Better Get That Book in the First Season
Publishers Marketplace reported that controversial football star Terrell Owens signed a book deal for a memoir entitled Ineligible Receiver: The Real Story of My Journey from the Super Bowl to the Sidelines with Simon & Schuster. The book promises to detail the receiver’s two years with the Philadelphia Eagles, including explanations of his deteriorating relationship with Donovan McNabb. The…
continue readingScenes from Homer Found in Ancient Tomb
CNN reported that scenes from The Odyssey and The Iliad were found on a 2,500-year-old sarcophagus discovered in Cyprus. The report stated that “in one large painting, Ulysses and his comrades escape from the blind Cyclops Polyphemos’ cave, hidden under a flock of sheep. Another depicts a battle between Greeks and Trojans from The Iliad.” Archeologists…
continue readingSurely, She Doesn’t Mean Our Slushpile
The wonderfully acerbic and incredibly informative Miss Snark describes three nitwit queries that came over her transom. Certainly, none of our readers would make such a mistake, but these provide a good reminder of what not to do when querying an agent. They’re also pretty damn funny. Claims of being the fist novel to explore…
continue readingPracticing the Art of Imitation
In a post some months ago, I wrote about Nicholas Delbanco’s great ideas concerning imitation of the fiction masters. In his essay, Delbanco argues that copying the greats can be an incredibly educational experience. I recently came across the same concept, this time in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the…
continue readingInspiration from the Dead
Most of us have our own methods for seeking inspiration and story ideas. Some of us take notes in bars, some of us look for funny news items in the paper, and some of us utilize writing exercises to jump-start our imagination. But Bernice McFadden listens to the dead. The author writes an essay…
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