Add water and stir…

22 Thursday Sep 2022

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brainstorming, historical novel, Not quite Draft 1, The Tom Walsingham Mysteries, writing, writing process

In the beginning it was just “when the elder G. asks him about his plans to leave, Tom demurs.”

That’s all it was. A half line in Draft 0. Thirteen words in all. I thought it would be a very tiny scene, little more than a transition, a little coda to establish that Tom wasn’t leaving after all.

Then on Saturday morning… Continue reading →

The Way of Henry James

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Henry James, notebooks, The Spoils of Poynton, writing process

We were speaking of notebooks, remember?

Well, Henry James was one compulsive notebooker. He always had one with him, where he noted ideas and interesting conversations, he brainstormed plot and characters and recorded engagements and addresses. Among other things, in one of them is found his solemn decision of giving up playwriting after Guy Domville flopped.