Thursday, May 5, 2011

from the reverend leland nickels


This is about the big bang.

Back on to my advicey, esteem-bashing theories about writing.

And there is another question that I hear asked an awful lot: What comes first, characters or plot?

This one's kind of interesting to me, for a number of reasons. First, I hear a lot of authors who answer this seem to fall into the "characters" Venn circle. I don't hear as many writers who fall into the "plot" Venn circle.

I think I'm in the middle -- the overlap of the two -- in an area where the big bang happens. Maybe it's because all my characters are really me, and all my plots have really happened.

That's life in the big bang.

Aside from the frantic excitement of #TheBet on Saturday, I'll also be heading out to La Verne, California, to visit one of my favorite indie booksellers, Mrs. Nelson's, for the awards presentation of their 2011 Young Writers Competition.

Should be a most eventful Saturday.

I'll have more about that coming up.