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Updates Made by John O'Rourke
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 5:25:28 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled point-of-view narration can make all the difference:
John said, "A new book on Vladimir Nabokov was published recently, Nabokov in America--on the road to Lolita, by Robert Roper. Reading it gave occasion to reflect on Nabokov's writing of Lolita, one of the most widely known novels in contemporary American..." more
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 1:56:58 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled more of new digital publishing opportunities:
John said, "In a past post on new developments in publishing we discussed a new Amazon company called Kindle Scout. Unlike a previous Amazon business plan to acquire books for its Kindle unit, where the only income received by an author is through..." more
Monday, August 31, 2015 2:17:19 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled reader-powered publishing:
John said, "Monks and Scribes Guild Seeks Injunction Against New Self-Publisher, GutenbergRecently we've discussed some of the attractions that no-cost self-publishing providers offer to book writers. Amazon's KDP for e-books, and CreateSpace for..." more
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 2:49:00 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled elements of choice for how to start the writing:
John said, "Begin -- and find the personalityLast week one of our leading authors of fiction died--E. L. Doctorow. He was noted for creating fiction in a historical setting and mingling real persons of the period along with his fictional characters...." more
Monday, June 29, 2015 4:40:09 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled leaving--a theme for writing fiction:
John said, "Gaelwriter, 1990, on wilderness hikein Sweetwater Mountains, CAOne of the universal themes in fiction writing is "leaving." Our main character has been left by another, or he/she has left someone else. The event, whether it be a death,..." more
Thursday, April 30, 2015 5:36:00 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled backstory: this volume or next?:
John said, "BackstoryWe sometimes begin our stories in medias res, in the midst of things, with no preamble as to who these characters are, or how this situation developed. It's often a good strategy, and can help capture a reader in the crucial..." more
Monday, March 30, 2015 8:36:06 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled Stoker's writing of Dracula, and an annotator's twist:
John said, "Modern VampireThe classic story of Dracula, by Bram Stoker, originally published in 1887, has had a long, and continuing run with readers of fiction--or was it even fiction? In the 2008 special edition by W. W. Norton, with an introduction by..." more
Thursday, February 26, 2015 8:18:29 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled dialects, use them or avoid them?:
John said, "Fand, Celtic Goddess of the Sea, soaking up the raysDialect, "a particular form of a language specific to a certain region or group" as one dictionary has it, can be an alluring facet for writing a fictional work. It can lend an air of..." more
Sunday, February 8, 2015 4:05:37 PM
John O'Rourke added Member of the Wedding (Penguin Modern Classics) to his Bookshelf
John said, "Frankie Addams is a twelve year-old girl in a small, southern town in the Forties, during WWII. She is still a bit tom-boyish, but this spring finds her in a state of heightened awareness and tension, wanting something to happen, to be able to break out"
Saturday, February 7, 2015 12:10:40 PM
John O'Rourke added Looking For Alaska (Printz Award Winner) to his Bookshelf
John said, ""Looking for Alaska," by John Green, dutton books, NY, 2005 I've usually been an enthusiast for the boarding school story, beginning with "Tom Brown's School Days," and continuing on through others. "A Separate Peace," also comes to mind. When "Looki"
Friday, January 30, 2015 12:26:13 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled further explorations of second person POV:
John said, "Second Person Point-of-View (archaic)Perhaps it is getting to be the season to consider writing fiction in second person point-of-view (POV-2). Our last exploration of POV-2 was October, 2014, and a new article on the topic has just come..." more
Friday, January 9, 2015 12:00:18 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled literary conventions and language deconstructed:
John said, "A few authors of contemporary literary fiction have used unconventional styles or non-grammatical constructions in writing novels, and it poses questions about the pros and cons of doing this. A classic example may be Joyce's "Ulysses," with..." more
Thursday, November 27, 2014 3:20:49 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled Art as a literary device in fiction:
John said, "Bronze of "David," by VerrocchioOur May 31, 2014 blog discussion included a concept of "ekphrasis," a term referenced by writer Stephanie Coyne DeGhett as a "literary representation of visual art." DeGhett explored, among other..." more
Thursday, October 30, 2014 6:07:36 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled looking at second-person point-of-view:
John said, "There are not many stories written in second-person point of view, at least not many that are well-known. In books on writing, a handful of examples are given that are often repeated among the discussions, but from time to time a new use of..." more
Sunday, September 28, 2014 9:17:18 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled witing the generational saga:
John said, "Irish curragh secured onshore at Tory IslandGlossing the new book releases and early reviews, and finding a novel that gathers up far-flung place settings of nostalgic relevance to me, loaded with topics of special interest, and all in one tidy..." more
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 5:57:32 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled writing historical fiction without invoking too much history:
John said, "My current novel-in-progress will fit a loosely defined literary genre of historical fiction. That is, it will be fiction artistically grounded in a period of American history--an era in the mid-1870s--when an organized labor movement began..." more
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 5:26:24 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled "Leaving Major Tela," introductory Chapter 1:
John said, "Like a book, someone, somewhere, might beinterested in it if they knew it was available, and where?There has been much discussion in this blog over the past seven or eight years about concepts and guidelines for writing fiction that were collected..." more
Friday, June 27, 2014 7:50:08 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled more thoughts on independent publishing platforms for books:
John said, "Several earlier posts discussed independent self-publishing platforms (ISP) for both e-books and printed books. My experience with Amazon in producing a Kindle edition and a print edition of a YA novel (the print edition with CreateSpace, an..." more
Saturday, May 31, 2014 1:01:14 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled ekphrasis, the literary representation of visual art, vs. applied art tools:
John said, "Revealing a Concept, in Painting or FictionSeveral of the past blogs in gaelwriter have discussed concepts of enriching literary fiction by keeping in mind design principles used by visual artists to heighten the aesthetic appeal of their own..." more
Sunday, April 27, 2014 9:11:15 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled still life and bread crumbs--working with universal themes:
John said, "Still life and bread crumbs, by Anna Quindlen, is a recent novel that moves at a comfortable pace, fully engaging the reader with characters whose lives seem to follow a script of diminished expectations, which we recognize from our own experience..." more
Monday, March 31, 2014 2:51:37 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled e-publishing fiction:
John said, "Crowd-sourcing an iOS publishing ventureBack in January 2009 I published a blog with the title Cellphone Novelists, discussing the new development of authors in Japan using cellphones to write and publish serial novels, some while commuting to work..." more
Friday, October 30, 2015 7:49:55 PM
John O'Rourke wrote a blog post titled metaphysics in literary fiction:
John said, "Celtic celebration of Samhain,or Halloween, where a door opensbriefly to the other world.Perhaps one of the most profound mysteries we are confronted with might be simply stated as "why is there something instead of nothing?" Countless..." more