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Jan. 12, 2012

Advertising Jacob

Random House produces a video ad for Defending Jacob.

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Sep. 10, 2011

How to Tell a Story

Matt Stone and Trey Parker drop in on a writing class at NYU (video).

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Jun. 3, 2011

“And then I saw her…”

When I’m stuck — as I have been for some time now, trying to crack the plot of my next book, to “break” the story, as screenwriters say — I always look for older stories to use as templates. The writer David Lodge has a great term for this sort of literary model: “precursor texts” [...]

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May. 27, 2011

Harlan Ellison: Pay the Writer!

Harlan Ellison has some choice words for those who presume writers will work for free.

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Mar. 22, 2011

Seth Godin: Ten Bestsellers

Seth Godin’s memorable presentation at the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in February 2008: *10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing, and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books.* (video)

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Feb. 16, 2011

Daniel Pink: What Motivates Us

An animation of Daniel Pink’s wonderful lecture about what really motivates creatives and other “idea workers.”

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Jan. 6, 2011

Chinatown

As I map out the plot of my next book, set in Boston’s notorious old red-light district, the Combat Zone, I keep thinking of one of my favorite movies, Chinatown. (video)

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Dec. 6, 2010

Darwinian Theories of Art

Are we hardwired to find certain art forms beautiful and to enjoy certain kinds of stories?

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Oct. 25, 2010

Happy St. Crispin’s Day

Happy St. Crispin’s Day, which *shall ne’er go by, / From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remember’d* [video]

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Oct. 15, 2010

How Writers Write: Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood discusses her own writing process (video).

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