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Blog: The Drawing Lesson's Blog Topics:Books, Publishing, Indie Author Mary E. Martin tweets
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Monthly Archives: November 2010
A Romance: How a place gets into novels…
Venice is filled with canals and Squares surrounded by ancient palazzos—perfect places to linger and reflect. Narrow fog-ridden calles run like silken spider-webs connecting the Squares and taking me ever onward in exploration of the city and myself. I am a writer and a photographer and I am in love with Venice. Continue reading
Things to Think About Before Leaving—Still in Toronto…
As you know, I’m a great fan of the writer and thinker Alain De Botton, and particularly of his book The Art of Travel. In that book, he makes an excellent point which is relevant to my musings. Why is … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged Alain de Botton, author, Books, Indie Author, inspiration, The Art of Travel, Travel, writer
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The Art of Travel and the Art of Writing…
I’m always delighted to read anything by the philosopher, Alain de Botton. In his engaging book, The Art of Travel, he distinguishes between the anticipation and recollection of travel versus the reality of actually traveling. When we anticipate, we study … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged Alain de Botton, Art of Travel, Indie Author, Travel, writing
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Up in the Air or Not…
It’s time for me to speak up. Usually, I’m tied up in worlds of my own creation—writing and reading, but every so often an event occurs which is so blatantly offensive and frightening that I have to speak up. What … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged 1984, Air Travel, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Huxley, Indie Author, Orwell, Outrage, Security, Terrorism, USA
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Writing to weave the spell…
One of my favorite authors is the Canadian writer, Robertson Davies. So, when I’m looking for inspiration and ideas, I turn to his articles on writing. One is entitled simply Writing, the other Reading. What makes a novel good or … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged inspiration, Novels, Reading, Research, Robertson Davies, writing
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Where do characters come from?
I’ve been talking about The Drawing Lesson, but I’m now thinking back to my very first novel, Conduct in Question, the first in The Osgoode Trilogy, where I worked hard to produce my very first evil character. Have you ever … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged author, fiction, Indie Author, inspiration, literary fiction, Publishing, The Osgoode Trilogy
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A Chat with Edward Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives…
Feeling lost and confused? Swamped by the tidal waves of change in the writing and publishing world? Me too. And so, I decided to look for some answers. Today, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Edward Nawotka, the … Continue reading
Description in Writing: What Details Do You Prefer?
I really only have one rule when it comes to settings in novels. Don’t write [at least not extensively] about a place you have not been. The reasons are obvious. To create, for the reader, a sense or a “feel” … Continue reading
Place, Space, Character and Venice…
In writing novels, I used to puzzle over the dictum that setting should be a character in your story. How can a place be a character? Perhaps they mean the setting can establish the mood or say something about your … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
Tagged author, fiction, Indie Author, Mary E. Martin, Publishing, The Drawing Lesson, Venice, writing, writing_research
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A profile on the character of Polyxena (via Polyxena’s Blog)
Hi…this looks really interesting. I’ve never tried writing in an historical setting. Do you spend a lot of time on research? Polyxena is young and precocious (for most of the novel she is seventeen; she turns eighteen about a month … Continue reading
Posted in Writing process
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