by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 24, 2009 | craft of writing, details, novels, reading |
Here is the first sentence from Richard Russo’s novel, Empire Falls, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002: “The Empire Grill was long and low-slung, with windows that ran its entire length, and since the building next door, a Rexall drugstore, had...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 22, 2009 | craft of writing, shapes, stories |
In 1985 Russell Banks wrote “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story.” It was first published in The Missouri Review, then in The Best American Short Stories 1985, then in The Angel on the Roof. You can also listen to it on a podcast. The first sentence: ...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 3, 2009 | craft of writing, journeys |
Do you ever have that thing where for some reason you notice a word and then it’s everywhere? In each of the books you’re reading. Somebody says it on TV. It’s on the first page of The New York Times. The person reading your novel uses it. Well,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 31, 2009 | craft of writing, details, novels, reading |
Dirt Music by Tim Winton is a character-rich, character-driven novel, with lots of plot and an equally strong sense of place. What a read! It’s written in short little unmarked sections–little moments that patch together the characters of Georgie Jutland...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 22, 2009 | craft of writing, Dani Shapiro, reviews, time |
Starting with the prologue, in which the narrator calls on the spirit of Vladimir Nabokov, time is everywhere present in Dani Shapiro’s Fugitive Blue. I read the novel in January of last year so time is playing with me and my memory as well. “Nabokov did...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 8, 2009 | craft of writing, details, novels, the day |
More from John Steinbeck… March 6, 1951, Tuesday. “No sleep last night but I feel fine. And I don’t even know why I didn’t sleep. I was perfectly comfortable. Just couldn’t let go of consciousness. Funny thing.” Journal of a...
