When Good Writers Go Bad

April 18, 2011

Another memoir hits the dust: Greg Mortenson, author of the bestsellers Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, stands accused of fabricating parts of his “true” stories. Mortenson’s books are based upon the fact he “stumbled into” the village of Korphe after trying to climb K2 and getting lost; then, to make a long [...]

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Nordic Noir – Mystery Solved?

April 5, 2011

Ever wonder why it is readers are ravenous for Nordic noir? I recently attended a talk by Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir, who attempted to explain—or at least provide an indepth examination of—the phenomenon. Sigurdardottir, a civil engineer when not writing, displayed a set of tables and stats to make the point that, relative to other [...]

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Do You Overwrite? Adventurous Prose May Not Be Rewarded

March 23, 2011

Last night, I grabbed a bottle of wine off the shelf and, with the first sip of the evening, read from the label on the back of the bottle. My wine, South African, was a cheetah from a land where Nature reigns supreme, with dark blackberry notes, and a glass of it would be to [...]

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An Irish Literary Treat: Nuala O’Faolain

March 16, 2011

So, I’ve painted my nails green and perused my bookshelf for a favourite Irish read to thumb through with a pint of Guinness. It didn’t take me long to decide: Are You Somebody?, the gutsy, candid and often heart-breaking memoir of Irish writer and journalist Nuala O’Faolain. It came out in 1996, and The New [...]

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Safe Writing vs. Provocative Words

March 6, 2011

My friend Lou is the editor of a parenting magazine and writes a great column for each issue. She’s been at this job several years and knows enough to make her column neutral on most subjects. “But sometimes,” Lou tells me one night when we’re sitting up at the bar, “I long to write something [...]

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Oscar Fever: I’m in it for the Screenwriters

February 24, 2011

It’s that time of year again and I’m planning on spending three hours in front of my big-screen TV with white wine, smoked salmon, a little dark chocolate and a lot of Colin Firth. Sure, I’m watching to see the stars—and what they’re wearing—and who wins best actor/actress/picture, and I don’t fast-forward through awards for [...]

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Are You in Love With Your Prose?

February 11, 2011

In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about writers who love too much. You know, writers so smitten with a metaphor or simile, they let it go to print wearing the equivalent of a red lace teddy trimmed in pink marabou under a perfumed tiara. What I just wrote there–the lace, the marabou, etc.–is a [...]

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How to Write a Shameless Confession

January 31, 2011

One of my favorite novels, John Colapinto’s About the Author, is basically one long sordid confession from a wannabe writer, Cal, about how he falsely claims literary stardom. Recently, writing in National Post‘s Afterword, author Rebecca Eckler confessed to seriously messing with book displays in an Indigo bookstore. Author is close to 300 pages and [...]

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The Social Network: A Script That’s Great to the End

January 19, 2011

Let’s hear it for great endings. Sure, you need a captivating beginning and a meaty middle—readers probably won’t see that ending without them—but if the last page is weak, the whole story, every single scene that came before, fades with a whimper. For a strong ending, the main character(s) must resolve the central quest with [...]

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A Writer’s Take on Censoring Huck Finn

January 10, 2011

There’s been much controversy over the removal of politically incorrect terms from new editions of Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The revisions are necessary, proponents say, because Mark Twain’s best fiction has repeatedly been judged unsuitable for US schoolchildren. But if we take the “n-word” out of classic books, how will future generations [...]

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