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When Books Write Themselves: Perspectives on Creativity

February 13, 2020

Writing

book, creativity, literature, writing

The key to writing good literature is understanding subtlety and gradation. When it comes to good fiction and great books, things are rarely binary. In other words, you can’t answer some questions with a simple yes or no. And the question do books write themselves? is precisely such a question.

On the surface, the answer appears to be “no, you idiot, how could books write themselves? You need a person to write them.” That’s (self-evidently) true, but it’s not the whole truth.

Because, as we will see in today’s post, not only do books write themselves – in some way which we’ll analyze – but you shouldn’t interfere with the process, either.

books write themselves
Books can write themselves – that is, they can escape the author’s conscious control
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The “What Is the Genre of My Book” Question

January 7, 2020

Writing

book title, fiction, genre, literature, marketing, writing

I have yet to meet a writer who hasn’t at some point wondered “What’s the genre of my book?” so let’s tackle this question and see why (if?) it matters.

The genre of a book is an issue that plagues writers, readers, librarians, publishers, and generally everyone dealing with books and literature.

In today’s post we’ll see how you can define the genre of your book. But here’s a twist in the plot: I’ll also inspire you to ask yourself whether determining the genre of your book is something you actually need to care about at all.

genre of my book
Determining genre – such as “Romance”, “Fantasy”, or “Romantic Fantasy” – is a marketing decision. The issue is, to which extent should it affect the creative process?
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How to Control the Narrative Pace

December 10, 2019

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

affect, narrative, pace, writing

Controlling the narrative pace is an aspect of writing that most authors aspire to learn. However, it’s also a fairly misunderstood concept. To learn how to control the narrative pace you must know three things: how, when, and – most importantly – why.

First of all, a quick definition: The narrative pace (or narrative pacing) of a story refers to the speed at which the author offers the story. Obviously, this isn’t linked to the speed at which the events of the story occur.

Indeed, as we’ll see in this post, the discrepancy between the two is a key component. The difference between these two – speed of narrative versus speed of plot – is integral in figuring out how to control the narrative pace.

How to control the narrative pace
To learn how to control the narrative pace, you must understand three things: how, when, and – most crucially – why
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