"Pearl trap I" by János Csongor Kerekes via Flickr Hello, sweetie. You’ve fallen into a trap. An Internet trap. Relax. As far as traps are concerned it’s not so bad.  But I’m not trapped, I can hear you say . I’m reading a blog. This is part of my routine, part of my social networking.  Yes, yes, it is. Reading and commenting on blogs can be a vital part of a writer’s day. Of course non-writers read blogs like this one as well, but indulge me while I concentrate on writers because, well, I am one. I know writing, for many of us, is isolating. It’s just us and our computer (or piece of paper, or whatever). Hence...the lure of the Internet and social networking. Of course the Internet is a wonderful tool. I’ve researched and Google street-viewed places which would have cost me thousands to see in person. (Not that that wouldn’t have been pleasant, I admit. You don’t get ambient sounds in Google street-view. You can’t smell the delicate perfume which ...

Or Why I Stick to Writing Novels The title of this article, I realise, is provocative. It would seem to imply that I consider short stories to be inferior examples of the writer’s art: practice works produced by novices, or the second-rate oeuvres of mere dilettantes incapable of the sustained creative effort required to produce a full-length novel. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Painful as it is for me to make this confession, the reason that I don’t (or very rarely) write short stories because (in general) I lack the intense, tightly-focused imagination needed to write a good one. The question now arises: what are the attributes of a good short story? Opinions here will differ, depending on who is addressing the question. A writer of Literary Fiction (who has read and admired the works of Raymond Carver) will contend that a good short story is one which evokes the cultural ambiance in which the writer is writing. By this standard of measurement, the ...