Categories: Book Review

22 Feb 2010, Comments (6)

‘The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide’ … And Me

Author: Claudine Rogers

Claudine Rogers

I realized I needed a critique group soon after my first attempt at writing a novel. I process things best by bouncing ideas off of others and I needed the help of wiser, less emotionally attached writers to perfect my far-from-perfect WIP. But I was also getting pretty lonesome all by myself at the keyboard. I needed that social interaction. Thus, my first foray into critique groups.

Thanks to my first group, I knew immediately when something wasn’t working, but they were unable to help me figure out why. So I quit that group and joined another. The second group of perfectly nice people still didn’t fill the bill. I was afraid I’d never find a group that fit, or worse, that I wasn’t cut out for group critiques. (more…)

Popularity: 75% [?]

Categories:
Book Review
Tags:
Becky Levine, Claudine Rogers, critique groups, how-to, non-fiction

11 Jan 2010, Comments (2)

Book Review: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

Author: Elizabeth Varadan

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan (movie poster)

Gods and goddesses of ancient Greece have long been discounted as myth, right? In the fast-paced fantasy, The Lightning Thief, these “immortals” still live. Their half-mortal offspring walk among us, pursued by monsters.

Percy Jackson is in trouble again at his new boarding school. He’s dyslexic and he suffers from ADHD, and he assumes that’s why he has the kinds of mess-ups that get him regularly expelled from schools. What Percy doesn’t realize is that he is one of the demi-gods. Monsters find him; after a narrow escape, still unaware of his identity, Percy heads home to his mother. New developments cause her to take him to Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for demi-gods. (more…)

Popularity: 56% [?]

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Author,Book Review,SPOTLIGHT ON...
Tags:
Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

24 Dec 2009, Comments (0)

Point/Counterpoint: Two Kinds of Advice

Author: Ann Marie Gamble

There was a news/current affairs show on American TV in the 1970s in which two guys debated opposite sides of an issue. Lately, I’m finding two sources of advice helpful that seem like opposites.

Point

Bob Mayer’s The Novel Writer’s Toolkit is one of the most reassuring tomes I’ve ever read about how to tackle the sprawling project of writing a novel. The advice is considerably more specific (good grief, the number of books that have made it into print that tell you “now write the middle”), but the summary is, take a step. Deep breath. Take the next step. The next. Eventually you get to the destination. I have to start chanting my mantra when anyone gets to the parts about hunting down editors and putting together a PR plan, but that’s in the book too, in nice, doable, non-Tolstoy-esque chunks. (more…)