Please scroll through the blog. These are the Novels, Stories and Craft Topics I've discussed:
6/10/22....Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Achieving transparency in scene and dialogue to reveal emotional turmoil
5/20/22...The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
Balancing a novel's emotional terrain through character
4/4/22.....The Tenderest of Strings and Little Raw Souls by Steven Schwartz
Using plot to create false assumptions about what will happen.
2/28/22.....Ghosts of New York by Jim Lewis
Connecting different characters through the unifying element of shared disorder
1/23/22:....The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John
Developing a strong narrator presence through tone
1/1/22….. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Sustaining a core mystery
11/19/21….. Improvement by Joan Silber
Changing the point of view to add emphasis
10/12/21….. Valiant Gentlemen by Sabina Murray
Witholding information to create a magnetic character
9/22/21….. All The Light We Cannot See by Anothony Doerr
Using objects to create time markers in a fluid timeline
7/24/21….. "Audition" by Dennis Norris II, in American Short Fiction
Staging a surprise ending
6/20/21….. The Mysteries by Marisa Silver
Using backstory to enhance the reader's empathy for a character
6/1/21….. The Book of Lost Light by Ron Nyren
Avoiding sensationalism in a novel about the abuse of boundaries
4/6/21…..Abigail by Magda Szabo
Giving the reader more information than the protagonist has
3/13/21…..Postcards by Annie Proulx
Maintaining two narrative timelines
3/6/21…..Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Writing about a sibling relationship
2/21/21…..Sisters by Daisy Johnson
Writing about a sibling relationship
2/16/21…..News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Making a character come alive through visual details
11/30/20…..A Passage to India by EM Forster
Rising action leading to a climactic scene
11/22/20…..Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
Retelling the Oedipus Myth in a gender-fluid, time-fluid story.