Here’s what I hope to be a new feature on SPR: book excerpts. If you’re interested, follow these instructions to post an excerpt. The novel can be purchased here.
This is the introduction to the novel. People either love this book, or they’re mystified – which is to be expected, as I was going for some level of mystification. Some have criticized that I should get to the action sooner. Some haven’t. The point for me is to get inside the narrator’s head and to set up the scope of the story.
Here’s an opportunity to get a glimpse of a pro editor at work. This blog post from The New Yorker, in 2007, shows the development of Raymond Carver’s classic story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” in the hands of his editor, Gordon Lish.
The following document compares the original draft of “Beginners” with the final version of the story, retitled “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” edited by Gordon Lish, and published in a collection of the same name by Alfred A. Knopf. Additions to Carver’s draft appear in bold; a
Today I have a recent interview with award-winning author Melissa Foster. She is the author of three International bestselling novels and the founder of the World Literary Café, Fostering Success and the social and support network for women, the Women’s Nest.
Author Genre: Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers
Author Description:
Award-winning, bestselling author Melissa Foster is a touchstone for the indie publishing community and a tireless advocate for women.
Geoffrey Young’s novel “Fall” is a tempestuous marriage between beautifully crafted prose and a story that leaps time and place to explain exactly why we find our narrator, Paul, a waiter and would-be writer (there is only one letter difference between them, he tells us hopefully) who sits on a fire escape in New York, penning a desperate soliloquy about his fall in life: how did Paul finish up here and why is he so desperate to end it all?
The reader is drawn in immediately by the gorgeous use of language and the compelling description of feelings. We don’t […]
I look for clues within the first paragraphs of a novel as to what particular kind of story the author wants to tell me and how she intends to go about it. The first two sentences of this novel irritated me: “I don’t want to be a writer. I want to be a painter.” That doesn’t sound logical, I said to myself. Why fight reality? The Prologue soon continues with “as it turns out, being a writer in a coma leaves me with many more options than being a painter in a coma would.” Lilli Jolgren Day balances existential questioning […]
My friend and artist/writer Lee Davis had read the first part of The Red Church (my first published novel) and emailed me with his initial thoughts:
“Your understanding of humanity is crucial, ranging from complexities of the young boys’ mind to the conflict of a deteriorating marriage and then on to the law that is trying to maintain the peace and keep the town from falling in on itself. I immediately felt empathy to Donnie’s young and troubled thoughts at life in general as he goes inside his mind and looks at the nature of his
This interview with Craig Lancaster, author of 600 Hours of Edward, was originally posted on the blog of Jim Thomsen – “An Aspiring Author’s Journey to the Promised Land of Publication … Where Nothing is Promised.”
Edward Stanton is a man hurtling headlong toward middle age. His mental illness has led him to be sequestered in his small house in a small city, where he keeps his distance from the outside world and the parents from whom he is largely estranged. For the most part, Edward sticks to things he can count on…and things he can count. But over
There’s no reason this novel should not be traditionally published. The only reason I could surmise is that maybe there were a number of novels surrounding the advertising industry coming out at the same time. I have to plead ignorance that I have not read a lot of novels about ad execs. But Commercial Break stands very well on its own – a great blend of both satire and realism. Both totally outlandish and plausible, which is the most important aspect of a satire.
Commercial Break is about the Adam Glassman, an advertising executive who hates his industry. A novelist […]
