Jerry Stubblefield

One of the most oft heard mantras in writing groups, and an important one, is "Show, don't tell." Some years ago I was in a group, and the mode of criticism favored by one of the writers was to go through a piece and find every instance of "telling" and mark it "Show this." I never saw him make any other suggestions to anyone in the group, but that one he made often, to everyone. It was a valuable note, and we could use some of our revising time much less wisely than searching out those "telling… Continue

With the Internet, it's possible to check and make sure your title hasn't already been used. That wasn't quite so true in 2000, when my publisher first heard of my novel in that initial query letter. I'm not sure I even had the Internet in 2000. And then when I did get hooked into the www, my computer, or modem or whatever, was so slow that it was impractical to do searches. Was Google even around back then? Anyway, as search engines became faster and more useful, I finally did determine that my… Continue

Is your protagonist you? Yes, always. But to what degree?


Like Hector Owen, I am a playwright who, as a young graduate with a degree in playwriting, moved to New York City to make my name, and then after years of trying, with some success but not fame and fortune, I moved to Asheville. Like Hec, I'm married to a woman I met in New York, and yes, I did some drugs in the sixties. The similarity, as regards my and Hec's biographies, ends there.

My novel could have been about any kind of artist,… Continue