fiction Archives - Page 34 of 47 - Home For Fiction

fiction

Review of Rachel Cusk’s Outline

July 21, 2019

book, fiction, Greece, literary fiction, literature, Rachel Cusk, review

This post features another book review, and yet it’s so much more than a review. Writing this review of Rachel Cusk’s Outline is a fantastic opportunity for me to talk about literary fiction. What it should be and what it doesn’t care about.

Often on this blog I talk about over-explaining in fiction, or about realistic characters versus insignificant plots. Rachel Cusk’s Outline is one of the best examples of what high-quality (literary) fiction ought to be.

Outline is not perfect (we’ll talk about its flaws in a while), but as an example it’s near-flawless. In other words, it’s great teaching material.

(more…)

Colors in Writing: How To Use Them in Your Novel

June 28, 2019

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

feelings, fiction, manipulation, symbolism, writing

Vision is one of our most important senses. We use our eyes to interact with much of the world around us. Unsurprisingly, colors reveal a vast universe of beauty and meaning. Why should they be absent from your fiction? Colors in writing are far more important than many authors give them credit for.

Since colors are so important in our everyday life, it’s only natural that we respond to them in fiction, too—ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς; Eos rhododactylos, rosy-fingered Dawn, says Homer.

colors in writing — Colors in writing often convey rich symbolic meanings

My personal favorite from modern English literature is a description in Pamela Zoline’s “The Heat Death of the Universe”, referring to a land that, like California(!) is “Cunt Pink and Avocado Green”.

Learning how to use colors in your writing can add significant depth to your fiction. So, let’s get started!

(more…)

Review of Bittersweet

June 24, 2019

Book Review, Criticism

book, fiction, France, literature, review

Today’s post offers a review of Bittersweet, by Lloyd R. Free. This is a novel set in the early 1960s – a time of great political and cultural upheaval. In this context, two young friends decide to leave the United States behind and move to France.

The full title of the novel is Bittersweet: A Coming of Age Historical Romance. I must say it right away, I’m really not a fan of over-explaining in fiction, and that includes book titles. This is particularly the case with (sub)titles denoting the genre of the book.

Ironically enough, the novel was described as literary fiction to me. It isn’t, and the title is the first clue – both because it describes what it really is (a coming-of-age story), and because it (over)describes. Have you ever seen a title such as Mary and John: A Literary-Fiction Story?

(more…)