One of the great writers — a true craftsman — of the the 20th century, E.B. White, had this to say on the responsibility that writers have: “A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. I feel no obligation to deal with politics. I do feel […]
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Literary journalism, explained
If it is to be literary journalism, the writer must be a journalist, not a fiction writer. That is, the writer cannot make anything up. The facts, descriptions and quotations must be true. They must be things that happened. Sometimes, for the sake of the story, writes create “composite” scenes or characters. If they do […]
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In which I answer the question, “What’s next?”, part 2: the suffrage ladies and me
The suffrage ladies may not be done with me. Those were the women who, between 1910 and 1920, affected the most profound change in the make-up of the electorate in the history of the Republic. In 2013, Seeing Suffrage was published by the University of Tennessee Press. The book was about the 1913 Washington suffrage […]
Self-published author: Why I’m Mad About the Self-Publishing Stigma
The good sense — even the morality — of self-publishing is blindingly obvious to some of us. So, doesn’t everyone see it that way. We need to be reminded that, no, everyone doesn’t see it that way. Most the world, including a few intelligent souls, see it otherwise. Self-published author Liz Long has a good […]
Can You Afford to Get Published? Well, yes
The original post, Can You Afford to Get Published?, by Kate Flora appeared on the Maine Crime Writers website, but I am re-posting this from The Passive Voice because of the many insightful comments that it drew. Author Flora laments the fact that she makes so little money for all of her efforts at writing. […]
A straight-forward defense of self publishing
Gene Doucette has a pretty straight-forward defense of self-publishing for those who think that getting a traditional publisher makes your work somehow “better.” Worth the read: The Self-Published Authors Standing On Your Lawn | G. Doucette For reasons I’ve never been entirely clear on, when the newspaper industry began its slow decline, the very best version of […]
Pronoun, a new way to self-publish — maybe
Update: Lots more skepticism about Pronoun in the blogosphere. See the comments here at The Passive Voice. (Posted June 19, 2015) … Pronoun, a site and system that helps authors self publish, has announced a new manifesto — How to fix book publishing — and has raised $3.5 million in its efforts to do so. […]
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Writing for the Mass Media now an all-digital offering from Pearson
Writing for the Mass Media, now in its ninth edition and in print since 1985, is now being offered by Pearson, the publisher, in a digital edition that downloads to all formats and devices. This book, which is used as a textbook for courses in about 200 colleges and universities each year, is one of […]
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Advice to young Tommy Wilson: load your sentences like a rifle, not a shotgun
The advice given to a future president by his father about forming sentences gives us a picturesque metaphor for good writing.
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