Category: Guest Posts

The Story Beneath the Story – Guest Post by Mike Lynch

On the surface this seems like a simple story โ€“ three men escape from prison and then disappear. But like many mysteries, there’s what’s known by people, and then there’s the story beneath the story. Who were these men and what life experiences and skills did they possess that made their escape possible? And once out, how were they able to disappear without a trace? The answers to these and other powerful questions are almost beyond belief, and all of them true.

Writing About Russia Doesnโ€™t Mean You Support Their War – Guest Post by Alina Adams

๐ธ๐‘Ž๐‘ก, ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ, ๐ฟ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ author Elizabeth Gilbert has decided not to publish her February 2024 novel. She says itโ€™s because the book is set in the Soviet Union of the 1930s, and due to Russiaโ€™s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the subject and setting could prove upsetting to her present-day readers.

Challenges I Faced as an American Living in Japan โ€“ Guest Post by Lea Oโ€™Harra

I first arrived in Japan in the spring of โ€™84 to take up a job I had got while completing my doctorate on 18th century English literature at Edinburgh University. I had been hired as a โ€œGuest Professor of Englishโ€ by a new university located in a fishing village in northern Shikoku. Shikoku is one of Japanโ€™s four main islands, but it is also the smallest, the most rural and, at that time โ€“ before the construction of bridges linking it to Honshu and Kyushu โ€“ the most remote.

Pantser, Plotter, or Plantser? โ€“ Guest Post by Shawn Mackey๏ฟผ

Iโ€™ve used all three of these methods at some point. Initially, I was more of a pantser and went in with whatever was in my head, usually the beginning and end with a few moments in the middle. These books mostly didnโ€™t work because I was just starting out and didnโ€™t know how to set a scene or write decent description and other technical stuff.