Category Archives: writer’s notes

a sentence with hidden depths

Posted on 7 September 2020 by Paul Vitols

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo. . . . Thus the … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

well begun is half done

Posted on 23 August 2020 by Paul Vitols

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

the hermit (crab) comes out of his shell again

Posted on 16 February 2020 by Paul Vitols

Today I finally caved and bought some new writing software. After spending a few days acquainting myself with a trial version of Scrivener, an all-purpose rough-draft-generating application produced by a writer-turned-developer (or vice versa) named Keith Blount in 2007, I … Continue reading →

Posted in thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

novel vs. novel 4: journeys local and galactic

Posted on 6 December 2019 by Paul Vitols

The two recently read novels I look at today, Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, are, in many ways, like night and day. The two works do have some similarities: they … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

novel vs. novel 3: souls in chains

Posted on 21 November 2019 by Paul Vitols

The last two novels I read were The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Again, I do my best to read the novels on my reading list in the order in … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

novel vs. novel 2: men with attitude

Posted on 21 October 2019 by Paul Vitols

Back in August I wrote a post in which I compared two random novels that I happened to have read back to back. Well, that was so much fun I’m going to do it again. How do I happen to … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

climaxology

Posted on 8 September 2019 by Paul Vitols

I’ve been working on the climax of my epic-in-progress, The Age of Pisces, and I’ve been at it for some months now. There’s a lot to think about. For one thing, The Age of Pisces is to be a multivolume … Continue reading →

Posted in The Age of Pisces, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

novel vs. novel

Posted on 28 August 2019 by Paul Vitols

I’m a fiction writer, so I pay close attention to the fiction I read. I’m always looking to learn how other practitioners have done things. What worked for them—and what didn’t? The two novels I’ve read most recently are Grand … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, thoughts, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

if you can’t read a book, read a bookmark

Posted on 12 February 2019 by Paul Vitols

Time to build some more vocabulary! I have recorded another video of me reading out a completed vocab bookmark, and posted that to my Facebook author page. Now, as promised, I am putting up the words for your perusal. Again, … Continue reading →

Posted in vocabulary, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

building vocab one strip of paper at a time

Posted on 18 January 2019 by Paul Vitols

Many people believe that we think by using language–words. Not me. Indeed, I think it’s easy to show that this idea is not true. In my view, language is a communication technology. But it’s still extremely important, and all the … Continue reading →

Posted in vocabulary, writer's notes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment