by Jamie Chavez | Jan 4, 2014 | Books You Might Like, The Writing Craft
I’m making a suggested reading list for a well-educated, well-read friend who has never been able to “get in” to fiction … but has declared her desire to do so. I’ve already decided on the first book: A Virtuous Woman, by Kaye Gibbons. I’ve read it several times,...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 7, 2012 | Miscellany
I’m not even sure how I stumbled on this, but I am utterly charmed by this cranky discussion of homes as museums: Here’s what I hate about Writers’ Houses: the basic mistakes. That art can be understood by examining the chewed pencils of the writer. That visiting such...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 29, 2011 | Books You Might Like, The Book Biz
One of the arguments I’ve heard made about why the reading public doesn’t really need brick-and-mortar bookstores anymore is that book buyers go in looking for specific books, and if that book isn’t in stock, they leave. And while this may be true on some level—I’m...
by Jamie Chavez | Jun 6, 2011 | Your Editor Says …
As I know you know, most fiction is based on a simple formula: you take an interesting character, give him a backstory, and then introduce a problem. It turns his world upside down. During the course of the novel, the protagonist struggles to restore equilibrium to...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 5, 2011 | Books You Might Like, Miscellany
Well, there’s a title for you, eh? I spent some time in Canada in my youth. Specifically on the island of Newfoundland, back in the days when most roads there were unpaved. In fact, when Queen Elizabeth came to visit—yes, my daddy put me on his shoulders so I could...
