http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog Erin M. Kinch's musings upon the writing profession Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:16:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Howdy out there. Just a quick shout out to my friend Meng (also known as my sister's boyfriend) -- the episode of Jeopardy! that he taped this summer is airing today. Much excitement around our house today! I tell you, I always wondered if I had the skills to be on ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/10/03/jeopardy/ Main characters aren't always the brightest bulbs in the shed, but when a character does veer into the stupid zone, it is so much more irritating to me as a reader when the story is told in the first person point of view. The problem is that for the reader to ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/10/02/stupidity-in-the-first-person-narrator/ Every Day Fiction released its table of contents for October. There looks to be some great fiction ahead next month! Some of the stories I'm looking forward to include Kevin Shamel's story on 10/8, K.C. Ball's story on 10/16, my writing group mate Alex Burns's story on 10/20, and Sylvia ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/30/edf-october-toc/ I think that the line between a story that's cliche and a story that breathes new life into an old trope can be very fine indeed. Sometimes, I think that the line is more in the head of the reader than anything else. Of course, the writer has to do ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/29/one-readers-cliche/ All Things Girl's fall issue is out, and I loved this article about being a "book aunt" by our own Miss Meliss. I never thought about it in quite these terms, but when I read the article, I realized that I totally am a book aunt, too. When my best friend ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/26/being-a-book-aunt/ Head on over to Every Day Fiction today and read the story of the day written by my writing group mate Jens. It's a fun romp, and if you haven't read the first B&D novella, it's linked in his EDF bio. You should check that out, too. Happy reading, and happy ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/26/blankenship-dawes-make-another-appearance/ I had a piece accepted by Every Day Fiction today. What fun! It's called "A Million Faces." I would give you a teaser about the plot, but since it's flash, there's not too much extra to give away! I'll just say that the title is a literal description of the ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/24/accepted/ I think that the reading you do when you're young has a bigger affect on you that any other reading you do in your life. I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but reading you do when you're a child is really powerful. It shapes you as a future reader, ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/23/childhood-reading/ "Be my girlfriend for five minutes?" That's the catalyst to Nick and Norah's whirlwind night in the Y/A novel Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Nick is recovering from a brutal breakup and doesn't want his ex to know how much he's hurting, and Norah wants to avoid the same girl for ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/21/book-review-nick-and-norah-naomi-and-ely/ I was surfing around the blog-o-sphere on this lazy Saturday, and I found some interesting links about Y/A fiction. First, here is Y/A author Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls series) talking about the wrong questions aspiring Y/A authors ask. Then here she talks about the questions aspiring Y/A authors don't think to ... http://www.erinmkinch.com/blog/2008/09/20/ya-link-fest/