Writing that first novel: the way to hunt
By Ellen McQueen
Writing is hunting. The hunt for the right verbs, the right metaphors, the right dialogue.
By Ellen McQueen
Writing is hunting. The hunt for the right verbs, the right metaphors, the right dialogue.
To experience other cultures and try to learn something from global humanity, to witness the world’s natural wonders in all of their terror and beauty and majesty — this is selfish, if only because our tiny “self” is our main frame of reference for realizing how incredibly big this world is.
These subtler expressions in The Traveller Series indicate that Teoh has a great deal of talent and potential. If the poet can trust herself to listen to her original voice and not rely on easy rhymes and images, her next work will truly make the reader ache with the wistful longing she wants them to feel.
By Jeffrey Allen Mays
Those ads with pictures of a terra cotta veranda, fruit basket, and pitcher of cucumber water overlooking the Tuscan Sea can seem like just the ticket to break that writer’s block.
Welcome to Litlag, the blog for readers and writers who love to travel! At Litlag, we care about good stories, and we believe that traveling is one of the best ways to discover your own story. Whether you are an avid reader and love books from around the world, a writer needing resources to help … Continue reading
At 5:30 I wake up and spend an hour in silence. By 6:30 the morning chai has arrived, which contains milk from the sacred cows that roam about on the ashram grounds. The sun has just come up, but everyone has already been awake for hours, sweeping the temple and watering the vegetables and flowers. Around … Continue reading
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been three years since I left New York and set off on my European adventures. I’ve found that when I try to remember what New York is like, I think of how it was to attend college there, to down coffee and bagels every morning before work, and to … Continue reading
By Jessi Graves Living in a fast-paced city like Boston, I often find myself having little time to breathe, let alone write. In between work, my family, and my social life, it feels like I am constantly on the go. My mind is a whirlwind of thoughts all day long, only pausing when I finally … Continue reading
The following is an excerpt from my very first piece of published fiction. Divine Worship By Rebekah Lee Mays In the 14th arrondissement of Paris, I once discovered a nineteenth-century church standing at the split of a road. Organ music was wafting through the front doors out onto the street below. I walked in to candles … Continue reading
“Ach, Tchekov! Why are you dead? Why can’t I talk to you in a big darkish room at late evening—where the light is green from the waving trees outside? I’d like to write a series of Heavens: that would be one.” — Katherine Mansfield I have never spent much time studying one particular author, until this … Continue reading
Supermarkets are scary places. I recently came across this passage about them in White Noise by Don Delillo, and it definitely rang true: Apples and lemons tumbled in twos and threes to the floor when someone took a fruit from certain places in the stacked array. There were six kinds of apples, there were exotic melons in … Continue reading
By Niclas Floberg I’ve tried a number of ways to find a place to rest my thoughts and, if all goes well, to pluck them mercilessly from that place onto the pages of whatever I’m trying to write (it’s usually about space bears in some shape or form). What I’ve found is that it’s not … Continue reading
By Ellen McQueen I have never done well with routine. I am not one of those writers who covets the same corner table at the same café, like Fitzgerald at Café de Flore or Patti Smith at Café ‘Ino, ordering the same cup of coffee that is sure to fuel the creative mind. I desperately want … Continue reading
“Leaving home” Shena Tschofen / flickr Originally published June 2015 It’s 6:30 in the morning and I stumble out of bed to heat and pour some water for my boyfriend and his father, both of whom are about to leave for France. The car is filled from window to window with clothes, electronics, books, and … Continue reading