March 19, 2013

paperdarts:

Fiction by Rebecca Meacham

His hair is kempt, his plaid shirt pressed, and we are grateful. Yesterday, we looked away when he was caught windblown and, there is no other way to say this, pumping his own gas. But here, the sun shines and he points at us winningly from the seats of spinning Cars. Here, gleaming Princesses, starched and virginal, offer their gloved white hands. He lingers with the one his granddaughter calls Briar Rose. My real name is Aurora, she says, like the dawn after a long sleep. She understands how greatness draws the curse of resentful outliers. Her voice is like music taking wing. Stillness has its virtues, she says. Now is your time to dream. Her fingers are soft and pliant and so warm he imagines giving her twirl. Instead, he bows. #SoCourtly! we tweet, fluttering about their shoulders. 

READ MORE

The amazing and talented Rebecca Meacham, ladies and gentlemen!

9:50pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvgg5VJj
(Notes: 4)
  
November 26, 2012
No Plot? Yes Problem! Going back to one fundamental in story-telling : shutupandwrite

We’re dedicated enough to stick it out, push past just the initial month burst. But I think the differences are bigger than that: Nanowrimo is almost about empowering yourself, to give yourself the confidence that you can write a novel, and it technically only takes a month. SU&W lives in reality: we want to produce good writing - something good enough to publish - and realistically, that takes more than a month of glorified free-writing.

Don’t get me wrong. I actually think Nanowrimo is a great idea. There are many people out there who just think they can’t do it, and the month long event is a wonderful way to just get people to shut up and write, effectively de-mystifying the whole process of writing. This is something SU&W fully supports.

However, Chris Baty, the founder of Nanowrimo, wrote the book No Plot? No Problem! The Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days[1] , and while it address the goal of Nanowrimo, it does not aid in the endeavor to write a good first draft of a book.

Why? Because having no plot is a problem! There is no story if there is no plot. And if someone participating in Nanowrimo wanted to actually use their book for something other than a feel-good accomplishment, then without a story, their efforts were wasted.

7:54pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvY7HBwc
November 21, 2012
writeworld: mightymur: The final, brilliant word on passive voice. “She was killed [by zombies.]” <—- passive “Zombies killed [by zombies] her.” <—- active (Found from FYCD.)

writeworld:

mightymur:

The final, brilliant word on passive voice.

“She was killed [by zombies.]” <—- passive

“Zombies killed [by zombies] her.” <—- active

(Found from FYCD.)

(via grammarlyblog)

12:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvXkhnW0
(Notes: 57,893)
  
November 14, 2012
"The place is old, and smells old, in the best sense; it smells like paperbacks and sun and paperbacks faded in the sun. It smells of 1904, when the building was erected, and it smells of every decade and era in between. It smells of ink and leather shoes. The shelves occasionally bend in the middle. The hallways are narrow and the upstairs rooms are often small. It is a warren. It is a labyrinth. It has the feeling of the Winchester Mystery House, a building that seems to go on forever and into impossible directions and illogical spaces. But it never feels cramped. Instead, there is the feeling you get when walking into a house of worship with 50-foot ceilings and stories told in stained glass, a feeling of grandeur and possibility."

— Dave Eggers’s Favorite Bookstore: Green Apple Books, San Francisco - The Daily Beast

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November 13, 2012
The Creative Crossing: Weeping Angel Christmas Tree Topper!

9:22am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvXC2GC-
November 11, 2012
Goodreads | Danny Goodman's Blog - Literary Consolation Prizes

10:31am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvX3BLVw
October 9, 2012
I Fell in a Hole. | Broken Piano for President

Oh Tom Williams, you delightful writer. If there had been a hole the last time we tipped a glass together, be certain that I would have fallen into it myself.

9:13pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvU-0mio
September 22, 2012
Roxane Gay is Spelled With One "N": Target Practice

roxanegay:

I’m ready to fast forward to the time when Precious jokes and snide comments are no longer a thing. They’re actually not very funny. It’s the laziest possible way of thinking. The denigration of someone, even if they are fictional, is not necessary for the elevation of someone else, and certainly…

11:26am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvTsSVUw
(Notes: 57)
  
September 19, 2012
danchaon: Scariest Brothers Grimm story?  THE STUBBORN CHILD From The Brothers Grimm, translated by Maria Tatar There once lived a stubborn child, and she never did what her mother told her to do. And so our dear Lord did not look kindly on her, and let her become ill. Doctors could not cure her, and before long she was lying on her deathbed. Her coffin was being lowered into the grave and they were about to cover it with earth when suddenly one of her little arms emerged and reached up into the air. They pushed it back in again and covered the coffin with more earth, but it was no use. The little arm kept reaching out of the grave. Finally her mother had to go to the grave and strike the little arm with a switch. After she did that, the arm withdrew, and the child finally began to rest in peace beneath the earth. via Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner

danchaon:

Scariest Brothers Grimm story? 

THE STUBBORN CHILD
From The Brothers Grimm, translated by Maria Tatar

There once lived a stubborn child, and she never did what her mother told her to do. And so our dear Lord did not look kindly on her, and let her become ill. Doctors could not cure her, and before long she was lying on her deathbed. Her coffin was being lowered into the grave and they were about to cover it with earth when suddenly one of her little arms emerged and reached up into the air. They pushed it back in again and covered the coffin with more earth, but it was no use. The little arm kept reaching out of the grave. Finally her mother had to go to the grave and strike the little arm with a switch. After she did that, the arm withdrew, and the child finally began to rest in peace beneath the earth.

via Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner

3:13pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvThjHwI
(Notes: 16)
  
September 11, 2012
Roxane Gay’s Ayti. A review and talk. « About that Writing thing.

2:45pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/Z7rqAvTCMiD5
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