Category: Writing Process
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Writers have no room for pride
Just when I think it’s good, well… Case in point. I’m in the final lap of writing my thesis, and after my last revisions I was feeling pretty good about where it was – confident that I was nearly finished, and hopeful that I would have very few revisions yet to come. The Committee reviewed…
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I don’t take readers lightly
This is one of those ‘remember how blessed you are posts’. I’m just very thankful for my readers. Every time I sell a book, I remember what went into that buyer’s decision. The potential reader, perhaps, got a recommendation from a friend and then clicked on a link to read about my book. The potential…
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Drama & Writing: What’s your superobjective?
This is part two in an occasional series on the connection between drama and writing. Today’s topic: superobjective. When taking apart a scene, there are certain specific items that any actor has to ask him or herself. First, what is the scene objective? What do I have to accomplish in the scene? The motive? Next,…
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Drama & Writing
(This post starts an occasional series on the connections I see between writing and teaching or performing drama. As always, your thoughts are appreciated.) Before I get into how working with drama has helped my writing, I’d like to recount how I ended up getting involved in drama. I was a writer that hadn’t written…
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Writing ideas from any place
Have you ever been inspired by a squid? I’m not a fantasy or, really, any genre writer. My novels are realistic human dramas. Fantasy is fine if that is what you like, and I have another post on genre writing coming up, but I just don’t like breaking the laws of this universe in my…
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Make a plan and stick to it (aka the unshakable writer and his 4 year plan)
In the fall of 2008 I had a crazy idea. Why not join a masters program to make my already insanely busy life even more so? My thinking process went like this: I could take one class a semester and within a few years I could have a second Masters degree. Or I could twiddle…
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Thoughts on Offering My Novel for Free
I live in Penang. If you have never visited Penang, it’s like food paradise. Delicious, cheap, “hawker” food stalls everywhere – Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai, etc… I already lament the day I have to leave, and I have no intentions of leaving anytime soon. Penangites are rather stingy when it comes to paying for food.…
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Cross-Cultural Storytelling
(I just did a guest blog for http://www.ritareviews.net, called “Cross-Cultural Storytelling.” It gives some insight into how I used the cultural contexts of Vietnam in my novel “Beauty Rising.” I’ll give you a teaser here and you can read the rest on her site. I hope you enjoy.) I’ve been fascinated for years with cultural…
Author Mark W Sasse 