Tag: Book
-
50k in 50 Days
NanoWrimo is traditionally for the 30 days of November, but since the site and community dissolved this last year, I attempted something new. With a baby at home, organizing my first middle school drama show, and the craziness that comes with the holidays, I opted for a longer writing window. With a goal of 30…
-
Inspiration: Sailing Stories
I am 30,000 words into my NanoWrimo project, “The Day Peter Died,” my Peter Pan retelling, which I described a few weeks ago. The goal is to finish 1000 words each day, from October 12th to November 30th, which adds up to 50,000 words total. It’s been excellent fun, especially because I’ve been writing in…
-
November Without Nano
National Novel Writing Month The NanoWrimo website and community shut down earlier this year after more than 20 years of supporting writers. They closed for a plethora of reasons, including both monetary and other more personal concerns. But its closer has left quite a whole in the writing community. I have been using NanoWrimo since…
-
Inspiration: Guards! Guards!
Back in October, I shared that I had become a major fan of Terry Pratchett and his absurdist fantasy universe. I have continued to enjoy his books inbetween other reads, and a new favorite has emerged: Guards! Guards! Guards! Guards! cleverly approaches and hilariously twists tropes in the best ways. The premise: some wanna-be wizards…
-
Inspiration: Ursula K Le Guin
Ursula K Le Guin was a rockstar of a writer. She lived from 1929-2018 and wrote 23 novels and change, covering sci-fi, fantasy, and more. I have heard some people praise her as the mother of science fiction, since she invented the idea of the Ansible, and I have heard others claim she was overrated.…
-
Inspiration: Nghi Vo
Nghi Vo has a beautiful way with words. I cannot repeat that enough. It is a pleasure simply to hear her prose when read aloud, and I am sad when I finish each of her stories because I just want them to keep going. One day not so long ago, her Singing Hills Cycle series…
-
Inspiration: Detective Noir
Ever since reading The Maltese Falcon in Undergrad, I loved the idea of detective noir. The 1930s novel and its film adaptation with Humphrey Bogart (1941) is often considered the beginning of or at least the solidification of the noir genre. Noir is a work of aesthetics as many genres are and often includes gangsters,…
-
Of Teeth & Dreams: Excerpt
As of Thanksgiving, I completed my NanoWrimo goal and finished the first draft of my new book, Of Teeth and Dreams. It started as a short story and now has a full life of its own. I am very excited with the way it turned out, though it will be a few drafts before I…
-
Inspiration: Fairy Tale
During November’s month-long rush to write a 50,000 novel, I often pick a book to read to inspire my writing. Last year it was Patrick Rothfuss. This year is Stephen King’s Fairy Tale. The book was recommended to me because of my interest in the merging of the supernatural and mundane, and since it touches…
Grant Pearson 