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The machinery of writing: First drafts, technology, and doing what works
When I set out to write my first novel, I wrote it with pen on notebook paper in a three-ring binder, which I had on hand because I needed them for sixth grade. My family didn’t own a typewriter and home computers hadn’t been invented, but I took a typing class in junior high school—the…
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Researching the Fantastic: On knowing enough to pretend
I know a little about a lot, but I don’t know a lot about a little. I’m a generalist. I research when I need to—but as little as possible because I’d rather be writing. Fantasy writers whose setting is an actual time and place might do a lot of research, as I have done for…
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The development of plot development
Index cards and bulletin boards. That’s it. I considered several technological options to support plot development, but decided against them. The bulletin boards are leaning against the furniture near the music stand, because my writing space has five doorways, two windows, a fireplace, and no walls. Which brings to mind this limerick by Gelett Burgess…
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The Watcher’s Mask
I’ve electronically published my novel The Watcher’s Mask. As with Dancing Jack, it’s available in multiple formats on Smashwords (https://bit.ly/WatchersMask) and on Kindle (bit.ly/43qrtjp) The Watcher’s Mask was my fourth published novel, and I felt confident enough to give it an unreliable and often unlikeable narrator who doesn’t know the real story, both about her…
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That Amazing Feeling
Today I finished writing the first chapter of the first draft of a new book. During the labor of preparing DANCING JACK and THE WATCHER’S MASK for publication, the writing of a new chapter in a new book functioned like a dog biscuit dangled before a corgi, and, corgi-like, I was often tempted to…
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Dancing Jack
The DANCING JACK e-book is now available on Amazon Kindle as well as on Smashwords! (Which is amazing because I’ve been working on this project for a VERY LONG TIME.) Amazon: amzn.to/3mkQf36 Smashwords: bit.ly/3IxxlO8 Smashwords distributes my books to all ebook sellers, and therefore you can purchase this book wherever you like, in your preferred…
Laurie J. Marks 