The Tricky Task of Writing a Villain
theatlantic.com – Sunday March 27, 2022
In literature, and in real life, many times the villain makes the story. But writing a nuanced account of these characters, whether in fiction or in nonfiction, can be tricky. In her book Putin’s People, Catherine Belton uncovers important details from Putin’s past and tells what we might consider his origin story. One evening in December 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a group of protesters started making its way to the KGB station in Dresden. Putin called for reinforcements, but none came. This was his turning point, Anne Applebaum writes, the moment that “marked the end of [the Soviet] empire and the beginning of an era of humiliation.” She describes his disdain for democracy as his answer to that “trauma,” but she’s clear that his success has “proved a terrible tragedy for the rest of the world.”
Get your creative writing juices flowing
kemptonexpress.co.za – Sunday March 27, 2022
Writers 2000 is an interest group for writers at all levels and has been running its annual writing competition for many years.
The 2022 competition has been launched and interested writers are encouraged to put their thinking caps on and come up with original ideas.
The theme for the competition is A Twist of Fate and this must be the inspiration for these categories:
• Fiction
• Flash fiction
• Non-fiction
London Book Fair 2022: agents' hotlists
thebookseller.com – Sunday March 27, 2022
Thrillers continue to prove popular among this year’s gamut of upcoming titles, alongside themes of climate change, grief, resilience and hope.
Pulitzer winner Anne Tyler on writing from black viewpoint: ‘I should be allowed to do it’
nypost.com – Tuesday March 22, 2022
One of America’s most acclaimed authors is wading into the culture wars, saying she believes she should be able to create characters from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Anne Tyler, 80, spoke out on the issue in an interview with the Sunday Times, stating, “I’m astonished by the appropriation issue. It would be very foolish for me to write, let’s say, a novel from the viewpoint of a black man, but I think I should be allowed to do it.”
Tyler — who won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel “Breathing Lessons” — also hit out at cancel culture.
“If an incredibly talented person has written novels in the 1930s or ’40s and all of a sudden it is discovered that there was something he said or did — even something as bad as sexual harassment — he should be condemned for it but I don’t see why you should withdraw his novels from publication,” she told the British publication.
‘It just exploded’: The Bad Guys author on writing ‘Tarantino for kids’ – and selling millions
theguardian.com – Tuesday March 22, 2022
Aaron Blabey decided to improve the boring books his son was bringing home: now his bestseller series is a starry Hollywood animation
What would a Quentin Tarantino film for children look like? Probably something close to The Bad Guys, a DreamWorks adaptation of a book series about a gang of criminal animals who, after a lifetime of heists, are tasked with doing good for the world in order to avoid prison.
It has a starry cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade and Zazie Beetz, among others. But the man behind the series is Australian author Aaron Blabey, who has sold around 30m books: a staggering, mind-blowing figure. Speaking to Blabey ahead of The Bad Guys film release, even he still seems in shock about his own success.
The New Hampshire Writers’ Project Annual 603 Writers’ Conference Explores Telling Better Stories
indepthnh.org – Friday March 18, 2022
Award-winning biographer, editor, historian and screenwriter, Geoffrey C. Ward best known for his collaborations with Ken Burns to join NH Writers’ Project Chair Masheri Chappelle in soulful conversation at morning plenary session
Concord, NH, March 15, 2022 — The New Hampshire Writers’ Project (NHWP) is hosting its annual 603 Writer’s Conference virtually on Saturday, June, 4, 2022. The day kicks off at 8:30 a.m. with an in-depth conversation with special guest Geoffrey C. Ward; and culminates with NHWP’s signature Pitch Party that offers attendees the opportunity to make their best book pitch to a panel of professional literary agents, publishers, editors, and celebrated authors. The Pitch Party offers a cash prize of $250 for the winner. Previous Pitch Party winner, Brinda Charry, landed a two-book publishing deal following her win.
New Literary Agent Listing: Rachel Petty
firstwriter.com – Friday March 18, 2022
Represents children’s fiction and non-fiction, from picture books up to YA and crossover. Looking for ambitious storytelling, a bold approach to structure and voice and a fresh take on genre. Particularly interested in submissions from author/illustrators and people from underrepresented and marginalised communities. Likes YA romance, horror and thrillers (or a combination of all three, especially with a twist), hooky sweeping fantasy (wants excellent world building with a simple, clever pitch), hilarious middle grade, bold graphic picture books, and anything that has the potential to jump off the page and onto the screen.
The Best Sex Melissa Febos Has Ever Read
vulture.com – Wednesday March 16, 2022
The writer Melissa Febos draws from the raw materials of her life — including her work as a dominatrix, struggles with addiction, and relationship with her mother. In her fourth book, Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative, a blend of master class and memoir, she defends the aesthetic and social value of personal writing. Weaving together anecdotes and allusions to literary, psychological, and religious works, as well as advice she refined while teaching graduate workshops, Febos shows how treating sex writing as taboo upholds oppressive conventions. The best sex she ever read is this passage from the poet Eileen Myles’s novel Inferno about the protagonist’s first time sleeping with another woman. The scene euphorically breaks all the rules Febos once learned about writing sex: to avoid humor, certain words, and grossness.
New Literary Agent Listing: Rachel Neely
firstwriter.com – Wednesday March 16, 2022
I’m looking for unforgettable and thought-provoking fiction, the kind that leaves your mind racing uncontrollably, hours after turning the last page. Whether commercial or literary, or something in between, I want authors who can match a distinctive voice with an equally compelling plot. I generally prefer darker stories; my favourite books often centre characters with tragic fates, dark pasts or buried trauma. I would also particularly like to find authors from underrepresented groups, who often bring a fresh perspective to well-worn story arcs or reflect experiences that are shared by many but, as of yet, underexplored in fiction.
How It Felt to Have My Novel Stolen
newyorker.com – Tuesday March 15, 2022
On the verge of selling my first book, I was scammed by a manuscript thief. My deepest insecurities about wanting to be a writer came rushing to the surface.
At 2:47 p.m. on September 20, 2020, I received what appeared to be an innocuous e-mail from my literary agent, Chris. Could I send over the latest version of my unsold novel-in-progress as a Microsoft Word file? “I just realized,” the e-mail read, “that I only have it as a PDF.” It wasn’t like Chris to misplace things, but the situation didn’t seem implausible. People switch computers. In-boxes get gnarly. I found an old e-mail with the Word file attached and forwarded it along.
At 3:44 p.m., another e-mail arrived: “Strange, I haven’t received anything now . . . can you resend please?” I re-forwarded the old e-mail with the Word file. At 4:03 p.m., I got another e-mail, which explained that Chris’s agency was in the process of switching servers, and perhaps this explained why my e-mails weren’t coming through. Could I try again, this time working around the problem by changing the .com suffix in Chris’s normal e-mail to .co?
Looking back, this is the part where I can’t quite understand my actions. Why didn’t I just call Chris and ask him what was going on? Here’s my best attempt at a defense. The night before, I’d been up several times, tending to my nine-week-old son, and never finding my way back to true sleep. I started on coffee sometime around dawn. When these e-mails came, I was a quivering zombie, incapable of real thought, looking only to move forward, dealing with whatever came up until the next time my son slept, when I could try sleeping, too. I was in no condition to think, only to do.
Not long after I sent the Word manuscript to the .co address, my phone rang. It was Chris. He’d been offline for a few hours, he said, so he was just now seeing that I’d sent him my manuscript twice that morning. Why, he asked, sounding more than a little bit stressed, had I done that, when he hadn’t asked me to?
I’d been scammed.
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