The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Two New Articles at DIY MFA

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DiyMFA

Hope you all have had a good start to 2016! I’m back from my blogging “hiatus” today, and with two new articles at DIY MFA to boot.

On Friday, I took part in DIY MFA’s annual #5onFri post on New Year’s Resolutions. Each participating columnist picked an aspect of our writing careers that we want to improve on or achieve during 2016. What did I choose as mine? You’ll have to read the article to find out! 😉

Click here to read “#5onFri: 5 Resolutions from the DIY MFA Team.”

I’ve also got a new Theme: A Story’s Soul article that went live today. This one is a case study on communication as a literary theme. It may sound like a weird choice of topic, but once you read the examples you’ll see how a story can offer insights on the importance of communications in our character’s lives as well as our own.

Click here to read “A Case Study on Communication as a Literary Theme.”

Got any questions or suggestions for Theme: A Story’s Soul? Feel free to comment below or tweet me at @SaraL_Writer with the hashtag #AStorysSoul.

My Eleven Favorite Literary Heroes

/ saraletourneau / 28 Comments

After compiling a list of my favorite literary heroines back in March, it’s only fair to devote a post to their male counterparts. Except that, well, I forgot about it for a while, until Sarah J. Higbee recently shared her own list. Thank you for the reminder, Sarah!

Featuring the same number of heroes here as I did with heroines proved tough. It’s not that I don’t like or admire male protagonists. I just happen to be drawn more to stories with female leads. But once I took a close look at my bookshelves, the eleven male characters I eventually picked started jumping out at me. (Not literally, but you know what I mean.) And I’ll admit, some of them won’t surprise you at all. 😉

Here they are, in alphabetical order: Continue reading →

My Nominations for The Writing Hufflepuff’s 2015 Book Awards

/ saraletourneau / 18 Comments

 

Writing Hufflepuff Book Awards

Fellow writer and blogger Michelle @ The Writing Hufflepuff is holding a special Book Awards contest. I don’t know if this is something she does annually or if it’s brand new, but I thought I’d join in and share my picks for as many categories as possible.

Normally I’d share the rules and encourage other bloggers to participate. But considering tomorrow (Sunday, March 29th, 2015) is the deadline for nominations and I’m squeaking these in at the last minute…. Oops? *blushes*

Anyways, here are my nominations for The Writing Hufflepuff’s 2015 Book Awards:

Continue reading →

The 10 Books That Have Stayed With Me

/ saraletourneau / 4 Comments

Recently I’d read Brian Klems’ article at Writer’s Digest about the 10 books that had stayed with him in some way after reading them. It inspired me to start thinking about my own list – and what good timing! Within days, two friends on Facebook tagged me on their top 10 lists and challenged me to share mine. Now that I’ve posted my list there, I thought I’d publish it here at the blog, along with the reasons why I chose each book – or in some cases, series.

LOTR book trilogy

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is probably cheating, because this and #2 would fill all 10 spots automatically. However, I have to give Tolkien and the Lords Of The Rings trilogy due credit for being my gateway to fantasy literature. I don’t know if I’d be writing the novel I’m working on today if I hadn’t picked up that series. Also, the LOTR trilogy was responsible for rekindling my love of reading in 2003. I went through a period in high school where I absolutely resented reading. Most of the assigned stories didn’t appeal to me; and with little time to read for pleasure, I lost interest in the activity altogether. It wasn’t until I saw the LOTR film trilogy and decided to read the source material that I finally enjoyed reading again. Now I can’t stop! So, thank you from the bottom of my heart, Tolkien. Continue reading →