Anne Learns to Write
For someone who’s been writing for five decades, it’s weird that I just learned how.
Anne Learns to Write Read More »
Danebury Hill
The Slow Grind of a First Draft
Let me tell you about first drafts. Well, my first drafts. Or at least this particular first draft. It’s a mess. It feels like a hopeless mess.
The Slow Grind of a First Draft Read More »
How’s that Brokeback Mountain ripoff coming, anyway?
I examine the internal roadblocks to completing my draft of the Brokeback Mountain inspired story, and try to get going again.
How’s that Brokeback Mountain ripoff coming, anyway? Read More »
Preparing for Episode 10
The Masterwork Experiment podcast concludes with today’s recording. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Preparing for Episode 10 Read More »
Masterwork Experiment 3: Defining the Characters
In this episode Shawn and I spend some talking about the two characters I’ve already begun to define for Danebury Hill: Matthew the footman and Josiah the groom. I argued for giving my characters more of a happy ending, partly because I want to solve the puzzle of how two servant class men in the
Masterwork Experiment 3: Defining the Characters Read More »
Masterwork Experiment Episode 2
In this episode, I ace the “Beginning Hook, Middle Build, Ending Payoff” summary of Brokeback Mountain, though not without a few tears in my voice, because damn, that story is sad. There’s a huge temptation, in working with someone as accomplished as Shawn Coyne, to play the Good Student and try to get an A
Masterwork Experiment Episode 2 Read More »
Danebury Hill: Getting Started
In Episode 1 of The Masterwork Experiment, Shawn Coyne and I discussed the parameters of the experiment. I’m supposed to break Annie Proulx’s 10,500 word long-short story into its component scenes, and later into its beats. Beats are the sub-parts of scenes. I don’t understand them yet, but Shawn has described them as “units of
Danebury Hill: Getting Started Read More »
Podcasting with Shawn Coyne
Ten weeks writing a novella in public with Shawn Coyne as my editor…and a whole series of very strict constraints. What could go wrong?
Podcasting with Shawn Coyne Read More »