Stories
Research Redux
When you’re researching a novel set in the past, the details you churn up can often sound surprisingly contemporary. Who called reviewers from The Times of London “despicable assassins of men’s reputations?” You’re probably thinking of a raft of contemporary politicians and actors, but in fact it was the actor William Macready in 1838. Lately, […]
Story Editing Tip
This is the kind of thing I often see in early drafts of scripts: Several characters sit across a table from each other talking about how broke they are. Eventually the characters head outside for a walk through the woods or alley, largely because the writer knows they can’t sit in the kitchen forever. Outside, […]
Furious Hockey
“So that’s how I ended up with 250 rolls of toilet paper and 250 boxes of Kleenex.” I have no idea what the jock talk sounds like in the dressing room during men’s hockey tournaments, and maybe I don’t want to. But this weekend, that’s what I heard as I laced up my skates for […]
Story Editing Tip
Usually writers start a new piece by telling ourselves the story as we type. We craft the first lines, the first page, the first scene, considering every word. As we should. But I discourage writers from getting too attached to their opening, because it almost always needs to be cut. When I’m editing the manuscript […]
The Fabulous Fisher Family
The one thing you don’t want to hear about one of your books is somebody saying, “There’s all sorts of stuff in there that’s wrong.” But when I returned a call from Mary Lou Fisher, that’s what she said about my e-book, Contender: Triumph, Tragedy and Canadian Baseball Player Harry Fisher. It’s the story of […]
Winding Up for the World Series – 3
With the World Series underway, I decided to look back in on some of the people I talked to when writing my baseball e-book, Contender: Triumph, Tragedy and Canadian Baseball Player Harry Fisher, which I’ve recently re-issued. It tells the story of a relative of my husband’s who enjoyed a long minor league career in […]
Winding Up for the World Series – 2
With the 2013 World Series underway, I called retired pitcher Vernon (Deacon) Law, winner of a World Series ring for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, to get his thoughts on this year’s match up. (That’s him above.) Mr. Law spoke to me earlier for my e-book, Contender: Triumph, Tragedy and Canadian Baseball Player Harry Fisher. […]
Winding up for the World Series
With the baseball pennant fights underway, I called up some retired ballplayers for their take on the upcoming World Series. These are the gentlemen I spoke to for my baseball e-book, Contender: Triumph, Tragedy and Canadian Baseball Player Harry Fisher. It tells the story of a relative of my husband’s, who had a long baseball […]
The Hockey Stalker: A Short Story
A small gift: a short story that appears in my 2021 collection, The Necessary Havoc of Love. He was standing outside the arena as they pulled up, a little man with bad hair. “That’s him,” Janis Trevor said, pointing out the car window. “I phoned Dad. He says legally they can bar him from coming […]
Story Editing Tip
During rewrites, go through your script and make sure at least one thing changes in every scene, and that it feeds your story. Maybe a bomb explodes, shredding expectations. Maybe one character loses power over another, whether she’s a mother confronting her daughter or a sergeant bellowing at a recruit. An image we’ve seen before […]