Can suspense ruin your novel?
Critic Wyatt Mason makes the case that too much build-up and too little pay-off will kill a good book. Suspense is a powerful narrative engine, and this blogged essay will help you control it. Check it out:
"the novel becomes an intrigue-generating machine, marching us steadily uphill towards the elusive narrative summit at which, though we cannot see it, we sense that all will be revealed. Alas, we reach the summit, and discover that the breathtaking view we have been awaiting is, instead, a punch in the nose from an insignificant fist."
The Creative Writing MFA Blog just took a comprehensive look at graduate writing programs in my favorite genre. Find out how to get a MFA in creative non-fiction.
It hurts to think about, but Portfolio magazine has a damning critique of the eReader market that should make most writers scared or angry or both. Read it and weep:
"The Kindle is not going to make a reader out of a nonreader. Few will say, 'Gee, reading books and magazines was prohibitively difficult before, but now that there's a $359 electronic reader available, I'm going to start!'"
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