Who would have thought the life of former President Hamilton would make good theatre, or that T. S. Elliot’s reference to cats in, “The Waste Land” would inspire a Broadway musical? Certainly, I’d have scoffed at either project had they been suggested to me. That both thea
When Prerna Gupta decided to take a year off to write fiction with her husband, the couple experimented by crafting stories for cell phone apps. Though the pieces were short, no more than a 5 minute read, only 15% of viewers finished them. That’s when the pair decided to experimen
I received a lovely rejection letter the other day for one of my weird parables. The editor hadn’t a clue about what I was doing but wanted to help, perhaps seeing a glimmer of talent. He made suggestions entirely inappropriate to the genre I was inventing but which, I suspect
In 2014, I wrote about the Intentional Fallacy, a term of literary criticism. (6/5/14) The theory states that to understand a work of art, nothing is relevant except the piece itself. Knowledge of the artist’s childhood or what he or she ate for breakfast has no bearing on int
I sometimes marvel at the subjects some authors choose to explore. Take, Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing by Matthew Kirschbaum. (“Word Perfect,” by Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, June 2016, pgs. 71-73.) How large, I wonder, is the audience that
A poet in China complains her country has weaker communications skills than Americans and therefore is less able to promote its core values. Students in China, she says, are taught by rote rather than encouraged to use creativity and imagination. (“Shall We Teach Creativity?”
Literature makes a great contribution to our culture, but should it be taught in high school? That question is the genesis for a new book, Lit Up by David Denby. (“Saved by the Bell,” by William Giraldi, New Republic, March 2016, pgs. 66-68.) As a former high school English te
Editing books appears to be a job headed for specialization. In the past, my novels were reviewed by one individual. That person corrected for both content and technical errors. Between the time I did extensive rewrites on my upcoming novel, Ballet Noir, and was ready for a fina
Death and dying is a process as fearful for the artist as it is for the rest of us and immortality just as meaningless. But their manner of leave-taking should tell us something about the genius that purports to lift mystery’s veil on existence, at least a little. Dylan Thomas raile
A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO BLOG READERS Ballet Noir_ Front Cover- My fourth novel, Ballet Noir will be released April 14. For the fist time ever, I am able to offer a pre-publication discount of 10%. Order before April 14: http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/ballet-noir. PRE