Bubble and Squeek for 30 May 2024

As a writer, I have, on occasion, been accused of pulling my punches. Not often, but that criticism has been levied once or twice in feedback on a WIP. And like most writers, I’ve fallen into the hateful trap of obsessing over negative details (valid or not), rather than seeing what actually works in a manuscript. Some might call this counterproductive. Usually they’d be right, but paying careful attention to critiques that stick in my craw has helped me improve my work. And grow a thicker skin. One time, though, this fixation led to a change in me, not in the manuscript. I was going through final edits of my novelette, FINIS.. In it, a character considers drowning herself. I knew in my gut the end of her arc was the right one. I wasn’t trying to be Kate Chopin or Shakespeare; nor was I writing realistic fiction. FINIS. is...

Curtis is one of those good guys I enjoy meeting up with at conventions. He’s smart and eloquent. He’s also a good writer. Here, he talks about the importance of names in his debut novel, WAYPOINT KANGAROO. DOFF THY NAME What’s in a name? that which we call a rose    By any other name would smell as sweet;    So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,    Retain that dear perfection which he owesWithout that title… — Juliet, Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene II) Shakespeare did many clever things as a writer, and Juliet’s “balcony speech” is one of the cleverest. The literal interpretation of her words is, of course, false: names do matter, especially in fiction. “Humbert and Juliet” would have been a totally different story. (See what I did there? Referencing Lolita to creep you out? The power of a name, my friend.) When I’m writing a story,...