I have always loved getting together with fellow writers and avid readers. I can almost always guarantee there will be an absence of small talk and chit chat. Authors and writers tend to think deeply, to converse engagingly, and to entertain interesting and unique perspectives. Nothing bores me more than mindless cocktail conversation (except ad-filled …
Tag: Dunkard's Hollow
The unexpected fact checker …
While I was working on my latest novel, one set in the the Virginia Highlands—a mountainous region with soaring views and deep restful valleys—I had an unexpected fact checker. I had written in a late spring storm. As an earnest novelist, I am always cognizant of "verisimilitude"—the requirement that demands that everything in a book …
Readers are different …
A month or so ago, I published my third novel. As always , I did so with great trepidation and hope! Living with a novel for weeks, months, years provides an author with a deep and penetrating knowledge of the characters and their lives. In one respect, authors come to know them so well that …
The landing gear is down …
The hardest thing about writing a novel isn't the writing. It isn't even the editing. It's certainly not finding a suitable cover (that's fun!) The hardest part—undoubtedly—is letting it go and sending it out for the public to read. And that is just where I'm poised right now. I've been flying with and around this …
The verdict is in …
I love using beta readers as I’m working on a book. They are so helpful, especially to counteract the very real tunnel vision that writers get when they’ve looked at a manuscript—stared at it incessantly—for months and months and months. This time around, I had several beta readers who were quite helpful. But the chief …
M.K.B. Graham 