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William Landay

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Bill Landay

David Milch at work

June 19, 2020

By design, Milch wrote “Deadwood” under a gun-to-the-head deadline, regularly composing dialogue the day before a scene was to be shot. Milch is the only writer I have ever watched, at length, write. I sat in a dimly lit, air-conditioned trailer as Milch—surrounded by several silent acolytes, of varying degrees of experience and career accomplishment—sprawled on the floor in the middle of the room, staring at a large computer monitor a few feet away. An assistant at a keyboard took dictation as Milch, seemingly channeling voices from a remote dimension, put words into (and took words out of) the mouth of this or that character. The cursor on the screen advanced and retreated until the exchange sounded precisely right. The methodology evoked a séance, and it was necessary to remind oneself that the voices in fact issued from a certain precinct of the fellow on the floor’s brain.

“David Milch’s Third Act,” by Mark Singer

Filed Under: How Writers Write, Writing Tagged With: David Milch

Now on Apple TV+

April 19, 2020

Defending Jacon Apple TV+ online poster

Details here.

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

“The point of change”

April 1, 2020

Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that’s the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don’t notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they’re trying too hard to instruct the reader.

Hilary Mantel’s Rules for Writers

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Hilary Mantel, quotes for writers

Defending Jacob trailer

March 25, 2020

Coming April 24.

Filed Under: My Books Tagged With: Defending Jacob

Victor Hugo

January 30, 2020

Portrait of M. Victor Hugo (1879) by Léon Bonnat. Click for hi-def image. (Via)

Filed Under: Art, Books, Writers Tagged With: painting, portraits of writers, Victor Hugo

Art Is Hard

December 2, 2019

It certainly is. Buy it here.

Filed Under: Odds & Ends Tagged With: merchandise

Moby Mobile

July 19, 2019

Moby Dick animated book cover

Animated book covers is simply too good an idea not to happen. (Artwork by Javier Jensen.)

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: animated images, book covers, Moby Dick

A character who yearns

July 15, 2019

All works of fiction are built around a character who yearns, and if you’re in touch with what the character is yearning for, then every detail is filtered through that emotional center.

Robert Olen Butler

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: characters, quotes for writers, Robert Olen Butler

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