Tag Archives: writing
Help the Helpless Writer Help You
I’d like to introduce my current novel project and ask for your opinons. Partly this is because I believe in open expression, freedom of speech and noble things like that, but mostly, I really just want to steal all your good ideas, put them in my book and then hoard the profits. You know how […]
Word Shape
I recently did a writing exercise with Karen Terrey where we attempted to associate words not by meaning, but by shape or sound. The idea was to open up new avenues of connection in our writing. This is what I came up with, beginning with the word defenestrate. You might have more fun reading this […]
An Open Letter to My Readers
Dear Readers, I’m sure you’ve seen articles in which writers explain their struggles to find inspiration. I’m sure you’ve seen articles where writers explain how, crushed as they are under unbearable work loads and familial burdens unequaled by Atlas himself, it’s just so hard to find time to bless you all with another glorious tome […]
Courage and Writing, the Podcast
My friend and fellow writer Gina Akao recently asked me to be part of her free podcast series. I of course accepted and now, just a few months after we first discussed the idea, my interview about writing, courage, getting people to read your blog and using technology to sell books has made its way […]
The Writers’ Curse?
This article appears on bengarrido.com courtesy of Paula (Pjo) O’Riley,the author of “Atheist in Church – on Heaven and Other Mysteries” and “Postcards from Planet Eldercare – the Final Frontier.” Next up: a novel set in 1963 Reno, Nevada, containing a search for Heaven, a question of self-forgiveness, race relations, and a bit of illicit […]
Don’t Be a Wimp, Writer’s Edition
This is part two in a two part series on writing. To visit the first, please click here. When I listen to struggling writers – writers who never finish the book, never get the article published, give up after 14 pages – they always seem to mention problems with inspiration. “I just don’t have any […]
The Completely Practical Value of Imagination
In addition to writing this blog, playing with distastefully modified cars and mystifying Koreans with my awesome hanguel skills, I am a graduate student in Paichai University‘s second language acquisition (TESOL) department. As part of my studies, I’ve been collaborating with one of my professors on a scientific paper investigating motivation in language learning. This […]
Gravitational Pull
. A review of the film Gravity and examination of scary fiction. Gravity combines scary and beautiful in ways I’ve never seen. That the director is able to keep his characters dangling in the abyss the entire length of the film without straining the audience’s suspension of disbelief is, certainly, a sign that Alfonso Cuaron is very […]
Making the Reader Hallucinate
Good, evocative writing is very much a drug. You, the benevolent (or not) narcotics dealer, deceive your readers’ senses to the point where they taste, smell, hear and feel through, of all things, their eyes. This doesn’t seem so fraudulent at first, but really think about how you are creating those sensations. At its most […]
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