Kristen Elise's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Writing Like a Man
“How do you write women so well?”
“I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.”
Jack Nicholson’s line from As Good As It Gets was met with laughter by men and cringing by women (as we concealed our inner laughter from the men in our lives so as to not publicly condone the statement.) Of course, Nicholson’s character was a romance writer. Had he been a mystery writer, the line might have gone something like this:
“I think of a man, and I take away action and add sap.”
I have been accused of “writing like a man,” a comment I took as a major compliment. Now, before readers and writers of both genders take equal offense and burn me at the stake, please allow me to explain: it’s a fact that author gender matters to some readers. Specifically, it matters more to men.
Attached are a few statistics from Bowker’s publication of “The Mystery Consumer in the Digital Age.” The stats I have are from 2010, but let’s face it, ladies, we haven’t advanced that much in the last three years.
More at http://novelspaces.blogspot.com/2013/...
“I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.”
Jack Nicholson’s line from As Good As It Gets was met with laughter by men and cringing by women (as we concealed our inner laughter from the men in our lives so as to not publicly condone the statement.) Of course, Nicholson’s character was a romance writer. Had he been a mystery writer, the line might have gone something like this:
“I think of a man, and I take away action and add sap.”
I have been accused of “writing like a man,” a comment I took as a major compliment. Now, before readers and writers of both genders take equal offense and burn me at the stake, please allow me to explain: it’s a fact that author gender matters to some readers. Specifically, it matters more to men.
Attached are a few statistics from Bowker’s publication of “The Mystery Consumer in the Digital Age.” The stats I have are from 2010, but let’s face it, ladies, we haven’t advanced that much in the last three years.
More at http://novelspaces.blogspot.com/2013/...
The Protagonist's Trip: Solo Travel for the Author
Being arrested in Naples wouldn’t be so bad if the two totally awesome Naples castles were still in use as prisons. Instead, Castel dell’ Ovo and Castel Nuovo are paid tourist attractions, and a tourist under arrest in Naples is transported to a boring police station. I know this from personal experience.
It all started with a bus ride. I had been on the bus legally, or so I thought, because I had purchased a ticket. So when two transit cops passing through started checking tickets, I showed them my ticket and expected them to leave me alone.
But they didn’t leave me alone. Instead, they started motioning back and forth between my face and my ticket while yelling at me. I tried to ask them in my broken Itali-English what the problem was, but they just continued to yell at me in Italian as if repeating themselves was going to teach me the language right then and there...
More at http://solofriendly.com/the-protagoni...
It all started with a bus ride. I had been on the bus legally, or so I thought, because I had purchased a ticket. So when two transit cops passing through started checking tickets, I showed them my ticket and expected them to leave me alone.
But they didn’t leave me alone. Instead, they started motioning back and forth between my face and my ticket while yelling at me. I tried to ask them in my broken Itali-English what the problem was, but they just continued to yell at me in Italian as if repeating themselves was going to teach me the language right then and there...
More at http://solofriendly.com/the-protagoni...
The First-Person Novel, Part II: Creating Depth in Secondary Characters
So you know that the main character is the protagonist and his or her nemesis is the antagonist. Do you know what the second main character is called? Most of us refer to this person as the sidekick, but it turns out, he/she is technically referred to as the deuteragonist (I had to look this up, I don't know about you.) More importantly, in a first-person novel, it's easy for this character to come across as one-dimensional.
Here we continue our discussion of the first-person novel.
I have learned that in first-person, it's easy for the story to become more of a mystery and less of a thriller. The reader is seeking resolution to a dilemna alongside a single character and thus lacks the total picture of what is happening overall in the story. If done well, this can still be thrilling, and the mystery can add to your story.
More at http://www.murderlab.com/2013/09/the-...
Here we continue our discussion of the first-person novel.
I have learned that in first-person, it's easy for the story to become more of a mystery and less of a thriller. The reader is seeking resolution to a dilemna alongside a single character and thus lacks the total picture of what is happening overall in the story. If done well, this can still be thrilling, and the mystery can add to your story.
More at http://www.murderlab.com/2013/09/the-...
Most Over-Used Protagonists in Today's Novel Part III: The Porn Star
OK. So Fifty Shades of Grey sold fifteen gazillion copies. I get it. Sex sells, and we have known this ever since the first sexually reproducing hermaphroditic flatworms evolved out of an amoeba's binary fission gone wrong. But please understand something, dear reader (by which I actually mean, dear writer.) The fact that sex sells does NOT mean that writing porn is going to make you E.L. James. It won't, indeed.
To put a little bit of perspective on this "new" trend of writing porn disguised as literature, let's take a moment to review the evolution of porn.
In the beginning, there was Ron Jeremy....
Read the complete post at http://www.murderlab.com/2013/12/most...
To put a little bit of perspective on this "new" trend of writing porn disguised as literature, let's take a moment to review the evolution of porn.
In the beginning, there was Ron Jeremy....
Read the complete post at http://www.murderlab.com/2013/12/most...
