Writer Unboxed

From Banbury Cake:
OXFORD author Philip Pullman has written a new book, aimed at fans of his award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy.
Earlier this month, Mr Pullman, 61, attended the premiere of The Golden Compass, alongside film stars Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.
He said he was delighted with the £90m movie adaptation of Northern Lights, the first […]

Let’s check in with the state of the Writers Guild of America strike since the disheartening news last week that negotiations had broken down between the WGA and Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers over the ultimatum that WGA accept a flat residual of $250/year for Internet streaming.
The WGAs latest strategy is now a […]

These days, it’s not enough to have written a compelling work of fiction to keep sales climbing and the contracts coming.  Writers have to be media-savvy, often a challenge when most writers would rather be at the keyboard working on their next project than devoting time to self-promotion.   Writers are turning to professional public relation firms […]

I’ve been feeling a little existential lately – probably has something to do with watching my kids grow up and realizing that I’m smack in the middle of full-fledged adulthood, even though I can’t believe that it’s so – and I’ve been dancing around with the question of why I write and why I’ve chosen […]

From the Boston Herald: Best-selling fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s, he said in a message posted to his illustrator’s Web site.
In a brief note to fans entitled “An Embuggerance,” Pratchett, 59, said he was taking the news “fairly philosophically” and “possibly with a mild optimism.”
“I […]

This from the Boston Herald:
Expect cheers among hardcore online game enthusiasts when they learn Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year. Or, more accurately, expect them to “w00t.”
“W00t,” a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness, topped all other terms in the Springfield dictionary publisher’s online poll for the word that […]

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read. –Groucho Marx
I have a confession to make: I haven’t read a novel in months. Months! I’ve been pushing hard to finish the final draft of my wip (new goal: end of the year or bust) and […]

I saw The Golden Compass over the weekend, and mostly I enjoyed it. As many of you know, it’s a film rendering of the first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra Belaqua, the poster child for Victorian naughtiness, is at the center of the battle between those who wish conformity […]

If you missed part 1 of our interview with Donald Maass–one of New York’s top agents and president of the Donald Maass Literary Agency–click HERE to catch up, then come on back. In this final segment, we talk about his must-have craft book for writers, Writing the Breakout Novel, how his book and workbook are […]

One of the things I like about Writer Unboxed is that it takes genre writing seriously – we respect each other as writers and don’t make any assumptions about just where mystery, fantasy, romance, horror or whatever fits in the total spectrum of fiction writing. People who don’t know me well often take it for […]

Snow day in the Northeast yesterday. Hurrah! I had a guilt-free day at home working on my wip. I love it when that happens.
Therese works hard on WU’s Google Notebook page, and I want to point out again what a timesaving resource this is for those interested in keeping up with the […]

It’s something music can do well: evoke the feeling of a text in underlayments, make it palpable through rhythm and phrasing. Even without accompaniment. There’s an a capella version of Shenandoah in which you can hear the sound of the river in the current of voices.
Poets do it too, with phrases that twist and […]