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 | 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 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...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 5, 2009 | craft of writing, details, reviews, stories |
Last Night is a slim volume of ten stories by James Salter. James is his real name. Salter is a pseudonym adopted because he was in the air force when he began to write. He was a fighter pilot who flew with Buzz Aldrin, Ed White and Gus Grissom. In July of 2004,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 24, 2008 | details, the day |
If you can find twenty minutes, you can listen to Dylan Thomas’ story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” read by the author–courtesy of Salon.com. The written story is also available online. Thomas grounds the story of this long-ago...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Nov 15, 2008 | craft of writing, details, novels, reading |
Just as Home, a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award in Fiction, has been called a companion to Gilead, this post is a companion to yesterday’s. Prompted by comments, I wanted to add that if you enjoyed Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson’s first novel,...
