Category: News/Misc. Page 26 of 225

Earlier today, I posted a spotlight about Reena Bhojwani’s novel Fragrant Soup. Now, I’ve got this look behind the scenes as Reena describes part of how she transformed this short story into a novel. I know she has more to say along these lines, and I hope she comes back to share some more. Either way, I’m very glad to present this Guest Post.

How Reading Can Help You Grow a Short Story into a Novel

I grew my short story of 5000 words into a novel with the same name that’s now over 62,000 words long.

So the question is how? And the answer is not linear. Although, one of the things I did very consciously and throughout was: reading.

I jumped in with both feet and scoured the Internet and the local libraries for books. I read some non-fiction articles, blogs and memoirs, but I also tried to read within the genre I was trying to write, which brought me to various forms of Asian fantasy stories. I tried to keep it to Young Adult and Middle Grade Asian and South East Asian Fantasy stories because they were closest to my target. However, on the side I continued to read romance novels, thriller, horror and a bit of middle grade fiction but not specifically Asian fantasy. I needed to know what was out there so I would know how to answer the annoying question “What books are your books like?” And also “What books are you books not like?”

Some other reasons to read widely were:

For sensitivity: This was me reading as a writer to see how sensitive or potentially offensive subject matter was dealt with when I read within my genre. For example, how certain descriptive phrases were written or how certain (possibly) taboo concepts were covered by certain writers. Taking notes either on a separate page or on post-its to then stick into the book as I read started becoming a habit.

For style: Again, this would mean reading as a writer. To be aware of nuances in dialogue, description and pacing. When I read other genres, I noticed things like choice of narrative perspective, chapter lengths and other devices that I would otherwise have allowed to slip through the cracks. Why certain things were done and certain choices were made while others were not. This is where I started noticing there were several books written with snippets of Mandarin, but I didn’t come across any with Cantonese in them.

For inspiration: I ended up getting so many ideas for my story while I was reading other pieces of fiction. However, inspiration doesn’t mean plagiarising. Sometimes I got an idea because there was a plot twist I was reading about or because a new character was introduced and I thought, “THAT’S IT! I can do that! EUREKA!” That doesn’t mean I took their character and shoved it into my narrative. It just made me realise that adding a character could help me make a certain part of the story work better. And equally, I had moments when I thought, “It makes sense now. This character/part/section has to go. It’s time to kill this darling.” Not because I knew they needed to go but because I realised.

While reading, I came across so many books in a series that I eventually realised I could turn my story into a series… and so I did! (Well, I started. I’ve only finished book 1 and the ‘Sneak Peek!’ Section of book 2!) Inspiration came come from content, style or just general concepts.

For what doesn’t work: The more books you read that you DON’T LIKE or that have been criticised in the field you’re interested in, the more insight you will get about what NOT to do, or what to watch out for or avoid, which is sometimes more helpful than what to do. The key is knowing not to get too caught up in it all. Take what you need and move on.

It’s important to note though that reading should happen all the way through in the ideal world, but there’s aren’t enough hours in a day and many of us can’t quit our day jobs or read through the night and function properly the next day, so some form of a balanced book diet with a frequency of your choice is best.

There are lots of tidbits of advice I have after I chose to grow my short story into a novel, so if you want to know more, you’ll have to comment on write to me and let me know. You can find me at www.inspiredmusehk.com.

You can find more information about Reena Bhojwani and her books at her website, Inspired Muse.

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WWW Wednesday—March 4, 2025

By HCNewton

On March 5, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

What a difference a week makes–after talking about a few lackluster (or worse) books at the end of February, I ended the month very strong and the first books of March have continued that streak. It’s a nice place to be.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Library Game by Gigi Pandian	Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman, read by Piper Goodeve

I just started The Library Game today. I thought Pandian had wrapped up this series with the last book, I’m glad to see that I was wrong and I’m eager to see where the series goes from here.

Lipman’s Ms. Demeanor was entertaining enough (although it had its drawbacks), and I’m curious to try something else by her.

What did you recently finish reading?


Perelandra by C.S. Lewis	Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow, read by Wil Wheaton

Perelandra blew me away this week, just as much as it did 20+ years ago when I read it the first time.

A couple of weeks ago in a Saturday Miscellany post, I said something about getting around to trying Doctorow sometime, the manager of Shared Stories told me that I really should start with Red Team Blues. He was right.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind by Alan Jacobs	Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg, read by Eric Conger,Nicol Zanzarella

It’s time for me to wrap-up my review of Jacobs’ trilogy.

And I’ll be tackling Ashes Never Lie on audio. Sharpe & Walker + Eve Ronin = fun.

How’s March starting for you?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Things Nero Wolfe Said*

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In News/Misc., Top X List

The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is the Top Ten Things Characters Have Said

If I took that too loosely, I’d spend weeks trying to narrow this down. So I decided to limit it to one character–Nero Wolfe. He’s easily the most quotable character I can think of (with the possible exception of Archie Goodwin, who narrates the Wolfe books). But I didn’t have time to do a thorough job of that, either. But I was able to cobble together a decent collection of quotations. Give me a year, and I’ll come up with something more definitive (or I’ll have a selection of 90+ items and will freeze up in trying to whittle it down).

But first,

Who is Nero Wolfe?

Nero Wolfe, fictional American private detective, the eccentric protagonist of 46 mystery stories by Rex Stout. Wolfe was introduced in Fer-de-Lance (1934).

A man of expansive appetites and sophisticated tastes, Wolfe is corpulent and moody. Detesting mechanized vehicles and disdaining most humans, he is averse to leaving his home for business reasons; he assigns the physical investigations of murders to his associate and friend Archie Goodwin and manages to solve his mysteries without leaving his own confines. Another of Wolfe’s associates is his private chef, Fritz Brenner, who also works as Wolfe’s butler and handyman. Wolfe’s interest in food is equaled only by his passion for orchids: with the aid of Theodore Horstman, he nurtures some 10,000 orchid plants in his rooftop garden.

by: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Nero Wolfe". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Oct. 2012, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nero-Wolfe. Accessed 3 March 2025.

Top Ten Things Nero Wolfe Said * That I Can Think of Without Re-Reading the Corpus

	To me the relationship of host and guest is sacred. The guest is a jewel resting on the cushion of hospitality.
	…with the quarry within reach, the purpose fixed, and the weapon in hand, it will often require up to eight or ten minutes to kill a fly, whereas the average murder, I would guess, consumes ten or fifteen seconds at the outside.
	Man’s brain, enlarged fortuitously, invented words in an ambitious attempt to learn how to think, only to have them usurped by his emotions. But we still try.
	Since I entered this room you have made nothing but mistakes. You were without courtesy, which was offensive. You made a statement contrary to fact, which was stupid. You confused conjecture with knowledge, which was disingenuous.
	I carry this fat to insulate my feelings. They got too strong for me once or twice and I had that idea. If I had stayed lean and kept moving around I would have been dead long ago…I used to be idiotically romantic. I still am, but I’ve got it in hand.
	Maintaining integrity as a private detective is difficult; to preserve it for the hundred thousand words of a book would be impossible for me, as it has been for so many others. Nothing corrupts a man so deeply as writing a book; the myriad temptations are overwhelming.
	I love to make a mistake, it is my only assurance that I cannot reasonably be expected to assume the burden of omniscience.
	Sir, I would not enter a taxicab for a chance to solve the Sphinx’s deepest riddles with all the Nile’s cargo for my reward! Good God. A taxicab…You observe my bulk. I am not immovable, but my flesh has a constitutional reluctance to sudden, violent, or sustained displacement.
	[Dina Laszio] leaned back. “Marko told me once, long ago, that you don’t like women.” Wolfe shook his head. “I can only say, nonsense again. I couldn’t rise to that impudence. Not like women? They are astounding and successful animals. For reasons of convenience, I merely preserve an appearance of immunity which I developed some years ago under the pressure of necessity. I confess to a specific animus toward you. Marko Vukcic is my friend; you were his wife; and you deserted him. I don’t like you.”
	I understand the technique of eccentricity; it would be futile for a man to labor at establishing a reputation for oddity if he were ready at the slightest provocation to revert to normal action.

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Book Blogger Hop: Weekly Blogging Time

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

In Book Blogger Hop, Books, News/Misc.

Book Blogger Hop

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

How much time does blogging take out of your life weekly?

Sure, I know technically that Billy is asking something else, but I can’t help but read that as, “How bad is my time management?”

First, I’m not counting reading time. That’s a related, but separate, hobby. At least for the purposes of this post–also, it’ll help the hours stay low.

Secondly–I’m not sure if I should count time sharing, re-posting, and other social media-type interactions to promote this blog and others. That’s kind-of blogging time. But also, not really. I’ve also been bad about that lately. Ideally, I’d say I spend 30-45 minutes each weekday on that. I’d be happy if I spent a half hour a week on it over the last couple of months.

So, now, to the blog. Thirty minutes a day minimum (even when I don’t actually hit “Publish” or “Schedule.”). Three hours a day maximum. That’s 180 minutes-1080 minutes a week. That’s almost part-time job territory on the fuller weeks.

I’m really wishing I hadn’t done this math now, he types, shaking a metaphorical and resentful fist in the direction of Coffee Addicted Writer.

Fellow bloggers, what’s your weekly time look like? Any tips for me? (other than mainlining more caffeine or writing less)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Rock ’N’ Roll Heaven” by Spin Doctors

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

Sometimes a silly but catchy song is enough…

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Saturday Miscellany—3/1/25

By HCNewton

On March 1, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

I’ve barely been online this week, so I’m very glad that A Literary Escape and Pages Unbound posted some highlights from the month for me to glean from—I’d have enjoyed their posts regardless, but they helped bulk up this post.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet The Ascendance of the Book Ladder: The history of a totally necessary invention—We all want one, why not learn a little about them?
bullet Little Free Library Study Reveals Benefits for Book-Impoverished Communities —No one will be (should be) walking away from this study saying, “Who’d have imagined this?” But it’s good to see someone finding evidence.
bullet Face Value: Translating Divergence—”Clare Richards underscores the significance of D/deaf, disabled, and/or neurodivergent writers and translators presenting their community on their own terms.” (as interesting as they are, I need to stop reading pieces from this site, it’s doing unhealthy things for my TBR)
bullet When Books Invade (But Make It Friendly)—This is one many of us can relate to, I expect. Particularly the first paragraph under “Why Read?.” Just from reading her historical book last year, I had the idea that Nadya Williams and I belonged to the same tribe. This is one more bit of proof.
bullet Taking the “Shoulds” Out of Reading—I really don’t auto-post everything Molly Templeton writes, it just feels like it. Worth the read for the last ‘graph alone (but the prior ones are good, too)
bullet Psychological Thrillers Are Finally Giving Middle-Aged Women Their Due—”[N]o one is pushed to the brink like a menopausal woman. And no one can fight for her life like her either.”
bullet Embrace Graphic Novels
bullet The Health Benefits of Reading Every Day
bullet About Community and the Future of the Narratess Indie Sale
bullet How to break up with Amazon as a Book Lover—It ain’t easy, so here’s some help
bullet If you’re not ready to do that yet, What Are Kindle Points & How Do You Use Them?
bullet The Classics: Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen in Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Romeo and Juliet

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet I didn’t post about any books, but I talked about the releases of: Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister and Canary by Duane Swierczynski

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet His Truth Her Truth by Noelle Holten—Unreliable narrators in a domestic psycholigical thriller from one of this reader’s favorites. My March is pretty much planned already, but I’m going to squeeze this one in somehow.
bullet title by soandso—”a podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating—but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love?” I don’t know that this would’ve popped up on my radar if Alan Sepinwall hadn’t been talking about it, but If he vouches for it, that’s good enough for me.
bullet The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton—”Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?” Go read the link for the whole blurb

Thriller – This or That

By HCNewton

On February 28, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Thriller - This or That

Thanks to it being named The Write Reads’ Blog of the Day, I read February Reading Challenge: Dive into the World of Thrillers with “This or That” a few weeks ago, and instantly spent too long thinking about it. I know the post called for social media posts or comments to reply, but I decided to go for this instead. I thought I’d work in some recommendations along with my answers, but I have 143 pages of posts about this genre and that’s just too much to sift through.

Still, the prompts got into my head and I had to get something out.

1. Psychological Thriller or Action-Packed Thriller?

A good psychological thriller will keep me on the edge of my seat and jumping at shadows like everyone else. But I typically prefer the action-packed thriller—as long as there’s some depth to it, some decent psychology to the action and/or characters. Mindless action and destruction can be fun for a little bit, but they’re ultimately dissatisfying. By the same token, a bit of action goes a long way to improving a psychological thriller.

2. Unreliable Narrator or Detective Protagonist?

I won’t turn up my nose at a well-written unreliable narrator (or do I?). But Detective Protagonists are what got me into reading, sustained me when I really didn’t have time or resources to really read fiction, and—as anyone who’s spent 5 minutes looking at this site knows—I still read an unhealthy amount of Detective Novels. No contest.

3. Slow-Burn Suspense or Fast-Paced Plot Twists?

I honestly can’t decide—I’ve argued with myself for a few days over this. I really can’t choose. I probabaly read more Fast-Paced reads with good twists, but a Slow-Burn can be so satisfying that I don’t want to discount them. (as long as the slow-burn is actually burning, and not just meandering). This one’s a coin-toss.

4. Domestic Thriller or Crime Thriller?

I can enjoy and really get into a solid Domestic Thriller, one of my favorites so far this year is one. But Crime Thrillers are really my thing, part of that is their similarity to a good Detective novel. But it’s more than that—whether it’s a jaded criminal, a newbie criminal (who very likely won’t be around long enough to get jaded, a normal person having the worst day of their lives (whether or not they made a bad choice to put themselves there), or something beyond the typical Crime Thrillers—I can read those all day.

Go read the original and weigh-in there.

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WWW Wednesday—February 26, 2025

By HCNewton

On February 26, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

I’ve hit a run of not-great books lately. Nothing horrible, just books that I wanted more from. I’m sure that streak is about to end, but for now, getting through them (in the hope I’m about to be proven wrong) is such a slog. It actually saps some mental energy

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


Beast of the North Woods by Annelise Ryan	Good Material by Dolly Alderton, read by Arthur Darvill & Vanessa Kirby

Ryan’s latest adventure is both more-of-the-same (but it’s still fresh enough to keep working) and I-can’t-believe-she’s-doing-this. In short, I’m enjoying this–it’s possible I’ll have just finished this about the time this posts–I imagine I’ll be pretty satisfied about now.

I don’t know why I’m still listening to Good Material, I have to say. Andy is very likely the least likable protagonist I’ve come across in months. And I’ve read/listened to books with murderers and assassins as the main characters. Andy is just a whiny man-child whose stand-up had better be a lot funnier than his narration. I’ve yet to see any reason for this story to be told–or what the story is, really. Maybe it’s the narration by Arthur Darville, and my subconscious recognized him and kicked in the loyalty he’s earned from screen roles (the rest of my brain caught up as I was putting this post together). Also, I’m at 56% and have yet to run into Kirby (and was surprised to learn I’m supposed to).

What did you recently finish reading?


Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson	Passageways by Rebecca Carey Lyles, Editor	Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade, read by John Pirhalla

I’m so glad that I finally finished Snow Crash (although you could argue that Stephenson didn’t actually finish it, he just stopped writing). A lot of it fell flat, but when it worked? It was so money, baby…

Similarly, there were some really good starts to short stories in Passageways, but few of them delivered on the end (or middle, too often).

I’m not sure that I’m going to muster up the energy required to say much about Johnny Careless, it’s a thing I listened to. I wouldn’t rail against it, but I’m sure not going to encourage anyone to give it a shot.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski	Dead Money by Jakob Kerr, read by Rachel Music

For years, all I’ve needed on a cover is “Nick Kolakowski” to want to read it. But I know that most of you need more than that to get convinced–okay, this is a modern PI noir set in the seedy side of Hollywood–where so much of the best PI noir from the last 100 years comes from. I expect this to be fast, furious, and a little unnerving.

Yeah, Dead Money was in this spot last week, too. But I decided I wanted a genre break, so I put it off. This debut thriller still looks pretty good to me.

Is February ending on a high note for you?

MUSIC MONDAY: “Oreo Cookie Blues” by Lonnie Mack

By HCNewton

On February 24, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader's Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

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Saturday Miscellany—2/22/25

By HCNewton

On February 22, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet 10 Book Displays I’d Love to See at the Public Library—I’ve honestly never stopped to think about this kind of thing (don’t think I’m going to start, either, but I’m glad someone does)
bullet Golden Rules of Reading—Mind Your Manners in the Bookish World—somehow slipped by me last month
bullet This follow-up/expansion on a point is also worth your time: Don’t Yuck My Yum—Why We Need to Stop Shaming People’s Tastes (also, I’m just enjoying saying “don’t yuck my yum”)
bullet Love Story or Romance: Is There a Difference?
bullet Toxic Love Affairs in Literature—I’ve only read two of these, and (unusually for me) am very glad that’s the case. Good writing really does get us to accept some lousy/creepy/skeevy behavior, doesn’t it? (as if Humbert Humbert alone wasn’t proof of that).
bullet A Few of My Childhood Favorites—A nice stroll down memory lane. I didn’t discover Caddie Woodlawn until my kids read it, but it’s nice to see it getting some love. I’m pretty sure I’d have read that one more than anything about the Ingalls clan if I found it at the right age.
bullet (Some) Indie Book Recommendations—Rebecca Crunden has put together a good-looking list here
bullet The 10 Best Self-Published Books I’ve Ever Read—Seplls and Spaceships has featured a lot of Self-Pub books.
bullet Genre Focus: LitRPG—Witty and Sarcastic Book Club is back with another focus on a Fantasy Sub-Genre, this time, it’s all about LitRPG. I probably know less about this one than any other type of Fantasy, so I really need this.
bullet …Featuring Justin Marks
bullet …Featuring David Dalglish
bullet …Featuring BardLyre
bullet …Featuring SerasStreams
bullet …Featuring CT Phipps
bullet February Reading Challenge: Dive into the World of Thrillers with “This or That”—ew…tough choices

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
bullet Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
bullet Plus One by Christopher Noxon—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet And I noted the releases of: Half the World by Joe Abercrombie; Department 19: Zero Hour by Will Hill; and Shoot This One by Javier Grillo-Marxuach. Three books I never got around to buying or reading. oops.

This (or last) Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Not Marriage Material: Not a Romance Anthology edited by Sue Bavey—”In this non-fiction anthology, twenty authors and poets celebrate the ones who got away and the ones they were lucky enough to get away from. These relationships may not have ended in marriage, but they have provided us with entertaining stories.” I can’t believe I forgot to mention this last week, especially as I helped spread the word when she was looking for submissions. It does look like a fun way to spend some time.
bullet Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow—”The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant–what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money–but for now he’s an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever,” the PC. I really need to start reading Doctorow, he says for (at least) the 13th year running.