Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen The British TV series Morse, based on the mystery novels by Colin Dexter, won the “Best British Mystery Series of All Time” title in a Radio Times poll. A recent Facebook post about the win made me think about the admonition authors hear that novels must have likeable characters. Inspector Morse […]
by Anne R. Allen Early in my writing career, I wrote in secret — and hardly ever finished anything. If I got to the point where I could write “the end” on a piece, I’d bury it in a drawer. I was incapable of writing a whole novel. I always stopped after the first 40 […]
by Anne R. Allen Clichés exist for a reason. A whole lot of people like them. That means they get over-exposed. Clichés represent a natural way of thinking. So don’t feel bad if your first draft has a clichéd opener. It’s part of the process. Here’s the most important thing for a new writer to […]
Unsupportive friends and family can make us feel separated from the world. by Anne R. Allen I’m always amazed at how many people I know — friends who would go out of their way to help me physically — cannot say one supportive thing about my writing. Some even ask for one of my books […]
My metamorphosis into a Kafkaesqe bug by Anne R. Allen Yes. I’m back! A lot of readers have asked why I’ve been missing from the blog for the past five months, so I promised I’d detail my tale of woe when I returned. It’s kind of a long story. One that might have been written […]
Collective grief is loud and unrelenting. But there are ways to tune it out. by Anne R. Allen There are a lot of jokes out there right now like the cartoon in The New Yorker showing a young woman saying something like “I couldn’t decide whether to work on my novel or my screenplay, so […]
by Anne R. Allen I recommend that new writers take advantage of critique groups in order to learn about the publishing business and the craft of writing. Writing courses are expensive and often not as helpful as a good critique group. But there are bad critique groups too. Really bad. I’ve seen authors stop writing […]
Publishing predictions: Laurie McLean’s annual look into her crystal ball. By Laurie McLean, Founding Partner of Fuse Literary Agency The last year has seen a maturation of many of the trends that were sparked by the revolution in publishing that began a decade ago. Indie publishing. Social media marketing. The birth of Author-preneurs. Smart phones […]
Creativity wounds: the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism. by Anne R. Allen. A couple of weeks ago, Grant Faulkner, executive director of NaNoWriMo, wrote a short piece for Jane Friedman’s blog about what he calls “creativity wounds.” The post resonated with me. Oh, yeah, I know about creativity wounds! I have to admit that […]
Alas, publishing is about the bottom line, not warm fuzzies and gold stars. by Anne R. Allen The biggest obstacle many new writers face in making the leap from beginning writer to professional author is accepting that publishing is a business. Newbie writers have often taken creative writing courses or read books that urge them […]
by Anne R. Allen Okay, I’ll confess: I have never been tempted to join in NaNoWriMo. That doesn’t mean I don’t admire the heck out of people who can do it. Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in a little over month. You can’t argue with that kind of success. But some writers prefer to […]
Writing contemporary fiction? Don’t rewrite War and Peace. by Anne R. Allen I recently read on an agent’s blog, “Nobody’s looking for War and Peace.” And alas, I fear it’s true. I can’t remember the last time I said, “I want to get into a big 19th century novel.” (And there was a time when […]
First chapters are the hardest. So write them last. by Anne R. Allen Happy New Year! And many thanks to Frances Caballo, who this week named this one of the Best 15 Blogs for Indie Authors to Follow. I hope you had lots of fun over the holidays. Now it’s resolution time. Time to get […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris