lists Thirty-Two Statements About Writing, which are thought-provoking. (via )
This one:
14. Language is more important than you think. It is not a tool, it is, in the end, the sum of literature. Language has a taste, a texture, a smell. If a painter used only beige, white, and grey, the viewer’s eye would slide off the canvas and start examining the wall. Strive for eggplant, oxblood, and burnt sienna.
is something I still need to work on quite a bit. I don’t believe language is “the sum of literature” (I’m in this gig for the stories), but I want to write pretty. Not McKillip-pretty, but prettier than my natural black-and-white literalism.
I do disagree with her on revision and workshops. I need both. A lot. But really, numbers 31 and 32 are the most important (esp. 31), and I can’t argue with those.
Writer angst:1. Thriller writer with huge first advance ends up in death spiral of sales (via )
2. Holly Lisle is in trouble again, after more than 20 published novels.
I don’t know their sales numbers, obviously. The bit that worries me is this: Not only does a book have to be “good enough”, it has to be Spectacular.