approximately 13% of the world lack access...

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Interviews with Authors – Dave Williams

Congratulations on your beautiful new book, “Nobody Will Like This Book”. Could you tell us a little about the idea behind it and about your writing journey; how it started out, whether it changed much along the way? Thank you for calling it beautiful! I was having fun creating my book “The Dancing Fish” (poems and drawings), and I wanted...

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Author Interview – Jessica Bakkers

LET THIS NOVEL HAUNT YOU…  1. I’m so excited to get to talk to you about Guns of Perdition (Armageddon Showdown Series), Jessica! This is your debut novel, and it’s haunting, gorgeous, and dark. Congratulations! What can readers coming in fresh to your work expect from this book? Thanks so much for having me, Ray! I’m thrilled to be here. Guns of Perdition...

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Literature is not innocent

“When one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, “What does it mean?” It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable,” said Rene Magritte about his painting The Lovers. As you understand, we’ll talk about surrealism, but not about Rene Magritte in particular, although he was one of the most plagiarized artists,...

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Author Interview – John W. Howell

We chatted with John W. Howell about his new novel Eternal Road: The final stop, the transformation of the heroes, and the meaning behind historical and supernatural elements. 1. What is the significance of the book’s title Eternal Road? The title came to me one day while I was writing one of the scenes. Eternal Road is the avenue to...

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Aspects of the Novel

No book worth its salt is meant to put you to sleep, it’s meant to make you jump out of bed in your underwear and run and beat the author’s brains out. Bohumil Hrabal, Czech novelist There’s a book called Aspects of the Novel, a series of lectures from E. M. Forster, written in 1927. I haven’t read it myself...

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Shame-less by Nadia Bolz-Weber

(nonfiction) #takeawaykeys If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive. Brené Brown, Daring Greatly Alert! Long post, if you can’t read it now, save for later! This book is for women who are almost-enough, who are struggling every day of their lives to be perfect, to deliver the image of the...

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“The Story Grid”, Shawn Coyne #takeawaykeys

What your characters say they are is NOT who they are… What they do is the key. Shawn Coyne 1. Think in 5 principles, the bricks for any successful story:  TIME, SUBSTANCE, STYLE, STRUCTURE, CONTENT. 2. Learn your genre – there’s a great collection (with examples) of differences between each genre. I can’t mention them all (only some), but read...

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