Write Away Essays:

by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—At a book festival recently, I listened to a young author named Hannah who specializes in thrillers, a genre in which also I’ve worked. During the Q&A, a reader asked whether Hannah feels troubled while describing scenes of detailed cruelty or bloodshed.  Flatly, Hannah said “No.” She explained that, as a……

Fiction agnostics—readers who consume only non-fiction—tend to be unaware of how profoundly flights of imaginative fancy, have enriched their language and illuminated their lives.   by David Benjamin “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by……

Every writer’s cast of characters is finite. The sources of those characters begin in the many facets of the writer’s own self. The astute reader can often perceive the recurrence of character from story to story and appreciate the writer’s skill in drawing variation from repetition. by David Benjamin Sometimes, a recurring character can recur……

One of the ego boosts that an author enjoys is being deemed an “expert” on topics included in his or her stories. With most writers, who are by nature promiscuous of ideas, expertise is an illusion. (The image is my Paris-based novel, Skulduggery in the Latin Quarter. The art is by my wife, Junko Yoshida.)……

There is a line where writing somehow crosses over and becomes “art.” No writer in the world knows where that line is, and no sane writer makes it his or her mission in life to get there and cross over. Better to just do one’s very best to entertain the reader.    by David Benjamin……

Some misguided souls refuse to read fiction, explaining—when I ask—that they want to learn stuff, as though there is nothing to learn in Aeschylus, Shakespeare and James A. Michener. The truth is that every storyteller begins with a ton of homework, lest his or her readers refuse to suspend disbelief.  by David Benjamin Even the……

by David Benjamin Any time a writer decides to toy with time, to alter chronology as a narrative device, the risk is reader confusion. The writer also risks blowback for historical mistakes or by trips to the future that strain credibility. The temptation for time-travel must be executed with originality and bolstered by research.  ……

by David Benjamin As I blunder through the first dozen chapters of a new novel, called Cheat, I can’t help reflect on the crisis of confidence affects every novelist, no matter how experienced, at the beginning—and in the middle—of every project.   Even for a veteran author, beginning a novel is a daunting prospect. Continuing……

by David Benjamin One of the secrets to writing fluid prose is to be educated in the meter, rhythms, discipline and wordplay of great poems. For a writer, the consequence of not appreciating the poetry of prose is to hit the sort of sour note that turns off the reader.    For three years in……