C. Alex Smith's Blog

  I confess. I did something I rarely do. I didn't finish this book. It spent a year on my nightstand and I read up to page 565 of its 771 pages (73%). At night, I turned to where I'd left off a few days ago, a week ago, a month ago, and then I'd put it back and pick up something more entertaining.  Yeah. I know. National Bestseller. Pulitzer Prize. It's all right there on the cover. But still, by the time I quit, this book had become a sort of torture.  It started out fine. I rooted for Theo with the same conviction I had rooted for Pip in Great Expectations . But as the pages wore on, the misfortunes and poor decisions took their toll--on me. When Theo's loser friend Boris shows up again I just couldn't take it. I knew it would ruin everything in Theo's life and I didn't feel like actually reading that again.  Don't get me wrong. The prose is beautiful. I felt like I, the country bumpkin, had been transformed into a native New Yorker. That I was in...

Better than the First Book!                                                                                       The earth under England has dissolved and England is a free floating “raft” of an island. England’s elite blow up the mooring to the mainland and British citizens become isolated from the rest of the world’s climate catastrophe. Too busy with their own issues of famine, disease, and dividing precious resources and power, those closest to the shore are easily deceived by those advantaged enough to live near the center.  But every lie has a price. Dr. Savanah Selbourne’s price for signing off on the lies the Centre tells the Periphery is to keep here son, Ethan, born to her partner, Grace. But six years of misleading the people of the Periphery has its...

  I know I'm going to get slammed for this review, but I got to be honest. This one really didn't capture my imagination. I liked the idea of an America littered with our outdated religious beliefs, but I found this book bloodthirsty and rambling. Sorry, Neil.  In the end, it felt a little pointless. Maybe that's what Gaiman's saying about religion in the first place. 3 out of 5 stars 

Writing Deep Point Of View: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors by Rayne Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars Improve Your Reader's Experience Immediately Deep POV puts your reader inside your story in the main character’s head—just where they want to be. The technique involves understanding how to fool the subconscious with language to create that engrossing reading experience. As with all of Raven Hall’s writing books, the advice is simple, clear, and actionable. You can incorporate these techniques in your writing immediately and improve how your story is perceived. View all my reviews Euphonics For Writers: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors by Rayne Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars We are used to thinking about the subtle shades of meaning different words for the same thing possess. Could part of the difference between homonyms be the sounds that make up these words? The science of euphonics proposes that the sounds used to pronounce words create different emot...

Introducing The Deep Editing Series Do you have a completed or nearly completed first draft manuscript? Congratulations! You're Amazing Two hundred million Americans (81%) say they want to write a novel or screenplay. But only 10% actually do. After I finished my first manuscript, I tried to edit it on my own. I moved or changes some of the words, but it didn't feel like the story was getting any better. So I started going to webinars and reading books until ten years later when I finally developed a method for revisions. In 2019 I gave a year long series of workshops on revision. Since then, many people asked me to repeat the series. But we were in the middle of a pandemic that presented us with something we’d never seen before—Long Covid. For 2023, I decided to commit the live presentations to video, so I can share them with you safely. I am offering two ways to enjoy these presentations.  On Your Own  each workshop comes with on a private website several videos you can view...

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