Review Tales
Trusted Reviews and Author Features Since 2016
The Hidden Protagonist by Ron Zayas
I was halfway through my novel, following my character descriptions and intricate outline to a T, when I realized I had the wrong hero.
Read MoreNancy Burkhalter – The Education of Delhomme: Chopin, Sand, & La France – Le Mot Juste
Nancy Burkhalter
The Education of Delhomme: Chopin, Sand, & La France
Le Mot Juste
For the historical novelist, thorough research is mandatory. We must make sure that the Union Pacific train ran through Laramie, Wyoming, in 1880 and not the Burlington Northern. Even if it’s anachronistic attire or crops that were never grown in the area, this oversight can have the effect of pulling readers out of the story and losing trust in your writing. Readers will know if you goof up.
Read MoreFunny Things by Jennifer deBie
Being a novelist is a funny thing.
It’s a funny thing for a whole host of reasons, but the funniness of it struck me particularly hard this past weekend, when I realized at 1:32AM Saturday morning that I was stone-cold sober, and earnestly researching the etymology of the term ‘serial killer’ for a throwaway detail in the novel I’m currently writing.
Read MoreInspiration by Donald Furrow-Scott
After four years of writing four novels and fully outlining four more, a calm is overcoming my muse this summer. It is not a fit of writer’s block, in fact, quite the opposite. Nor is it some f​uror poeticus​ that will result in yet another stress-squozen pandemic novel.
Read MoreThoughts on writing a collection of interlinked stories by Elizabeth Merry
Carey Harrison, novelist and playwright, said once, that if you get into the habit of writing novels, short stories, plays, or television scripts, then every idea you get turns itself into the appropriate length. And to avoid that, you should aim for different lengths, different structures. Although I have written two novels for children and a collection of poetry, that was a long time ago, and for many years now every idea turns itself into a short story. I don’t mind though; it seems to suit me best, and works best for me too.
Read MoreFollowing Hollywood on location by Richard Starks
Write what you know. That’s one of the rules for creating good fiction, so as much as possible you should draw on your own first-hand experiences. Not easy to do when you’re writing historical fiction (unless you’re two hundred years old), in which case you need to up your game when it comes to research.
Read MoreReality is Elusively Absurd by Brian Petkash
Reality is elusively absurd. To render in art the every day, the rhythm, and meter of life, can be a fool’s errand. One must first set out to define what is real, it seems, and then develop a method of sending one’s fictional reality to invade another’s actual reality. This is no easy thing.
Read MoreLiterary Devices Make Writers Giggle by John Espie
Back when I was taking Lit classes, I kept learning about allegory and extended metaphors and allusions and lots of other fancy words, and the whole time I couldn’t help but think, Are these professors taking this stuff way more seriously than the actual writers did?
Read MoreWriting the Gift Story by Alex Bernstein
No one likes staring at a blank page. Fortunately, many writers cultivate all sorts of prompts and tools to conquer that authorial vacuum as much as possible – whether it be leaving the previous day’s writing off on a cliffhanger – or maintaining an endless List of Ideas forever begging to be written.
Read More
Review Tales 