“Once you’ve established the goal, you gage the stakes by assessing what the character poses to gain if they succeed, or lose if they fail. Usually, the more they have to gain, the more they have to lose too.”
Raising the Stakes :: Good Story Company
“Writing, in this sense, is a life-long exercise in frustration. Because it is also true that when I read works by authors I admire I rarely tell myself—oh, that could have been better. Those folks seem to get it all right. How come I don’t?”
When is a book done? And well done? :: Avi
“What connects these two pieces, for me, is how much easier persistence is when there’s obsession behind it. (And likewise, discipline is much easier when it’s fueled by desire.)”
You Have to Be Obsessed :: Austin Kleon
“Cultural and historical contexts matter. The problem is that when you’re steeped in them, they shape you — for better and worse — and it’s hard to see how. So what is “goodness,” and who gets to determine its shape and scope? No single culture or era can fully hold the answer to that question; cultures and eras, like individuals, are marred and beautiful at the same time. To widen the narrow vision of our own perspectives, I encourage readers to cross borders of race and culture and learn from a diversity of contemporary storytellers. But to widen the narrow, limited vision of our own era, we may — dare I say, must — also cross borders into the past to seek goodness in stories there as well.”
Why Read Books From the Past by Mitali Perkins :: The Horn Book
“Only pay an editor if it’s money you’re not going to badly miss. There are other ways of getting feedback from friends, loved ones, and critique groups. Also: even if you can afford it, only pay for an edit if you’re genuinely open-minded and ready to do the resulting work. There’s no sense in paying someone if you’re not actually interested in their feedback.”
When to Hire a Freelance Book Editor :: Nathan Bransford
“Accepting the premise of the “pinnacle” as metaphor, does that mean I have been going downhill these past thirty years? And, since the reviewer was so certain of Charlotte’s place among my books, is it fair to ask, were all my other books read before making that judgement?”
Achieving the Pinnacle :: Avi
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