Are you a subscriber to The Art-Committed Life newsletter? If not, here's what you've missed in the last two issues. Volume 2, Issue 4 features three key takeaways from a recent week-long novel retreat offered by the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Also provided is a list of key craft books recommended by retreat faculty …
Continue reading Takeaways from a Novel Retreat, Handling Criticism, and More
You're finally ready to start pitching literary agents for your unpublished novel. Those first few pages have to sing if you're going to hook the agent. How do you know if you're ready? Founding Partner of and Literary Agent with Folio Literary Management Jeff Kleinman recently shared three key elements he looks for in the …
There's a great SNL skit from a few years ago where Tina Fey plays a rather trashy woman speaking into the camera to someone she knows: "I saw you on House Hunters. You picked the wrong house, bitch!" Without the vitriol, I find myself thinking that sometimes while reading a novel about the author's choice of point …
Continue reading Point of View: Did You Choose the Right One?
Let me open with two confessions: 1) When I reach a sex scene in a novel I'm reading, I usually skip past it. 2) When writing fiction myself, I usually find some way to avoid writing a sex scene, even though such a scene can often be important to the plot. There. I said it. …
Continue reading Am I The Only Writer Who Struggles With Sex Scenes?
The Artist's Road 