Perhaps a strange takeaway, but thank you for reminding me that red tube worms exist. I’d completely forgotten about a book my grandmother gave me as a very small girl that had pictures and descriptions of all kinds of strange deep-water creatures, and that page was my favorite. I remember it so vividly. She passed when I was five years old, and the book disappeared some years later, but that photo brought it back.
How frustrating would it have been if you had only thought about the tree falling down but didn’t vocalize it?? This way your powers are on record. (Even if the prediction window is extremely short, it’s still enough time to jump out of the way of a tree, which is really all you need! For trees. Maybe not for tornadoes.)
Happy to hear the crumbs will still be coming, even if it’s more occasional. Would hate to lose this lovely, human corner of the internet.
Thank you for this! I found all of it helpful, but the part that gave me that deep nodding “Mmm” was “figuring out the answer to the question IS the answer”
This is one of the most helpful writerly advice pieces I have ever read. Learning how to learn is the most helpful advice for life, and it does double duty here. Thanks for this piece, it resonates strongly. I teach people how to cook… and all of this actually translates quite well to cooking (with the understanding that cooking is more ephemeral…there is no lasting “work” you can go back to and “re-read”, recipes are not the finished product…). I now have a blog post simmering with a big giant hat tip to you. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you so much for these specific tools for good practice. I’m sure this varies by book, but how frequently do you find yourself employing these deep-dive methods? Is it chapter/scene specific? Are there long stretches of writing (or rewriting) where this process is intuitive?
Thank you, as always this is incredibly helpful! I've been drifting toward this soft of practice naturally, I guess, by reflecting on/analysing whatever I'm reading more closely as a writer, not just enjoying it as a reader (forcing myself to read more slowly, take more notes, interrogate which aspects are done well/not well etc).
Given that book blurbs are written for readers, not for writers, how do you find exemplars for the specific aspect you want to study? Is there a way to search for it or do you just sample a lot of different books, needle in the haystack style?
Perhaps a strange takeaway, but thank you for reminding me that red tube worms exist. I’d completely forgotten about a book my grandmother gave me as a very small girl that had pictures and descriptions of all kinds of strange deep-water creatures, and that page was my favorite. I remember it so vividly. She passed when I was five years old, and the book disappeared some years later, but that photo brought it back.
How frustrating would it have been if you had only thought about the tree falling down but didn’t vocalize it?? This way your powers are on record. (Even if the prediction window is extremely short, it’s still enough time to jump out of the way of a tree, which is really all you need! For trees. Maybe not for tornadoes.)
Happy to hear the crumbs will still be coming, even if it’s more occasional. Would hate to lose this lovely, human corner of the internet.
Thank you for this! I found all of it helpful, but the part that gave me that deep nodding “Mmm” was “figuring out the answer to the question IS the answer”
This is one of the most helpful writerly advice pieces I have ever read. Learning how to learn is the most helpful advice for life, and it does double duty here. Thanks for this piece, it resonates strongly. I teach people how to cook… and all of this actually translates quite well to cooking (with the understanding that cooking is more ephemeral…there is no lasting “work” you can go back to and “re-read”, recipes are not the finished product…). I now have a blog post simmering with a big giant hat tip to you. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you so much for these specific tools for good practice. I’m sure this varies by book, but how frequently do you find yourself employing these deep-dive methods? Is it chapter/scene specific? Are there long stretches of writing (or rewriting) where this process is intuitive?
Thank you, as always this is incredibly helpful! I've been drifting toward this soft of practice naturally, I guess, by reflecting on/analysing whatever I'm reading more closely as a writer, not just enjoying it as a reader (forcing myself to read more slowly, take more notes, interrogate which aspects are done well/not well etc).
Given that book blurbs are written for readers, not for writers, how do you find exemplars for the specific aspect you want to study? Is there a way to search for it or do you just sample a lot of different books, needle in the haystack style?
Outlining other people's writing has been so helpful!