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Blog: Looking for Mr Goodstory Topics:Fiction, Humor, History -
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Category Archives: WRITING
WHY A TOMATO IS NOT AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ANY HISTORICAL NOVEL
Looks harmless enough, doesn’t it? But Solanum lycopersicum could cost you readers. I got this the other day: “I started reading Silk Road a couple of days back and was enjoying it very much, just as I had enjoyed one … Continue reading
WHAT PRICE TALENT?
THE SITUATION Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. People rushed past on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, … Continue reading
FROM AUNTY IVY TO KHUBILAI KHAN
My primary school teacher’s name was Mrs Boyne. She once told my mother at a parent interview: “Your son is a complete dreamer. He’ll never amount to anything in this life.” I still think that was a pretty harsh judgment … Continue reading
FROM PONGWIFFY TO SHAKESPEARE
When she was three years old my baby girl crawled on my lap in my study and asked me what I was doing. “I’m writing a book,” I said. “Well, that’s just adicalus,’ she said. She had heard her mother … Continue reading
WRITE THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL. RETIRE A LEGEND.
Last week we talked about one of the great one hit wonders of the 20th century – Margaret Mitchell and Gone with the Wind. Her name was Nelle – it was her grandmother’s name, Ellen spelled backwards – and she … Continue reading
HOW TO WRITE A BEST SELLER. OUTSELL THE BIBLE. THEN QUIT.
So how do you write a bestseller? In this young woman’s case … she was bored. She had broken her ankle and it was taking a long time to heal. All she could do was read. Her husband was fed … Continue reading
IF YOU WRITE THAT, I’LL KILL YOU
So, religion. Is it about God or is it about women’s rights? Egypt’s Moslem Brotherhood recently spoke out against a UN declaration on women’s rights, saying it could “destroy society” by allowing a woman to travel, work and use contraception … Continue reading
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAILURE AND HEADY, UNDREAMED-OF SUCCESS?
Between washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant and treading the red carpet at the Oscars? Not very much. Ask Michael Blake. Through the late seventies, he turned out one unproduced screenplay after another. But in 1981 a friend of his … Continue reading
WOULD YOU LIKE 3½ BILLION PEOPLE TO KNOW YOUR LEAD CHARACTER?
“My name is Bond …” If you then blurted out: “James Bond!” then you are one of the three and a half billion people on this planet who are familiar with Ian Fleming’s famous literary creation. Would you like three … Continue reading
THE SECRET THAT THE WORLD’S GREATEST MYSTERY WRITER NEVER REVEALED
At quarter to ten on the evening of Friday, December 3, 1926, an up and coming crime writer left her home in Berkshire, England saying she was going out for a drive. She first went upstairs to kiss her sleeping … Continue reading
