Jan
21
The interesting truth about the stray suggestion, the wandering word, the vague echo, at touch of which the novelist’s imagination winces as at the prick of some sharp point: Its virtue is all in its needlelike quality, the power to penetrate as finely as possible. This fineness it is that communicates the virus of suggestion, anything more than a minimum of which spoils the operation.~ Henry James
May your writing be sharp as a needle, spreading the virus of suggestion.… [Read More]
Jan
19
I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten, or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready, and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.~ Henry Ford
This quote highlights the dependence of every creative endeavor on the work that precedes it, and it seems particularly relevant in light of yesterday’s SOPA/PIPA online protests.… [Read More]
Jan
12
If you paint your ghost with too heavy a hand, you risk laughter, not fear. If you touch him too lightly, you raise unsatisfied curiosity, not fear. It may be easy to shudder, but it is difficult to teach shuddering.~ Andrew Lang
In his article “The Supernatural in Fiction,” Andrew Lang discusses the difficulties of bringing the supernatural to the page. He explains this further in the same article:
The treatment of the supernaturally terrible in fiction is achieved in two ways, either by actual description, or by adroit suggestion … There
Jan
05
Papyrus seems like it will allow any author to create an interactive ebook along the lines of Our Choice, the Al Gore ebook/app created by Push Pop Press that gained a lot of attention on its release. The demonstration video certainly looks cool, and advances in more interactive and social … [Read More]
Dec
30
Mike Shatzkin asks a lot of useful and difficult questions: “No predictions this year; just questions.” A few selections of particular concern/interest to me:
Dec
30
As shelf space at bookstores dwindles and more books are bought online or on devices, just how new books will be discovered (“discoverability”) is becoming the most important issue to publishers.~ Jeremy Greenfield, Five Big Stories of 2011 That Will Bleed Into 2012
My focus in the digital publishing / self-publishing discussions is on the reader’s experience. All the wonderful opportunities that come from the technological innovations that allow for authors to easily publish there work shifts a lot of the “cost” onto the readers in the form of time and … [Read More]
Dec
29
Small Demons looks like an interesting project for book-lovers. From BookBaby’s write-up:
Small Demons collects and catalogs the music, movies, people and objects mentioned in books and makes those details searchable, creating a universe of book details, or as they call it, a storyverse.
It’s in beta now, but … [Read More]
Dec
28
A few posts have been getting attention for the predictions they make about the publishing industry in the coming year.
The first is from PaidContent.org, which makes three big predictions:
Dec
21
The Man Who Invented Christmas is an interesting holiday read that examines Dickens’s life, literary career, struggles with the developing publishing industry, and lasting influence on the Christmas holiday.
Dec
16
The great hidden virtue of e-books—hidden beneath the chatter about their effect on the bottom line—is that they allow stories to be exactly as long as we want them to be.~ Boris Kachka
Many of the benefits of ebooks are obvious (immediate access, thousands of books on one device, search and metadata, etc.), but a less obvious benefit is that they allow writers to escape the length restrictions imposed by print publications. When writers are no longer constrained by these limits, they no longer … [Read More]
I'm a writer interested in the genres of horror and dark fantasy, their ties to folklore, and their expression in various media. I like asking questions.
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